Entries from Expedition Dispatches
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
On The Map
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
On The Map
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
On The Map
We had a wonderful climb today. As we left
Namche Bazaar and headed up the trai,l the summit of Mt. Everest came into view. It would not be a good day to make a summit attempt as the plume blowing off the summit reached out for a mile or so and is an indicator that winds on the summit are likely in the 100 mph range. But it sure does make for a nice photo. We stopped for lunch by the river and then, with full bellies, headed up the infamous Tengboche Hill. The team did a great job and in a couple of hours we reached the Tengboche Monastery and were greeted by one of the elder monks. After our visit, we made a quick descent to the fairy tail land of Deboche where we will spend the night. The team is doing well, a few minor physical discomforts, but to be expected. The tea house staff is firing up the dining room stove with dried Yak dung, hey what ever provides a bit of heat, bring it on.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
On The Map
What a great day in and around
Namche Bazaar! Views outside of our hotel show the surrounding peaks rising about 20,000 feet. We are all fully energized with these spectacular views and went to one of the bakeries and coffee shops to start our morning.
Namche has many shops we can meander through during our rest day. The team and I spent some time perusing through but remembering to not overload our packs on the way to Base Camp. Try and buy it on the way out is my recommendation.
We will continue to enjoy the clear views of all the mountains today and the perfect weather. I know we are in for another beautiful day for the climb to
Deboche tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
On The Map
Today the team left the hustle and bustle of Kathmandu and flew on a nearly perfect day into the Khumbu Valley. We landed at the famous and sometimes a little scary Lukla airstrip without any issues. It was a beautiful 45-minute flight into the
Himalayas with amazing views of the mountains and even a glimpse of
Mt. Everest itself.
We hiked for a few hours along the only trail that leads up to BC (
Basecamp). There are no roads here, just a winding footpath that is busy with trekkers, climbers, porters, and yaks carrying loads for the
Everest expeditions.
The team is currently relaxing at one of the many tea houses situated here in the lower Khumbu Valley. It's an incredibly beautiful and peaceful place to be, and I'm quite certain everyone is excited to be here.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
Hello everyone!
After our really long flights (nearly two days) the team arrived yesterday and had a early dinner and then off to bed to catch up on some much needed sleep.
Today we had our official team meeting and discussed the adventure ahead. After our meeting we headed out into
Kathmandu to explore a little before we head into the mountains. Our first stop was to the Swayambunath, aka the Monkey Temple. It's a beautiful temple that sits above most of the city with views in all directions and is incredibly important to the Buddhist population here in the city. Next we paid a visit to the Pashupatinath Temple which is where the Hindu's bring their dead for cremation, and it was very surreal to be present while this ceremony was taking place. We then made a quick stop at the Boudhanath Stupa which is the second largest Stupa in the world.
After our city tour the team made our way back to our hotel and finalized our packing and finished the day off with a nice meal at the Famous Rum Doodle where they have saved autographs from all the climbers and
Everest summiteers over the years: Sir Edmund Hillary, Reinhold Messner and many others.
It was a pretty full day to say the least. Everyone is doing great and looking forward to getting into the mountains and stretching their legs.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
We are here at
Namche Bazaar, very comfortable and well fed. Campo de Base is the name of our tea house for the next two nights. Friendly staff, very tasty food and hot showers in the room. You have got to love that. We will be roughing it plenty in the near future so this bit of luxury will really help prepare us for the mission ahead. At over 11,000' this is the perfect place to spend some time to let the body adjust. Plans for tomorrow are hikes to local spots of interest and some old fashion relaxing. We have been going at it pretty hard since we landed in
Nepal, a little chill day will do us all some good.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
On The Map
Mark Tucker here with the
Everest Base Camp Trek team. No, internet access at this point, so I thought I'd check in with the satellite phone. So we're just outside of the Sagarmatha National Park. We had a great night in Lukla. We took a little time this morning leaving as we organized the loads with our porters. We are set with all our gear that is needed while we continue our trek to
Base Camp. We're by the Tenzing Norgay Airstrip, where the STOL-type aircraft, acronym for Short Take Off and Landing type planes. Years ago a famous local Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay, with Sir Edmund Hillary supervising, spent a month revamping and lengthening the airstrip, but it is still quite a ride.
The team had a beautiful hike approaching the
Dudh Kosi River. It was fantastic. Good views, perfect weather. We are all looking really fine. The team is all doing very well and couldn't be happier.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
You have to work with mother nature. Not a good idea to push into poor weather conditions with any small airplane. No fixed wing flights into
Lukla today. Once I spent almost a month at the southern tip of Chile waiting for a weather window to fly into the interior of the Antarctic. Should not be the case here. Problem is, there has been a couple days of limited flights and we were scheduled for today but it did not happen. So let's go for another plan. Let's charter one of the finest helicopter's in the world, the infamous B3. It was, after all, the first ship to touchdown on the summit of
Mount Everest. And for us, we just want to get to Lukla. We didn't get all the way there but ended up below
Lukla as the weather started to be an issue as we flew in. No sooner than landing, lightning and three inches of hail in less than an hour turned the green fields white. Two charters were needed and the second group had to stop even shorter for about ten minutes before meeting up with us. It was a tough dance at the airport, but we had some good fortune to pull this off. It was an awesome flight. The team did great with the shift of service and a wonderful job climbing over 2,000 vertical feet to get here....
LUKLA!!!!
Let the climb begin, may the force be with us.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
On The Map
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James
I see you made the plane flight. How was that landing?? good luck man.
Posted by: Wayne on 3/27/2013 at 9:45 am
all the best as you journey to high places!
Posted by: michelle on 3/26/2013 at 6:59 pm
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