Final Footsteps - Mt. Everest '09 Updates
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June 15th, 2009,
Safe and sound in the USA! I returned safely back home to Minnesota just over a week ago on June 6th. It was hard for me to believe; however, I made it two months climbing the world's tallest mountin with no problems and then on my flight home I think ate some bad food because I spent most of my 16 hour flight from Delhi, India to Chicago, IL in the bathroom with a very upset stomach and the chills! Ironic how things work. However, just a two days later I was pretty much back to normal so I guess it must have only made me stronger!! HA HA HA
After summitting on May 21st, I was safely back in Base Camp on the 22nd. I spent a few days in Base Camp just resting and waiting for the return of the rest of the group from higher up the mountain. We left Base Camp for Lukla on the 26th and then flew from Lukla to Kathmandu on the 29th. For the most part from the 29th to the 5th I spent in Kathmandu celebrating with my group and other climbers I had met on the mountain. It is always such a pleasure to get back to civilization after such a long stint in the mountains. It is almost impossible to get your fill or pizza, beer, ice cream and all the other foods you start to crave after eating rice, pasta, and dried foods for so long.
Other than that, it's back to reality. This last week it has been interesting to be driving truck hauling grain and thinking about how just two weeks earlier I was on the summit of Mt. Everest!!! Like I said from the start, "From the cornfields of Minnesota to the Top of the World!," I just never realized I could go from the Top of the World BACK to the cornfields of Minnesota so quick! It is great to be home though.
Everyone asks, "What's Next?" That is hard to say and for right now and I for a while I just want to kind of soak up the success that was my first trip to the Himalaya. I am going to head North to Alaska for a few weeks this summer for some more work and climbing in the mountains of Southeast AK and then back to Minnesota for fall harvest. If I can make things happen, I will likely travel to Papua New Guinea to climb Carstenz Pyramid sometime this winter, but we'll have to see how things go.
For those of you reading the blog, I hope you enjoyed it. I know it was a little inconsistent with the timeliness of posts so I have somthing to work on for next time. Also, I would again like to thank all of you who sent e-mails, Facebooked, and supported this endevour! Your support did not go unoticed.
May 26th, 2009,
I DID IT!!! I summitted Mt. Everest on May 21st, 2009 at 5:30a.m. I got to watch the sunrise as I climbed up the famous "Hillary Step" and then on to the top of the world. We had a spectacular climb with moderate temperatures and slight wind.
If you have been watching the Asian Trekking blog I know it wasn't too specific about my summit so here is the "real" story.
We left on May 20th from Camp III to Camp IV or the South Col. This day was my first time above Camp III and standard procedure is to start using oxygen for the rest of the climb. Everything was perfect. I was feeling great and had had a great night of sleep at Camp III, only a few hours, the Yellow Band, and the Geneva Spur separated me from the famous, almost 8,000 meter South Col. The day went without incident and I climbed the route in about 5.5 hours, a great time. When I arrived at the South Col I felt fantastic as well, another good sign that my summit bid would be a strong one.
For most of the trip, my team member Yuri Pritzker and I climbed mostly in sync. We did our first and second rotations together and then were going for the summit together along with Apa Sherpa and Krushnaa Patil. Yuri and I arrived at Camp IV very early and were both very exicted just to have made it to C4 but also that we felt so good and the summit bid was so close. Later in the afternoon Krushnaa arrived and Apa from Camp II. We all rested during the afternoon, eating and drinking, breathing oxygen, and getting ready for our push to the summit at around 9:00p.m. On Mt. Everest, you are so high that there is a balance between the amount of rest you get and the time you spend at the South Col. The standard procedure is to leave C3 very early, arrive at the South Col sometime from noon to three and then rest and leave for the summit that same night. You climb through the night in order to summit early enough in the morning to get back to Camp IV before afternoon storms.
We all left at 9:00p.m. with anticipation for what should be the hardest 12-18 hours of our lives. There was a low winds and temps around -20 F. For the most part, the rest is a blur. As you climb in the dark you only have your thoughts. You can't see how far you've come or how far you have to go, you simply just keep moving. Yuri and I got out of camp first with our sherpa climbing partners. I first goal was to reach the "Balcony" at about 8500 meters or just below 28,000ft. We climbed for 3.5 hours with no break and reached the Balcony at about 12:30a.m. By this time Yuri had climbed ahead of me and it was just Phurba (my climbing parnter) and I. At the Balcony I took about 10 minutes to eat a Snickers, drink 1/3 liter of water, pee, and change my Oxygen bottle. After this time I started for the South Summit, 8700 meters.
We climbed almost alone to the South Summit. The whole time you can see headlamps above you and only think, "How much farther is it..." We arrived at the South Summit at about 4:00a.m. with Yuri still ahead of me and Apa and Krushnaa behind me. Phurba and I took another 10 minute break to do exactly the same things as at the Balcony and then we were off again. I do remember thinking on the South Summit, after looking at the summit ridge, "How can there be so much more climbing?" In reality it only took about another 1.5 hours to get to the summit, but it looked so far.
The only thing between me and the summit was the infamous "Hillary Step," and I couldn't believe it when I climbed it in about 5 minutes without any difficulty. After I got above the step, the sun began its delicate dance over the clouds and the mountains below and the rest is history. Phurba was behind me and according to what I would consider tradition or respect, I asked him to "Take me home!" We stepped on the summit together and I gave him a big hug and thanked him in tears. We had done it!! At about the same moment I saw Yuri and we exchanged hugs and smiles about our accomplishment. At that time Yuri had been on the summit about 1 hour and started to head down. Phurba and I got out our cameras and began the whole summit procedure with pictures and taking in the view.
Just after 6:00a.m. Phurba and I started our descent down the mountain where upon we met Krushnaa and Apa along the way. Krushnaa summitted at about 6:30a.m. and Apa at about 8:00a.m. The way down was great becuase we actually were able to see what we had climbed and it was amazing. For me, it was dark mostly to the summit so I was unable to see the amazing steepness of the summit ridge, the near vertical Hillary Step, the very small summit of the South Summit and also the steepness and technical rock we had climbed on alot of the route. It wasn't three hours later and we arrived back at the South Col at 8:45a.m. My Mt. Everest summit day had been less than 12 hours, a very impressive time by most standards. When I arrived at basecamp with Yuri the next day, I was complimented greatly when Pertemba Sherpa, one of our expedition leaders called me "Sherpa Nic!"
It was the most perfect summit push I could have asked for. Everything went flawlessly and without a hitch. I can't explain this, but the summit day for me was very easy. Of course it was cold, long, physically demanding, but I climbed so effortlessly and seemlessly I couldn't beleive it. I didn't have cold toes or hands, my oxygen worked perfectly, and I reached the summit in a great time, it was just amazing. I felt so great when I reached Camp IV that I decided to descend to Camp II the same day (along with Yuri), something only a handful of people can do. Basically this gets you off the mountain a day earlier and back to safer ground sooner. The less time you can spend at the South Col, the better. I rested at Camp IV until about 1:00p.m. and then started the descent to Camp II, arriving at Camp II at about 4:30p.m. By that time I had climbed up and down over 10,000 vertical feet. What an amazing 30 + hours.
The next day Yuri and I descended to Base Camp where we were welcomed with the greatest relief in the world, being safe after climbing Mt. Everest. The next few days were filled with the excitement of summits and celebration, parties and fun. We waited for the second summit group to return and then started our climb back to civilization and Kathmandu. As of right now, we are in Namche Bazaar just two days from Kathmandu.
I'll let you all know when I return to Kathmandu and I look forward to the clebrations that are bound to take place. As for now, our team, a Finnish team, and a Croatian team are getting together to do our own celebrating here in Namche. My Seven Summits are complete, I've climbed Mt. Everest, and I couldn't ask for anything else!
May 15th, 2009,
Well what a ride it has been! It has been about two weeks since my last update and a lot has happened. As of today, I have been up to Camp III, 24,000ft, for a nights sleep and we are now waiting to leave for the summit on the 17th.
On May 3rd I left BC for Camp II, my second rotation up the mountain. The goal was to climb the Lohtse face to Camp III and sleep for acclimatization purposes. After a rest day at Camp II we left at about 6:00a.m. for C3 expecting about a six hour day. I made it up there in about five hours without incident. It was the highest I had ever been at 24,00ft. and I felt fantastic. We enjoyed a quiet afternoon with beautiful views of Lohtse, Chy O Yo, Pumori, and the mountains of the Himalaya. One crucial aspect of the acclimatization process is your ability to sleep at C3. The better you sleep, the better position you will be in for your final push to the summit; I slept perfect, twelve hours of amazing sleep so that was fantastic.
The next day we descended down to C2 where we planned to leave the next day for BC. That next day as we made our way through the icefall, Phurba and I got a scare when an avalanche came down from Everest’s West Shoulder right above us. At first you don’t know the size or the caliber of the avalanche so you basically just start running for your life. After a short time I heard Phurba yell, “Small One, Small One,” so we stopped running and turned to watch the debris fall just at our feet and the snow blow by us through the air. It was the ultimate “freak out” and a great sign to keep our butts moving down the icefall. We arrived at BC just less than three hours from leaving C2 which is about as fast as you can do it without running down the whole way.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only action on the mountain for the day. About thirty minutes after we arrived in BC, Everest’s West Shoulder decided to dispatch a very, very large part of the glacier right down onto the icefall climbing route. This avalanche came in the same spot that Phurba and I had experienced our avalanche except this one was many hundreds of times bigger. The cloud of snow blew through BC from a mile away. Even worse, at 10:40a.m. the time of the avalanche, there were many people on the route, right in the line of fire. Three of my team members where caught in the avalanche and two members of the Austrian portion of our team had to be rescued from crevasses while the third member, a sherpa, was literally blown away. (More literally, he was likely hit by avalanche debris, pushed into a crevasse, and then covered with snow and ice.) After a whole day of rescue procedures, the two Austrian Team members where brought to BC while a search continued for the missing sherpa.
In the aftermath, a search party went up in the icefall on four different occasions to search for the body with no luck. The two Austrian Team members are making a full recovery and still planning to climb for the summit. On a much sadder note, the sherpa was never found and likely passed on in a matter of minutes. I ask that you send out a prayer for Lahkpa Nuru Sherpa, age 33, loyal husband and father of two. It is a mean truth that climbing Everest can be deadly and it hurts even more to have had to experience that with members of your own team.
On May 8th, most of my team headed down the valley to a village called Pheriche for some rest and recuperation. By going to a much lower altitude, we gave our bodies the chance to repair themselves a little and get stronger for our final push to the summit. We stayed down for about seven days before returning to BC on May 14th to prepare for our summit bids.
As of today, May 15th, after a lot of talking and deliberation it looks as though I am going to depart May 17th for a summit attempt on the 21st. The weather looks as though it is improving and the jet stream is pushing North of the summit of Everest making for less wind on summit day. It is hard to put all this last years work and effort on one day, but that is how Everest works. No one can predict the weather to a T, although we try, so the best we can do is take what information we have and go for it! I take some solace in the fact that Apa Sherpa, 18 time Everest Summitter, is going for the summit on the 21st, that seems to be a good sign to me! It is hard to believe the time is here, but just one more day to organize and rest in BC and then six days of climbing will determine my Mt. Everest fate. The plan is for a first team to go up on the 17th for a summit on the 21st and then a second team will go up on the 19th for a summit on the 23rd. This way we split up the group and make enough room at the higher camps with fewer tents. There is not much to do now but climb. I feel great and the weather looks promising so hopefully the next thing you hear from me will be SUCCESS!!
As for now, we continue to sit in our plush dining tent drinking tea, eating well, watching movies, and laughing at what seems to be a limitless amount of jokes! Send out good vibes for me over the next few days and with some hard work and a little bit of luck I will be standing on top of the world!
April 28th, 2009
Namaste from Mt. Everest Base Camp. Everything has been going fantastic here and on schedule as yesterday I returned to BC after my first trip to Camp II. What a week it has been including high winds at Camp II and my first trip through the Khumbu Icefall.
On April 20th we had our “Puja,” or ceremony for the mountain gods, requesting permission to climb the mountain. I was scheduled to climb to Camp I on April 22nd; however, because of a battle with a sinus type head cold, I decided to wait it out until the second group was going up on the 24th. This turned out to be the right decision as I felt just about 100% the night before we were supposed to leave for Camp I. An interesting rule of Himalayan climbing is that there is always time to wait and be patient. So much of climbing Everest and other 8000 meter peaks is about a person’s ability to cope with all the waiting. If a person is able to endure the days and days of boredom in BC, typically they will be much more likely for success. These may not be traits that come to mind immediately when thinking of me, but I am lucky in that I have no schedule for this climb. I can wait in BC as long as it takes to accomplish the goal, which makes my decision making in regards to schedule much easier.
On April 24th, we got up early and left BC at 4:30a.m. to get through the Khumbu Icefall before the sun rose. The climb from BC to Camp I is considered by most people to be the most notorious and dangerous part of climbing Everest via the South Col. Route. Every year people die in the Icefall from falls into crevasses, falling ice, or avalanches. If you Google “Khumbu Icefall” and look at the images you will see why. For approximately 4 hours climbers are subject to large building size ice blocks that may fall at any moment. All the while climbers are navigating through these ice chunks using ropes and ladders to span large crevasses. The good news is, this year the route the icefall is particularly straightforward and as safe as it can get. We made it to Camp I in just less than five hours and before the sun had hit the ice so although I was pretty tired, it was an amazing day.
We spent one night at Camp I before heading just 2.5 hours up the glacier to Camp II. At Camp II, 21,500ft., I was sleeping higher than I ever had before. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much sleeping to be had because of a nice headache due to the altitude and also some very high winds (20-40mph). I spent two nights at Camp II and both involved little sleep. One night the winds were strong enough totally blow down the cook tent which amazingly, thanks to the Sherpas, was erected again in the morning by the time I woke up. After my second night in Camp II, I woke up early and headed back down the Icefall to BC where I arrived yesterday. Although my first trip up the mountain didn’t go perfectly, I certainly acclimatized and the next time around will be easier and better.
One reason I chose to climb with Asian Trekking is because part of their fee includes a climbing partner, or a Sherpa of Nepal. The man I am climbing with is Phurba Sherpa. He is 49 and has been working in the Himalaya for 30 years. They call him “Little Bulldozer” because of his amazing capacity to do work. As you look around camp, you can see him always doing something, carrying some rock or building up some tents. His English isn’t perfect yet we are able to joke and laugh. In all his time working he has been to the summit only four times, I think mostly due to failing clients. I know for him the summit is unimportant, but for all of his works sake, I hope to be able to follow him long enough that we reach the summit together. At almost 50, Phurba can climb and carry far more than I can even dream. The more gear that he offers to carry of mine, the faster he goes. For example, we returned yesterday from four days of climbing and I now have five rest days before going up again. Phurba on the other hand, left this morning at 4:00a.m. probably carrying 50lbs. of oxygen or supplies and headed to Camp II. He rests at Camp II tomorrow, the next day climbs all the way to Camp IV, 26,000ft. at the South Col., to drop the load he was carrying and then returns to Camp II. One more day down to BC where he will get one days rest before heading back up to Camp II with me for my second rotation where we will go as high as Camp III. Not only Phurba, but all the Sherpas here on Everest, are truly amazing.
I am now in BC and am just resting and relaxing before going up again on May 3rd for my second rotation. There I will try to sleep at Camp III for one night and then return to BC for rest before the summit push. BC is quite the place with all the amenities needed to survive excessive amounts of time. I myself have an iPod for music and a 1990’s version of Gameboy that lasts for about 30 hours on two AA’s batteries. I have a few games, but for some reason I just play Super Mario Bros. 3 over and over. I must have beaten the game 100 times, but I can just keep playing it so that is nice. We have an amazing dining tent where we eat three amazing meals a day, have carpeted floor, high backed chairs, a big propane heater, tables, and an abundance of laughter. It is hard to think of reasons to complain, even at 17,500ft.
I am very thankful that I have overcome the cold that I had last week. I am feeling 100% healthy and am just waiting to go up again for the 2nd time. The trip has been going great and my team is just the right mix of all the different kinds of people to keep things interesting. I hope you have been enjoying the daily blog at Asian-Trekking where they have photos and more information on each day. Stay tuned for my next update when I arrive back in BC after going to Camp III, sometime around the 7th of May, at which time I will be getting ready for the summit of Mt. Everest."
April 20th, 2009
Hello again, this time from Mt. Everest Base Camp, 17,500ft. I hope you all have been enjoying the daily updates at www.asian-trekking.com as I have discovered that the internet is not as available as I might have thought! It should be better as we have just got our communications tent up and running and all is ready to go here at Base Camp (BC).
The trip has been going fantastic and it seems as each day is an adventure! It is hard to believe that we are to start climbing in just two days. Typically speaking, climbers will make three “rotations’ or climbs from BC up the mountain. The first rotation is just one day up to 21,000ft to Camp I and back to BC. Each of the next rotations goes up one camp with the last rotation spending one night at Camp III at 24,500ft. After the third rotation I will hike down the valley for some well deserved rest at lower altitudes. If all goes well, I should be ready to summit at the earliest around May 10th and thereafter until June.
BC is a very festive place with lots of people from around the world, prayer flags, and chortens. There are quite a few famous climbers here like Ed Viesturs and Dave Hahn. Not to mention a few teams trying to do some interesting things like sleeping on the summit overnight and attempting to climb Lohtse and traverse to the summit of Everest without oxygen! The nice part is that there is a lot of man power here so this year for the first time, all the teams are working together to provide safer and more efficient fixed lines. Instead of the usual “bottlenecks” they are attempting to set up more fixed lines than normal to eliminate the usual problems which is really fantastic.
I am truly in the presence of greatness climbing with the likes of Apa Sherpa and Pertemba Sherpa. Each of them have been climbing in the Himalaya for decades and have stories that blow your mind. Pertemba put up first ascents on Everest and Annapurna back in the 60’s and 70’s. He was with Sir Chris Bonnington on the second ascent of Annapurna in the early 70’s. Annapurna is considered to be one of, if not THE most deadly mountain in the world. Apa Sherpa has a wealth of knowledge on Everest considering he has climbed it more than anyone else, ever. It is amazing to hear these stories first hand as I have read many of them from books or magazines.
Unfortunately at this time I am struggling with a cold, a little sore throat, runny nose, and headache. On our first rest day on the 18th, I could feel something coming on in the evening and I knew I was getting a cold. At sea level, this would be no problem for me, but at almost 18,000ft. it can be a trip ender, so that has been a bit nerve racking. Today I felt better and feel like tomorrow I will be on the verge of back to normal. In reality, it is actually a bit of good luck to get sick now while early in the trip and in BC because I have so much time to recover and get strong again! From that point of view, this isn’t so bad and in a few days, all should be well. At the very least I will have to remain in BC for an extra day or two before starting the actual climbing. Lots of Vitamin C, tea, water, and rest and all will be well!!
On a happier note, today was our Puja, or ceremony to ask Chomolungma (the god of Everest) for her permission to be climbed. It took a few hours and includes chanting Tibetan prayers, raising hundreds of feet of prayer flags, and offering food and drink to Chomolungma. All the while our whole team is there including the Sherpas who cook, climb, and support the expedition. All in all there was about 40 people chanting and dancing getting ready for the climb. Despite my cold, I still was able to sip a little of the rice beer, called “chang” that everyone was enjoying. It was really a fantastic experience and Puja. The sun was shining and our position in BC puts us right at the foot of the Khumbu Icefall so the backdrop was amazing!
I think the daily blog at Asian Trekking will have pictures and even a better description of the Puja as well. Thanks for tuning in and the next time we chat, I should have climbed to Camp II in good health and a few steps closer to the summit!
April 14th, 2009
Hello again, this time from Dingboche, 14,400ft. Everthing is still going great as we are making our way to base camp. A lot has happened since my last post in Namche Bazaar! We've been through four different villages and have been having great weather and great days of hiking. It's hard to put it all in writing, but here is a good gist of what has been going on.
After Namche we hiked to the village of Thame where we stayed at Apa Sherpas lodge. It was a beautiful village on high in the hills looking down on the Khumbu. The village is located on the pass to Tibet called the Nangpa La. Unfortunately now, the pass is closed thanks to China's foolishness, otherwise there would have been many Yak trains and Tibetans coming through the pass to bring goods to Namche Bazaar. We had a nice night there with a fantastic sunset on the snowy peaks around.
Two days after Thame we were in Tengboche for Easter Sunday. I had quite an experience as our group was able to sit in for a prayer session in the monastery. We all were blessed by the Lama and watched and listened as the monks performed thier ceremony chanting and praying. It was quite an experience for my 2009 Easter!! Also very nice to have our expedition blessed by the Lama.
The next day we hiked through Pangboche and were able to organize a meeting with Lama Geshe, considered to be one of the most respected Lamas in all of the Khumbu. He performed a "puja" were he asked the gods for permission to climb Mt. Everest and to be kind to our expedition. It was quite moving and interesting all the while. He wrote all our names and the request in Tibetan in a postcard that we are to present to the mountain before our summit day. We will have another of these "pujas" in base camp with all the sherpas and people involved in our expedition. I obviously am not Buddist, but have whole heartadly accepted these traditions for this climb, as I have been saying, "I want to do everything I can to make myself right with the locals!!!"
We just finished our rest day and are headed to Lobuche (15,700ft.) tommorrow for another rest day and then to base camp. I am quite excited to get to base camp as the route in the ice fall has been put in and our Camp I is being set as we speak. It is always important for me to remember the length of this expetion and to be patient with each day.
The whole trip so far through all the villages has been amazing. It is true what they say, the Sherpa people of Nepal are amazingly friendly and nice. It has been a blast to experience it first hand. Today I saw a family planting potatoes with two Yaks and a plow. The father was running the plow, the wife throwing in the seeds, and the children then covering them. It was a great reminder of home and the planting that is likely taking place there now or in the near future.
I am feeling very healthy and adjusting well to the altitude. A few more days and the group and I will be in base camp and ready to start the real climbing!
I urge you all to check out the www.asian-trekking.com daily blog where you will be able to piece together the things I am saying. It's hard to say everything that has been happening in such little time on a computer! Lucky for me, Asian Trekking is doing an amazing job with the daily blog and likely has lots of great information!
April 9th, 2009
Today we hike from Phakding (8900ft.) to Namche Bazaar (11,350ft). We only gained about 2300ft. of sleeping altitude, but probably more like 5,000ft. of vertical relief with all the up and down. It was a nice day, hiking through the little villages of the Khumbu and even better, we arrived in Namche Bazaar just before a huge sleet/rain storm. It was quite nice sitting in our lodge, drinking tea, while watching the assualt outside. We should have gotten our first views of Everest today, but cloud cover interrupted that plan! I had a fantastic time chatting with a few of the Sherpas that are hiking with us. Most of them have climbed Everest, Chy O Yo, Makalu, Ama Dablam and other peaks considered to be "impressive" by climbers. It almost seems for them like it is no big deal, just a job they do for money. It is just amazing, not to mention that they are so pleasant and friendly besides their amazing climbing abilities.
The snow has just stopped here in Namche and I am getting my first views of the snow capped peaks of the Himalaya. It is overwhelming to think that they tower over me and they are just 6000 meters high, Mt. Everest another 2800 meters or 10,000ft. higher. It is quite impressive.
I have to correct something I wrote in my last post. "Basic" is not the right word for these lodges. They are really just a simpler version of what we would consider a hotel. We have been lucky with bathrooms in our rooms and today even a shower right in the room. Tonight we are eating steak and potatoes and could choose from Coca Cola, coffe, beer, wine, water, tea, just about anything you can think of. Also, it seems as though there will be internet all the way to Base Camp and the charge is only about $3.50 per hour. It is all quite amazing when thinking about the altitude that we are at and the means at which things arrive in these villages, ON SOMEONES BACK!!! Everything is carried by people from place to place. Today I saw 12 inch diamater 12 foot sections of steel pipe headed to a village and each section weight 210lbs. One man would carry that for hours at a time to get it to the next place. It is really hard to believe, but that is life here.
Tommorrow we head to Thame, the village of Apa Sherpa. I am sure it will be as exciting as today, with new experiences along the way. According to one of the Sherpa, today is the 2nd hardest day to basecamp so that was nice to hear considering I felt fantastic.
April 8th, 2009
So life is good here in Nepal. I am writing from Phakding our first stop from Lukla, the village we flew to yesterday. I spent all of last week in Kathmandu checking out the sites of the city, meeting the climbing group, and preparing for our flight to Lukla on April 6th.
We went to the airport on April 6th and had a big sendoff by local news and even CNN International because of our Expedition Leader, Apa Sherpa who is going for his 19th, Mt. Everest Summit. Apparently there was a short story on CNN television and I appeared as I have heard from various people. The weather in Lukla had been terrible all week so flights were being canceled left and right and there was a good chance ours would be canceled as well. We arrived at the airport quite early and ended up staying there until about 3:30p.m. by the time we knew for sure our flights were cancelled. That meant another night in Kathmandu and repeating the same process the next day. Highlights for our day in the airport included eating uncooked generic Ramen noodles (no McD's in the Kathmandu Aiport), getting loaded in the plane, taxied out to the runway only to have our Lukla socked in with clouds at the very last second, and my very favorite, I got the opportunity to sneak a knife in my shoe, through security!!!! What a day!
At any rate, we spent the night in Kathmandu and did the whole thing the next day only that we actually ended up flying at the very last minute to Lukla. By this time it was too late to hike to Phakding, our intended destination, so we stayed at a nice lodge right in town.
Today we ate breakfast and had a nice, slow, and not to long hike to Phakding where we will stay for the night before heading to Namche Bazaar tommorrow. If your wondering how this whole thing works, hiking in to Everest Base Camp, it's really quite simple. From Lukla, there are little villages scattered all the way from 10,000ft. all the way to about 15,500ft. just before Mt. Everest Base Camp. In each village there are multiple little lodges for trekkers, climbers, etc. Most are very basic, with a group mess hall and maybe a group bathroom. You have to remember that all these lodges are really quite remote and at altitudes villages that are seen in places like Nepal or the Andes of South America.
We are going to take about ten days to hike the approximate 60 miles from Lukla to Base Camp. Each day provides the opportunity to see all the villages along the way, Buddist monasteries (some as old as 1000 years), and acclimatize for our climb on the mountain. The key goal is to get to Mt. Everest Base Camp feeling good, healthy, and ready for the climb itself. Any attempt to rush to Base Camp could mean a quick end to the climb.
Our group is great with quite the diversity! We are being led by Apa Sherpa and Dawa Steven Sherpa and both of them are fantastic with energy, enthusiasm and plenty of experience! Bill Burke, Bud Allen, Will Cross, Jesse Easterling and Yuri Pritzker are all from the U.S. Mogens Jensen is from Denmark and Henry Voigt is from Germany. I am the youngest at 26 and Bill Burke the oldest at 67. Bill and Bud are attempting everest for thier third time and you know what they say, "the third time is the charm!" Will Cross has been on the mountian numerous times and is guiding a friend to the top. Mogens Jensen was a star on season one and two of "Everest: Beyond the Limit" on the Discovery Channel. He has summitted with Oxygen, but this years tries to summit with no O2. Jesse, Yuri, Henry, and I are all going for our first attempt and with some good luck and hard work, the whole team can be successful!
Typcial expedition first days so far though. Everyone is just getting to know each other and settleing in for the long haul. We know there is alot ahead of us and the hard work has yet to begun. For now we all will just enjoy each others company and enjoy the beautiful Khumbu Valley, Everest Region of Nepal. I am quite excited to get higher in the mountains for the first glimpses of famous mountains like Ama Dablam, but all in due time. For now, I'll walk back to the lodge and get my fill of some great, warm food, and head off to bed anticipating another day. Look for another post in about another five days when we have our rest days in Tengboche and Lobuche just below Everest Base Camp. I will surely have more great stories and news!
For more news on the Eco Everest Expedition 2009 you can check out www.asian-trekking.com where they have a daily blog and a "latest news" update section!
April 1st, 2009
I did it, I made it to Nepal! Not only did I arrive, but all of my bags and personal belongings did too! I didn't have anything too interesting go on in the first legs of my flights except that I may have indulged in a few too many beers in Minneapolis and Chicago to calm my nerves, as an end result, I had a little bit of a headache to start my fifteen hour journey to Delhi, India, oops. I had a fifteen hour layover in Delhi so I organized a hotel in downtown to make everything easier. One thing I stressed out about a little was that I didn't organize a taxi through the hotel to pick me up at the airport in Delhi because they charged about $40 more than did just taking the city taxi. Of course when I exited the aiport I was mobbed by about twenty young kids trying to get my business. This of course is nerveracking when trying to keep track of such imporant things as all my climbing gear, wallet, passport etc, not to mention being mislead to some second rate, hack job, take you out to the middle of no where and rob you taxi. As it happens, I had a very nice taxi driver who dropped me right off at my hotel and that was it. I had a nice dinner of Japanese food at the hotel Japanese restaurant and even managed to sleep from midnight to five a.m. which was really noon to five p.m. my time.
The next day back at the airport I had a quite the scare as I tried to clear the last section of security with my hand luggage. Because I always have so much gear and for whatever reason I am always so close to the max. allowable weights, I always seem to have to take about 10-15 pounds out of my checked bags and carry it with me on the flight. It works out nicely that my rack of climbing gear is small and weighs alot (including carabiners, rope slings, some other technical pieces). I have never had any problems clearing any customs in any other part of the world, but for whatever reason, they saw the big clump of aluminum caribeaners and took me through about 40 minutes of hassle. We had to go to about four different tables and I had a whole army of security folks checking out my climbing gear. Of course the only thing I understood them say was "profesional climber" so I went with it and kept nodding my head saying, "Yes, very important, I am a profesional climber!" At one point, I thought for sure my gear was gone and I'd be stuck buying a couple hundred bucks worth of stuff in Kathmandu, but in the end they just said "profesional climber" and let me through. That was it, all the hassle was over and we had a beautiful flight to Kathmandu. I am pretty sure I could see at least a few of the big name Himalaya peaks out my window and I'm not sure, but I'm just going to say that I also saw Everest from the plane. At any rate, I remember thinking, "those mountains are BIG!!!!"
Everything turned out great at the airport, quick lines, all of my gear arrived which is always so very nice to have happen! It is quite crazy to start to worry that you may have to repack, repurchase, and redo all that work spent in the weeks prior to the trip. Lucky for me though, everything arrived as planned and I was picked up by my company and taken to my hotel. So far my expectations of Kathmandu seem to be right on. Very quiet and nice people, very dirty streets, and beautiful weather. I met with my expedition company today, Asian Trekking, and got the low down on the schedule for the next few days. A few group meetings, gear check, a dinner out together and then we fly to Lukla on April 6th.
As for now, it's 72 degrees and sunny (my favorite weather), I think it sounds like a nice time to sit out on the patio, talk climbing with a number of the other people from around the globe getting ready to climb, and what the heck, my headache is gone, it might even be time for another beer!
March 15th, 2009
Just two short weeks and I'll be in Kathmandu! It is hard to believe that the time is almost here. I am at the end of my training program and feel great and ready to go. Since January 10th I have been working out twice daily to try to be as physically fit as possible. In the past I have been pretty lax about my physical fitness when it came to climbing. I have been lucky enough to just "will" my way to some summits. I have always told myself that if I attempted Everest I would eliminate physical fitness as a variable for failure. I feel as though I have done just that. I have been utilizing all types of cardio work outs like running, cross-training, and the stair-master (my personal favorite). Most sessions are 60-90 minutes of high intensity, or a heart rate at about 85% of my target heart rate. I have also incorporated some weight training to build muscle mass and endurance. I think I am as ready as I ever will be and am certainly ready to leave the confines of the indoor gym.
Within the last week most of my final gear preparations have come to a close as all the missing pieces of gear have been ordered and are accounted for. Sometime in the last week of March I will pack everything and do a final inventory and that will pretty much be it. No excuses, no replays, get on the plane and get it done!
For a detailed description of the climbing route and journey please click here
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