Entries from Everest
April 8, 2013
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Seth Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest
Elevation: 17,575'
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
April 7, 2013
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Seth Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest
Elevation: 17,575'
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
April 5, 2013
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Seth Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest
Elevation: 17,575'
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
April 4, 2013
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Seth Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest
Elevation: 16,175'
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
April 2, 2013
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Seth Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest
Elevation: 13,950'
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
April 1, 2013
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Seth Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest
Elevation: 13,950'
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
March 31, 2013
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Seth Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest
Elevation: 12,325'
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
March 30, 2013
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Seth Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest
Elevation: 11,300'
Just ahead of the crack of dawn, we gathered for a pot of coffee and a walk up to the top of the town. From a hill above
Namche we knew we'd have a chance at a million dollar view. Since the hills that form
Namche are pretty much mountains by anybody else's measure, we were breathing good and hard when we reached our destination. It was all worth it though as
Mount Everest was standing out big and beautiful at the head of the valley. A giant, violent and ragged plume of cloud was streaming from the summit. This was our first glimpse of our far off goal. We stood taking pictures in every direction as the mountains around us lit up with fiery first light.
Finally, hunger and the need for more coffee got the best of us and we retreated to the Camp De Base dining room for breakfast.
This was our full-on rest day... Meant to prepare us for a couple of days of travel to greater heights, and so the gang got to choose their own individual programs for how to spend the time. Most combined forays into town for shopping with naps and reading and a few games between meals. Tomorrow we'll move up to
Deboche.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
March 29, 2013
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Seth Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest
Elevation: 11,300'
Tashi Delek! All is well here in
Namche Bazaar. We're having a great time so far on the trek into base camp. This morning we slept in a little bit and had a nice long breakfast. After that we hit the trail for an acclimatization hike to the villages of Khumjung and Kunde.
Khumjung is the home of one of the Hillary schools and kids from all over the area walk there every day to attend class. The villages all looked nice and tidy as the fields have all been freshly tilled and the yaks are all gone up the valley carrying gear for the
expeditions.
We were able to catch a couple of glimpses of Lhotse and Nuptse but
Everest was in the clouds all day. That was OK though as Ama Dablam and Thomserku were out and looking very proud.
The team members are all doing well and are getting progressively more psyched as we head up the valley. Tomorrow we will spend another day in Namche acclimatizing before we move on.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
On The Map
March 28, 2013
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Seth Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest
Elevation: 11,300'
The night in
Phakding, with the river dependably charging past to form perfect "white noise", was conducive to deep sleep. This morning we ate a relaxed breakfast and hit the trail at 8:30 under a light overcast. Travel along the river, through more small farms and villages, was peaceful and easy. Crossing a few long suspension bridges we soon came to the entrance to Sagarmatha National Park, where Lam Babu submitted our permits. A short walk into the park took us to Jorsalle where we ate lunch at the final tea house in town. Then it was across the river again and onward to the Namche Hill where we rapidly gained altitude and shed a little sweat in the process. An hour's hard hiking brought us to the lower end of
Namche Bazaar at just over 11,000 ft. We strolled the narrow "streets" -there are no cars- and made our way to Camp De Base, our home for the next three nights. The afternoon was spent shopping and exploring. We put on a bit more clothing against the cool evening air and met for a great dinner in the communal dining room.
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
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