Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Posted by: Christina Dale
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest BC Trek and Lobuche
Elevation: 11,300'
We are all getting tattoos of our favorite part of Nepal. A large hairy yak, a momo, and the summit of Lobuche. Forever, permanently inked on us. April fools.
The truth is we had a huge day today and walked all the way from Lobuche to Namche. 44,800 steps said one phone. A long day. But now we are all fed and happy here in Namche Bazaar.
Tomorrow we will leave the mountain country and head down to the Dudh Kosi River crossing 11 suspension bridges on our way back to Lukla.
RMI Guide Christina Dale
Posted by: Christina Dale
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest BC Trek and Lobuche
Elevation: 20,075'
Congratulations to the strong and determined team for reaching the summit of Lobuche this morning at 11:30am (Nepal Standard Time). They earned every step to 20,000 feet in the Himalayas!
RMI Guide Christina Dale
Posted by: Christina Dale
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest BC Trek and Lobuche
Elevation: 17,716'
We are perched high above the Khumbu Glacier watching the clouds roll by. The hike to high camp was short but a challenging rocky scramble. Unfortunately, some of our team had to make the hardest decision in mountaineering and head downhill today. The health gods are not on our side this climb and a bad cough has hit us. Making the right decision in the mountains is always the safe decision. We are so proud as a team to have made it to Everest Basecamp together as one of the many highlights of the trip. The rest of us have fingers crossed for good weather for our alpine start and climb tomorrow.
RMI Guide Christina Dale
Good luck on the climb today! Stay safe and kick butt!
Posted by: Jordan Vanek on 3/30/2019 at 11:17 pm
Back safe and sound in Kathmandu!
Well all most!
Managed to get the team out of Lukla by the skin of our teeth. Sadly I wasn’t able to join them, only eight helicopter seats available for the nine of us.
Hopefully tomorrow I’ll be able to join the crew.
I’m sure everyone is enjoying the comforts at the Yak & Yeti Hotel, hot showers, good food, and the warm temps.
It's been one amazing adventure with a great team and it will be sad to say goodbye, but we are all looking forward to getting back home to our loved ones.
Thanks for following.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and a happy crew
Posted by: Christina Dale
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest BC Trek and Lobuche
Elevation: 17,716'
Hey, this is Christina Dale and team on Lobuche at high camp. We got up here today. Our Sherpas have set up a nice dining tent, a good cook set up and we are eating well. We did some training and we're hoping to get a little break in the weather and give the climb a go in the morning. Wish us luck.
RMI Guide Christina Dale
RMI Guide Christina Dale checks in from Lobuche.
Posted by: Christina Dale
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest BC Trek and Lobuche
Elevation: 17,575'
Now that we've checked the big goal of Everest Basecamp our sights are set on climbing Lobuche. It is a 20,000-foot peak which towers above the Khumbu valley. Today we departed basecamp after a great breakfast of bacon and eggs, a welcome change. Basecamp accommodations are some of the nicest on the trail with hot showers and amazing food. As we headed down the trail we were impressed with the number of supplies heading up. We saw tables, an oven, and a large mattress all being carried on the backs of porters up to support the climbers. Tomorrow we head to high camp on Lobuche and position ourselves for a summit! Think clear calm skies.
RMI Guide Christina Dale
Woohoo! Very excited for your summit of Lobuche. Hoping for good weather!
Also, let Michael and Bruce know that Duke beat Virginia Tech in a close game. 75-73! On to the Elite 8! Go Duke!
Posted by: Katie F. on 3/29/2019 at 9:05 pm
Hello again.
We woke to another beautiful sunny day here in the Khumbu. We started early to beat the traffic and the team made good time, yet taking time to enjoy this peaceful and majestic place.
There were still dozens of loads headed for basecamp as always, because much of the needed supplies arrive via plane or from a few days away by mules.
We also ran into several more friends on the trail headed for Everest and it was nice to say hello and wish them the best.
With a little luck we hope to be back in Kathmandu tomorrow morning!
Keep your fingers crossed for us.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Posted by: Christina Dale
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest BC Trek and Lobuche
Elevation: 16,950'
High winds blew cold snow in our faces the entire three-hour trek to Gorak Shep today. Buffs up, gortex layers on, and hands balled up in our gloves gave us some protection but it still leads to chapped cheeks and tired climbers. We met up with the other RMI team, led by the famous Casey Grom, for some tea and jokes along the trail. They are heading down to the land of hot showers and warm evenings as we head up to Everest Base Camp tomorrow. Some of our team took the afternoon to rest and relax while others braved the winds and hiked up Kala Patar (18,500 feet). We had beautiful views of Nuptse and the Khumbu Glacier but Everest didn't want to show its true height to us today. Hopefully this wind slows and we have an easier trek into basecamp tomorrow.
RMI Guide Christina Dale
Hello again everyone.
All is still well here in the Khumbu as the team members made our way back into Namche. It was a busy day on the trail with climbers, trekkers, yaks, and porters all bound uphill to basecamp. We slowly made our way through the maze of traffic and enjoyed one last good view of Everest.
Along the way we ran into several old friends from my past trips and stopped to wish everyone good luck.
Tomorrow we'll be moving out early on our final leg of the journey back to Lukla. So please keep you fingers crossed we have good weather and can make our flight back to Kathmandu the following morning.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Hey everybody, this is Casey Grom calling from the Everest Base Camp Trek. Just want to let everyone know that all is well here in the Nepal. Unfortunately, we had some technical difficulties with our SAT phone and had some Wi-Fi issues here. We had a big storm the last couple of days which kind of knocked some things out. But everyone is doing great. In fact three days ago, we walked into Base Camp on a beautiful sunny warm day. We were welcomed by our gracious staff at Everest Base Camp, and they had a big spread of food set out for us and made everybody feel incredibly welcome. That evening we got a start of a snowstorm that dumped somewhere in the neighborhood of I don't know six to ten inches of snow. The following day, yesterday, they set up this big shower tent for us and we were able to get everybody through a round of hot showers there at Everest Base Camp. Literally just a couple of stone's throws from the Khumbu Ice Fall.
So this morning we woke up to pretty blustery skies and said our goodbyes to our team at Base Camp and and have made our way back down valley. We are currently back down in Pheriche, and there is snow still all the way down here. In fact, as I said, I think it knocked out their their solar systems for the last few days. So, we won't be able to get any pictures out, but hopefully tomorrow when we had to Namche there should be plenty of cell service, and there should be some Wi-Fi down there. So just updating everyone letting you know things are going well. Everyone's happy and look forward to getting down to even thicker air down there at 11,000'. I'll get some pictures out then. Thanks for following.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
Be safe, please tell April we miss her and are so happy and proud she got to experience this amazing trip
Posted by: CHRIS ALLIS on 3/27/2019 at 4:30 pm
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So proud of you Michael and Bruce! Love you and miss you dearly Michael. Xoxo
Posted by: Rebekah Holman on 4/1/2019 at 8:50 am
Congrats! This is an incredible and amazing accomplishment! It looks like all those OTF double sessions paid off (Sherry and Ed). Safe travels back to us. Love you guys! xo
Posted by: Colleen on 3/31/2019 at 6:13 pm
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