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Posts for Everest BC Trek from 04/2011

Everest Base Camp Trek & Island Peak Climb: In Lukla & Awaiting Flight to Kathmandu

Posted by: | April 11, 2011
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest BC Trek
Elevation: 9,350'

We all slept hard last night, enjoying the thick air of Namche after many nights up high and appreciating the comforts of our teahouse after the long day yesterday. The morning broke as another clear day and we left Namche enjoying the the warm morning sun on the trail. The first few hours brought us back down the Namche Hill, far easier and quicker on the descent than at the beginning of the trip. The trail, calm at first, gradually filled with porters, yaks, donkeys, and groups of trekkers and we were all amazed at the activity on the trail - a far cry from the more remote stretches of the upper Khumbu.

Spring continued to bloom lower in the valley, the red and pink rhododendron dotting the hillsides and flowering cherry trees shading the trail throughout the valley floor. It was a beautiful walk back to Lukla and we all remarked how familiar our surroundings have become after close to three weeks on the trail. We arrived in Lukla in the late afternoon and sat on the stoop of our teahouse watching the hills around us and reflecting on the trip. It has been a great adventure and we all are both sad to see it end but excited to return home and share our stories. Tomorrow the group takes a flight from Lukla to Kathmandu and I head back to Namche on the way back to Everest BC to rejoin the Everest Expedition. The weather forecast is looking good for flights and the team should be back in the hustle and bustle of Kathmandu by late morning. Thanks to everyone for your support and comments throughout the trip.

RMI Guide Linden Mallory

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Everest Base Camp Trek & Island Peak Climb: Return to Namche

Posted by: | April 10, 2011
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest BC Trek
Elevation: 11,300'

After several nights in tents high in the mountains here sleeping in the teahouse in Chukung last night was warm and comfortable. The morning broke mostly clear, although a large cloud cap hung over Lhotse and Island Peak. Packing up from Chukung, we headed back down the valley, retracing our steps through Dingboche, Shomare, Pangboche, Deboche, Tengboche, etc. Leaving the high mountains of the Himalaya is like watching the world being reborn around you: yesterday we were on the summit of Island Peak in a world of ice, rock, and snow; we returned to Chukung where small shrubs and grasses survive and a few hardy crows venture; today as we walked small bushes sprang up, then a few sparse trees, and then forests, then flowering rhododendron. The smell of the air changes too, the dirt, trees, and yaks all adding to the aromas of the lower elevations. As we descended the valley today it was as if life sprang up around us with every step and the little things that went on unnoticed suddenly attracted attention: the bark of a dog, a warm breeze, flower petals.

Despite all being immersed in the scenes around us, it was still a long day on the trail, taking the better part of the day for us to return to Namche. We arrived tired from the trail, but marvelling at the arrival of spring in the days since we’ve been gone. It feels like ages ago since we first arrived here, with snow blanketing the village and the thin air burning our lungs. Now the fields surrounding town are turning green and the stairways feel far less daunting. It is great to be back in Namche after so much time up high and we all enjoyed the hot showers and great food.

Tomorrow we return to Lukla, descending further down the valley. We are looking forward to the final leg of the trek and will check in tomorrow evening from Lukla.

RMI Guide Linden Mallory

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Everest Basecamp Trek and Island Peak Climb: Summit!

Posted by: | April 09, 2011
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest BC Trek
Elevation: 20,305' Island Peak Summit

Hey RMI, this is Linden Mallory calling with the Island Peak team after a successful summit of Island Peak this morning.  We reached the summit about 9:30 Nepali time this morning, and just had perfect weather. Today, April 9th, was chosen as an auspicious day for our Everest expedition. As today was the Puja Ceremony, sort of the opening blessing ceremony of the expedition and sure enough it worked pretty well for us as well.  We had probably the best weather we’ve seen in the past week up here in the Khumbu for our summit day. Woke up this morning about 2 a.m. and it was actually snowing. We had a couple inches of snow on the tents, but the stars were out and it was clear with some clouds blowing up from below from the lower valley so we set out on our climb and broke free of the clouds within about 30 or 40 minutes. It was chilly but pretty consistent throughout the trip but just beautiful skies. By the time morning broke, not a cloud in the sky and thankfully no winds so we powered to the top, getting on to the summit of Island Peak again about 9:30 and it’s about the size of a pool table so it’s a pretty small, little summit. We stood up there and snapped some photos and descended back down, packed up high camp and just arrived into basecamp, which is our final trip into the valley. So we’re all pretty excited to be dropping the packs and turning into bed.  It’s been a healthy day.  Everybody is doing well and put in a good effort today. We’ll check in tomorrow, headed back to Namche is the plan. We’ll try to get some photos off to everybody as well. That’s it. Hope everyone is well and we’ll talk to you guys soon. Take care.

RMI Guide Linden Mallory

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Everest Base Camp Trek & Island Peak Climb: Team at High Camp

Posted by: | April 08, 2011
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest BC Trek
Elevation: 18,372'

Hey RMI this is Linden Mallory calling from Island Peak.  We are up here at High Camp, it’s another fairly nice evening out, certainly on the chilly side but we didn’t get any of that afternoon precip that we’ve seen the past couple of days.  This has definitely been some of the better weather we have seen in the past few days.  It’s cold.  Cold, cold temps right now about to jump in the tent and get warm.

We spent the morning wrapping up our training down at Base Camp and then moved up here to High Camp got in about mid day.  We spent the afternoon sorting our gear and preparing.
I ran up to check out the route and get things started with Kulan Tusing, one of our Sherpa, so everything is looking good up there.

We just wrapped up an excellent dinner and off to bed.  We are looking at an early morning start somewhere around 2 to 3 o’clock in the morning.  With these cold temperatures we might delay our start a little bit but definitely get an alpine start.  A couple hours through the rocks up onto the glacier and then move our way up the snow and ice to hopefully get to the summit of Island Peak.  We will check in tomorrow and let you know how things go.

The team is doing well we are definitely excited to have the climb here and everybody is in good spirits and we send our best to everyone back home.
We’ll check in tomorrow.  Take care.

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Everest Base Camp Trek & Island Peak Climb: At Island Peak Basecamp

Posted by: | April 07, 2011
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest BC Trek
Elevation: 16,685'

This is Linden checking in from the Basecamp of Island Peak.  We are camped out at the base and had a nice walk in this morning with clear skies. Rolled into Basecamp about mid-afternoon and got settled right in as the weather blew in.  Huffed and puffed for a couple of hours and now it’s clearing up.  We actually have some clouds lower down in the valley that are snowing and the wind is bringing the snow up.  It’s snowing right now but there are stars above us.  Optimistic that it will clear out by morning.  The team is doing well, definitely excited to be transitioning into the climb portion of the trek. Tomorrow we move to high camp and keeping our fingers crossed that the weather is going to hold so we can make a push for the summit the following day.  We will check in tomorrow and let you know how everything goes. Take care.

RMI Guide Linden Mallory

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Everest Base Camp Trek & Island Peak Climb:  Readying for Island Peak

Posted by: | April 06, 2011
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest BC Trek
Elevation: 15,514'

Hey RMI this is Linden Mallory calling with the Everest Base Camp Trek & Island Peak crew.

I am calling from Chukung which is the last little town at the head of the Imja Khola Valley.  The last village before we get to Island Peak.  We left Pheriche this morning, again just another gorgeous day here.  We are definitely in a pretty consistent weather pattern of clear skies in the morning.  We walked up the valley, the team is well acclimatized so we made great time up here and got into Chukung about mid day.  We spent the afternoon re-sorting our gear and basically transitioning from trekking to climbing.  We’ve got all our duffle bags packed and looking forward to heading to Base Camp tomorrow.

Again this afternoon the clouds rolled in and the same story right now, it’s snowing lightly here in Chukung.  Thankfully, not a whole lot of new snow these last few days so we’re all quite pleased about that.  The plan tomorrow is for the Island Peak team to head into Base Camp and start getting ready for the climb.  Our Base Camp Trekkers are going to head back to Namche and enjoy some nice hot showers and thicker air and warm temperatures of the lower elevations.  We all just had a great final dinner together.  Everybody again is just thrilled to be here and we’re having a great time and looking forward to the next climbing adventure.  We’ll check in tomorrow from Island Peak.

Take care.

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Everest Base Camp Trek & Island Peak Climb: Leaving Base Camp

Posted by: | April 05, 2011
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest BC Trek
Elevation: 13,950'

Hey RMI this is Linden Mallory checking in with the Everest Base Camp Trek & Island Peak crew. 

The low pressure system that moved in yesterday and brought all that wind and snow to Everest Base Camp blew out last night and we woke up to crystal clear skies this morning at Everest Base Camp.
And it was cold, cold and definitely made packing up quite a chore but we got out of there and said good bye to the Everest Base Camp Staff.  We headed back down the mountain.  We stopped in Lobuche for lunch and caught up with RMI’s Everest Team.  We had a good time catching up with Dave, Bill and Sara, letting them know that Base Camp is looking good.

The last part of the day brought us back down the valley to Pheriche where we were a couple of days ago and as we were walking the clouds moved in again bringing some rain, snow and a little bit of hail.  The weather has definitely been pretty cold and unstable so we are keeping our fingers crossed that a high pressure system is going to move in as we gear up for Island Peak which we are headed to next.
So the plan is to spend the night here in Pheriche and then we’ll head up a little side valley called the Imja Khola Valley to a little town called Chukung where we’ll gear up for Island Peak tomorrow.  So we’ll give you a shout tomorrow and let you know how it goes.

Everybody is doing well.  It definitely feels good to get back down to 14,000’ after so many nights above 16,000’.
We hope you are doing well and we wish everyone the best.

Take care.

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Everest Base Camp Trek & Island Peak Climb: Training on the Khumbu Glacier

Posted by: | April 04, 2011
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest BC Trek
Elevation: 17,575'

The tents began flapping in the wind mid way through the night last night. Soon snow was peppering the tents, a light patter against the walls as the flakes blew against the tent. Occasionally a faint rumble could be heard over the storm as thunder echoed up from further down the valley. By morning 2 - 3 inches of snow covered Base Camp and the winds continued to blow light flurries of snow through camp. Sitting around the table we could hear the roar of the winds high above blowing up the Khumbu Valley and through Lho La Pass into Tibet. The sun poked through on occasion, only to be obscured again by the quickly moving clouds. It was a nice morning to sit in the dining tent and enjoy a second cup of tea and the fresh coffee we brewed up.

By mid morning the weather calmed a bit and we geared up, donning our climbing boots, crampons, harnesses, and helmets and set off from Base Camp into the Khumbu Glacier for some technical training in order to prepare for our upcoming climb of Island Peak. The Khumbu Glacier is a wild looking glacier here at Base Camp: the weight of the glacier flowing down from the Ice fall causes the surface to buckle upwards in large pressure ridges - fins of ice that run horizontally across the glacier, sometimes 20 - 30’ high. Between the pressure ridges the surface has melted and refrozen into large expanses of flat ice. Walking into the glacier, we wound our way between the fins of ice, getting comfortable walking with crampons on the firm glacial ice. Once everyone was comfortable moving across the uneven terrain with our crampons, we headed over to the fixed practice ropes that Kala, our lead Sherpa, and I put up this morning.

Using the side of one of the towering pressure ridges, we climbed up and down its side practicing using our ascenders on the 50 degree ice, refining our transitions past anchors points, and then rappelling back down. The team quickly took to the techniques and soon all were moving fluidly up and back down. As we practiced the winds and snow picked up again and we found our way back out of the glacier and to camp where we got out of the elements.

We spent the rest of the afternoon lounging here at Base Camp, playing cards in the dining tent and reading. The weather is still blustery but seems to be settling out. We are all hoping for clear skies for our hike back down the valley to Pheriche tomorrow.

RMI Guide Linden Mallory

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Everest Base Camp Trek & Island Peak:  Arriving at Everest Basecamp

Posted by: | April 03, 2011
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest BC Trek
Elevation: 17,500'

At above 17,000’ the temperatures dipped well below freezing last night and the small stove in the teahouse dining room lay cold this morning.  We wrapped our hands around steaming cups of tea at breakfast and searched for the patches of morning light streaming in through the windows. It was another clear, beautiful morning and we were warm within a few minutes of setting out from Gorak Shep.

The trail to Base Camp brought us along the edge of the Khumbu Glacier, weaving, climbing, and descending among the rocks and eroding slopes of the hillside that is being continuously carved by the glacier passing along it. After a couple of miles ascending along the glacier’s edge we dropped off the morraine and onto the glacier itself. This far down the glacier surface is covered with rocks pulled from the mountain higher up, yet just beneath is glacial ice, requiring full attention walking to avoid slipping - not such an easy task with the incredible views as we passed between Nuptse and Pumori and stared up at Everest’s West Shoulder.

By late morning we reached the community of tents that is cropping up at Everest Base Camp. We were warmly greeted by RMI’s Sherpa and BC staff who gave us the tour of Base Camp. They have been here for two weeks already, carving platforms from the uneven ice and building rock walls to support the tents, and have done an incredible job turning a rather desolate patch of ice into a comfortable home for us. Kumar, our expedition cook with more than 15 yrs of experience, prepared a phenomenal lunch for us and everyone agreed it was the best meal yet of the trip (although it was quickly topped by dinner this evening).

We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and exploring Base Camp, venturing over to the entrance to the Icefall and paying a visit to the Icefall Doctors, the legendary team of Sherpas who fix the route through the Khumbu Icefall. When the sun passed behind Pumori, the peak to the west of BC, the temperatures again dropped. Wearing our down coats at the table, we enjoyed another excellent dinner before crawling into our tents here at BC.

We are spending the day in Base Camp tomorrow, using the surrounding glacier to train for Island Peak. The team is thrilled to be here, everyone is doing well and sends their best to those at home.

RMI Guide Linden Mallory

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Everest Basecamp Trek and Island Peak Climb: Gorak Shep

Posted by: | April 02, 2011
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest BC Trek
Elevation: 17,000'

The group was up early this morning, despite encountering the coldest temperatures of the trip thus far - our water bottles lightly icing up even in the teahouse. However, we quickly shook off the cold within a few minutes of starting off, warming up as we walked out of Lobuche. An hour’s walk brought us to the edge of the Khangri Glacier, a tributary flowing into the main Khumbu Glacier just to our side. We climbed up the moraine of the Khangri and began the weaving traverse over its rock strewn surface, climbing up and down over the uneven terrain. Part way through we reached a high point and we’re treated to fantastic views further up the valley, even catching glimpses of the tents at Everest BC.

By late morning we reached our teahouse at Gorak Shep, the last cluster of buildings before BC. We paused for a cup of tea and after refilling our bottles we set out to climb Kala Patar, a rocky outcropping that sits across the valley from Everest. The team climbed very strongly, the benefits of our acclimatization over the past ten days clearly visible, and within a couple of hours we reached Kala Patar’s prayer flag strewn summit. At 18,500’ Kala Patar has phenomenal views looking down over Everest BC and the Khumbu Icefall as well as to its summit, the Hillary Step, South Summit, South Col, and part of the Lhotse Face. In addition to Everest, we could see over the Lho La Pass to Changatse in Tibet as well as south down the valley, picking out the peaks of Tamserku, Katenga, and Ama Dablam which we walked past earlier.

Despite the clear skies and amazing views the winds were blowing strongly and we were forced to raise our voices to be heard over the fluttering prayer flags. The temperature was quite cold with the wind and before too long we set off back down the trail, returning to Gorak Shep where a late lunch of soup and tea helped rewarm us.

We’ve spent the remainder of the afternoon relaxing in Gorak Shep. We had a great day and are thrilled to have had such great weather and views from Kala Patar. Tomorrow we cover the final stretch to Everest Base Camp where we will spend a couple of nights sleeping on the ice in RMI’s Everest Expedition camp. We will check in tomorrow from BC.

RMI Guide Linden Mallory

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