I descended from Lobuche base camp (15,800′) to Pheriche (14,000′) on Monday due to finally succumbing to an upper respiratory infection that has been working its way through our camp. I immediately started a Z-Pack and descended to the thicker air, a soft bed and warmer climes of Pheriche to nip this in the bud. It seems to have paid off as I already feel better and the real purpose of my trip remains ahead of me.

The downside is that I didn’t get to climb Lobuche with my team, especially Ben and Clay, who came to climb only Lobuche before returning to their family and work responsibilities. That’s a real disappointment for me, but we’ll have other climbs and summits in our future! I will get to see them both tonight, however, in Pheriche, as they descend toward home and their loved ones, and we’ll celebrate what I expect was their successful climb earlier today. Based on early morning radio traffic it sounded like they were both well on their way to summiting. Psyched for you both.

I will return to Lobuche base camp on Wednesday and then Everest base camp soon thereafter. Assuming, this minor distraction is just that, I will not have lost any ground on my main goal and should get my first rotation on Everest (camps I and II) next week. Much better to get this early in the trip than later and be able to tend to it and get past it quickly and back on track, which seems to be working.

While here in Pheriche on sick leave, I was able to upload some recent photos so please click the link below to view those:

Pictures from Pheriche

Also, Ben has generously provided me with his Nepali phone, since he is on his way home, and volunteered to update the blog for me since we only have voice and not data access at Everest base camp this season for some reason. So, apologies in advance for the lack of photos and any drop-off in literary quality.  😉  Only joking. I’m sure he’ll be able to convey my hypoxic ramblings better than I can. Seriously, much thanks to Ben for stepping-up to keep everyone informed! And lots of pictures will be posted once I’m back online officially at some point down the road.

In the meantime, I thought I would provide a brief synopsis of the weather we experience/endure at Everest base camp (17,500′). It gets down to 0 degrees Fahrenheit overnight, a bit chilly, and we awaken to frost lining the insides of our tents as our respiration freezes to our tents while we sleep. It warms considerably when the sun finally hits our tents at 7:45am. At this point, a few long-sleeved layers are all that are required to stay warm as the sun’s intensity at this altitude defies the actual air temps. Snow showers arrive daily around 1-2pm and the temperature plummets as these blot out the sun. The temperature really drops around 6:30pm though as the sun sets behind Pumori to our immediate west. Therefore, after dinner and the occasional card game, we all retreat to our tents to warm up and get some rest around 7:30-8pm. This is when books and music are consumed with vigor. So, those early morning hours are crucial to completing the days’ chores/tasks before the weather and temps work against us. Once we start climbing on Everest, we’ll employ alpine starts (3-4am or earlier) to climb when things are nice and solid/frozen as well as safer. Layers and movement will keep us warm (enough) on these early/cold mornings.

That’s about it for now. Working on feeling healthy/strong again and I will be heading up to Lobuche base camp tomorrow and on to Everest base camp soon thereafter. Great friend and literary giant, Ben, will provide updates upon his return home next week and as I approach/complete my first rotation on Everest!

Life at Everest Base Camp (EBC), where spam is considered gourmet cuisine and we’re living on an active/moving glacier at 17,500′, is a little harder for all of life’s activities, but it is great to be here.  The team arrived several days ago and is doing well and feeling strong.  Unfortunately, connectivity has proven to be a major issue, so my updates may be infrequent (if at all).  I’m borrowing bandwidth from a fellow team member (thanks Mike!) who has a satellite uplink to get this update out, so we’ll see how things go over the coming weeks/months.  His blog, which will be updated more reliably is www.climb7.com and the IMG blog, provided in previous posts below, may be the best source of information for now.

So, over the past week, we moved to Lobuche base camp (15,800′) from Pheriche, where we had incredible views of Cholatse and other peaks.  We spent several days acclimatizing there with some side trips to Lobuche high camp (17,000′) and a town at the base of Cholatse.  We moved up to EBC on 4/11 on a cloudy, windy day, but it was still amazing to finally make it here.  We have incredible views of Everest’s west shoulder and Nuptse’s west ridge to our east, Pumori to our west, Lobuche to the south and others to the north.  It is an incredible cirque and more amazing than I imagined.  We have a terrific set-up here in base camp with “on demand” showers, big dining tents, and individual sleeping tents, which allows us to spread out, stay healthy and strong.  We’re settling in nicely thus far.

We rested upon our arrival in EBC and focused on acclimatizing.  On 4/12, we met our personal climbing Sherpas, who are our life lines and vice versa for the next 5-6 weeks.  My Sherpa is Pasang Rinja (picture of us above before our puja ceremony).  He is highly competent and achieved with 6 Everest summits to his credit already and hopefully number 7 coming in about five weeks!  The puja ceremony was terrific, where we asked Chomolongma, Mother Goddess of the Earth (aka Everest), for permission to climb on her flanks and for safe passage to/from the summit as well.  After the puja, we did some training in the Khumbu icefall where we practiced ascending, descending and rappelling on the fixed lines as well as some ladder crossings in preparation for what is to follow soon for us.

This morning, 4/14, we said goodbye to the trekking members of our team.  It was a great group who added a lot of levity to the first portion of our trip.  They will be missed.  Tomorrow, 4/15, we (the climbing team) head back down to Lobuche base camp (15,800′).  The following day, 4/16, we will move to Lobuche high camp (17,000′) and then leave about 4am on 4/17 for the summit of Lobuche (20,161′).  On 4/18, we will return to EBC and rest for a few days before we finally get to head into the Khumbu icefall and do our first rotation on the mountain (Camps I & II).  Hopefully, connectivity will improve and I can keep everyone informed, but until then please check the other blogs provided above.  As of now, I’m feeling healthy and strong and eager to climb Lobuche and then head up the Khumbu icefall, the Western Cwm and get a view of the Lhotse face, South Col and the summit.  Soon…

We are in Pheriche (~14,000′) and enjoying more incredible views in every direction and each step takes us closer to our objective(s) of Lobuche and then Everest.  The team is doing well and our health remains strong with a few (very minor) hiccups along the way.  I had a tough night our last night in Namche before hitting the trail for Deboche and didn’t get any sleep due to a minor GI issue.  Fortunately, I felt better by the time we started on the trail and felt somewhat back to normal by the time we arrived at the Rivendell Lodge in Deboche.  Upon checking in, we discovered that the room I was sharing with Bob had its own bathroom, complete with its own shower, so I chalked that up to some “colon karma” and it certainly accelerated my recovery.  By the next morning, I was back to full strength.

On our rest day in Deboche we trekked back up the hill to Tengboche, visited the famous monastery and enjoyed a chanting session from the resident monks.  We went to bed that night to a Himalayan thunderstorm and significant rain, which was a peaceful way to fall asleep.  The next morning we awakened to 4-6″ of fresh snow on the ground and a winter wonderland.  We started up the trail to Pheriche in the snow, which was terrific as it kept the dust (carrying yak dung particles, etc.) to a minimum.  It made for some beautiful vistas as well.  On the way, we stopped at Pangboche and received a blessing from Lama Geshi as well as khatas (scarves) that will protect us on our climb of Everest and that we’re supposed to take to the summit with us.

Today was a rest day in Pheriche before we move up to Lobuche base camp tomorrow.  We did a day trek over to the village of Dengboche where we visited the tea house owned by one of our Sherpas, Phutashi, for lunch.  The views of Lhotse, Baruntse, Makalu, Island Peak, Ama Dablam, Kang Tenga, Lobuche, etc. were stunning (the picture above is of me with Kang Tenga behind taken by master-photographer-Ben — more pictures available by clicking the picture above).  Makalu and Ama Dablam remain very high on my future climbing objectives list and seeing them in person only reinforces those urges.  Others seem to have the same fever, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to assemble a climbing team for these somewhere down the road (Ben, Clay, you know I’m speaking about you!).  Someday… one major objective at a time though!

Tomorrow we move to Lobuche base camp (~17,000’+) and leave the comforts of the tea houses (cots, common rooms, showers, toilets, etc.) behind and finally move into tents.  We’ll spend several days there before moving up to Everest base camp (17,500′).  At that point, our trekking friends on this trip will turn and head for home while we head to climb Lobuche (20,161′) for further acclimatization.  Good friends, Ben & Clay, will join us for this awesome-looking climb before heading home.  The climbing team then will move back to Everest base camp to get on with what we came here to do…

We arrived in Lukla, as planned, early on 3/31 after the exciting landing at the small Lukla airport.  From there it was an easy stroll mostly downhill to Phakding (8,700′) where we spent the night in a tea house.  The tea houses have improved dramatically over the past 5-10 years and are humble but nice, including flushing toilets (sometimes) and small cots with “mattresses”.  Certainly a lot more comfortable than sleeping in a tent.  On 4/1 we headed up the trail to Namche (11,200′).  It was an easy, steady climb and it felt great to finally stretch the legs and head uphill despite the forest fires on the way.  The air is extremely dry and the trail dusty, so the smoke from the fires added yet another irritant to deal with along the way.  Most of us have been wearing our Buffs over our faces to filter the air we breath, which has been relatively effective.  There is still a lot of smoke here in Namche, but once we head up the trail a bit more we should leave this obstacle behind.

The team is strong and is comprised of a combination of trekkers and climbers.  Everyone has been great thus far and no one has been “that guy/gal”, which is rare in any group, let alone one this size.  We’re moving well and enjoying our time on the trail as we work our way up the Khumbu to Everest base camp.

Today was a rest day in Namche so we did a short hike to Khumjung and enjoyed some amazing views on the way.  We had terrific views of Kusum Kanguru (seen above at 20,889′) and, one of my all-time favorites and one that has been on the climbing list for a long time, Ama Dablam (22,349′).  We also had good views of Lhotse and, of course, our objective, Everest (29,035′), which can be viewed by clicking the picture above.  We saw the Hillary School that Sir Edmund Hillary founded there to support the local Sherpa people where they now have a computer lab among a few other modern amenities.

Tomorrow is another rest day here in Namche before we head to Deboche.  More to follow from further up the trail.

Everyone in my direct group arrived in Kathmandu on schedule and with all of their gear intact.  Everyone is doing well and excited to get going.  At left is Eric, me, Clay, David, Bob, Craig and Ben.  It’s a terrific team and we’ll all likely find success with such a great support group watching each other’s backs.  I feel extremely fortunate to have so many good friends and competent climbers joining me on this adventure to share this experience with.  It could be the key difference maker over the next two months.

Today is a day of final preparations.  One duffel bag will go straight to base camp and await our arrival (all of technical climbing gear, down suits, high altitude boots, extra sleeping bag, etc.), while the other duffel will accompany us along the 40-mile trek into base camp.  We fly early tomorrow, 3/31, and arrive in Lukla.  From there, it is a short hike to Phakding where we will spend the night before moving on to Namche the following day to acclimatize for a few days.  From there, we head to Deboche, Pheriche and Lobuche base camp before finally arriving in Everest base camp on April 11th.  Soon thereafter, we’ll head back to Lobuche base camp and climb Lobuche (20,161′) as part of our acclimatization program before heading up Everest for our acclimatization rotations in preparation for the summit push in mid-late May.  I’ll update here and there along the trail, but also keep an eye on IMG’s blog for general updates, which can be found at:

www.mountainguides.com/everest-south12.shtml

More to follow in the days, weeks and months ahead… and, we’re off.