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
Hey Mark! Don’t forget to floss! :) Good job and make it back safe.
Posted by: Chrissy on 3/26/2013 at 3:02 pm
L & P- Congrats on making Pheriche!! Mark’s post from Deboche was great!! Enjoy!!
D is really excited and enjoying every step of the way with you! Take good care and soak it all in!! Thanks again to Mark!
Love M & G
Posted by: Gretchen & Mike on 3/26/2013 at 10:39 am
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
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
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
Elsie,
Betts has been in touch with Charlotte getting the scoop on your big adventure!.. We are off to Florida for 5 days with our foreign exchange student. Just a slightly different adventure!!
Wishing you safe travels and beautiful views from your gang in Denver!!
Posted by: Mary Talbot on 3/24/2013 at 6:20 pm
Casey & Team -
Looks like some fun days ahead. Looking forward to following your journey.
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
L & P: What a good jaunt!! Looks a lot like our hills…grab it ...all the overwhelmingness! Drink in the Adventure!! Life is an Adventure, not an obligation!! Run!! ... & thanks again to Mark. We are with you every step of the way…savor ...
Much love M & G (YMNTBP)
Posted by: Gretchen & Mike on 3/23/2013 at 10:22 pm
Liesl and Pete…..and everyone! I hope you are having a wonderful, amazing time. I can’t wait to hear all about it when you get home!! Miss you!
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
Mark - your posts are very much appreciated - thank you! It’s great to keep tabs on our girl, Susan :) Please pass on my positive thoughts and prayers for a fabulous adventure. Thanks again, Carol
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
Mark Tucker here in Nepal kicking off the RMI 2013 Mount Everest programs.
Our first wave of climbers are all here with bags intact. After a nice city tour and final preparations yesterday we have made our way to the Domestic airport. Right now we are at the boarding area and on standby due to a weather delay in Lukla, which is our flight destination. Not unusual for such a delay, so we will wait till weather conditions improve. A cup of tea and a book will hold us over for a while. No hurry. Looking forward to keeping you all up to date as best I can over the next couple of weeks / months / years.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Hey there, this is Adam Knoff and JJ Justman- Team Mexico. We're happy to say that we had a successful climb of Pico de Orizaba today with beautiful weather. But we did it the old-fashioned way, we earned it. It was not an easy climb. Seven hours just climbing up the mountain and four hours coming down so eleven hours round trip of constant movement. We're all very relieved to be back at Senor Reyes' compound where we will be having dinner and relaxing for the evening before flying out tomorrow. All is well and we're happy to be coming home to our loved ones. This is Adam and JJ signing off. Adios.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
RMI Guide Adam Knoff checks in after the team's Orizaba summit.
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Hey Mark! Don’t forget to floss! :) Good job and make it back safe.
Posted by: Chrissy on 3/26/2013 at 3:02 pm
L & P- Congrats on making Pheriche!! Mark’s post from Deboche was great!! Enjoy!!
D is really excited and enjoying every step of the way with you! Take good care and soak it all in!! Thanks again to Mark!
Love M & G
Posted by: Gretchen & Mike on 3/26/2013 at 10:39 am
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