Today the team went uphill in a few big ways. The Sherpa team carried loads all the way to Camp II (ABC) at 21,300 ft before returning to base while the climbing guides and climbers geared up and traveled to the first ladders in the icefall route. It takes about 90 minutes or so to reach those lowest ladders, but we figure it was pretty good practice. The "trail" involves a lot of crampon work up and down endless ice ridges before the actual fixed ropes begin. The fixed lines take a little getting used to when it comes to passing intermediate anchors in steep and awkward spots. Then we started encountering the much anticipated ladders, the first few this season being short and simple. But we continued on until we hit a slightly longer set of ladder sections tied together and bridging a pretty deep and dark crevasse. The team took turns tip-toeing across the rungs and from time to time just standing back to watch Sherpa climbers dance effortlessly across in their descent from a hard day of work. Descent from that big and worthy crevasse a little over 18,000 ft was pretty good training all in itself. The team moved better and better as climbers got accustomed to the routines of "arm-rappels" and clipping past snow and ice anchors. We reached the crampons-off point just as the daily afternoon snowstorm began, but that meant we were only ten minutes from camp. Once back in our home away from home it was an easy afternoon of lunch, games, naps and good conversation.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
RMI Guide and Base Camp Manager Mark Tucker checks in with an update on the Mt. Everest Expedition.
Hey, this is Dave Hahn calling from Mount Everest. We're still doing voice dispatches. We don't have internet connectivity yet. There is hope that we'll have it in the next couple of days if they fix the cell tower down valley.
Things are going well up here. Our Sherpa team and our guide team went through the Icefall yesterday. Some of the first to go through the Khumbu Icefall for this season. We went to Camp 1 and came back down yesterday morning. All was well. Today the climbing team, went to Pumori Camp 1. Pumori is one of the beautiful mountains around base camp. Of course we didn't go for the summit of that; it would be pretty technical. But going up to Camp 1 was good exercise and got us up to some altitude. It wasn't the best day for being out in the hills. It was kind of snowy and gray but we made a good outing out of it. And then had an easy afternoon back here at base camp, so everything's going well. The base camp is filling up. Lots of teams coming in now. So it's getting a little bit more like regular Everest season by now. All for today. We'll keep in touch.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Dave Hahn calls in after first time this season through the Khumbu Icefall.
Hi everyone, this is JJ Justman with the Everest climbing team, sitting here at base camp another day. It is the evening, right around 8 o'clock. We just finished another great dinner prepared by our sous chef. Today we had a really great day. It was our second day of training in the Icefall. We set up a nice obstacle course and got everyone familiar with some of the ups and downs and the crosses of what the Khumbu Icefall is going to entail. Everyone's doing really well. It's nice to have some practice on some fairly solid ground before we get to the real thing. Everyone just did a tremendous job. It's really good to see great teamwork. Tomorrow we have some more teamwork with everyone- Sherpas, kitchen staff, climbing team members, Jeff [Martin] and Mark Tucker, our base camp manager. We are having our puja tomorow. That's a nice little ceremony before we actually head up onto the mountain. We'll tell you a little bit more about the puja tomorrow. Everyone's doing well. It's a beautiful night here. We're going to play a little poker, some chess and have another great evening here at Everest Base Camp. Take care everyone. Thanks for following along. Ciao.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
RMI Guide JJ Justman calls in from Everest Base Camp.
Hello JJ ....espero que todo bien en esta nueva expedicion ¡¡¡ un gran abrazo desde Tu otro hogar aca en la bella Mendoza¡¡¡ Cuidate bol….... you know¡¡ je cuidate y exito¡¡¡
Posted by: rodrigo on 4/14/2014 at 8:39 pm
Hey Choo,
Glad to hear you are well and relaxing up on the mountain eating good food and playing poker. Really roughing it this time..LOL! Stay safe, keep the feet healthy. Keep you and your team in our prayers. Kendra
This is Dave Hahn, calling from Mt. Everest. A great day for us today, our Sherpa team set up what we call a Jungle Gym, out in the glacier not far from Base Camp, a network of ladders and fixed ropes for us to practice on. We made good use of that, we went out this morning for a session for a couple hours and then this afternoon as well.
It was a pretty nice day here at Base Camp. We are excited because Mark Tucker made his return, our Base Camp Manager is home.
Everybody is doing really well we still basically have Base Camp to ourselves. Most of the teams will be rolling in in the next few days, next week but today it was still pretty quiet and we were enjoying it. All is good here and we will let you know what goes on tomorrow.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
RMI Guide Dave Hahn checks in from Everest Base Camp.
Spencer Uncle Larry and Aunt Dianne wishing you and your climb team all the luck in the world we follow you each day on the blog get home safe.
Posted by: Larry on 4/9/2014 at 10:46 am
Spencer!!
Hope you are destroying that little hill you call everest! Big Dan misses you. Good vibes are sent to you from all your family and friends back home. I know we all miss you! LA has been a tad bit quiet w/out you causing ruckus. I cannot believe I have 2 more months of growing this disgusting beard. You owe me!! My family says hi and they love/miss you and to come back home safe. Every step counts!!
This is Dave Hahn calling from Mount Everest. We had a great day today. The team rigged up for glacier travel and we went out in the Khumbu Glacier close to base camp with our crampons and ice axes. We went exploring up and down pinnacles and ridges of ice and just had a good hike in the glacier for a couple hours today. A nice day in the morning. And then in the afternoon and evening, it got a little more cloudy and started to snow a little bit in the evening. Everybody is doing really well. Tomorrow we are hoping to go and work out on some ladders and some fixed ropes in the Icefall on the lower glacier. So a practice day tomorrow. All is well. All for now.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
RMI Guide Dave Hahn calls in from Everest Base Camp.
I miss you brother. I hope all is going well and you are safe and healthy. My beard is still growing strong and thick. Hurry back so I can shave it already! Have a great trip and every step counts! Can’t wait to see you and hear all about it.
Posted by: Danny on 4/9/2014 at 8:51 am
Nicole!!!! I miss you so much BUT I am so happy you are living out your dream and doing so well w the team!! Wednesdays are not the same without you! Xoxo thinking of you gf!!! Keep up the good work!!
Dave Hahn calling in from Mount Everest. All is well. We had a pretty nice weather day here. Not terribly cold and pretty clear for most of the day. The whole group is doing fine. Everybody is healthy, everybody had a good first night at 17 and a half thousand feet, and to help with that acclimatization today, was just an easy day. Catching up, resting, drinking water and taking it easy. Neat to be up here at the foot of the Khumbu Icefall, with giant mountains towering all around us. So far we have pretty much got base camp to ourselves. There's not a whole lot of other groups yet. They will be coming in in the next few days or in the next week or so. Things are good here, and we'll let you know what's going on tomorrow. Bye now.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
RMI Guide Dave Hahn calls in from Day 1 at Everest Base Camp.
the power of reptar (n royal pug june) compells u…
Posted by: Eric Pipkin on 4/7/2014 at 12:09 pm
Hi Kara!
Thinking about you every day. Started working on the story and will send you a link soon. Be safe and have an awesome time! Can’t wait to hear all about it! You are such a ROCK STAR!! Love, Mo
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.
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
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
The RMI Everest climbing team reached Pheriche today. Our last evening and morning down in the trees of Deboche went well enough and everybody was feeling strong and in good spirits this morning. We set out in bright sunshine with a big blue sky at 8:30 AM. Yesterday, in traveling the same trail to reach Pangboche we ended up in a huge yak traffic jam where a steel truss bridge had recently collapsed into the river and a detour needed to be negotiated. Today, the yaks were elsewhere and the trail was blissfully quiet. We made pretty good time, cruising along above the North bank of the Imja Khosi while steadily gaining altitude. The trees were pretty much played out a little above Pangboche at perhaps 13,500 ft and the character of the terrain changed. We took several short breaks alongside the trail and arrived by noon at Pheriche at 14,000 ft. Our tea house for the night (and tomorrow night as well) is quite popular, "modern" and spacious... a bit of a contrast from the more low key and traditional place we stayed in at Deboche. There are at least 75 other people sharing the dining hall and lodge, some are climbers and guides that we know from other mountains, some are trekkers, many are climbing sherpas. We were all happy to be sitting around a warm stove, indoors, as the clouds rolled in and it got nasty and cold in the late afternoon. It is far too many people for the capacity of the WiFi system, but we are plenty happy to be connected again at any speed.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Hi Nicole LoBiondo and team
Thank Dave for the great Blogs, We wait each day for his exciting update. You are very special. Love you Mimi
Posted by: Marianne Rhodes on 4/2/2014 at 12:35 pm
Nicole, this is so exciting to read everyday. Everyone is thinking about you, your dad, brothers, cousins and Alexa has been following the blog too. GM
Sending nothing but good vibes your way Spenny boy!
Posted by: Danny on 4/15/2014 at 12:37 pm
Nicole Lobiondo: Tracking you every day and thrilled to hear the team and you are going great. Stay warm and enjoy every minute. Love, Nicole H
Posted by: Nicole Howard on 4/14/2014 at 6:36 am
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