Entries from Everest
Our team arrived at Everest Basecamp today around 1 p.m. They left Lobuche this morning on the last leg of their trek. The tents were set up and ready for their arrival. The team spent the afternoon getting moved into their tents, their homes for the next several weeks.
After organizing their gear and getting their barrings around Basecamp, we enjoyed a nice team dinner and everyone has headed to their tents for the first night in their new "home away from home".
The team is resting and acclimatizing in Lobuche today. They took an acclimazation hike and are enjoying their last night in the tea house before reaching Everest Basecamp tomorrow afternoon.
The RMI Island Peak climbers trekked back down through Lobuche today on their way from Everest Basecamp. They enjoyed afternoon tea with our climbing group before continuing down valley. It was nice to see some familiar faces and chat with them about their time at Everest Basecamp.
Mark Tucker and I arrived at Everest Basecamp yesterday to help organize the gear and loads that have been arriving here. We are working on the communication tent so the group will be able to send dispatches and emails once they arrive. Our Sherpa team and Basecamp Staff have been working extremely hard to get our area of Basecamp established and things are looking good and we are ready for the team's arrival.
We are looking forward to seeing the RMI Everest Climbing Team arrive at Everest Basecamp tomorrow.
Hi all,
We woke to another beautiful day in the Khumbu. Crystal clear skies and surrounded by magnificent mountains, including Ama Dablam in the morning light. What a sight!
It was our second night in Deboche, and the group is doing really well. After breakfast we started hiking along the Imja River, following its banks until the valley walls narrowed and we began the climb up to Pangboche. Pangboche is a small village, but a very important stop on our trek to Basecamp. It is here that the Lama Geshe gives his blessing for a safe expedition. Each climber receives a "kata" and blessing card and this is followed by his blessing. The tradition is for the climbers to take a picture holding the blessing card while on top of Everest and then mail it back to him. One whole wall is covered with pictures of climbers, spanning many years. To take part in this ceremony is an honor and gives valuable insight into the Sherpa culture.
After leaving Lama Geshe's house, it was a short walk to the oldest monastery in the Khumbu. Though simple and basic, it has been standing for over 400 years!
Still traversing above the Imja River, the valley opened up and a junction in the trail marked the way to Pheriche. We are now all settled in for the afternoon at our tea house. Some are reading and playing chess and the rest of the team is playing Texas Hold'em. Tucker has been cleaning up the last few nights with the card games, but he is about to run out of luck...
Good Friday to one and all.
A beautiful sunny rest day here in Deboche with just a bit of wind. The team has been doing some short hikes to near by ridges and the Tengboche Monastery. Views of Everest show its not the day to be on top with winds creating a plume off the summit that streches for miles.
\
Tomorrow we move up from 12,300' to Pheriche at just over 14,000'. Which in this part of the world means good by to trees. By the time we get to basecamp not even a bush will be present. I look forward to eight weeks from now when we return to this beautiful forest, but can't wait to get to the base of the Khumbu Icefall and spend time on the glacier.
Wishing you a Happy Easter!
Today we awoke to a blue bird sky and prepared for another day of trekking. After three nights at Namche Bazar (11,300 ft.), the team was feeling good and it was time to continue on towards Basecamp. As we hiked above Namche and wrapped around the hill side, the major peaks came into view. With the clear skies, we had magnificent views of Ama Dablam, Everest, Nuptse and Lhotse. The hiking was great and I was amazed at how well maintained the trails were. We passed many locals working on breaking rocks and stacking them into place, creating the feeling of cobblestone streets in many places. As we continued on the trail we eventually dropped down into the valley floor where we stopped and had lunch in Phungi Thanga (10,662 ft.) which Dave Hahn jovially refers to as "Funky Town"! After yet another gluttonous meal in the sunshine watching yaks, porters and trekkers go by, we decided it was time for us to continue on as well. After a river crossing on a swinging wooded style bridge, we slowly made our way uphill to Tengboche where the Tengboche Monastery is located. After resting and drinking Fanta's, Coke and water (with some making a quick dash to the local bakery for chocolate cake!), we hiked a short distance downhill thru a Rhododendron forest to arrive in Deboche (12,533 ft.). Now in Deboche, we are staying at the Ama Dablam Garden Lodge where we will spend two nights. Once again, things have gone smoothly and everyone is having a good time and staying in good health.
Namaste everyone,
Today was our third and final day in wonderful Namche Bazaar. We had an early breakfast and headed out the door for a hike that was part exploring and part acclimatization. The weather was calm and clear and allowed us some of our first views of Everest and other Himalayan giants. It was breathtaking to say the least. Even though Mt. Everest is still miles away it looks really BIG! We climbed up to somewhere around 12,000' so that's only 17,035' more to go.
Our adventure took us to two villages called Khunde and Khumjung. Khumjung is famous from Sir Edmond Hillary having built one of the first schools in the Khumbu Valley and their delicious bakery. Along the way we stopped off at the Everest View Hotel and had a quick drink and enjoyed the view the hotel is famous for.
Everyone is doing great and we are looking forward to moving further up the Khumbu Valley.
Hi, this is Seth writing you from the Everest Bakery and Cyber Cafe in Namche Bazaar. It's a beautiful day in the Khumbu.
Our schedule calls for a rest day today in order to allow our bodies to adjust to the altitude here. It's kind of strange to have to acclimatize to a location that is a fully functioning town. But a slow and steady approach to basecamp is necessary to keep us healthy for the upcoming climb.
Namche is a beautiful village located in a high amphitheater surrounded by craggy peaks. The town is bustling with trekkers from all over the globe which give it a very cosmopolitan feel. It's the Sherpa capital and it's cool to see all of the guys moving through town on their way to basecamp. It must be climbing season.
The team is doing well and everyone is enjoying the trek so far. A few of us were able to get a glimpse of Everest this morning, which was great. It's as big as I remember!
Tomorrow we are taking a day hike to the village of Kumjung and hopefully we'll be able to get views of Ama Dablam, Nuptse, Lhotse and of course Everest.
We seem to be repeating ourselves here in the Khumbu, saying "that couldn't have gone any smoother" over and over. Sure enough we got out of Katmandu right on schedule yesterday morning with an easy flight in a Dornier 228 twin engine prop plane. We all survived the uphill landing in Lukla, had a fine breakfast there and then hit the trail at around 8 AM. There are twelve of us at the moment, plus Raju and Lama Babu (our climbing sirdar). We'll be joined any day now by climber Michael Brown, but for the moment, there are four climbers, four guides, two trekkers and two team managers and everybody is walking well. The gang walked just fine on somewhat crowded trails yesterday, through farms and small villages to Phak Ding. There we moved into Jo's Garden, a traditional "tea house", for the night. It is a peaceful place, with the Dudh Khosi -a river of constant whitewater- flowing furiously past and erasing all other sound. For many of us, the night was our first of full sleep in what seemed like a week -what with the hectic packing, repacking, flying, packing, more flying, early starting and jet-lagging. Today all seemed to be in good moods and good health and so we joined the busy trail again for the walk upriver. By late morning, we'd entered the National Park and found a nice outside table at a cafe for lunch. A few plates of rice and potatoes later and we got back into the walking. We tackled the notorious Namche Hill and cruised past about a hundred trekkers, porters and pack animals all grinding up in low gear. Conditions were just perfect for gaining about 2000 vertical feet since the ample cloud cover and a few gentle breezes kept the heat tolerable. But the clouds did rob us of what could have been a first view of Everest from the trail. No matter, we'll see it soon enough. The team is tucked in at Camp De Base, a fine lodge in Namche, the "Sherpa Capital" as everyone calls it. We'll spend three nights here, trying to get used to the big jump in altitude (we are up around 11,500 ft now) and enjoying the shopping, communications and social opportunities of this bustling and spectacularly placed town. Tonight, since it will be the first at true altitude, we won't be able to drink much alchohol... but if we could, we'd be toasting Mark Tucker's mom, who turned eighty back in California. Happy Birthday from the RMI Everest 2010 team!
What a difference a day or two can make. The team walked out of Namche and down through the farms and fields of Phak Ding the other morning. In short order, we'd gone from snow, ice and rock to wheat, barley and happy little kids in school uniforms crowding the trails. Erica Dohring and I took the standard six hours to cover the walk from Namche to Lukla under mostly cloudy skies. Compared to the Lhotse Face or the Khumbu Icefall, the stroll to Lukla is not terribly difficult...but sure enough, it ends with uphill just when most tired Everest enthusiasts would prefer for it to be downhill. Through good luck, we didn't get a downpour until we were in the Lukla suburbs and heading for the inn. Our gang was assembled in a spacious and warm dining room, already shuffling cards and drinking tea and settling in for the "airstrip hang" that begins and ends so many of the climbs we frequent. That is the point at which you've done all that you can do with your legs and it is now up to weather and pilots to figure out the rest. I believe our team was ready for the hang to take days since the post-cyclone pattern seemed a lot like pre-monsoon already (translation: clouds giving way to clouds) Pilots in these mountainous regions are known to favor visibility and smart passengers don't quibble with that preference.
We wiled away the afternoon, looking out on the rainy strip of tarmac without much angst over schedules...it being our belief that the team duffels were still buried in basecamp snowbanks anyway and that onward travel without some change in that status was going to be limited. Lam Babu burst the duffel-induced-lassitude around dinner when he announced that he'd received word from Tendi that all of the loads had actually left basecamp as of that very afternoon. We went to sleep in Lukla once more believing that it was possible to get a little lucky on weather. And sure enough, yesterday morning came around sparkly and clear...so much so that during breakfast we watched four planes buzz in and out on the tilted strip. Lukla airport is something similar to a sinking aircraft carrier. There is just room enough for a short-takeoff-and-landing plane to touch down at the lowest end at full speed, flying upward...reverse prop pitch in a rush of air and noise... Jam down the speed to nothing and then quickly taxi into a little corner at the top of the apron so as to get the heck out of the way of the next plane. The aircraft tend to land and takeoff in waves of three and four at a time, every two hours or so (allowing a Katmandu roundtrip) and our scheduled flight was to be part of the second round. Clouds showed up and gathered on the peaks and began to fill the valleys...but not enough to spoil our day. Our flight went off without a hitch or a hiccup and by 11 AM we were checking into hotels in big and dusty Katmandu.
Haircuts, shaves, neck massages, showers, internet, taxi-rides, telephones, televisions...it all came flooding back, just like that. At least a version of it all came back...Katmandu amenities are not exactly the modern comforts that we are spoiled with at home, but they are very welcome, none-the-less. We won't actually head for the international airports without the aforementioned duffels and those -we hope- are on animal backs approaching the Lukla outskirts right now...but then they are subject to the same delays as people (cargo planes don't do any better in mountain-filled clouds) In any case, we expect to be on bigger (less weather-dependent) airplanes in a few days time, winging it over the Pacific. The climb is over. The team still has a few fun get-togethers, including a big dinner with the Sherpa staff this evening, but for the most part now, we go back to being on our own.
There is souvenir shopping and tourism (yesterday happened to be the 56th anniversary of Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary's summit...there were festivities and observances), but then there is also just plain easy hotel lounging. We've all got tons of catching up to do on current events and email. Personally I don't mind the slow pace of waiting for duffels...it isn't simply that the past 10 weeks of Everest climbing were hectic and charged with danger and the fear of failure, it is usually the 10 weeks before that as well, when Everest hangs in the future and must be constantly and vigorously prepared for. By contrast, this after-Everest-and-before-home-limbo-period is quiet and slow-paced. The monkey is off the back for a little while...the rat has been fed, etc. etc.
It may be time to go back and read up on the Everest experiences of the teams that surrounded us for the past season...or to peruse even our own accounts (now that it all can be put in some perspective). Such study and reflection may give us closure...-or possibly aggravation- one never knows...but it will be time to wrap up our thoughts on Everest 2009 in any case. We've all got other mountains -of one sort or another- to climb in the near future.
My hope is that in sharing our trip via text, photos and video, we've given an honest and entertaining glimpse of a place and experience that enthralls us. Having accomplished our personal goals of challenging a big, dangerous and magnificent mountain while keeping safe and coming down as friends, I also hope that we've succeeded in our "business" of demonstrating conclusively that Eddie Bauer is back in the expedition game... to stay.
Thanks very much for following the trip through to its end and for the many thoughtful and friendly comments that have been passed our way.
The cyclone pushed us out of Everest Basecamp. Early yesterday morning, it tried to crush us in our tents. Heavy, wet snow was falling at the rate of perhaps three inches per hour. Everything was getting buried fast... tents, yaks, climbing gear. It was tough to tell just how much accumulation there was since the ground is so uneven to begin with at BC, but it was common to be thigh deep while attempting to get from one tent to another. We'd eaten breakfast in our comfy dining tent, insulated from the storm, when Lam Babu suggested (politely) that we think of leaving. It was becoming impossible to maintain the camp in the continuing storm and it didn't seem farfetched that we'd soon reach a depth of snow in which we could no longer walk to escape down-valley.
Each team member went back to his or her soggy tent for a rushed packing effort. It definitely wasn't an optimal way for leaving the mountain. Ideally one would like to have everything dry before it gets stuffed and duffled for a trip to Kathmandu. Ideally, it would be great to be standing over an expanse of spread-out gear so as to figure what will be needed on the trek out and what won't be needed until Kathmandu. Ideally, one would know that the bags were going to get yakked out in the next couple of days... enabling one to make onward travel plans that included said gear. Except... there wasn't time, space or heat for anything like "ideally". We hunched over in damp tents, pushing damp gear into damp duffle bags and we weren't so sure when we'd see them again because the last yaks we'd seen fleeing basecamp were in snow up to their horns.
It made good sense to leave anyway, but we determined to do it as a team and to make noon the exit hour. A skeleton crew of Sherpas would remain at the gear dump formally known as Basecamp. At the appointed hour, Seth, Melissa, Kent, Cherie, Jake, Erica, John, Tom, Gerry, Lam Babu, Kaji and a handful of others (it was tough to see who was who with all the matching jackets, hats and goggles in heavily falling snow) followed my lead out of camp. The escape trail was surprisingly well-packed by people and packless animals in the preceding hours. I looked back often through the storm to make sure all were safely in the parade behind me, and I tried not to stop. We meant to go five hours down to Pheriche, but that depended on everybody staying strong and not rolling an ankle or knee in the powder.
It all went fine as we trudged down through the landmark villages of our long-ago trek in; Gorak Shep, Lobuche, Thukla... and finally Pheriche... all in much whiter condition than we'd seen them seven weeks ago. In Pheriche, we walked out of the storm to experience the novel INDOOR comfort of Nuru's Himalayan Hotel. Long forgotten appetites came back, coughs mellowed in the marvelously humid air, and real sleep was had by all... 14,000 ft sleep, not the 17,500 ft version that we'd been calling sleep for so long.
And today dawned without much sign of the cyclone. The sky was blue again and the mountains were white again. We hit the trail and within a short time we were actually out of the snow and onto the dirt. Then there were trees... then green trees. And next there were flowers... and flowers in trees. The rhododendrons of Deboche and Thyangboche Hill were in bloom and beautiful. We walked up hills and down hills and along hills until we reached good old Namche Bazaar. Civilization as we know it... with internet and commerce and tourism and comfort at the easy to love altitude of around 11,500 ft. In two days, we'd come down what had taken us approximately 8 days to go up... long ago... in the Spring, when we were younger.
We'll walk to Lukla tomorrow and we will begin hoping for cloudless flying weather which might get us to Kathmandu sooner. And we'll just hope that our wet duffels find us before the contents rot... Life is not, by any means, trouble-free as yet but it is sure getting easier.
Previous Page
Next Page
