Entries from Everest BC Trek
March 22, 2014
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest BC Trek
Elevation: 11,300'
Greetings from Namche once again.
Today we were greeted with a fresh blanket of snow in town, but only a few inches. We had planned on doing a little hiking to try and catch a glimpse of Everest, but the new snow and cloud cover kept us close to home. So we spent the day drinking coffee, telling stories and doing a little shopping in town. It almost felt like Christmas to be honest!
Everyone is doing great and happily enjoyed the relaxing day here.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
P.S.
I'd like to wish my dad a special Happy Birthday! Wish I could throw a snowball at you pops! I love you.
March 21, 2014
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest BC Trek
Elevation: 11,300'
We woke to beautiful, clear skies today and enjoyed the early morning warmth after a slightly chilly night. First up for the day was an all important breakfast with pancakes, eggs, hashbrowns, cereal and last but not least COFFEE. A special thanks to Jeff Martin for preparing a wonderful travel kit with plenty of it.
We hit the trail a little before 9am and slowly made our way passing dozens of tea houses, trekkers, and porters. We crossed several suspension bridges decorated with prayer flags that sit high above the valley floor with amazing views in all directions. After a few hours hiking we arrived at the big hill that leads up to the famous Namche Bazaar, which is the center of the Khumbu Valley. The team did a great job and before too long we all arrived in Namche just in time for a late lunch and before the snowflakes started to fall from the sky. We spent the remainder of the evening exploring this small town and napping as we continue to adjust to the new time zone and altitude.
Everyone is in good spirits and looking forward to our rest day tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
March 20, 2014
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest BC Trek
Elevation: 8,700'
Hello from the Khumbu everyone!
Today we caught our early flights from Kathmandu and safely arrived at the famous Lukla airport on what was one of the smoothest flights I've ever had. Luckily for us there were no clouds in sight which allowed us an easy and very scenic flight into the heart of the Himalayas. Once in Lukla we relaxed and had breakfast at one of the tea houses while our bags were sorted and readied for our porters.
We hit the trail just after 8 am and hiked casually along the trail taking in the clean fresh mountain air and all the beautiful sights of the surrounding peaks. We hiked for just over three hours stopping along the way to snap photos and enjoy the scenery of the lush green forest with towering snow capped mountains overhead.
The team is comfortably settled in to another tea house here in a village called Phakding that sits on the edge of a beautiful blue river.
All is well and everyone is delighted to be here.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and Crew
On The Map
Congratulations on a job well done. We love looking at the pictures, Dot and Rog
Posted by: dot hemminghaus on 3/31/2014 at 8:07 am
Pastor Sylvia from Tx! Hi, I wish you a wonderful trek! I am looking forward to reading your posts, and seeing your beautiful pictures. that you for sharing your journey with all of us! Victory for you all! Pastor Sylvia Joplin
Posted by: Sylvia Joplin on 3/22/2014 at 8:54 pm
March 20, 2014
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest BC Trek
Elevation: 4,383'
Greetings from Nepal Everyone!
And welcome to RMI's first Nepal trek of 2014!
After some very long flights from the USA the team has finally arrived here in Kathmandu. Our first day was mostly spent catching up on some much needed sleep and adjusting to our new time zone, which is 9-12 hours ahead of everyone back home.
Our second day started off with the usual meet and greet where the team got to know one another and discussed the adventure ahead and made sure everyone had all the essential gear.
After a short break we headed into the main tourist center of Thamel for a quick lunch at the famous Roadhouse Cafe known for its tasty pizza.
Shortly after lunch the team set off to do a little site seeing in Kathmandu and stopped off at two of the most important sites, the famous monkey temple and the giant Boudhanath.
The evening ended with a nice dinner here at our hotel appropriately named the Yak and Yeti. And it was off to bed before our early flights.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and Crew
November 18, 2013
Posted by: Elias de Andres Martos
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest BC Trek
Elevation: 4,383'
Namaste from Kathmandu.
Yes, we are out of the mountains... the team has finished the trek!
The last couple of days of our descent have been really exciting dear friends. Upon our arrival into Namche Bazaar, we took a rest day to enjoy the magic that embraces one when in the Khumbu.
With the best weather one can imagine and with the image of the highest mountains of the world very vivid in our memories, we found ourselves having an incredible surprise: we'd take a helicopter tour around Everest! Story aside, it is worth mentioning how seeing from the air lines that wrote history in mountain climbing, like the Hornbein Couloir made our eyes "watery".
We'd finish our descent to Lukla and bask in thick air as the smell of the aviation fuel brought us to realize we were getting to the end of an incredible trek. We flew into Kathmandu this morning where we await our flights back home at the same time as we will be witnessing tomorrow the second democratic elections in this small Himalayan country. Nepali people are to elect a government to end a five-year period of an unstable care-taking government since the abolition of their monarchy... but this is a "summit" Nepal has to climb and we wish them luck.
That has been all from our trip. Thanks to all of you who followed our adventure through our RMI Blog, to our great Sherpa Nawang Dorjee, to our Nepali outfitter HAD and Sagar in particular and to the mountains for being there and providing such an experience and making us feel so small.
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
November 14, 2013
Posted by: Elias de Andres Martos
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest BC Trek
Elevation: 12,325'
Namaste from Deboche.
We have just checked into our lodge after finishing our second day of our steady descent back down the Khumbu Valley. Yesterday we changed things up in the initial itinerary, crashing at Dingboche so we could have a closer view of Ama Dablam's north face. Besides the new views, we were also rewarded with a great night of sleep, having dropped nearly 1,000 meters from Everest Base Camp.
The descent today gave us more thicker air to breath as well as the so much needed higher temperature; we where certainly feeling the approaching winter in the high Himalayas.
We'll be checking in again from Namche... another handful of hundreds of feet lower!!!
Pics from the last few days... uploading now with better bandwidth!
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
On The Map
Great photos you’ve been posting. Thanks!
Posted by: Deblan on 11/14/2013 at 11:02 pm
November 12, 2013
Posted by: Elias de Andres Martos
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest BC Trek
Elevation: 17,575'
Namaste from Gorak Shep.
Happy to post that the team's objective of taking time lapse pictures of the Milky Way spinning over and around the tallest mountain of the world has been accomplished!
Despite the frigid cold and with permission from the ever watching sentinels of Pumori and Nupse, we biouvaked last night at 5,400m on the side hills of Kala Patar. Looking right at the summit pyramid of Everest, we had the clearest evening one can imagine; a crisp sky would merge without interruptions with the sharp, silky white silhouette of the mountain ridges while being lit by a perfect moon.
Half way through the night, we'd experience once more why we westerners owe so much to the local people of the himalaya; our Sherpa Nawang would meet us bring up a 2l thermos of tea as we were experiencing the frost accumulating over our sleeping bags and camera equipment.
Today, with the memories of an spectacular night, we payed a visit to the Khumbu Glacier's morraine where the Base Camp for Everest is set during the climbing season.
We are now enjoying dinner at our lodge, with our minds set in our descent that starts tomorrow. Our first stop will be Dingboche to enjoy again astonishing views of the N. Face of Ama Dablam.
More updates to come in a couple of days from the thicker air villages of the Khumbu.
RMI Guide ElÃas de Andrés
On The Map
November 10, 2013
Posted by: Elias de Andres Martos
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest BC Trek
Elevation: 16,950'
Hello, this is the Everest Base Camp Trek. We are calling from Gorak Shep where we just arrived after a few days since our last post. We are in great shape. We have enjoyed very nice weather and steady pace coming up here where we will stay for the next two to three days. Trying to take some pictures and getting ready for the descent. So far all is good and we are enjoying our time up here. That's all for now.
RMI Guide ElÃas de Andrés-Martos
RMI Guide ElÃas de Andrés-Martos calls in from Gorak Shep.
On The Map
Your posts are great and appreciated. This is one trek I want to do,..and will do. Please keep the posts coming! Have fun and be safe!
Posted by: Deblan on 11/10/2013 at 7:57 pm
November 6, 2013
Posted by: Elias de Andres Martos
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest BC Trek
Elevation: 13,950'
Hello from the "Himalayan Hotel" at Pheriche!
Another incredible day in the Himalayas, dear friends... And we can certainly say now we are going to spend the first night at high altitude, having hiked above the 4,000m benchmark.
After a rather cold night in Pangboche, we were greeted by another cloudless sky, whose sun made us ditch our layers just a few minutes after the start. Headed towards Pheriche Pass, we enjoyed astonishing views of Kantega, Tamserku (two of the most radical 6,000m peaks in the Khumbu,) and of course Ama Dablam. Like on the previous days, the mystique of the landscape is only disturbed by the heavy downhill traffic that we encounter from time to time.
While we await our dinner and as I write this post, we're also getting ready to set up for another session of nocturnal time lapse pictures before the evasive crescent moon we have vanishes.
The plan tomorrow is to rest here, to continue to acclimate taking a short hike, to visit the Himalayan Rescue Hospital next door, and, of course, stay well nourished with the momos and tea that (among other things) make us look forward to every meal.
On a side note, we celebrated on the trails a rendezvous with fellow guide Lakpa Gelu and RMI office staff Bridget Schletty.
Regards to everyone,
RMI Guide ElÃas de Andres Martos
On The Map
Like - more photos.
Posted by: Mary on 11/7/2013 at 7:22 am
November 5, 2013
Posted by: Elias de Andres Martos
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest BC Trek
Elevation: 13,074'
Good evening from Pangboche.
It has been a couple of days since our last post, but electricity and internet have been unreliable above Namche. We arrived today to the village where the trail splits between the Ama Dablam and Everest Base Camps' trails. We came here after a short hike from Deboche, where we arrived yesterday after our rest day at Namche.
The clearing skies we have encountered as we have climbed higher have provided the first great opportunities for time lapse pictures of both sunrise and sunset over Ama and the Everest-Lotse-Nuptse group.
Our plan is to hike up to Pheriche tomorrow where we'll continue to acclimatize taking at least one rest day.
We are on schedule for full moon at Kala Patar. We see lots of down traffic as the season comes to a close but we continue up in pursue of the crisp skies of the early winter for the time lapse pictures we're after.
We'll try to report again from Pheriche. Best regards from the Himalaya!
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
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Elizabeth, Nancy and Liz: Guess it feels “real” now and I’ve got goose bumps looking at you in the picture! Gotta say, this is really cool! Have fun and stay warm! XO, Janet
Posted by: Janet Mendez on 3/23/2014 at 6:21 pm
Looks like you are having fun, enjoy the adventure
Posted by: Audrey O'Brien on 3/23/2014 at 9:19 am
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