Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Hi from Everest Basecamp.
Five days ago our expedition arrived at Basecamp. Many days before we arrived, our team of Sherpas were up here preparing our campsite, setting up
tents, and putting up the Puja altar. Once the Puja altar was constructed, the next order of business was to pick the day on which the Puja ceremony
would be performed. The actual day the Puja is performed on is just as important as the Puja, and April 9th was the day that was selected for our team.
The actual Puja ceremony takes about two hours. Two Buddhist monks sit in front of the altar, and chant and sing religious poems and songs, while the
rest of the team gathers around listening. We place our climbing gear and food around the altar so that it can be blessed by the Buddhist monks, and
since we are on a glacier, mats were also laid out so that everyone could sit comfortably. Tea and coffee were served to everyone throughout the ceremony.
Towards the end of the Puja, Buddhist prayer flags are draped from the top of the Puja altar to every corner of our camp (which is quite large.) An
American flag was raised from the top along with a RMI flag, and a Taos, New Mexico flag (which is the home of Dave Hahn). My dad even put a Baltustrol golf club patch on the altar, which is probably the first time that has ever been displayed at Everest Basecamp.
The end of the ceremony was marked when tsampa is thrown into the air and spread on everyone's faces and hair for good luck. Although I still can see
some of the tsampa on my clothing, we hope this means we will have a lot of luck when we are higher up on the mountain. Food and drinks were passed around to all, and then it became a party where Sherpas, porters, and even the medical doctors from the clinic next door began to show up. Cans of Everest beer, coke, and sprite were shared and snickers bars, mars bars, cakes, and pastries were served. There were about 30+ birds flying around trying to eat some of the delicious food.
The Puja ceremony really meant a lot to our Sherpas. It is performed every time an expedition attempts to climb a large mountain in the Himalaya, and
the beautiful Puja alter remains standing throughout the whole expedition.
As I sit here on the morning of April 11th in our communications tent looking out onto Nuptse, two of our climbing Sherpas and Dave have just
reached Camp One. Two more of our Sherpa Team have also reached Camp 2 this morning.
In the days that follow, we will continue to focus on our acclimatization and training to make sure we are ready to go up to Camp 1.
Sara McGahan
On The Map
The Everest Team checked in from Base Camp inside their dining tent. It had been snowing lightly but they were warm inside the tent and looking forward to dinner together.
They spent the day training on the ladders around Base Camp as they get ready to ascend through the Khumbu Icefall.
Dave Hahn sent several pictures of the team training as well as of their Puja Ceremony that took place on Saturday, April 9th. The team is doing well and they will check in tomorrow with a written dispatch.
Bill and Sara,
What an awesome trip and pictures and what an accomplishment. Glad you are having so much fun. Saw Lisa, Morgan and Katie in Conn. last weekend. Lots of fun. Be careful, safe and good luck.
Ed, Marian and the girls.
Posted by: Ed Mule' on 4/10/2011 at 2:52 pm
Sending you lots of positive energy for a great adventure. Love being able to follow you on Facebook. Remembering my trip to Basecamp and wishing I were able to be there now.
Best wishes. ~JEN~
Posted by: Jen Petrik on 4/10/2011 at 12:39 pm
After several nights in tents high in the mountains here sleeping in the teahouse in Chukung last night was warm and comfortable. The morning broke mostly clear, although a large cloud cap hung over Lhotse and Island Peak. Packing up from Chukung, we headed back down the valley, retracing our steps through Dingboche, Shomare, Pangboche, Deboche, Tengboche, etc. Leaving the high mountains of the Himalaya is like watching the world being reborn around you: yesterday we were on the summit of Island Peak in a world of ice, rock, and snow; we returned to Chukung where small shrubs and grasses survive and a few hardy crows venture; today as we walked small bushes sprang up, then a few sparse trees, and then forests, then flowering rhododendron. The smell of the air changes too, the dirt, trees, and yaks all adding to the aromas of the lower elevations. As we descended the valley today it was as if life sprang up around us with every step and the little things that went on unnoticed suddenly attracted attention: the bark of a dog, a warm breeze, flower petals.
Despite all being immersed in the scenes around us, it was still a long day on the trail, taking the better part of the day for us to return to Namche. We arrived tired from the trail, but marvelling at the arrival of spring in the days since we've been gone. It feels like ages ago since we first arrived here, with snow blanketing the village and the thin air burning our lungs. Now the fields surrounding town are turning green and the stairways feel far less daunting. It is great to be back in Namche after so much time up high and we all enjoyed the hot showers and great food.
Tomorrow we return to Lukla, descending further down the valley. We are looking forward to the final leg of the trek and will check in tomorrow evening from Lukla.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory
I am glad you are heading down safe and sound. A shower never felt so good, huh? When you get to Lukla, I will start praying for a safe and uneventful flight to Timbucktu, I mean Katmandu! I’m so funny! Looking so forward to the circle of your loving arms! I love you!
Posted by: Deb McLaughlin on 4/10/2011 at 3:19 pm
The trip down must have been long but look what you saw when you got down with the plants ets. Good going but am sure you were tired. Much love Mom
Posted by: Cornelia Miller on 4/10/2011 at 11:46 am
Hey RMI, this is Linden Mallory calling with the Island Peak team after a successful summit of Island Peak this morning. We reached the summit about 9:30 Nepali time this morning, and just had perfect weather. Today, April 9th, was chosen as an auspicious day for our Everest expedition. As today was the Puja Ceremony, sort of the opening blessing ceremony of the expedition and sure enough it worked pretty well for us as well. We had probably the best weather we’ve seen in the past week up here in the Khumbu for our summit day. Woke up this morning about 2 a.m. and it was actually snowing. We had a couple inches of snow on the tents, but the stars were out and it was clear with some clouds blowing up from below from the lower valley so we set out on our climb and broke free of the clouds within about 30 or 40 minutes. It was chilly but pretty consistent throughout the trip but just beautiful skies. By the time morning broke, not a cloud in the sky and thankfully no winds so we powered to the top, getting on to the summit of Island Peak again about 9:30 and it’s about the size of a pool table so it’s a pretty small, little summit. We stood up there and snapped some photos and descended back down, packed up high camp and just arrived into basecamp, which is our final trip into the valley. So we’re all pretty excited to be dropping the packs and turning into bed. It’s been a healthy day. Everybody is doing well and put in a good effort today. We’ll check in tomorrow, headed back to Namche is the plan. We’ll try to get some photos off to everybody as well. That’s it. Hope everyone is well and we’ll talk to you guys soon. Take care.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory
Linden Mallory checking in after summit day
On The Map
Congratulations to Tim and all! What a finish to an incredible adventure - a blue sky climb in the middle of the Himalaya! Safe travels on the trek out. Looking forward to pics and stories….
Posted by: Tom Gausman on 4/10/2011 at 8:33 am
Thanks all for your comments!!! We rolled back into Namche after about 15 miles, a 10 hr day & a hot shower! Dan, remember the hike off of Mt Adams that one year? Multiply that by 3 or 4 & you’e got it! Deb—CAN’T WAIT to see you too. BTW, I won our NCAA B-Ball pool—aced out Linden & crew to take the pot of $70 Nepali Rupee ($US 1.07)—first pool I’ve one in awhile & I get a buck—must be karma.
RMI has put together an epic program here. If any of you have the itch, I highly recommend them.
Take care all & we’ll soon see you stateside!
Posted by: Tim McLaughlin on 4/10/2011 at 8:09 am
Hello from Mount Everest Base Camp. We've been up at 17,500 ft for two nights already and it is beginning to feel like home. We had high hopes for continuous communication possibilities this year, since we were hearing so much about the 3G cell service at Base Camp... but the reality is that we are still mostly on a dirt road version of the information super-highway. We didn't have much access to cell or web services when we trekked from Pheriche to Lobuche in new snow under overcast skies. Things were cold in Lobuche, but not unpleasant as we passed the evening hours playing games in the dining room of the Eco Hotel. We stretched our legs some with a hike along the lateral moraine of the Khumbu Glacier and Bill and Sara got good at identifying the dozen or so Himalayan giants piercing the horizon around us. In the afternoon of our Lobuche rest day, we were excited to visit with Linden Mallory and his team of trekkers and climbers. They'd already spent a few nights at Everest Base Camp and were excitedly bound for Island Peak. Bill and Sara have climbed several times in the past with Linden and were naturally happy to see him again. When he completes his Island Peak climb and trek he'll make his way back up to Everest Base to join our team at about the point when we are getting into the Khumbu Icefall.
Two days ago, myself, Lam Babu,and Bill and Sara marched out of 16,000 ft Lobuche and took just four easy hours to reach Base Camp at 17,500 ft. It was wonderful then to meet our Sherpa team and to reunite with Jeff Martin, who'd sprinted ahead to help get the camp set up. Camp is indeed set up and we were amazed at the hard work the Sherpa staff had accomplished in chopping out level tent-sites and rolling boulders around to carve out a camp on this rough section of glacier. Now we've made the transition from tea-houses to tents... but it hasn't been that tough a transition. We are eating quite well now since Kumar, our chef of the past several RMI Everest expeditions, is back in the driver's seat and cranking out excellent meals. These first few days are purposely light on activity so that our bodies can catch up to the altitude, but we don't seem to be having a lot of trouble that way. It is nice now for each of us to be in our own tents and to be able to sort our climbing gear and clothing without moving to someplace new each day. New tents are popping up all around us as other teams get close to Base Camp. As expected, we were one of the first climbing teams to make it in for the season. We've already gotten to chat with the doctors of the "Everest ER" the clinic set up by the HRA about two camps away from us. Later today we'll walk a little with our ice axes in hand, just for some light exercise, and tomorrow we are looking forward to our Puja ceremony... asking the blessing of the gods before we put ourselves at risk on this giant mountain.
The cell service may not be robust at Base Camp (it seems to be mostly a 9 to 5 kind of thing, due to a reliance on solar power, we suspect) but the glaciers are still functioning pretty efficiently up here. We are getting used to the sound of big ice avalanches on the steep faces around camp. Snow conditions seem much the way I've come to expect them in the past few years... it looks like it has been quite dry again in these high mountains. The Khumbu Glacier in the vicinity of Base Camp has just been melting steadily throughout the year, without much surface replenishment... although it is relatively cold now, there is already some water flowing in the streams. The word is that the Icefall Doctors have already pushed the climbing route close to the Camp I area, which is good news... we can't tell too much about the Icefall from looking up at it... it looks just as mean and ridiculous as ever, but it is nice to know that a path has been found through it once again.
Best Regards,
Dave Hahn
Bill & Sara & Dave, et al,
Great work to make it to Base Camp healthy. Love that great acclimatization schedule. Enjoy Puja today, and good luck in the Icefall. Kudos to the Icefall Doctors! Praying for safe passages through it for y’all.
Posted by: Mac Bridges on 4/9/2011 at 4:38 am
Yeah, I was the guy whose knees couldnt take any more, thanks again, Good luck on your climb.
Posted by: George Orange on 4/8/2011 at 9:30 pm
Hello from Everest Basecamp,
We arrived here at Base Camp on Wednesday (April 6th) at lunchtime to a camp that had been fully constructed on top of a glacial moraine. The staff of 10 Sherpas and porters had been working weeks to carve flat sites for sleeping tents, a dining tent, a communication tent, a storage tent, a cooking tent, two bathroom tents, and a shower tent for our group (we got to shower yesterday!). It was a ton of work, but the camp is awesome, and it is located in the best spot in all of Everest Base Camp. We have so many comforts of home, including solar lights on the walkways between tents (very cool), 40+ movies, solar chargers for every kind of gadget, a propane heater for the dining tent, etc. Each of us has our own sleeping tent, which provides much comfort and quiet (especially for Sara!).
Everest Base Camp sits on a glacier that is surrounded by the tallest mountains in the world. In a word, the place is incredible. Within a mile of where we are camped is Tibet (China), whose border is at the peak of a series of mountains to the north of us. In every direction is a massive peak, glacier packed, that is picturesque in beauty. I highly recommend a trek to Everest Base Camp to everyone. It is one of the most beautiful places in the world. It is also very clean. The camp has had a large clean up effort in recent years (and it shows), and all expeditions are now required to carry every last piece of garbage out with them.
Dave Hahn (and RMI) put together a schedule that got our group from Kathmandu to Everest Base Camp in 10 days. This could have been done much faster (as fast as 5 or 6 days), but our goal for this expedition is not Base Camp. Our strategy (thus far) has been to go slow so that we remain healthy, and without the symptoms of acute mountain sickness (AMS). Since we arrived a couple of days ago, we have been resting, slowly acclimatizing our bodies to this altitude without headaches, coughs, queasiness, or other symptoms of AMS. So far, we all feel strong. What we wanted to avoid was having to descend to a lower altitude to deal with these issues. Going forward, we will be "climbing high and sleeping low" as well as working on our mountaineering skills. First and foremost will be working on the skills needed to climb the Khumbu Icefall, and we will go slowly so that we are fully acclimatized, and our skills are such that we can move rapidly through the icefall. I feel that we are in great hands.
Climbing with Dave Hahn is like playing basketball with Michael Jordan. As we walked up the valley Dave would be recognized by dozens and dozens of people. He patiently posed for countless photographs, and spent time with almost everyone who walked up to him. Some folks just shouted out "You Da Man!" to Dave as he walked by. One Sherpa guiding a climber down from Base Camp was shouting and fist pumping at Dave as he walked by (very funny). Yet, despite all this, Dave remains so very humble and takes so much time to patiently explain things to Sara and me. We have lots and lots of questions about gear and our climb, and he always breaks everything down into simple steps that are well thought out. The guy is incredible, and given that it is his 20th expedition to Everest and all of his many accomplishments and rescues, he is a legend (we have, however, instituted a $1 fine for Dave for everyone he knows - so far its up to $56).
Before coming over here to Nepal last year I really didn't give much thought to what a Sherpa does. I always just assumed that they were people who carried huge loads up the mountain. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Sherpa are a group of people that come from the mountainous region of Tibet, and because of this, are incredible high altitude athletes. But they also take great pride in their training. Our climbing Sherpa are trained in all sorts of high altitude skills, including medical care. Porters, on the other hand, don't go up the mountain, they carry many loads up to base camp and perform other duties in the camp. All of our climbing Sherpa on this trip have reached the summit of Everest, all multiple times. Truly amazing athletes and people, and never without smiles on their faces.
While Kathmandu is approximately 75% Hindu and 25% Buddhist, the high mountain region of Nepal is almost entirely Buddhist (a good portion of the porters come from other areas of Nepal, and are not Buddhist, but virtually all the Sherpa are Buddhist). Religion is extremely important to the people here, and every town and important location has Stupas, prayer flags, or carvings in stones that represent the importance of their religion in everything they do. No Sherpa will go on to any high mountain (including Everest) until a Puja ceremony is performed. Our Puja ceremony is slated to take place tomorrow, and our Sherpa have spent many hours building a site for this ceremony out of stones in our camp. Sara M. will report on this ceremony in our next update.
Historically, communication from Everest Base Camp has been though satellite phones. This year it was announced that 3G service would be available at Base Camp. But, this is not really the case, and our communication is not quite up to standards that we are used to. Because the cellular tower is solar powered, cell phone service works at Base Camp from the hours of about 9 am to 4 pm Nepal time, not the best time to call home to the United States. We have found that checking and sending emails still is problematic, and the most reliable way is still though (the very expensive) satellite phone.
So, that's it from Everest Base Camp. We spend our rest days trying to nap, playing cards, doing puzzles, and playing Yahtzee and Apples to Apples. Sara and I have a fighting chance against Dave and Jeff Martin in Yahtzee and Apples to Apples, but Dave is rumored to be a world class Scrabble and Chess player, so we are pretending that we don't like those games for now (the RMI game box is stocked with about a dozen games, so I think we can avoid Scrabble and Chess for at least a few weeks). Last night Sara introduced Dave to all sorts of music that he had never heard before, such as Miley Cyrus, the Jonus Brothers, and even Linkin Park and B.O.B. It was quite a learning experience for Dave and Jeff.
In the next few days Mark Tucker and Linden Mallory will be arriving at Base Camp, and we will be losing Jeff who will head home. We are excited to see Linden and Mark, but we will be sad to see Jeff leave.
Thank you again for following our blog.
Bill M.
I am following along and thinking about you guys every day! I love the map as well as the blogs! Know that many, many prayers are sent up on your behalf every day. What an amazing journey!!!
Posted by: Jan on 4/11/2011 at 10:40 am
Dear Bill and Sara, Can you please be a little more specific about exactly what the heck you all are eating up there? We would like details please. Any candy? All climbing food that you add water too? Do you have headaches? Sunburn? Are you drinking enough water? Have FUN! Love, archiegarylillisophieella
Posted by: Archie and all on 4/10/2011 at 12:15 pm
Hey RMI this is Linden Mallory calling from Island Peak. We are up here at High Camp, it’s another fairly nice evening out, certainly on the chilly side but we didn’t get any of that afternoon precip that we’ve seen the past couple of days. This has definitely been some of the better weather we have seen in the past few days. It’s cold. Cold, cold temps right now about to jump in the tent and get warm.
We spent the morning wrapping up our training down at Base Camp and then moved up here to High Camp got in about mid day. We spent the afternoon sorting our gear and preparing.
I ran up to check out the route and get things started with Kulan Tusing, one of our Sherpa, so everything is looking good up there.
We just wrapped up an excellent dinner and off to bed. We are looking at an early morning start somewhere around 2 to 3 o’clock in the morning. With these cold temperatures we might delay our start a little bit but definitely get an alpine start. A couple hours through the rocks up onto the glacier and then move our way up the snow and ice to hopefully get to the summit of Island Peak. We will check in tomorrow and let you know how things go.
The team is doing well we are definitely excited to have the climb here and everybody is in good spirits and we send our best to everyone back home.
We’ll check in tomorrow. Take care.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory checks in from High Camp on Island Peak
On The Map
Saw the picture and description of Island Peak. What a climb and scene you must have. Keep up the good work and we are all anxious to hear and see more. Love Mom
Posted by: Cornelia Miller on 4/8/2011 at 3:07 pm
Wow! Gorgeous views! A tad warmer here, but the views are magnificent! Apple trees getting ready to pop their blossoms out, green hills and white Cascade Mountain range. The grass is starting to look a bit shaggy and ready for a haircut! Dreamt about you last night, Tim. I woke myself up reaching for you from my dreamy state and you wearn’t there. So glad for these blogs from Linden. Keeps us going down here at home. Can’t wait until Saturday. Starting to let myself think about you too much. Gotta stay busy. I love you, and I am so proud of you living out the dreams and letting them come true. You’re my hero! Deb <3
Posted by: Deb McLaughlin on 4/8/2011 at 11:45 am
This is Linden checking in from the Basecamp of Island Peak. We are camped out at the base and had a nice walk in this morning with clear skies. Rolled into Basecamp about mid-afternoon and got settled right in as the weather blew in. Huffed and puffed for a couple of hours and now it’s clearing up. We actually have some clouds lower down in the valley that are snowing and the wind is bringing the snow up. It’s snowing right now but there are stars above us. Optimistic that it will clear out by morning. The team is doing well, definitely excited to be transitioning into the climb portion of the trek. Tomorrow we move to high camp and keeping our fingers crossed that the weather is going to hold so we can make a push for the summit the following day. We will check in tomorrow and let you know how everything goes. Take care.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory
On The Map
Hey RMI this is Linden Mallory calling with the Everest Base Camp Trek & Island Peak crew.
I am calling from Chukung which is the last little town at the head of the Imja Khola Valley. The last village before we get to Island Peak. We left Pheriche this morning, again just another gorgeous day here. We are definitely in a pretty consistent weather pattern of clear skies in the morning. We walked up the valley, the team is well acclimatized so we made great time up here and got into Chukung about mid day. We spent the afternoon re-sorting our gear and basically transitioning from trekking to climbing. We’ve got all our duffle bags packed and looking forward to heading to Base Camp tomorrow.
Again this afternoon the clouds rolled in and the same story right now, it’s snowing lightly here in Chukung. Thankfully, not a whole lot of new snow these last few days so we’re all quite pleased about that. The plan tomorrow is for the Island Peak team to head into Base Camp and start getting ready for the climb. Our Base Camp Trekkers are going to head back to Namche and enjoy some nice hot showers and thicker air and warm temperatures of the lower elevations. We all just had a great final dinner together. Everybody again is just thrilled to be here and we’re having a great time and looking forward to the next climbing adventure. We’ll check in tomorrow from Island Peak.
Take care.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory checks in from Chukung
On The Map
Hey RMI this is Linden Mallory checking in with the Everest Base Camp Trek & Island Peak crew.
The low pressure system that moved in yesterday and brought all that wind and snow to Everest Base Camp blew out last night and we woke up to crystal clear skies this morning at Everest Base Camp.
And it was cold, cold and definitely made packing up quite a chore but we got out of there and said good bye to the Everest Base Camp Staff. We headed back down the mountain. We stopped in Lobuche for lunch and caught up with RMI’s Everest Team. We had a good time catching up with Dave, Bill and Sara, letting them know that Base Camp is looking good.
The last part of the day brought us back down the valley to Pheriche where we were a couple of days ago and as we were walking the clouds moved in again bringing some rain, snow and a little bit of hail. The weather has definitely been pretty cold and unstable so we are keeping our fingers crossed that a high pressure system is going to move in as we gear up for Island Peak which we are headed to next.
So the plan is to spend the night here in Pheriche and then we’ll head up a little side valley called the Imja Khola Valley to a little town called Chukung where we’ll gear up for Island Peak tomorrow. So we’ll give you a shout tomorrow and let you know how it goes.
Everybody is doing well. It definitely feels good to get back down to 14,000’ after so many nights above 16,000’.
We hope you are doing well and we wish everyone the best.
Take care.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory on the team departure from Everest Base Camp.
I miss you so much! These pictures are beautiful! I wish iwere there with you. I couldn’t do the climb right now, but you could rent me a helicopter driver! I am going over to Seattle on Friday the 15, and will be at the airport Saturday morning to greet you! ONE MORE WEEK!!!!!!!!! I love you! Sweet man
Posted by: Deb McLaughlin on 4/7/2011 at 11:17 pm
Tim,
Lay off those cigars so you can make it to the top!
Wish I was there!
Rick
Posted by: Rick on 4/5/2011 at 6:40 pm
.jpg)
.jpg)
Enjoy Tibet while you guys are still there! It’s a beautiful place and I wish I had enjoyed everything while I was still there. Hope everything’s going well!
Posted by: JonathanL on 4/14/2011 at 6:04 am
Great Job Bill McGahan and Sara Rose McGahan (as Adam and Owen now refer to you guys :))! What an awesome adventure!
Posted by: izzy on 4/12/2011 at 12:34 pm
View All Comments