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Trail Down to Namche

April 24, 2012 by 6 Comments

Today we were on a mission toward Namche (12,300 ft) which is another 12 miles and a drop of another 2,900 ft in elevation. Today was a long day, with a lot of big drops interspersed with climbs. We still had some great views of Thamserku, Ama Dablam, and Everest. Big Ed and I stopped on the trail to kick some hacky sac that a young Sherpa girl had made and was kicking trailside. We spent a few minutes and had to catch the group, but the smile on the girl’s face was more than worth it.

During a break on the trail today, I caught up with the porter who has been carrying my bags. His name is Lakpa, and he carries about 40 kilos on his severely deformed back. As you can see, he is always happy and he greets me every morning to grab my bags to carry down the trail. Once I was over the guilt of this man carrying my bags for me (and beating me to our destination every day), I realized that this work is his only way to make a living. So today it was lucky that I caught up with him! I got a hug and he got a 3 dollar snickers bar. Good trade for me.

Once we got to Namche, those of us who had our bags got immediate showers (thanks Lakpa!). People who had yaks as porters had to wait. I had a wonderfully hot shower and then went and found the Tibetan lady who had saved a few items for me since our trip up the trail. Her name is Lhakpa Dormu, and she came to Nepal in 1982.

She does amazing craft work. I couldn’t barter with her because she was the sweetest and cutest little lady I’ve ever met. She even put a parting gift in my pocket when I left her store today, which was a bracelet made from yak bone. Her husband and son work in her store too and are also very sweet. We both got a laugh out of a picture together!

Tomorrow, we are off to Lukla, where we have a goodbye celebration with the Sherpas and porters before we leave the Khumbu and head back to Kathmandu.

Another Blue Sky Happy Day!

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Gorakshep, Kala Patthar, and Everest Base Camp!

April 22, 2012 by 9 Comments

Amazing day! Today wake up tea was especially nice, because it’s pretty cold here at 17,000 feet! There is nothing quite like getting up to hot tea served by my new Sherpa friends! Today we had breakfast at 8 a.m. and then we were off toward Kala Patthar (18,200 ft) by 9:30 a.m. Ed and I took off ahead of the group and we summitted by 11 a.m. 5 of our group decided to stay behind. The rest made the summit by noon. Bob Veno and Quincy Hill made it with the main group and got some great pictures. Ed and I got to sit on top for an extra hour taking it all in and taking a few photos. Words can’t describe the enormity and the beauty of these mountains. We just sat and stared at clear views of Everest, Nuptse, and Pimori, with Ama Dablam in the distance. It really is a religious experience. I am so fortunate to have seen this in person.

Once everyone got their pictures, we were off toward Everest base camp. This hike was pretty long and arduous, with many large rocks and slides and many areas of uneven footing. Once we were about an hour out from base camp, some of our Sherpa friends were waiting for us along the trail, with hot tea and cookies. We missed lunch, so I was quite thankful for this very thoughtful touch. Once rested, we trudged along again. All of the hiking became worth it when we finally made it to the glacier. What a sight!

Base camp is huge! Once we got to the edge, we still had a 30 minute hike to our camp. Peak Promotion had an incredible set up for us, with our camp sitting close to the Everest ER and David Breashears’ display of his project, River Works. We get to tour his project tomorrow. We have our own dining tent, and our two- person tents are spread about the rocks on the glacier. What a scene! We had bean soup waiting for us when we arrived. We unpacked, and sat down for a hearty dinner of momos and baked lasagna. Our Sherpa cook is fantastic! We listened to a hypothermia lecture by the HRA physician and then we were off to bed early. I listened to the sounds of the surrounding avalanches and cracking glacier as we were tucked in to our sleeping bags. We are actually here at Everest base camp, sleeping on a glacier. Pretty cool!

Another Blue Sky Happy Day in the Khumbu

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Pheriche to Lobuche

April 19, 2012 by 9 Comments

Today we had a later start. Morning tea was at 7am, so we had a leisurely morning. After a usual breakfast for me, chapati with jam and a cheese omelette, we were back on the trail towards Lobuche. It is bright and sunny this morning! Unfortunately for some, the rescue helicopters have been pretty active already, bringing altitude sick people down the mountain. Fortunately, we are all fit and healthy thus far in this group. We had a great hike to Dugla for tea and lunch. After lunch, we stopped off at chorten hill, where there were multiple manis, chortens, and memorials of deceased Everest climbers, to include American Scott Fischer. There were several picture opportunities as the views were spectacular.

The hike before and after lunch was moderately strenuous for most, so we took our time at this elevation and reached Lobuche (16,200 ft.) at about 4pm. After a brief rest and some lemon tea (my new favorite altitude drink), we went on a short hike above Lobuche. There were great views of many peaks, to include Lobuche, Nuptse, Pumori, and the backside of Ama Dablam. After the hike, we had a great round table CME discussion about avalanches. Dinner for me was french fries with eggs. Wongchu says no meat the rest of the way up. His rule of thumb is “you looking at river, meat is ok, you looking at mountain, no meat!”

For those of you medical people, my Sp02 at this elevation is 92%. Many people are in the mid-80s. Wongchu’s was 83%, which proves that Sp02 at this elevation means very little, since he is kicking my butt up this mountain! Tomorrow we are off to Gorakshep and Kala Patthar!

Another Great day in the Khumbu!

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Rest Day in Pheriche

April 18, 2012 by 10 Comments

Today we had “wake up tea” a little later so we got started on our “rest day” at 7am. Pheriche sits at about 14,000 feet and it appears we are all acclimatizing nicely. Once tea and breakfast were finished, we went on a Wongchu rest day hike. These are used to help us acclimatize. This hike was about 3 hours for most, 4 hours for 10 of us who wanted to go to the top of the “hill” behind Pheriche. Of course you couldn’t keep Bob Veno, me, or Quincy Hill away from going the extra distance. Quincy has no previous hiking experience, so it is quite impressive that she is able to run around at altitude like a mountain goat! We made it to 15,776 feet and Wongchu abruptly turned us around due to the high winds that had picked up. We still got some amazing pictures of Ama Dablam and the surrounding peaks. We were also able to get some shots of the distant Makalu. Quincy and I even got a special Boise State photo. Enjoy!

Once we made it back down to Pheriche, we had lunch and then went to the Himalayan Rescue Association clinic where the three volunteer doctors presented case studies and showed us the clinic. These three are very dedicated and enthusiastic about altitude medicine. They have seen many cases of high altitude pulmonary edema and cerebral edema, along with some other interesting cases.

I got a shower today, which was very primitive but welcome! Tomorrow we leave for Lobuche, which is at 16,200 feet. I don’t know if I will have much wifi access from here up the trail, so I may not be able to post for a few days. The general plan is to spend one night in Lobuche, then hike up to Gorakshep (16,900 ft) and spend the night, then day hike up to Kala Patthar (18,000 ft), then on to Everest Base Camp (17,600)! We spend 2 nights at base camp, then we start our trek back down. I will keep the updates going when I can.

Another Blue Sky Happy Day in the Khumbu

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Tengboche to Pheriche

April 17, 2012 by 19 Comments

Today Mike Johnson and I were up early to take pictures. We got our first glimpse of Everest! What an amazing day! I hiked back up to the Stupa above Tengboche to get shots of the monastery, Ama Dablam, Everest and the general scenery. I had a companion this morning, a local dog who hung out with me up and down the trail. Before breakfast we visited the local monastery. The architecture and the art were incredibly intricate and the setting very peaceful. After breakfast, we were back on the trail towards Pheriche. About halfway along the trail, we were privileged enough to visit Lama Geshe. This Lama is a very important Lama for Sherpas and climbers. Lama Geshe blessed us all. Melinda Johnson, Bob Veno and I were very fortunate to be wearing prayer beeds. The Lama took them from us, mixed them with his and then blessed them. He then told a story of a doctor who treated a yeti and lived to 180 years old. He then presented the docs (and me and Bob Veno) with a beautiful card telling the story and wrote our names on them in Nepali. All of us were very moved. We visited the monastery there, where there was a glass case with the skeletal remains of a “yeti” hand. The group got a big kick out of that. We hiked on to Pheriche with amazing views of Ama Dablam and arrived to our tea house in Pheriche at about 4pm. We had tea, of course, and then visited the Himalayan Rescue association clinic and then Wongchu took us on another hike. Tomorrow is another of Wongchu’s rest days.

Blue Sky Happy Day

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“Rest Day” in Namche and Trek to Tengboche

April 16, 2012 by 13 Comments

We had a “rest day” in Namche. To Wongchu, a rest day means museums, a hospital, and a 4 hour hike! In Namche we went to a Sherpa museum. There were a lot of historical artifacts, but the highlight was the room with all of the pictures of famous Sherpa Everest summiters. It was really neat to take a picture of Wongchu standing by his own picture. We also were able to take a picture of Dorjee Sherpa next to his museum picture. He is one of the Sherpas on our trek who summited both Everest and Dhaulagiri! Next, we hiked up to the government museum where they had some historical items which included Tenzing Norgay‘s summit suit. We then hiked to Khumjung and the Kunde hospital. The scenery was stunning. Our goal was a view of Everest but the clouds were settling in and the rain began, so no view today. On the way down, we passed the Sir Edmund Hillary school and the longest Mani in the Khumbu. And I did learn to count! 3 Sherpas and 4 hours and I can count to 20!

Trek from Namche to Tengboche

Today we left Namche to hike to Tengboche. We stopped off at the Namche dental clinic on the way out of town. The clinic is surprisingly well stocked and the dentist very knowledgable and professional. I got a great shot with the dentist and flat Eric and flat Michelle. The hike towards Tengboche was absolutely amazing, with views of Ama Dablam and occasional peaks at Everest. We lost a lot of elevation as the trail took us back down to the river. As we walked, we came across a man and his son who were taking donations for his trail maintenance project. He was working on the trail without government support, so he got donations from all of us. We stopped for lunch at the river and Tony gave a wound care talk. He got a little help from me. The rain started during lunch, so we moved inside to take questions and got our rain gear together for the hike up. We had a 1500 foot gain today, but it was nice and cool with the rain so it was pretty easy for most. We all made it to Tengboche, which is at about 13000 feet. Once we were dry, Wongchu took 10 of us on a hike above Tengboche to a stupa. It stopped raining but we still had no view due to the clouds. It was nice to keep the legs warm while we waited for dinner, however. We met many other Trekkers tonight, as the tea house in Tengboche is a little more quaint. People next to us were from the Netherlands and Sweden. We also got to meet a young female, Pema Diki Sherpa, who summited Everest at the age of twenty! Dinner was the typical fare, with a lot of rice, lentils, and momos. I had potatoes and eggs and I must admit I ate my first snickers pie! Basically, this is a small snickers calzone. I’m laying in bed as I write this at 7:45 pm because Wongchu made us all go to bed! No one crosses Wongchu, so here I am typing on my iPhone inside my sleeping bag! Tomorrow we visit the monastery and then on to Pheriche.

A rainy day in the Khumbu, but a happy one!

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