Hello again everyone.
All is still well here in the Khumbu as the remaining team members made our way back into Namche. It was a super busy day on the trail with climbers, Trekkers, yaks, and porters all bound uphill to Everest Base Camp. We slowly made our way through the trail traffic and enjoyed one last good view of Everest.
Along the way we ran into several old friends from my past trips and stopped to wish everyone good luck and finished the day off with a nice reunion with one of RMI's finest Billy Nugent. Godspeed my friend!
Tomorrow we'll be moving out early on our final leg of the journey back to Lukla. So please keep you fingers crossed we have good weather and can make our flight back to Kathmandu the following morning.
RMI Casey Grom and crew
Hey everybody. This is Casey Grom checking in from the Everest Base Camp Trek and Island Peak Climb. Wanted to let you know we are all down, safe and sound. Two of us were able to reach the summit yesterday. Tried to give a call last night, but could not get reception in this little valley that we are in. As well as there is still no cell service or wifi up here. Apparently they have been having technical difficulties down valley. But everyone's doing great after our climb, which was a cold one, we descended back down to Chukung and spent the night in a tea house and everyone is feeling fantastic this morning. Beautiful day again here in the Khumbu. Our plan is to hike down to Pangboche today. All of the trekkers should be catching their flights today from Kathmandu and headed home. We certainly miss those guys and I'm sure you guys back home do too. They should be there very soon. The team is great here and looking forward to getting down to some thicker air and before too long, Kathmandu. So that's all for now. We'll check in again hopefully with some pictures when we get into some service or wifi. Thanks you guys. Good bye.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
RMI Guide Casey Grom calls in after Island Peak Climb.
Hey Everybody, This is Casey Grom checking in from the Everest Base Camp Trek and Island Peak Climb. Just wanted let you know that everything's going great here in the Kumbu. After having an incredible day at Base Camp, the team descended yesterday through a little bit of snow all the way down to Pheriche. It's about 12 miles and it took our group a little over 7 hours, so quite a long day on our feet, but everyone did great! Everyone certainly enjoyed the drop in altitude and the thicker air. It was only 14,000 feet, but everyone could feel the difference. Everyone is doing great and last night we ran into two of RMI's finest Jeff "JJ" Justman and of course Dave Hahn who are leading our Mt. Everest climb this season. It was great to see those guys and touch base and wish luck to those guys and the climbing crew that is with them.
After getting a good night's rest, the team got out this morning and had relatively early breakfast. The trekking group headed back to Namche. The Island Peak team and myself headed up the adjacent valley and are relaxing here at Chukung. It was bit of a sad day saying goodbye to our friends that we spent so many great days with, but I am sure those guys are doing great now down in Namche enjoying the warm air, cell service and WiFi. Unfortunately for us, we won't have cell service or WiFI here in Chukung as there has been some issue with the receivers. Anyways, we're headed up the valley a little further and expect to be at Island Peak Base Camp tomorrow. We'll try to check in via satellite phone we can get reception up there.
Thanks a lot. We'll talk soon.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
Casey Grom and team checked in from Everest Base Camp. They arrived there yesterday under stormy skies and cloudy conditions.
Today, the sun was shining and the team spent some time hiking around Base Camp and posing for photos in down suits. Everyone got to experience life at 17,575' complete with a shower at Base Camp.
Tomorrow the team will start their descent heading back down the Khumbu Valley.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
Namaste Everyone
All is well here on the trek!
Yesterday we left Pheriche and hiked further up valley to Lobuche, we slowly made our way along the winding path that we share with other trekkers, porters heavily laden with loads bound for Base Camp, and yaks who aren't as keen to share the trail. We made good time and enjoyed the astounding views before reaching our lodge for the night. In the afternoon we took a short walk to a overlook of the Khumbu glacier where we could just make out base camp far in the distance.
Today we hit the trail around 8:30 and reached our last and final camp, called Gorak Shep, before we head into Base Camp tomorrow. After arriving we had a light lunch and the headed up to Kala Patar which is the high point on this trek at 18,300'. At the top of Kala Patar we could easily see Everest Base Camp and had amazing views of Everest as the weather was relatively nice.
Everyone is currently relaxing in our tea house enjoying the warmth of the fire. There's been lots of cribbage and plenty of good conversation with our team and other trekkers on the same journey as us.
Looking forward to Base camp.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Very excited for you to get into Base Camp. Casey Grom, leave some chocolate cake for the rest of the team, and watch out for the probiotics!
All my love and warmth.
Posted by: Sydney on 3/30/2015 at 8:22 am
All so us following from home are so excited for the team to reach base camp! Those of us at sea level are living vicariously through you all so absorb everything so you can tell us about it. Be safe. Special thoughts to my sweetheart Tom.
Donna
Posted by: Donna Mann Belt on 3/29/2015 at 6:19 pm
It's snowing up here!
Today was a rest day here in Pheriche, and we went on a short acclimatization hike to 15,500' to take in the views. We set a new altitude record for some and even managed to see Island Peak down the neighboring valley.
The weather started clear once again but quickly turned to clouds and even began snowing a little bit right after we made it back and had lunch. At 3 pm the Himalayan Rescue Association (HRA), which is a very small and seasonal hospital had a talk on Acclimatizing which we sat in on.
We wrapped up the evening with another wonderful meal here at the Himalayan Lodge in Pheriche and a few more games of Cribbage.
All is well and everyone is feeling well and in good spirits.
RMI Guide CaseyGrom and crew
Namaste everyone
We certainly feel blessed with the weather we've been having, as today was another beautiful day.
Our daily routine has been breakfast at 7:30 or 8 and hitting the trail generally no later than 9. Then we hike 30-40 minute intervals until lunch, then head back out until we reach camp. Today was a little different as we stopped off to visit Lama Geshe who lives in Pangboche. He is a very high ranking Lama and generally gives blessing to the climbers and Sherpas headed to Everest, most of whom won't climb without his blessing.
After our visit with the Lama we finished up our hike pulling into another village that sits along this ever winding path to Everest. Pheriche is where we are and where we will spend a few days to acclimatize as we have finally reached the 14,000 ft mark.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
It was another beautiful day here in the Khumbu Valley, and finally we had our first views of Mt. Everest. Just above Namche you can see Everest far off in the distance, but still about 20-30 miles away. We hiked for about 5 hours today and made a quick stop at the Tengboche Monastery where we sat in on another prayer session. Everyone is doing well
Keeping it short tonight as there's not much wifi or cell service. Everything is running off of a generator that's about to a shut off. Apparently a big snow storm this winter knocked out the hydroelectric power source.
We'll send more tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
Hello again everyone back home.
It was another great day here in the Khumbu Valley, with the team waking up to bright beautiful clear skies, and mountains in every direction. We had a casual breakfast and decided to make the most of our scheduled rest day by hiking a little way to visit a Monastery in Tamo that is home to wonderful group of female Tibetan refugees. They apparently escaped over the border which is only a few miles away and have made this home like the Sherpa community did some 500+ years ago. When we arrived the nuns were in the monastery reading their Tibetan prayers and happily invited us in to listen. It was surreal to say the least and we all felt lucky to have been able to share the moment with them. After the prayer session we purchased a few prayer flags and prayer beads to help support them and then made our way back to Namche for lunch.
Then evening was spent exploring Namche and doing a little bargaining for a few gifts and we wrapped up the night with another great meal and the start of the Cribbage championships.
All is well and everyone is doing great.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Greetings from Namche Bazaar!
Yesterday we left Kathmandu and had a rather enjoyable flight to Lukla. There was little turbulence and the sky was clear which allowed beautiful views on the Himalayas as well as a brief sighting of Everest. After arriving we waited at a tea house for all of the porters to be chosen and then hit the trail. We hiked for about 3 hours to reach our first camp of the trip in a small village called Phakding. The weather was perfect and everyone did great on the hike.
This morning we left the tea house and headed up this beautiful valley to the toward Namche Bazaar, which is the largest village in this famous valley. It was another nice day for hiking with mostly clear skies and just a gentle breeze to keep us cool. Everyone enjoyed the views and no one seemed to mind pausing often for the endless mules and yaks carrying loads. Crossing the the high suspension bridges was another thing, but everyone persevered.
We wrapped up the evening with a wonderful meal and a little lesson on cribbage. All is well and we are looking forward to tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
My fingers are crossed for good weather tomorrow. Excited for everyone to return home safely to their families.
All my love,
Sydney
Posted by: Sydney on 4/7/2015 at 9:46 pm
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