Entries By dave hahn
Seth here at Everest Basecamp. It seems like the weather has fallen into a pattern of windy one day, calm the next. Yesterday we had high winds and a few inches of snow. Today when we awoke it was calm and sunny. We took to the glacier in the morning to practice crossing ladders in preparation for heading through the Khumbu Icefall. Crossing a ladder is definitely not the hardest thing we'll do on this trip but mentally it can be challenging to stand over a 100+ foot deep crevasse. That's why we practice down low before entering the Icefall.
The practice session went well and now that we're comfortable with the component of tackling the Icefall, it shouldn't be more than a few days before we head up to Camp 1.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
The storm that seemed to be coming in yesterday afternoon got here. The morning wasn't actually all that bad. Just a bit breezy and overcast, but it was obvious that up high it was hitting a lot harder. For all of that, though, it didn't hold our team back. Lam Babu and the Sherpa team (Cherring, Kaji, Gyaljen, and Uberaj) were out in the dark, walking just after 4 AM bound for Camp One. The first carry went well and the boys established camp at close to 20,000 ft, reporting not much in the way of difficulties with the Khumbu Icefall (in truth though, our guys rarely report much in the way of difficulties).
Not willing to be totally sedentary while the Sherpas were setting such a fine example, the rest of us set off on a hike to Pumori Camp One. We figure that camp sits at about 18,600 ft, so it is perfect for getting in a workout and getting a little time up high without exposing ourselves to hazard. We even got some great views of the black pyramid-top of Mount Everest fighting it out with monster storm clouds. The West Ridge was taking on its ten millionth storm, splitting wind and clouds with its jagged rock prow. As we got a bit higher, scrambling our way up a rocky trail, we were treated to views of both the North Col (23,000 ft in Tibet) and the South Col (26,000 ft in Nepal). We were able to see all the mountains we'd trekked through to get to Everest, and closer to home it was humbling to look at the giant hanging glaciers of Pumori and Nuptse, up close and personal. We didn't spend too long at Camp One, before dropping back down and joining the trekker traffic again on the main trail to Basecamp. We were well motivated by Chef Kumar's lunch scheduled for 1:30 PM. As we got in the tent for lunch, it began snowing outside and so we mostly just huddled up and slept, read and played games for the afternoon. Such is expedition life at the moment. We are getting stronger each day now... We hope.
Several days ago a tragedy occurred as one of the "Icefall Doctors" suffered a crevasse fall and died close to Camp One on Everest. We were very much aware of this sad circumstance at the time, but chose not to break such news on the blog. Obviously it wasn't our news to break and we didn't want to get ahead of word reaching family and loved ones through proper channels. But it is time to acknowledge the loss of one devoted climber and of the selflessness of our own Sherpa team, who played a key role in the rescue effort. Chherring Dorje flew by helicopter to the scene and managed the retrieval while Lam Babu conducted things from the heli-pad at Everest Basecamp. Although there was a sad outcome, I was extremely proud that our partners were able to offer help to the Icefall Docs, whom we admire very much. This small team of about a half dozen men are hired by the National Park to establish and maintain the route through the Khumbu Icefall. It is physically demanding and dangerous work. The docs do an incredible job each year, and the same men come out year after year. They never boast or seek recognition... They aren't rewarded by being able to tag the summit and run up their "count" on the mountain, and they are paid modestly. Mingma was from the village of Dingboche and leaves a wife and several daughters. Of course many of us will try to help out with donations... Mingma was working on our behalf... but there is no getting around the reality: this dangerous work has once again taken the ultimate toll.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Thank you for sharing your updates. Sorry about your loss. You do such a great job at giving credit where credit is due. Such a humbling experience for all involved. It is great to hear about your progress and sad to hear about the loss. Prayers and well wishes to your team and all who are climbing. Be safe.
Rachael. ABQ Uptown #985 NM/CO/AZ
Posted by: Rachael C. Lujan on 4/11/2013 at 9:19 am
Here’s an inspirational quote for Dan Johnson and his team
- your friend Jake
“To those who have struggled with them, the mountains reveal beauties that they will not disclose to those who make no effort. That is the reward the mountains give to effort. And it is because they have so much to give and give it so lavishly to those who will wrestle with them that men love the mountains and go back to them again and again. The mountains reserve their choice gifts for those who stand upon their summits”
Sir Francis Younghusband
Posted by: Jake Luft on 4/11/2013 at 9:06 am
This morning, feeling rested, refreshed and blessed by our Puja... We set out for a "hike" in the lower reaches of the Khumbu Icefall. Each of us felt excited to finally be geared up and clawing our way over minor ice obstacles, not to mention stepping over crevasses once again. Seems like we've been on a lot of pretty trails lately, but today it was good to be climbing, even if for just a warm up. We went up about an hour, the consensus was that we'd reached close to 18,000 ft, but we stopped just before the "popcorn" section of the Icefall where the risk ramps up a bit. Back down to camp we came, stopping off for a cyber break, of course, in a safe place where we were finding the all-important 3G signal out of Gorak Shep for our smartphones.
Lunch was perfect as usual, but the afternoon weather had us mostly hiding in tents, reading and napping. We can hear big wind above and the sky is now fully clouded and turbulent.
Best regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Mark, the market is responding well to your climb. It might even surpass you. May both entities, animate and inanimate continue their upward trend !
PS We watch the pictures carefully. You are eating better than we are.
Posted by: Sally Stein on 4/10/2013 at 8:19 am
This day had auspicious written all over it. Our Sirdar Lam Babu consulted the Tibetan calendar and made a few calls. This was the day for our Puja ceremony. A lama was brought up from Pangboche and our Puja alter was made ready. Today was the day for the entire team to get together for a Buddhist ceremony asking the gods to look favorably on our expedition. The Pangboche lama was actually pretty busy as several other teams were similarly in need of blessing. The drums started beating and the cymbals started clashing for ours just after lunch on another big blue sky day. A number of Sherpas from neighboring teams joined us in our celebration. There were chants and prayers and various offerings of juniper smoke, food and drink. There were a number of things tossed into the sky and onto each other, principally rice and tsampa (barley flour) and a little chiang -a lightly fermented homemade rice wine with bits of orange. The climax of the ceremony begins with the Puja mast going up with strings of brightly colored prayer flags going out in all directions from it. Finally we all stand and toast each other, shake hands and ask each other to be careful on this climbing trip.
The birds certainly enjoy the day as a whole flock of black Himalayan Chuffs (a little smaller than a crow) descend to get the spare offerings. We also enjoyed watching smaller sparrow and finch types joining in the festivities.
Most retired to the tents for a post puja nap for the remainder of the afternoon. Tomorrow we will put the spikes on and go for a walk on the glacier. Slowly but surely, out bodies are catching up to this altitude and soon we'll be ready for some hard climbing.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
James, I look forward to your triumphant summit. The mountain will let you know if she is ready. I know you are. I wish I could be there to support you as you have supported and encouraged me on climbs in the past. Cheers my friend !!!
Posted by: Ray Brown on 4/9/2013 at 7:30 am
Our second night at the extreme altitude of Everest Basecamp went well. We are getting used to the thunder of avalanches off the surrounding peaks and the intense cold of morning before the sun finds us in the bottom of this deep valley. We worked a bit in the morning on getting our gear dialed for climbing. The afternoon was spent in taking a mellow hike out on the glacier close to basecamp. At one point we spotted three intrepid white geese cruising North at about 25,000 ft. We were also keeping our eyes peeled for artifacts on the ice. Yesterday James and Seth each found crampons from 1962 (as evidenced by the 1962 Indian newspaper I found with them) More teams are arriving each day now, but we are still enjoying having basecamp a little quieter than normal.
We look forward to our Puja ceremony tomorrow morning wherein we ask the blessing of the mountain gods before taking on the big hill.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Blessings your way. Good luck.
ABQ Uptown #985
Posted by: Rachael C. Lujan on 4/7/2013 at 6:16 pm
The picture of Seth with the rock is a good example of glacier recession. A lot of ice has disappeared.
-Larry Seaton
Posted by: Larry Seaton on 4/7/2013 at 10:17 am
Yesterday we walked without any great difficulty from Lobuche to Everest Basecamp. Conditions were perfect, with sunshine, blue sky and no wind whatsoever. We stopped for a brief rest in Gorak Shep where we were all grateful for 3G cell coverage again (Lobuche is lacking in this respect which is why we took a couple of nights off from blogging). But we didn't linger for very long in Gorak Shep because by then we were just a short distance from our home for the next seven weeks and we were excited to finish the trek. We walked a bit more along the lateral moraine before dropping onto the actual Khumbu Glacier. By then, the only thing difficult about the travel (apart from being over 17,000 ft) was walking while looking up at a couple dozen hanging glaciers and giant peaks. We were into our basecamp by midday and eating a great lunch in our dining tent 30 minutes later. It was great to catch up with our Sherpa team and mind boggling to see the work they've accomplished in two weeks. Kumar is our incomparable chef once again, assisted by Raju, Jetta and Tikaram. Our expert team of Sherpa guides is of course led by Lam Babu who did such a great job accompanying us on the trek. In the meantime, Chhering, Kaji and Geljen were moving a lot of rock around to build camp. We just had to move into well built and anchored tents, which was pretty easy. We were excited to watch a big avalanche off the Lho La -the pass above us which is the border with Tibet. And we were happy to spend an easy afternoon and evening getting settled. The night went well, with all seeming to be adjusting well to the altitude. Morning in such a place was just as awe inspiring as you'd expect.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Awe inspiring pictures Dave! Do y’all take altitude pills or does everyone just have great lungs?
Posted by: Mary on 4/6/2013 at 4:08 pm
Is this the James Fitch team?
Posted by: John Mack on 4/6/2013 at 1:54 pm
Back in Internet range today. We spent the last two days in Lobuche at a little over 16,000 ft. We had an easy day yesterday, taking a short but scenic walk along the moraine of the Khumbu Glacier and touring the Italian research pyramid a few minutes from Lobuche. Today we are moving to Everest Base Camp. It is a stunningly beautiful day as we sit at our halfway point in Gorak Shep.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
The pics are fantastic! Great progress Mark and team. XO
Posted by: karen sauder on 4/5/2013 at 10:11 am
We deserved a leisurely start to our rest/acclimatization day in Pheriche. So we dragged feet and drank coffee until 9 AM before heading outside. The morning weather could best be described as "splitter". As in, it was perfectly blue sky and ultra clear air. We were looking for light activity at altitude to enhance our acclimatization. Right out the back door of the lodge there happens to be a hill that is perfect for such activity. Up we went with a plan to be back by lunch. Immediately we had a view of Cho Oyu, the sixth highest mountain in the world. That compensated us for the loss of Everest, which we can no longer see. Before long we were seeing the craggy summit of Makalu, fifth highest, and we'd regained a view of Lhotse (#4). We bumped into a number of other teams that we've come to know on our little trek circuit, each out for the views and the exercise. Those views only got more incredible as we worked our way up the giant stairmaster to about 16,500 ft above sea level... 2,500 feet above our lodge. We were being circled by eagles and cooled by breezes so we couldn't stay too long to enjoy the view... Lunch and an easy afternoon were calling. The team trooped to the nearby Himalayan Rescue Association (HRA) clinic to receive a great lecture by one of the docs on altitude and common trekker illnesses but spent the rest of the day napping, gaming and chatting.
Tomorrow we hope to push on to Lobuche.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
such beautiful mountains!
Posted by: michelle on 4/2/2013 at 5:20 pm
Two inches of sparkling white snow fell on Deboche last night. By morning whatever clouds had deposited the snow were long gone and blue skies prevailed. We ate breakfast while staring out the windows at massive plumes ripping off the summits of Everest and Lhotse. The team hit the trail by a few minutes after 8 AM and made easy progress through the snow coated rhododendron forest. In a short time, we crossed the river to the sunny side of the valley and made our way up to Pangboche and the home of Lama Geishi. He'd graciously consented to bestowing a blessing on the team. Revered by all in the Khumbu region, 80 year old Lama Geishi greets one and all with a smile and a special head butt while tying a sacred knotted string around each visitor's neck. He let us know that he was asking Chomolungma -the mother goddess of the earth- also known as Mt. Everest, to allow our climb to her summit.
We thanked Lama Geishi and resumed our hike, stopping in Shomare for a lunch while gazing up at Ama Dablam's impossibly steep flanks. Then it was just a short and quiet thousand vertical feet of climbing and we were walking into Pheriche and our tea house for the next two nights. The lodge is packed to capacity tonight with about six or seven teams of trekkers and climbers. In the evening we were happy to meet up with Mark Tucker bringing his team down valley. After he goes for Island Peak we will eagerly await his arrival in Basecamp as our teammate on the Everest Climb. Tuck will once again be basecamp manager and Khumbu Glacier mayor.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Great hearing about the venture. Good luck. Looking forward to photos and hearing about your ventures. Be safe. ABQ Uptown #985
Posted by: Rachael C. Lujan on 4/2/2013 at 9:43 am
I look forward to reading and looking at photos of your amazing adventure. Good luck team. “Mayor” Tucker is a great title. I can just see Mark holding a “town” meeting and getting the good citizens of basecamp rolling.
Posted by: Stephani on 4/1/2013 at 11:57 am
Vacation in Namche was great, today it was back to business. We were out of the comfortable Camp de Base by a little after 8 AM and walking up the steep hills out of town under perfectly clear skies. A couple of turns of the trail brought the dependably spectacular view of Everest, Lhotse and Ama Dablam. We seemed to be out ahead of most other trekking/climbing groups and so we enjoyed a relatively quiet walk on the trail. Much of the day was spent walking in the shade of pine forests. By midday we'd reached our lunch stop at Phunkytanga (funkytown, as we all call it) and so we sat for an hour or so before beginning the big hill up to Thyangboche Monastery. We took just an hour to switchback our way up 1,600 ft of vertical. The work was made a little easier by the cloud cover that had moved in and some gentle breezes which kept us cool. We enjoyed the view of the great castle-like Monastery on top of the hill, but we didn't stay up there long with weather obviously moving in. We hopped five hundred feet down the other side of the hill through thick Rhododendron forests to Deboche and our teahouse for the night.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Way to Go “Dan-Chuk” !! We’ll be following your progress !
Posted by: Tom Bordignon on 4/3/2013 at 2:23 pm
Danno! Hi from Toronto. Keeping an eye on your progress. Remember: heels down + ass out. Stay safe. E
Posted by: Erick on 4/3/2013 at 12:29 pm
Yeah team!!!
Posted by: Mary Peer on 4/11/2013 at 2:34 pm
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