Today we descended back down the valley all the way to Namche where we passed hundreds of trekkers, climbers, and endless yaks trains! We paused occasionally to take in the amazing views and to see where we had been. It only took about 4 hours to reach Namche where we arrived just before a few groups and took advantage of the much needed hot showers. The team spent the rest of the afternoon doing a little gift shopping and just relaxing in the warmer temperatures.
Everyone is in good spirits and looking forward to our last day on the trail.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Casey Grom - just checking in on you. Just read about the avalanche and of course I immediately thought of you. Be safe.
- Janel
Posted by: Janel Miller on 4/18/2014 at 6:43 am
Hi, Nicole! Looking spectacular! I’ll be up in May to hear all about your adventure! Your dad will be in Florida on Wednesday and I will be in Lauderdale Friday. If he hasn’t been on this site, I’ll get on with him. Stay well, rest when you can and keep on keepin on! xoxo
Hey, RMI this is Dave Hahn with the Everest climb. We got to base camp today. The trek is over, the climb begins. We left Lobuche at about 8:30 this morning and reached Everest Base Camp at 17,500 feet by noon. Our base camp team, along with Jeff Martin, has done an incredible job building camp. It was great to catch up with Jeff Martin from RMI. He has been up here working away getting our camp organized before our arrival. A little bit of a reunion today. All is well at Everest Base Camp.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
RMI Guide Dave Hahn calls in after arriving at Everest Base Camp.
Hello again everyone. We're finally back in the cell and wifi zone!
I'm not sure if the last few sat phone calls went through but here's a quick recap:
Thursday night it snowed for a few hours before we woke for our Island Peak summit climb. Thankfully it was only a few inches and the weather cleared before we started climbing. However, it was just enough to obscure the trail and make our going a little slippery, not dangerous, just very slow and tiring. We climbed up a steep slope into a tricky rock gulley that led to the start of the glacier where we strapped on our crampons and pulled out our ice axes. The start of the glacier was very broken and again required our full attention and lots of stamina, then eased off before the final steep headwall. The last few hundred feet had us ascending fixed rope to the summit and was exhausting due to the thin air. We took a few photos and started rapelling back down to the glacier. All in all it took us eight hours to reach the summit and another five to get back to camp. Three of our six climbers were able to battle to the top and the others gave us as much support as they could.
Today we hiked all the way back to Tengboche and are currently relaxing in a tea house and are very excited about hot showers tomorrow in Namche.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
BIG is done! Here in Lukla and enjoying the thick air and relatively warm temperatures. Long day from Namche to here, all is well. Good day weather wise and lots to view. Beautiful blooming fruit trees that were not at that stage on the way in. Amazing what new sites you see from the opposite direction. We took our time, tried to take in as much of the region as we could and still get us to our home for the night before dark. It was nice to stop and see the children, out and about having fun and a joy to observe the everyday live of the Sherpa people. They have always been such a friendly folk and it held true on this trip as well. Two of our favorite people of the Khumbu, Karma and Mingma part of our local staff that helped make this such a successful trip, left us after dinner. Safe journey to them and thanks so much. Pemba will stay with us till the early flight tomorrow morning. It's been a blast. Till next time. Get out while you can.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Hi Kara,
It looks like you have better weather then we have here in Cleveland.
Be safe and have fun.
I am sending you good thoughts.
Donna
Posted by: Donna on 4/7/2014 at 6:33 pm
So glad to see your smiling faces! The fact that you all are shopping is a great sign!!
All kidding aside,it sounds like this trip has had some very real challenges that you have conquered. Congratulations and a big warm hug to all of you. Can’t wait to hear about this trip. Thank YOU Mark, for supporting the team and keeping all the fans back in the US informed. Your pictures and your blog have been wonderful.
Jill Shepard
Hey, this is Dave Hahn from Lobuche with RMI Everest Climb. Not much in the way of internet here in Lobuche, so I am giving you a call to tell you that everything is good. We have a rest stay here in Lobuche today. Went for a light hike, and everybody's feeling good. So after tonight, which will be our second night in Lobuche, our intention is to move up to base camp tomorrow. All the way to 17,500 feet. Tonight we're still at 16,000 feet. A beautiful evening here in the Himalaya... (transmission lost)
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Hello everybody, this is Casey Grom checking in again from the Mount Everest Base Camp Trek and Island Peak Climb. We are all currently safely back at base camp here on Island Peak after a successful but long, hard day. It was a pretty tough night. We actually had quite a bit of snow overnight, which made the trail difficult but fine and pretty slick so it was hard going for most folks for the first few hours. Luckily the wind died down and we were able to get three of our climbers to the top of Island Peak. The other three- a couple of them climbed, one stayed in camp to be moral support. The other two, I think they realized it was a little too much for them. It was a big day. It took about eight hours for the team to reach the summit after almost going non-stop with just a few breaks. We are all back at camp, everyone's happy and doing well. We just packed up and we're going to drop down to Chukung... (transmission lost)
RMI Guide Casey Grom
RMI Guide Casey Grom checking in after Island Peak climb.
Thanks for posting useful information about the island peak climbing. I read your complete blog and got i lot of information for my future trek plans. I really got to know about some interesting facts which I was not aware of. I have also got some useful insights from ExpedReview as well.
Thanks for posting wonderful content. Keep posting such types of blogs.
BIG, BIG days in a row. What a whirl wind tour this has been. Since leaving Pheriche at 14,000 ft and going up to 17,000-foot Everest Base Camp it has been all business.
The team has linked together so many tough days and been rewarded with so many memories, I sure hope the lack of oxygen to the brain doesn't effect the retention of them. We were up early to a blue-sky day. Quick breakfast and off we go. The word descend is a bit misleading when traveling in the Khumbu region. The dramatic relief in topography combined with all the weathering and rivers makes for a lot of ups and downs from start to finish of the day. Midway on our trek today, it started to snow pretty heavy. The team has been fine tuning what basic equipment to have in our packs at all times. Needless to say most of our clothing went on as we traveled through a winter wonderland. The downhill becomes a big challenge with wet and slippery condition. An impressive demonstration by my group of climbers today with no misstep under trying conditions. All tired but happy with one more BIG day tomorrow, which will get us back to the Lukla airstrip.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Nicole and team,
BREATH TAKING VIEWS, NICE TO SEE THEM. KEEP CLIMBING, I’ll keep praying!
“For a Climber, saying that you are stopping by Everest is like saying that you are stopping by to see God.”
Roland Smith, Peak
Looking at the pictures…I can only imagine!!::))
Peace,
MG
Posted by: MARY GRACE on 4/4/2014 at 1:56 pm
Hi, Nicole LoBiondo and team!
What an amazing journey! The photos are beautiful. Can’t wait to see you standing on the summit! Sending my love and LOTS of positive energy!!! xoxo Patti T
Hey Mark Tucker checking in from Pheriche down here in the lowlands of 14,000'. Well the team got up and had a nice breakfast in beautiful, beautiful weather. We said good-bye to the crew at Base Camp. It was really fun sharing the expedition experience with these guys. We had a really good time and were well taken care of. We were sad to leave Jeff Martin, our Operations Manager, all alone up there, but he's going to be fine. We had a big day today though. Went through Gorak Shep and Lobuche so it was quite a trek for the team. They all did well and the mountain at the last bit threw at us a pretty good snow squall. And for this group of Floridians, the preparation and our great training over the last couple of weeks here, we survived. It was not that bad but it was a fun experience and boy we're going to share these stories. Whatever they say, I'll agree with them. Those numbers change when they get back home but I will verify it. So we're all doing well. The other RMI team, the climbing team, is here as well. It's been great to rub shoulders with them and these guys are getting to know them as well. So we are all hanging tough. More downhill and up tomorrow, where we'll end up in Namche Bazaar. Thank you for following.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Hey everybody. This is Casey Grom checking in again with the RMI Everest Base Camp Trek and Island Peak Climb. Just wanted to let everyone know that all is well. We left Pheriche yesterday and hiked for a few hours. It was up the eastern-most valley in the Khumbu region to a little village called Chukung. Unfortunately, I was not able to get reception where we were staying. No cell service or wifi up there either. We had a great night, great food, and got up this morning to a little dusting of snow on the ground. We had a leisurely breakfast and got everything packed up. And then the team set off this morning around 10 AM. We hiked for about three hours further up the valley to the the base of Island Peak. Our wonderful support staff hiked ahead of us and had our dining tent and even had a hot lunch ready for us. All of our sleeping tents were set up right as we pulled in. We are a little spoiled to say the least. Anyway, the team's doing great. We're just relaxing right now inside the tents and will continue to rest this afternoon. We'll do some training tomorrow and then we're hoping tomorrow night we'll make our summit bid. So that's all for now, hope everyone back home is doing well and we'll check in again soon.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
So happy everyone is doing well. I’m sending my love and warmth your way!
xoxo
Posted by: Sydney on 4/3/2014 at 1:56 pm
GO DAD!! Just saw the pic of you and Lee at the base of the icefall- maybe that’s been a few days ago? Maybe you’re at the base of Island? Jealous, but so happy for you. Fond memories of a DECADE ago on Pisco- proud of you.
A great day at 14,000 ft and above. In the pattern we've come to expect, it was all blue sky and sunshine to start the day and then cloudy and even a bit snowy to end the day. But we made excellent use of the sunny and calm morning to go for a hike about 1,200 ft up on the hills behind Pheriche. Right off the bat, we enjoyed views of the sixth, fifth and fourth highest mountains in the world. Everest is now hidden from our view by Nuptse, and that will continue until we are above our final tea house in Lobuche, but Cho Oyu, Makalu and Lhotse were trying their utmost to make us forget our central goal of the trip. They had to fight it out with closer giants like Ama Dablam, Towoche, and Cholatse. Giant eagle/vultures cruised overhead as we climbed, hoping we'd leave one or two climbers behind, but everybody kept up just fine and the birds went hungry. We took a bunch of hero shots at our high point and beat feet back down to our luxurious digs in Pheriche. In the afternoon, the team strolled next door to receive an excellent lecture on altitude illness given by one of the docs of the Himalayan Rescue Association. The dining room was not nearly as busy as it had been yesterday and the team enjoyed slightly better internet connectivity through the late afternoon and evening. And that is good, since we don't expect much web surfing in Lobuche for the next couple of nights. We'll try to get our progress out if possible, but of course -no news from us is good news.
Mark Tucker, our soon-to-be basecamp manager, brought his basecamp trekking team back down to Pheriche as planned today. Nice to see him and his gang. We'll say goodbye to him in the morning as he continues guiding his folks back down to Lukla before sprinting back up to be with us.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Casey Grom - just checking in on you. Just read about the avalanche and of course I immediately thought of you. Be safe.
- Janel
Posted by: Janel Miller on 4/18/2014 at 6:43 am
Hi, Nicole! Looking spectacular! I’ll be up in May to hear all about your adventure! Your dad will be in Florida on Wednesday and I will be in Lauderdale Friday. If he hasn’t been on this site, I’ll get on with him. Stay well, rest when you can and keep on keepin on! xoxo
Posted by: Patti Tebo on 4/7/2014 at 6:07 pm
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