We woke up at sunrise as the sun warmed our tent, it was 20 degrees last night. We packed our bags getting ready to leave Base Camp and had breakfast at 8am. It was the last time the team would be together. We took lots of photos before saying farewell. Panuru and the other Sherpas…
Trek Day 10-Day at Everest Base Camp
Never imagined that we would be sleeping at Everest Base Camp, on the Khumbu Glacier at 17,650 ft, the highest we have ever stayed at over night. We borrowed Kevin’s -40 and -30 degree sleeping bags, so we were warm and cozy inside the tent. However, getting up in the middle of the night to…
Trek Day 9-Gorak Shep to Everest Base Camp
We woke up at 4:30AM, I can’t believe we are up this early to climb Kala Patthar, it even snowed last night, there is at least 3 inches of fresh snow everywhere. We were already to leave at 5AM to begin our climb in the early morning light. The ascent up Kala Patthar makes it’s…
Trek Day 8-Lobuche to Gorak Shep
At 5:30am I woke up when Kevin, B-1, Ake and Panuru were leaving to climb up to Lobuche Advanced Base Camp. It was so cold I climbed back into my sleeping bag to keep warm, it was freezing in our room. We eventually got up at 7:30am and went into the dining room for breakfast…
Trek Day 7-Dingboche to Lobuche
Today we are heading for Lobuche, 16,108ft, the terrain is very sparse now, as we are above the tree line. Our team split up to go in two different directions, but still arriving in Lobuche later today. Ake, Brad and Kevin are hiking over a pass called Kongma La, 18,159ft, that will take them about…
Trek Day 6-Dingboche
We are staying at the Peak 38 View Lodge in Dingboche with wonderful views of the surrounding mountains for two nights, and today is a ‘rest day’ to help with acclimatization. We still went for a hike! Kevin and the Brads, Ake and Panuru left at 7am to climb Nangkar Tshang, 16,500 ft. Bob and…
Trek Day 5-Phortse to Dingboche
As we were getting ready to leave Phortse this morning, Panuru’s wife gave us each a khata ( white scarf) to wear to the monastery in Pangboche to receive blessings from the Lama. We left Phortse at 7:30am and it was uphill out of Phortse, with great views looking back at the village. Once again…
Trek Day 4-Namche to Phortse
Leaving Namche today to continue our trek to Base Camp. It was onwards and always upwards right after breakfast with a full stomach is challenging to climb up and up and up! It was a steady climb, the path in places clinging to the side of a steep slope. B-1 commented that it looked like…
Trek Day 3- Exploring Khumjung and Khunde
Climb up to Everest View Hotel Today is a ‘rest day’, we are staying in Namche for another night to help with our acclimatization. So far everyone is feeling great with no headaches or altitude sickness. So on our ‘rest day’ we hiked up another 1300 feet to The Hotel Everest View situated at 12,400…
Trek Day 2 – Monjo to Namche Bazaar
April 18th…Avalanche at Everest Base Camp was the news of the morning. At 6:30am an avalanche swept down between Base Camp and Camp 1 killing 16 Sherpas in its path. The worst tragedy in Everest’s history. We had to continue our hike but we did not know if Kevin, Brad and Ake would be able…