Everest Base Camp Trek & Lobuche: Wedel & Team Descend to thick air of Pengboche
Posted by: Jess Wedel
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest BC Trek and Lobuche
Elevation: 13,074'
Hello from Pangboche.
I’m writing this from a tea house window watching snow fall on the valley below, which feels like the appropriate punctuation to a trip that has given us weather in every form except usually the one we actually wanted.
Until yesterday.
Yesterday, the mountains gave us a gift.
Summit day was the most sun we’ve seen this entire trip. No wind. Perfect snow conditions — more coverage on the upper mountain than our Sherpa guide team has seen in years, which turned the typical steep, slabby rock into a beautiful snow climb. We got extraordinarily lucky, and we knew it.
We left high camp just after 3:00 a.m., headlamps on, the dark enormous around us. Seven and a half hours later, the team stood on the summit of Lobuche.
What happened in between is harder to put into words.
Hard things are hard. I know — profound. A quote we’ve joked about but actually hits. There’s something that happens on a mountain at altitude, in the dark, with steep terrain above you and your legs already tired, where that simple truth becomes the whole truth. The technical sections near the top demanded everything. Every step deliberate, every breath rationed. And I’ll be honest: I did not stop talking. Probably to a degree that could be classified as unhinged. “You’ve got this.” “Dig deep.” “Keep moving.” “You’ve got this.” If any of my team is reading this — I’m only slightly sorry.
What I watched in return was something I don’t take for granted, no matter how many times I get to see it. People tapping into strength they didn’t know they had. Facing real fear — of heights, of the unknown, of their own limits — and stepping forward anyway. Tears behind glasses. Shaking legs that kept moving. At one point I looked up through the thin air and saw a climber moving through steep, challenging terrain with a power and grace that stopped me. Elegant and strong in exactly the moment it was hardest to be either.
That’s what this mountain asks for. That’s what this team gave.
By summit, every one of us was running on fumes — the kind of tired that lives in your bones and doesn’t apologize. The Khumbu cough we’d somehow dodged the entire trip? Consider it found. Turns out all it needed was one very long, very hard day at altitude to make its entrance. Worth it. Completely worth it.
We returned to high camp, celebrated, and slept the deep sleep of people who had earned it.
Today we descended to Pangboche, where it is snowing (of course it is) and where I am sitting warm and still and deeply grateful.
To the families reading this: your people were extraordinary. They showed up, they dug deep, and they stood on top of a very big mountain in the Himalayas. More heart and courage on this team than I’ve seen in a long time.
Everyone is safe, everyone is proud, and everyone is very ready for a hot shower.
And we’re very, very glad to be sleeping below 14,000ft for the first time in 8 days.
RMI Guide Jess Wedel and the Lobuche team
Comments (2)
Congratulations Tim on a great climb. Awesome to see those mountains and to know how hard it is to get to the top. Beautiful day for the summit and it seems everyone was firing on all 8 cylinders especially you! Fantastic day and hopefully a peak experience!
All our love to you and your teammates on a superb effort.
And a huge acknowledgement to Jess for writing so humorously and succinctly about the journeys to the top from all the different angles you elucidated. Given that these missives were formulated in small windows of time when you must have been really tired adds to the accomplishment. Great job. We look forward to your book!
Posted by: Norm and Heidi on
What a moving story of a team of people climbing a mountain. The heart and soul it takes is inspiring to listen to and watch. Incredible job! You look fantastic in the pictures. Love Teri
Posted by: Teri on