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Posts from 03/2013

Everest Base Camp Trek: Tucker & Team Train in Pheriche

Posted by: Mark Tucker | March 28, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest BC Trek
Elevation: 13,950'

Rest days are done. We are now in the position to go for our summit. Base Camp being our goal. I feel good with the team’s condition at this time. Big push up to Lobuche tomorrow, a couple thousand feet at this altitude will surely be felt by all. We are ready, bring it on. Made some head way with climbing equipment adjustments and technical training for the Island Peak crew. Any old bench around the tea house can provide a great anchor and the door to the dining room being less than a pitch away isn’t all bad. Had a wonderful reunion with one of the finest Mountain Guides in the world, Casey Grom who overlaps his trip with ours for the night. Casey is such a talent in all aspects of climbing but what a challenge for him at a game of cribbage. So fun to hangout and nice to hash over logistics, since he will be climbing Island Peak a few days after us. A light dusting of snow this afternoon but clear tonight.

RMI Guide Mark Tucker

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Everest Base Camp Trek: Grom & Team Visit Lama Geshe for Their Blessing

Posted by: Casey Grom | March 28, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest BC Trek
Elevation: 13,950'

Day five in the Khumbu brings us more wonderful experiences and new heights. We left camp in Deboche and headed further uphill. Our first stop was in Pangboche to visit Lama Geshe, who is the highest ranking Buddhist in the valley. He is a high ranking Lama who is close friends with the Dalai Lama himself. All the Sherpas and smart climbers visit Lama Geshe before attempting any climbing here in the Khumbu. And because some of us will be climbing Island Peak and the rest of us would never turn down a blessing, we stopped by. Lama Geshe is from Tibet and speaks only Tibetan, he chanted and asked the mountains to give us safe passage and then gave us a Kata and tied a small string around our necks called a Sunde.

We stopped off to have lunch and then finished up our hike just as the clouds decided to sprinkle us with a little snow. We are currently resting in Pheriche which sits around 14,000’. Everyone is doing mostly well (a few folks are on the Khumbu weight loss diet, aka stomach issues!) but not to fear everyone is feeling better by the hour.

Looking forward to resting.

RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

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Everest Base Camp Trek: Tucker & Team in Pheriche

Posted by: Mark Tucker | March 27, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest BC Trek
Elevation: 13,950'

Hello from Pheriche! 14,042 feet but who’s counting.  After a nice dinner, the team is tucked away for the night.  Lot’s of hiking in all directions today.  Nice to have such great Sherpa support to be able to offer many options.  A few new altitude records for the team.  Another day of perfect weather, and trail conditions in great shape.  We are now above tree line, but lots of bushes still keep us thinking we are where life forms can survive.  It is a rather tough environment to be in, we welcome these islands of paradise called tea houses.  Plan is to take a rest day here tomorrow.  Some day hikes and a bit of training for my crew that will go with me to Island Peak in the not so distant future.  The surrounding peaks of Taboche (21,309’) and Cholatse (20,784’) always impress.  Crazy to think that the real big ones are up this valley and around the corner.  Looking so forward to reuniting with those views.

RMI Guide Mark Tucker

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Mt. Everest Expedition: The Team Arrives Safely in Lukla and is Resting in Phakding

Posted by: Dave Hahn, Seth Waterfall | March 27, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest
Elevation: 8,700'

We were up at 4 AM in the Yak and Yeti Hotel and we were packing.  By 5:30 the team was at the Kathmandu airport and ready for some “hurry up and wait”.  The wait wasn’t so long though, on this morning, before we were riding a little shuttle to our plane while watching the sunrise.  We boarded the twin prop Dornier and took off in cloudless but smoky skies.  Once through the thick smog layer it was possible to see a row of giant and jagged peaks out the port side windows.  After a quick 30 minutes, the plane was in a steep descent toward the tilted Tarmac of Lukla airstrip.  The landing was fast, flawless and loud as the pitch of the props was reversed to brake the plane.  Within just a few moments we were out of the hectic 9,200-feet airport and in the quiet comfort of a tea house.  The 2013 RMI Everest Expedition took its first steps at around 8:30 as we set off in perfect weather.  The team only needed one rest along the way as we traveled through small farms and villages.  The rock walls of our valley soared above and we could see a handful of glacier covered sharp summits floating over everything.  “Traffic” was light on the trails - we leap-frogged a couple of teams we happened to know for a while, but for the last hour or so we had things pretty much to ourselves and could enjoy the quiet of the forest and the turbulence of the river.  Shortly after noon Dan, James, Mark, Seth and myself, along with our Sirdar Lam Babu, pulled into Jo’s Garden in the northern suburbs of Phakding.

We lunched, we napped, we ate again and now we are retiring to the rooms for the night, ready to complete the transition from airports and jet lagged city life to mountains and rivers and valleys and walking. 

Best,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn

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Everest Base Camp Trek: Casey Grom & Team Visit the Tengboche Monastery

Posted by: Casey Grom | March 27, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest BC Trek
Elevation: 12,325'

Today we got a slightly earlier start to try and beat the heat on the steep climb up to Tengboche. Yes it gets hot here at times, especially if you are hiking up steep southern-facing slopes. Tengboche sits atop a small hill (by Himalayan standards) and is well known because of the Tengboche Monastery. Believed to have been built in the 13th century, it is home to about 45 Monks and Lamas. It doesn’t take much imagination to know why they believe this place to be special, as the view from here is breathtaking. From this one spot you are not only surrounded by giant mountains you have a wonderful view of Everest and many other gigantic peaks. After getting settled in our tea house we quickly hiked back to the monastery and sat in during a prayer session. Sadly only one monk was there as the others were off visiting other monasteries and helping people throughout the valley. It was beautiful experience nonetheless!

Everyone is still in good spirits and having a great time.

RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

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Everest Base Camp Trek: Tucker Checks in from the Tea House under a Bright Moon

Posted by: Mark Tucker | March 26, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest BC Trek

Hello Mark Tucker checking in from high in the Himalaya. I am outside of our tea house and it is quite the bright moon. Had some clouds roll in later in the day…  It’s pretty windy.  Had great views of Everest and Nuptse.  We are all tucked in with the hot water bottles and looking forward to a good night’s rest. Part of the team made a little side venture over to get blessed by one of the holy Lamas of the valley.  And they had an awesome time.  So we are feeling very fortunate that he was available for that.  And, we’re looking good.  We’ll check in tomorrow.

RMI Guide Mark Tucker

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Everest Base Camp Trek: Grom & Team Visit a Women’s Monastery and Sir Edmund Hillary’s School

Posted by: Casey Grom | March 26, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest BC Trek
Elevation: 11,300'

Hello again everyone.

Today the team took an “active rest day”, instead of just sitting around and relaxing we hit the trail for another adventure. First up was a visit to a seldom visited all women’s monastery in the village of Thamo. It’s about an hour and half from Namche and is a little of the beaten path. This monastery is home to 28 women mostly who have escaped prosecution from Tibet. Their ages range from 16 to 88 and they exist solely off of donations. A few of them came out to greet us and gave us a brief tour of the new monastery they are currently building. We stayed for about an hour, had some tea and either bought a few items or made donations to help with their cause.

Next we made our way uphill to visit the first school established here by Sir Edmund Hillary in Khumjung. It sits between several small villages and has the most amazing views thus far. We could see Everest, Lhoste, Ama Dablam and countless others. We then headed back to our tea house in Namche where the team is resting and enjoying the hot showers.

Everyone is doing great and looking forward to tomorrow.

RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

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Mt. Everest Expedition: Prepping in Kathmandu

Posted by: Dave Hahn, Seth Waterfall | March 26, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest
Elevation: 4,383'

The RMI 2013 Everest Expedition has now officially started!  Dave arrived late last night along with the last of our baggage.  We are now set to head out from Kathmandu.

We had our first full team meal this morning at breakfast and after that we had an interview with Elizabeth Hawley.  Miss Hawley is a fixture for Everest climbers.  She has maintained a very thorough database of all ascents of the mountain ever since the first ascent of the mountain in 1953.  It was a treat hearing her stories of climbers past and present.  Now in her 90s she is still sharp as a tack and is absolutely interested in all of the expeditions on the mountain.

After that we spent the rest of the day packing for the trek into base camp.  If all goes well we will fly into Lukla tomorrow and trek to the village of Phakding.  We’re all fired up to get that started.

RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

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Mt. Everest Expedition: Team Gathers in Kathmandu

Posted by: Dave Hahn, Seth Waterfall | March 25, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest
Elevation: 4,383'

I’m calling this the unofficial start to the 2013 RMI Mt. Everest Expedition.  It can’t be official yet because we are still waiting for Dave Hahn to arrive in Kathmandu after being delayed en route. 

The rest of us have all arrived over the last two days and are doing great.  We got together for dinner tonight in the district of Thamel, a crazy-maze of restaurants, shops, bars and hotels.

Tomorrow we’ll spend the day picking up last minute items and getting packed for the trek into Everest Base Camp.  We’re all looking forward to getting started!

RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

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Everest Base Camp Trek: Grom & Team Arrive Namche Bazarre

Posted by: Casey Grom | March 25, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest BC Trek
Elevation: 11,300'

It was another beautiful day here in the Khumbu with clear skies and astounding views. Our day started with breakfast at 7:30 with eggs, toast, porridge, jam and plenty of fresh coffee (thanks Tucker). We hit the trail just after 8 and made our way up the valley crossing numerous hanging bridges covered with prayer flags. Tea houses lined the trail almost the entire way making it easy to stop for a rest, eat and snap a few photos. We made good time even while sharing the trail with other Trekkers and the countless yaks carrying loads in both directions. Along the way we were treated to a nice view of the far off Mt Everest (still about 25 miles away). There was one big hill to climb before reaching Namche Bazaare where we’ll spend a few nights in order to properly acclimatize.
Everyone is doing great and currently are out exploring Namche (population of a few thousand) which is the heart of the Khumbu and Sherpa people.

RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew

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