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
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
A climber from Mark Tucker's Kilimanjaro Climb, Mike Wyatt, composed the following poem about his summit day.
BLUE SNOW by Mike Wyatt
The air is cold, burns the lungs deep – Wish I was in bed fast asleep.
Obsidian night – Black as a raven feather.
Buttery crescent moon shepherds in good weather.
Heavy limbs fight the rocky slope – Trekkers tied by an invisible rope.
The echo of fatigue resonates down the line – Fiery meteorite the color of red wine.
The air is cold, burns the lungs deep – Wish I was in bed fast asleep.
Blindly pushing forward, we pass another team – What is reality? What is a dream?
Summiteers from years past whisper in my ear – not give in, for the peak is near.
I chase the heels before me repeatedly catching my breath – One unconscious slip could mean injury or death.
Tangerine pink color accent the sky – It’s pure silent beauty is no lie.
The crater rim now in sight – Ebullient hikers descend in weary flight.
Icy dry wind burns my face – Tired scarred boots don’t leave a trace.
The air still cold burns the lungs deep – I’m glad I am not in bed fast asleep.
For the glacier’s blue snow is still cold, hard and deep.
Jambo!
We are back to where we started, the Dik Dik Hotel. We have just finished a wonderful photo safari in Tanzania visiting Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Manyara and Tarangire National Parks. We spent three nights in the African bush at two different tented camp lodges. This is an incredible way to view the wildlife and experience the excitement of Africa. Check out the photo below from our team mate Steve. Steve took this photo from the Kikoti Camp on our last night in Tanzania.
Today, on our way back to the Dik Dik Hotel, we made a visit to a local orphanage to visit with our friends, drop some gifts for the children and check out the progress they are making on all of their projects.
Now we are back at the Dik Dik Hotel, repacking our gear and trying to fit all of our new treasures safely into our suitcase for the journey home. We will have dinner and then head to the airport for our evening flights.
It has been a great trip and we appreciate you following along on our adventure. I hope to see you on Mt. Rainier in September and if you are in Ashford drop by the Rainier Mountain Festival and say hello.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
I have been in Mt Kilimanjaro with three groups of RMI, Two groups with Mr Mark Tucker, and one group with Seth Waterfal. I learned so much about guiding professional, RMI guides are real professional, they know well about the mountain and caring of clients. Their friendly and charming. The clients ware so cooperative to us. Dikdik crews are remembering RMI expeditions to Kilimanjaro. We are proud of RMI. LONG LIVE RMI.
Posted by: Eliaza Mmbaga (ELLY) on 9/1/2012 at 11:03 am
Mark Tucker checking in from Tarangire National Park. Another fabulous day of game viewing. What can I say? We had a birthday celebration this evening. Cake, balloons, singing, gifting. Very nice evening here at the lodge, a tented camp with a big bonfire... All is well... We'll be back at the Dik Dik tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Mark Tucker checking in from Tarangire National Park.
Can’t wait to have the B’ville Boys back, but how are we gonna keep ‘em down on the farm now that they’ve climbed the summit and seen the wild ones!
Safe travels to all and many, many thanks to Mark Tucker! Tacey
Mark Tucker checking in from Tanzania we have had another beautiful day out here on Safari. The Ngorongoro Crater is spectacular showing itself off to the team. The Maasai just keep getting richer. We visited one of their bomas today and invested. The checked luggage that we are bringing home is going to be pretty filled up.
We are off the Tarangire National Park tomorrow and one more night at a tented camp out near Kikoti Rock. We will keep you posted on the adventures of the team.
Mark Tucker here checking in from Kirurumo, a luxury tented lodge. Half of the team began their journey homeward bound. We wish them all the best on their travels. We stopped at Lake Manyara for some safari game viewing and ended up here. We are about a quarter of the way to Ngorongoro Crater, so a little bit of a drive tomorrow, but more safari in our near future. A luxury tented camp once again doesn’t look like anything on the mountain and everybody is enjoying it.
All is good, having a blast. Wish you were all here
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Susan & Bill—I’m “watching” you guys and vicariously enjoying your Great trip! You look Terrific - like you belong there!! Sally
Posted by: Sally U on 3/25/2013 at 3:44 pm
Wonderful looking sweets Peter and Gerry - hope you stayed away from them and are managing to continue exercising… :-) you are both missed - be safe!
Posted by: Laurel Neil on 3/25/2013 at 9:02 am
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