Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Hi, this is Linden calling in with a dispatch from Chukung.
What a day!
We woke this morning about 2 a.m. The winds that were bothering us yesterday afternoon had died down to just a whisper. We had a quick climbers breakfast and headed off up the mountain. We climbed and watched the moon rise over Makalu followed shortly by the sun. Sunrise caught us right at the base of the glacier. We kept climbing up the glacier to the base of the headwall. The team made great work ascending the 800 or so vertical feet of the fixed line, despite some adverse conditions. Everyone handled it well.
About nine in the morning were standing on the top of Island Peak. The entire team made the summit. We had the entire summit to ourselves, even though it's only about the size of a ping-pong table. After a few celebratory photos we headed back down the fixed line, to the glacier and back to High Camp. We packed up High Camp and walked all the way to Chukung. We arrived just before the last rays of sunlight disappeared. We dropped into our tea house tired, hungry but very happy.
We plan to walk to Namche tomorrow and arrive in Lukla the following day.
This is Seth saying hello from Everest Base Camp!
This is the team's second full day at base camp and we're steadily getting our communications gear online. We've got a large solar array and we are able to power all of our communication equipment completely by the sun. As you can imagine, though, getting several computers up and running for email access is not a trivial task at 17,500 feet in the heart of the Himalaya. That said, all of the planning and hard work that my boss, Jeff Martin, and our Basecamp Manager, Mark Tucker, have put in is paying off and we'll all be able to email and call our families and friends shortly.
It's not all about the modern conveniences here though. We've also been busy becoming a part of the base camp community. Last night we paid a visit to the Icefall Doctors and the Himalayan Rescue Association. RMI and First Ascent have made generous clothing and gear donations to the Icefall Doctors this season and last. Last night we dropped off new climbing clothes for 'the docs'. Those guys work extremely hard at establishing and maintaining the fixed ropes and ladders through the icefall so that the expeditions can focus on the upper parts of the mountain. It was great to be able to show our appreciation by giving them brand new climbing gear.
After visiting the Icefall Doctors we dropped by the HRA to visit the medical doctors at base camp. We had a few clothing items from First Ascent to share with them as well. The HRA is a full medical clinic that is open to anyone here at base camp. This allows expeditions to pool their money to fund the clinic as opposed to each expedition brining their own doctors. The doctors at the clinic usually conduct some kind of research and this year they are working on treatments for the notorious 'Khumbu Cough'. It's nice to know that there is work being done on a treatment for the painful cough; I just hope that no one in our expedition becomes part of the study.
We've also started to think about heading up the mountain. Today we had our Puja. This ceremony involves a blessing by a Buddhist Lama and the raising of our Puja Pole. It is also a big party and folks from around base camp dropped by to help us celebrate. Our camp is now laced with prayer flags and we have all been blessed and are now free to move up the mountain. This is most important for our Sherpa team as they do not enter the icefall until after the ceremony. Now that we've had our Puja we will spend several days practicing for the icefall and upping our acclimatization. Then we'll be ready to start our first rotations up into the Western Cwm. Wish us luck!
Hi, this is Linden checking in with the Island Peak Team from High Camp on Island Peak.
We packed up camp this morning and climbed to just shy of 18,000', to our High Camp here on Island Peak. We are camped about 1,500' feet below the glacier and will have some more moderate rock scrambling to get up to the approach to the climb.
We went up this afternoon to get the route fixed in. Everything looks good and we are planning to leave tomorrow morning about 3 a.m. for our summit bid. Our plan is to climb to the summit of Island Peak and then descend to High Camp and Base Camp and head back to Chukung.
We will give a call tomorrow night from Chukung hopefully with good news. We had a little bit of wind today so keep your fingers crossed that it will hold off until we are back at High Camp. The team is doing well and everyone is excited for the climb. We are about to head off to bed and we'll check in again tomorrow.
Namaste from Everest Basecamp.
Our first full day at Mount Everest began with saying goodbye to Scott's Dad, Jeff. As planned, he headed down valley this morning just after a sumptuous breakfast in our dining tent. The team enjoyed mild temperatures and an "easy" day resting and getting organized at 17,500 ft above sea level. We met for a strategy session in which we discussed plans for first week of the climb as well as for "big picture" plans for the how the rest of the climb might play out. Jeff Martin and Mark Tucker worked hard to buff out our electrical and communications systems (we rely largely on solar energy, satelite link-ups and handheld radios in these areas). Importantly, we gathered the entire team so that the American climbers could get to know the Nepali team members and vice versa. Tendi Sherpa and Lama Babu -along with our great chef Kumar- facillitated the introductions. We spent the afternoon resting and chatting. We intend to meet with the famous and hard-working "Icefall Doctors" who are currently putting in the climbing route through the Khumbu, and later we'll tour the Himalayan Rescue Association's basecamp clinic and meet the medical doctors. It seems abnormally hot and dry for early April, and each afternoon we've seen the air get murky with forest fire smoke from somewhere down valley. A quiet day has been punctuated by giant ice avalanches off the surrounding glaciers... keeping things interesting.
Hi, this is Linden calling with a dispatch from Island Peak Base Camp.
We left Chukung this morning and walked for several hours up the Imja Khola Valley through big piles of old glacial moraine eventually making our way to the base of Island Peak where our base Camp is set up. It is tucked right between a giant glacial lake and the slopes of Island Peak right above us.
After rolling in to camp and getting settled we had a top notch lunch and spent a couple hours in the afternoon finishing up some trainining and getting the team dialed in for the climb. Everyone is showing their experience in the mountains and looking very prepared for the climb.
We are moving to High Camp tomorrow with plans to summit the following morning pretty early. The weather has been really nice so far and we are keeping our fingers crossed that it stays that way. We will give you a call tomorrow from High Camp.
Our team arrived at Everest Basecamp today around 1 p.m. They left Lobuche this morning on the last leg of their trek. The tents were set up and ready for their arrival. The team spent the afternoon getting moved into their tents, their homes for the next several weeks.
After organizing their gear and getting their barrings around Basecamp, we enjoyed a nice team dinner and everyone has headed to their tents for the first night in their new "home away from home".
Hey, this is Linden calling with a dispatch from Chukung.
We woke up this morning to an absolutely beautiful morning - one of the best of the trip. We had a pretty relaxed breakfast. After our long day yesterday, it was nice to sit in the sun and enjoy that second cup of coffee. We headed from Pheriche up the Imja Khola Valley and were surrounded by Ama Damblam, Nupste and Lhotse. Just up the valley is Island Peak and we were staring right at it. We checked into our tea house and had a relaxing afternoon. We spent some time parring down our gear for our climb.
Tomorrow we are headed to Base Camp and plan to spend some time finishing up the last of our training. We will talk to you tomorrow from Island Peak Base Camp!
The team is resting and acclimatizing in Lobuche today. They took an acclimazation hike and are enjoying their last night in the tea house before reaching Everest Basecamp tomorrow afternoon.
The RMI Island Peak climbers trekked back down through Lobuche today on their way from Everest Basecamp. They enjoyed afternoon tea with our climbing group before continuing down valley. It was nice to see some familiar faces and chat with them about their time at Everest Basecamp.
Mark Tucker and I arrived at Everest Basecamp yesterday to help organize the gear and loads that have been arriving here. We are working on the communication tent so the group will be able to send dispatches and emails once they arrive. Our Sherpa team and Basecamp Staff have been working extremely hard to get our area of Basecamp established and things are looking good and we are ready for the team's arrival.
We are looking forward to seeing the RMI Everest Climbing Team arrive at Everest Basecamp tomorrow.
Hello, this is Linden calling, today is April 6th. It was a beautiful morning at Base Camp and after breakfast we started our descent through the Khumbu Glacier back into the morraine and on to Gorak Shep. From there we climbed a little peak called Kala Patar and enjoyed fantastic views of Everest and the Khumbu Glacier. After sitting up there for a while taking in the scenery we began the descent to Gorak Shepa and continued back down the valley to Lobuche. There we met up with the RMI Everest Climbing Team and shared a cup of tea. We continued on to Pheriche where we will spend the night.
Today was a long day and we traveled quite a distance through glaciers and moraine, climbing up to 18,500' and back down to 17,000'. We are all excited to be heading toward Island Peak and we are looking forward to reaching base camp in a few days.
Linden checked in from Everest Base Camp today. They spent some of the early afternoon in the lower Kumbu working on cramponing, fixed line travel and self and team arrest getting ready for the upcoming climb of Island Peak. They also were able to witness first hand the work of the legendary Ice Fall Doctors as they worked to put in a route on the Khumbu Ice Fall preparing it for the upcoming climbers.
The team enjoyed some company at Base Camp this evening as RMI's Jeff Martin and Mark Tucker (RMI Everest Basecamp Manager) joined the team for dinner. Jeff and Mark will be putting the finishing touches on Everest Base Camp prior to the climbing team's arrival in a few days. This will be the climbers home base for the next two and a half months.
Tomorrow the Island Peak team will leave the comforts of Everest Base Camp and climb to the Summit of Kala Patar, a small peak across the valley from Everest on the lower slopes of Pumori. Tonight they enjoyed the views from Base Camp, and although they are sad to leave the comforts of camp, they are looking forward to what is ahead...reaching the summit of Island Peak.
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