Deboche to Khumjung

Friday, May 9

We hiked up to Tengpoche which was a pretty steep ascent. Once in Tengpoche it is a steep descent back down into the valley of the Imja Khola river. Most of the trek brought us through Balsam Fir and Rhododendrum so the trail had a pleasant pine scent surrounded by blooming flowers.

Once we crossed the river it started another good ascent up to Khumjung. Once in Khumjung we settled into a tea house and sat down for lunch (omelets on bread and mushroom soup). The food on this trip has been very good and accommodating. In the evening we were able to have Yak steak, which was very good (and our first red meat of the trek)!

In the afternoon we walked around some of the nearby trails that brought some more spectacular views of this somewhat large village. Khumjung is where Tenzing Norgay lived for a while, and is also where Edmond Hillary established a school for the children. We walked through the school grounds and I was impressed to see a computer classroom. It was only a small stone walled classroom, but given the remote location of the village it was encouraging to see technology being brought to the children.

We also visited the Monastery which contains what is claimed to be a Yeti skull. The Yeti, or abominable snowman, is considered to exist in the mountains although rarely seen. The Monastery was similar in style to the one in Tengpoche but a little smaller. It was very colorful with statues representing certain parts of the religion. The Monastery also contained the largest prayer wheel I have seen to date. It stood about 10 feet tall by about 5 feet in diameter. In the center of town there were more prayer wheels - 144 to be exact! They surrounded two Stupas. We spun the prayer wheels to release good prayers for the remainder of our trip.

Chris

Lobuche to Deboche

Thursday, May 8

Today we dropped 4000 feet from Lobuche to Deboche, which sits just beneath the hill of Tengpoche. It was one of our cooler temperature days as the sun sat behind the clouds for most of the day. We traveled about 9 miles and much of the trek was downhill, although we did have a few steep climbs intermittently. We followed the Lobuche Khola river which was flowing much stronger than it was on our way up. The cool wind for the first half of the trek was head strong, but as we climbed out of the valley through Pangboche we became more sheltered.

We stayed at the Ama Dablam Tea House which is one of the nicer places we have been in to date. It reminds me more of a lodge with two stories. It even had western style toilets and sinks, as well as an outdoor hot shower. These are features we have been without for much of the trek.

Chris

Mt. Everest Base Camp

Wednesday, May 7

It took two hours to reach Base Camp from Gorak Shep. To get there we continued along the lateral moraine of the Khumbu Glacier with spectacular views of the Khumbu Ice Fall, Mt. Everest, and Base Camp as we proceeded. Base Camp looked like a small village comprised of an expanse of various colored tents. As we approached we got a much better vantage point of the Ice Fall which falls between Mt. Nuptse on the right and Diamond Peak on the left.

We trekked through Base Camp to first go touch the bottom of the Ice Fall. It is much larger than one could imagine with bottomless crevasses and towering ice columns. Clearly a very technical challenge to maneuver through. As we looked up the Ice Fall we could see climbers (very small figures) throughout heading up and down.

Scott Parazynski found us there and it was very good to see him. He was very excited to see us too and explained his ascents up through the Ice Fall as well as climbs to Camp I and Camp II.

As we were about to head back to Base Camp (merely 3 minutes away) a large portion of a glacier caved on a mountain ledge adjacent and to the left of the Ice Fall creating an avalanche that lasted about 2 minutes. Within seconds the snow plume created by the ground impact drifted over us giving the appearance of a light snowfall. This was a very unique experience to see, being so close to a large avalanche, but Scott mentioned it is a common occurrence here at Base Camp.

Back in the Base Camp we first went to the Indian Army tent as one of our trekking guides, Baldev, is good friends of the Indian Army Colonel who is leading an expedition of the Savehs, a wing of the Army. They were very accommodating and happy to talk to us. We sat in their tent for coffee and popcorn. Shortly afterwards we went to Scott Parazynski's location, the IMG (International Mountain Guides) camp. They have 20 climbers and around 40 Sherpas in their expedition, and their camp was very large with many tents. Scott showed us his personal tent as well as the gear he is using during this expedition. Scott mentioned that he has already been up and down through the Ice Fall four times and has reached as high as just above Camp 2 for his acclimatization climbs. He is looking forward to continuing his routines and eventual bid for the summit. We wish him luck.

After vising the IMG Camp, we went to a bakery tent. It was hard to believe, but this tent creates comfort foods such as apple pies, cookies, and cinnamon buns right in the heart of Base Camp. We sat in the tent talking with with Scott some more and enjoyed a few baked goods before we headed back out.

The day was getting late and we had a long hike back to Lobuche ahead of us, so unfortunately we had to say goodbye to Scott. I think all of us could have stayed much longer enjoying the impressive views of the Ice Fall and Mt. Everest right in front of us.

Chris

Lobuche to Gorak Shep

Tuesday, May 6

The trek from Lobuche to Gorak Shep followed along the lateral moraine of the Khumbu Glacier. Just before arriving in Gorak we climbed adjacent terminal moraines of the Changri Glacier which joins the Khumbu and crossed a stream of glacier melt.

After lunch and settling in at a tea house in Gorak Shep we climbed nearby Kala Patthar which brought us up to 18,400 ft, our highest elevation for the trip. It took two hours to ascend the mountain but was a fun accomplishment with a reward of outstanding views. Although it was a cloudy day we did get some good glimpses of Mt. Everest and Base Camp. Mt. Pumo Ri also screams into the sky right behind Kala Patthar.

Chris

Dingboche to Lobuche

Monday, May 5
After a day of rest in Dingboche we ascended to Lobuche. It was a gradual climb until we reached the terminal moraine of the Khumbu Glacier where the climb was more intense. It is impressive to see how the Glacier can push the earth around to create the moraines - the forces are hardly imaginable.

Up on the terminal moraine we passed a memorial for climbers that have perished at one time or another climbing Mt. Everest. It was sobering and a clear reminder that there are dangers involved in the endeavor of summiting Mt. Everest. A familiar memorial was that of Scott Fischer, who among 8 lost their lives in a 1996 tragedy - written about in "Into Thin Air" and "The Climb" which I read prior to this trip.

Once we climbed the terminal moraine we trekked a little farther along the lateral moraine to reach Lobuche.

Once there, a few of us headed up the lateral moraine to get a glimpse of the Khumbu Glacier. The Glacier was pretty well covered by dirt and rocks so it didn't look like the typical glacier. You could hear the cracking and grinding of the ice as the sun and gravity played its part on top of the Glacier.

That evening we had a birthday celebration for "Wheels" with chocolate cake (compliments to the Sherpa cooks!) and a champagne toast.

Chris

On the way down

We made it to Everest Base Camp and are on our way back down! It was one heck of a hard push at the end. But before we went there we first did our own summit of a nearby mountain peak, Kala Pattar, topping out around 18,500 feet. The air was getting pretty thin up there, but it was definitely worth it. As Adam mentioned the views all around are amazing. The final hike in was difficult, uphill, and rocky, but we all made it to base camp, spent a couple hours there and then hiked back a few hours to our hotel for the night.

When we finally made it to base camp we were greeted by a very happy and active Scott Parazynski. He was bounding across the rocks as we were barely catching our breath. To see him so positive gave us all a lot of energy. We took a lot of pictures around base camp, and the Khumbu ice fall. That ice fall is the first leg of the summit of Everest, and Scott took us to the bottom of it to show us around. It's a very dangerous climb, so we didn't go very far. But while there we did see an avalanche, and got some good photos of the falling snow. We were safely far away (though some of us were still a bit nervous as we saw it coming in our direction!), but still got a nice little snow fall on us. Base camp is built on the Khumbu Glacier, so there was ice, rock and glacier melt all around. Amazing to be walking around on that glacier!

We're finally on our way back down, we all have a lot of energy. As the air gets thicker, and we're going mostly downhill so it's all much easier now. Tonight is being spent around 12,000 feet so compared to the summit of 18,000 feet the air feels thick! We feel great, and are loving the time, though are also looking forward to seeing home once again.

DJ

"View is here, wish you were beautiful"

Have to give Jeff A. credit for that one, but I'm still laughing from it. :)

How do I even begin to describe this amazing place on my first (and possibly last) blog entry?! The sheer scale of the Himalayas is unlike anything on earth. Routinely I find myself gazing at a ridgeline 5-10k ft above me, only to see the clouds pass and expose a 25k+ peak towering above it. Most people (me included) have named our favorite thus far: Ama Dablam. It's apparently one of the toughest to climb and has an unmistable profile - steep ridgelines leading to a completely horizontal summit spanning 50 ft (or so it appears).

I've lost count at the number of bridges we've crossed as we zigzag across several raging rivers. One in particular was a suspension bridge that must have been over 100 ft above the river. The bridges however, are very well built and could easily handle many times its peak load on any given day.

The credit however, goes to the porters that carry the loads for us to have luxuries such as heated food and internet connections. One of the more noteworthy loads I've seen was a man carrying (by Wheels' and my estimate) 8 5-gallon jugs of diesel fuel. As if the load at that altitude wasn't enough, try walking in an inescapable cloud of diesel fumes. We also saw several people carrying 6 5/8" sheets of plywood appx 3' x 8' on their backs. No, there were no typos in there. I can only imagine what it was like carrying that "sail" when crossing the suspension bridge at 100ft in the air!!

Today is our rest and acclimatization day in Dingboche. We all did a 1-2 hr hike to get the lungs working, then came back to tea house at a little over 14k ft. We are going to try and surprise Laurie tonight with a deep fried snickers bar. After seeing the cooks' facial expression to my explanation however, who knows what we'll end up with. :)

Hope to be able to post again, but not sure about internet availability higher than this!

--Adam