Everest Base Camp Trek 2010- Daily Dispatches

    Trekking    

21th April, 2010

Day four of the Trek started with clear skies and another great breakfast of cereal, eggs and toast. Today is a rest day and acclimatization day, but this also meant that we hiked to the Sherpa village of Khumjung and back to Namche Village. This allowed us to gain some altitude and then sleep lower before we push higher into the Khumbu to Tengboche tomorrow.

We started by hiking up to the Namche Museum which lies just above town.  This was an old military post and is now a museum.  This was a great start as we were able to get our first views of Everest, Lhotse, Nuptse, and Ama Dablam. WOW. The museum was really interesting and we enjoyed Tendi’s talk. Tendi is our lead Sherpa, “Sirdar”.

We then hiked up to the Everest View Hotel which sits approximately at 13,000 feet and has SPECTACULAR VIEWS of all the previously mentioned mountains. This hotel has the claim of being the highest hotel in the world. We had a coke and enjoyed the views. Again WOW what a place.

The hike down to Khumjung and thru town was a special treat as we were the only folks doing this. We had lunch at Ama Dablam View Lodge. The name says it all, as the view of the mountain is spectacular. We were treated with watching the moon rise directly above Ama Dablam. This Sherpa village was a special treat as it allowed us to view the local High School and the kids playing. What a treat. One of the young ones was very talkative and his English was very good. He startled Alan with questions and it was magical and funny to watch.

The hike back to Namche had nice views as we came down the other side from where we walked up. We passed a small Monastery and back into town we strolled.

Read Full Story: 21th April, 2010- An acclimatization day

Island Peak Climbing – Daily Dispatches

    Expedition, Peak Climbing, Trekking    

Today we made it to Everest Base Camp, elevation 17,335ft. It took about 2-3 hours from Gorek Shep over glacial moraine on quite rocky terrain, but worth every step. The Kumbu icefall was spectacular, spilling out from the pass between Lola peak and Nuptse peak right to the foot of base camp, where it merged with all the colorful tents of the many climbing expeditions.  We heard and saw multiple rock and ice falls which seemed to last minutes echoing off the cliff walls which surrounded us. When we arrived at the official Everest Base Camp entrance, we were met with hot lemon tea and cookies, which definitely hit the spot. Ang Dawa Sherpa lead us to the Everest ER, where we were given a friendly welcome from Dr. Luann Freer and Dr. Steve Halverson, both from Montana.  They showed us around the ER and then we all sat down in the Peak Promotion tent for a lunch which included fresh cucumbers and orange slices(yum)!  Right after lunch we saw a rescue helicopter land to fly someone who had been sick for a while to Kathmandu. It is amazing they are able to land a helicopter there, they didn’t even turn the engine off….just loaded her up and took off. We then said goodbye to everyone and started back to Lobuche.  Jasmina hiked up to Kallapatar today, and then we met up with her in Gorek Shep and from there all headed down together to Lobuche. I will admit it felt great to go downhill. Tomorrow we are heading to Chhukung where we plan to stay two nights and do some training before heading to Island Peak base camp.  Thanks again to the Everest ER doctors and Peak Promotion for making us feel right at home.

Marcie, Stacee, Lexi, Jasmina

Read Full Story: 20th April, 2010- From Everest Base Camp