Mark Tucker here at Everest Base Camp. Wahoo! We have a star and moon lit night staring up at the Khumbu Icefall... It is as beautiful as it gets. We had an extra day we spent there at Gorak Shep. We tackled Kala Patar under some pretty good conditions. Took an extra day so we can really enjoy Base Camp here. We walked into a fantastic set-up as usual. Our [RMI] Operations Manager, Jeff Martin, is amazing. Can't say thanks enough for what he does to put this trip together and the way he slaves here at this altitude, it's just incredible and we just owe a special thank you to Jeff. We are real comfortable and a fantastic meal. Our local cook, Kumar, whipped it out. Showers tomorrow and we'll hopefully go for a nice walk on the end of the glacier, see some Himalayan peaks, and show the team around. Kim and John are doing fantastic... It's been quite a haul to get here... Looking forward for the next phase to continue just the same. We are going to do some good training tomorrow, get all geared up. Work through a few of the bits and pieces that will get us ready for the climb of Island Peak. All's well here and this is no an April Fool's joke so I'm not pulling a fast one on you. We'll be talking to you tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
The days since our last dispatch were packed full of activity as we headed out to climb Island Peak. After saying goodbye to the trekking group, we walked up the Imja Khola Valley to the village of Chukung, a small collection of teahouses sitting between Lhotse, Ama Dablam, and Island Peak. Our teahouse is run by a Sherpani woman and her two daughters and they welcomed us warmly, feeding us a hearty dal bhat (Nepali rice and lentils) which we unanimously agreed is the best to be found in the Khumbu. Before going to sleep we pared down our gear in anticipation of the climb, taking with us just the gear we needed for the climb.
In the morning we left Chukung and made the final walk to the base of Island Peak. A sharp wind blew as we walked, making the morning feel much colder than it was, and we made our way through the dusty and rocky terrain bundled up to stay warm. We reached Base Camp by midday and settled into our tents there, enjoying the warmth of the sun through the tent walls. The wind died off by mid afternoon and we spent a comfortable evening in the tents at Base Camp.
The following morning broke clear but again with a cold wind blowing through camp. We packed up our gear and headed up to High Camp. The trail climbs steeply out of camp, making tight switchbacks up the hillside. The thin alpine grasses covering the ground soon gave away to rocks and boulders as we left the last sparse vegetation behind. High Camp is tucked into the rocks on the mountain side just below 18,000' and the walking between tents required full attention, especially at those altitudes. We spent the rest of the afternoon resting and preparing for the climb. In the early evening the clouds descended over the mountain and left a thin layer of snow covering everything and we went to bed concerned that more snow could abort our summit attempt.
Thankfully the night sky full of stars greeted us when we woke up just before 2am, the climb was on! We forced down a quick breakfast, no easy task at that hour or that elevation, and set off. The first few hours of climbing took us up a series of steep rocky gullies and occasional ledges. The normally tricky walking was magnified by the layer of freshly fallen snow but we made good progress, reaching the toe of the glacier just after sunrise. We strapped on our crampons and climbed up and across the glacier to the base of the headwall below Island Peak's summit. Clipping into the fixed lines there, we climbed our way up the headwall, crossing the bergshcrund and working our way up the steep icy face. The headwall was a mix of smooth ice and ledges several feet apart and it was difficult climbing, especially with no place to pause and catch our breaths. Nevertheless, the team climbed steadily and before long we stood on the ridge leading up the summit. The final hundred feet of climbing took us up a narrow snow ridge, with thousands of feet of exposure on each side, until we reached the top, a small flat area no bigger than the size of a pool table.
The views from the summit were incredible, the ridge between Lhotse and Nuptse rising directly behind us, Makalu visible in the distance, Ama Dablam off to the side, and the entire upper portion of the Khumbu Valley running out below us. After a brief moment to celebrate, we turned our attention to the descent, carefully picking our way down the ridge to the top of the headwall. As we clipped into the ropes to rappel down the headwall the snow once again began to fall and the temperatures dropped, making the rope changes at the end of each rappel section difficult with cold hands. We slowly made our way down the series of five rappels to the foot of the headwall, and then recrossed the glacier back to the rocks. The final portion of the descent was very challenging with the added snow and tired legs but everyone traveled remarkably well, crossing the slick rock slabs and descending the rock steps with sure feet.
We returned back to High Camp in the late afternoon and after a delicious dinner, collapsed into a deep night's sleep. This morning we descended from High Camp back to Chukung where we paused for a lunch of Sherpa Stew (thick vegetable soup) and then continued down the valley to Pangboche, at 12,700'. The change of scenery from the rocks and snow on Island Peak to the fields and juniper trees here in Pangboche is remarkable, we have spent many days up high and being back down at these (relatively) low altitudes feels great. And the warm fire burning here in the teahouse is a true treat. The team climbed incredibly well on Island Peak, doing a great job of navigating the terrain and challenging conditions. We are all feeling good and happy to be heading downhill. We descend to Namche tomorrow and will check in from there.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory
Great report and wonderful pictures. Those are some mighty happy, pretty and tired looking faces!
Posted by: Thurston on 4/2/2012 at 8:28 am
Congrats ALL! I’m sitting here in Cannon Beach, OR watching the Pacific crash into the beach, enjoying my 2nd cup of coffee Linden (I know you have your pot!) & just got caught up on the blog.
I still literally dream (and its been almost a year now) about my summit experience with Linden, Kala Sherpa & team on ImJa Tse—thank goodness for the Sherpa who smoked that cigarette at 20k’ as we were resting in the saddle at the top of the wall—it revived me (don’t smoke, but it was kinda like smelling salts for me & cleared the cobwebs).
Nice touch in staying at High Camp one nite after Summit Day too, as that walk all the way back to ChuKung was tough last year—I vaguely remember stumbling in by the stove & almost falling asleep sitting in my plastic chair.
Enough of me—you all will forever remember this experience & it will be something you continually look back on as a source of inspiration & strength—I PROMSE!
It is truly an amazing Big Blue Ball we all get to live on & experience.
Enjoy the walk out “Into Thick Air!”
BTW—Training going well for Denali Linden—hopefully I’ll be ready. :)
Tim
Today we climbed to the summit Kala Patar. It's a small peak across on the valley from Everest on the lower slopes of Pumori. The views of Everest and the surrounding peaks are stunning from this vista. The team is doing well and we will check in again tomorrow. Hi to everyone back home!
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
MOM! (Lucy)
Congrats on summiting yet again! Phil and I were talking last night about how cool our mom’s are and how proud we are of you!
love you and miss you so much!
- Elise -
Posted by: Elise on 4/1/2012 at 7:29 am
REI - keep up your good health, and climb high. Stay strong, focused, and keep climbing!
Hey RMI. This is Linden Mallory calling from Island Peak High Camp. We touched the top today. We had a pretty phenomenal climb. Everybody made it, 100% success! The morning started out clear. We had beautiful stars as we were climbing. Nice morning sun. And then right as we started down, we had more snow. Keeps snowing pretty consistently since early this afternoon. The afternoon made the descent a little tricky with all that new snow on top of the rock, but the team did well. We handled it without too many problems and now we are looking forward to heading downhill tomorrow. We will be down lower in the valley tomorrow and will try and send out some photos and a written account. So that's the news. We're all really happy about the climb and happy to be down. And looking forward to getting out of here. Take care.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory
You ladies are truly amazing (you too, Linden)! We are so proud to say that we are pals of such mountain climbing rock stars. Now come on home safely. We can’t wait to hear the tales of adventure in person.
Posted by: Hugh on 4/1/2012 at 6:26 am
You ladies totally rock. It was so exciting to read the news from Linden. What a great accomplishment for all of you and perhaps most especially Linden! Can’t wait to see you and hear tales of this great adventure. Safe travels home.
Hey RMI, this is Linden Mallory calling from Island Peak High Camp. Just over 17,600' or so. We moved up here this morning and got settled in. Our weather this morning is a little breezy but not clouds. This afternoon some clouds rolled in. A little bit of new snow but it appears to be letting up. We are just about to have dinner and headed off to bed. Planning on going for the summit tomorrow. It appears that the new snow should not be much of an issue. We are looking forward to it. Everyone's feeling great. The altitude is treating us well. We're just keeping our fingers crossed and keeping warm and dry. We'll check in tomorrow and let you know how the climb goes. Take care.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory
Linden Mallory checks in from Island Peak High Camp.
Hey Laura Wright. I am so inspired by you and all of the ladies with you. It is such a thrill to follow your travels on this blog and see how you are living large. Come home soon for some badminton at the river. ha ha I can’t wait to hear all of your stories and pray for a safe return for you all. Love, Ann
The body is following the mind at this point.
Given the option, our bodies would be back at Phag Ding, by the river breathing that thick 9,000' air. Lounging under a nice tree ,eating fresh fruit. We are now at that altitude that makes you realize we do not belong here. For years now the draw of this barren space of rock, snow, ice and thin air has attracted many a soul. A heart with a bit of wander lust, a will to put up with moments of uncertainty and discomfort have always been a prerequisite for travelers abroad. This is definitely the case trekking in the Himalaya: but the rewards are worth the effort! A special place this is indeed and sharing it with such a diverse group of fellow hikers is a blast. I count four different languages spoken here in our tea house in the last five minutes. So nice to see the world getting along, take the geo-politics out of the loop and we aren't that different. The trail is ultimately a rope that binds us together. We really are a small world. And are team is so thankful and happy to be so lucky to be here. --RMI Guide Mark Tucker
From Kim: The word Sherpa actually means "east people." These people have worked as porters in the Himalayas since the 1900's. Today I would like to introduce you to a member of our team who has not been previously mentioned. We have a Sherpa guide traveling with us and two Sherpa porters carrying our things. Our Sherpa guide is named Pemba. Pemba usually hangs back behind the last person in the group to assure that we are always safe and supported. On this trek, Pemba has acted as a guide, concierge, geography expert, translator, waiter,and sometimes even our bus boy in the teahouses. A man of few words, when he speaks he usually has something important to say. Pemba's parents died when he was five years old. He had to quit school to work when he was 15. He was initially a porter and eventually worked his way up to being a guide. Pemba is now 33 years old. He has a wife and a 12-year-old daughter. He lives near Lukla and is away from his family often during the spring and fall as he guides people into the mountains. During the monsoon season, Pemba is a farmer. He and his family grow all kinds of vegetables including cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, corn, and potatoes. They sell them in Lukla and Namche Bazaar. We are grateful to Pemba for all that he is doing to help us on this journey.
John here: It looks like today is another team effort on the blog. It's not a bad approach either as we all seem to take different things away from our day.
Today I had my first craving for some of the creature comforts of home. The first being pizza from Fondi. The food here is pretty good but does lack diversity. It's super high in carbs, which is what we need here to keep our energy high and bodies warm - but boy, a nice Margherita pizza would be yummy. The craving was the ability to sleep sprawled out. Our sleeping bags are warm and comfortable; but they are called mummy bags for a reason...
We heard that April 11th was the day of the Everest Ultra-Marathon. I think it's a 65km course between Base Camp and Lukla. The notion of running on these trails for any distance seems a bit mad - but 65km. The drop in elevation from 17,250' to 9,330' may be the first prize. Sadly, we leave Lukla that day, so we probably won't be able to experience any of it.
Finally, we spent the majority of today hiking along the Khumbu Glacier. The size of the the lateral moraine was impressive to say the least. It's amazing what nature can achieve given a few hundred years. As we rolled into Gorak Shep we got our first glimpse of the tail-end of the ice fall. Even only seeing a small part of it at a distance it looked imposing.
We had a great hike up here to Lobuche. Everyone's doing well and we're all excited to be here. Moving up to up to Gorak Shep tomorrow. Hope we will be able to send a dispatch out via iPad. So, sign off for now and wishing everybody the best.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Hey RMI, this is Linden Mallory calling from Island Peak Base Camp. We left Chukung and walked up to the head of Imja Khola Valley right at the base of Island Peak here. Surrounded by Ama Dablam, Lhotse, Nuptse, it's a pretty incredible place. Got in midday. We had a little bit of wind and a very, very trace amounts of new snow that came in late afternoon but they are clearing up right now as I call. And we are doing well. Bit chilly up here but otherwise everything is stellar. We move up to high camp tomorrow in midday in preparations of our summit bid tomorrow night. So we will check in from high camp. Hope everyone is doing well and we'll talk to you soon. Thanks.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory
Very impressive. I’ve been telling everyone at Princeton about your progress, and they all think that you are so cool. Elise and I were hanging out last, and we decided that we must have the toughest, most adventurous moms in the world. Good luck with the summit tonight.
Ireland was great. We trained with coaches from the professional team in Galway, and everyone improved as players. We went 1-1 in our games. We won against a team of men who were about your age. Their fly half was, in his prime, the fly half for the Irish national team. But he was no match for the young Americans. The young Irish, on the other hand, did just fine against us. It was a close match, but their skills were much better than ours.
It was fun to go back to some of the same sights that we went to eight years ago now. We went to the Cliffs of Moher, and the burren. I built up enough courage to sit on the edge of the cliffs with my legs hanging over. It’s nothing compared to the heights that you’re reaching, but it was my own little Everest experience in Ireland. And I read my Lenten Confessional every day.
I love you, Mom. I’m proud of you. I wish I could be there.
Hello!
I finally get another chance to get a word or two in. Today was a rest day and we tried to do just that. . . rest as much as we could. We did a short hike in the morning that took us to the ridge line above us. There we could see three of the 8,000 meter peaks: Makalu, Cho Oyo, and Lotse. We also saw our first glimpse of Island Peak. It looks very steep, high, and cold.
Our hike took us to 14,500ft, which is higher than any peak in the continental United States. So, it was an exciting moment for us.
Later in the day we attended an information session presented by the Himalayan rescue association on the effects of altitude on the body. Besides learning about AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness), HACE (High Altitude Cerebral Edema) and HAPE (High Altitude Pulmonary Edema), we learned about HAFE (High Altitude Flatulence Expulsion). The latter one is very real to us as John has been suffering from it for days. Actually, I have been doing the suffering since I have been walking behind him on the trail.
John claims the food is to blame for his HAFE. So, I will share a bit about our eating experiences thus far. The tea-houses offer a similar menu for the most part. For lunch or dinner, the typical choices are some sort of rice (fried, steamed, or curry), some sort of noodles ( fried or with a tomato sauce), some sort of potatoes (boiled or fried), soup, or dal baht. Dal baht is a Nepalese meal of rice and a sort of lentil soup that is poured over the rice. It appears that the Sherpas traveling with us eat dal baht at every meal. Occasionally, the tea-house will have chicken. When that is the case, we order a special treat called chicken chile. It is a spicy chicken dish that is delicious. All of the food is very good, but the menu lacks diversity. The dessert is especially interesting and I have come to like it very much. They offer Snickers or Mars pie, which is just a deep fried Snickers or Mars (Milky Way) candy bar. Sometimes they also have a deep-fried Bounty (Mounds), which is my favorite. Mmmm, delicious. --Kim
P.S. A big shout-out to Mrs. Hartman's 3-5 classroom.
Hello from Mrs. Hartman’s class!! We miss you but are excited to read your blog!! How high is Island Peak? Ranish wants to know if you like the curry. Are you staying warm? Are you having fun or wish you were back home? Is it really snowy where you are now or is there ice there? Are the yaks carrying your bag? Have you been wearing your harness or using your ice axe yet? Please keep us posted about how you are doing. We think your pictures are awesome! Are you staying well? We are thinking of you! Love, Mrs. Hartman’s class
Posted by: Lori Hartman's class on 3/28/2012 at 2:40 pm
Hello from Ms. Jerome’s 4/5 science class. WE miss you Ms. C. We have some questions for you.
How high are you? How are you feeling?
Which is higher Everest Base Camp or Island Peak?
How many tea house have you been too? What is your favorite dish to eat for dinner and lunch?
WE think you totally rock! Keep going!
Over and out! Ms. Jerome’s 4/5 class. xoxoxo
Hey RMI, this is Linden Mallory calling from Chukung in the Imja Khola Valley, it’s a side valley off of the main Khumbu Valley. In the last days before Island Peak, part of the group headed off back down to Namche today and four of us are headed up towards Island Peak. We’ll be heading into Base Camp tomorrow to begin the climb. Everybody is doing well; the weather has been nice so far and we’re keeping our fingers crossed that it stays that way. We’ll check in with you again at Base Camp. Take care.
We are anxious to hear how things are going. So you summit Saturday, which means Friday night Nepal, which means Friday day EST. I’m confused and I’m at sea level.
Keep the Sat phone updates coming Linden
Posted by: john barsanti on 3/29/2012 at 9:14 am
Thanks for the update. We are going through withdrawal without our daily blog feeds from Linden and Dana Marie. Take care and keep looking upward.
So happy to see you made it to Base Camp. I just know you have smiles that shine for miles. Keep up the good pace and stay safe…Love you both
Posted by: Kerry Munroe on 4/2/2012 at 3:12 pm
Hey… take some pictures of the moon! Good to hear made it to base camp. Next week will get all caught at school.
Hi to Kim and John!
Posted by: Pamela on 4/1/2012 at 11:41 pm
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