by Ian | Oct 1, 2013 | Nepal 2013
We started the Friday morning from Dingboche to Chukhung with only a 400 meter height gain, so a slow and steady day for us. Arriving at half 11, and all still feeling great after a slow day yesterday in Dingboche. Chukhung was rather small with only a few building and not much around. From Chukhung we walked to Island Peak base-camp, only about a 600 meter height gain to 5080 meter, with lovely views the whole way up over the glacier and Imja Tsho, a lake over 5010 meters that if burst would take 35 minuets to flood the entire Khumbu Valley.
Once at base-camp the climb team, made up of the 3 leaders plus Andy, Louis, Sam and Will, started to sort out their boots, harnesses and crampons for some practice on fixed-lines before their accent the next nay. We were joined by many more Sherpas’ for the cook team and another climbing guide, of whom was only 22 and had climbed Everest 4 times – the first when he was 18, who we had played football against in Khumjung.
A 1:30 breakfast for the climb team who then had to leave at 2:30. We all started the $ hour accent to the snow-line in the dark, of which we walked up faster than expected and had to wait for more sunlight – it was freezing – for about an hour. We got to the snowline, put on our harnesses, crampons and helmets before we were tied together then started on the soft snow.
With the Sherpa guides breaking trail, making it better for us walking up. From the onset we could see the summit and we soon reached the final face, yet, from a distance looked like a small slope was in fact an 85 degree wall of ice. The fixed lines were set at 20 meter intervals with a distance of 180 meters to the ridge-line. The final push took roughly three hours for them reach the ridge and the summit, the first set of us summiting at around a quarter to 9. The going was ever to awfully hard with one having to stop every few steps to take a break. Yet still worth it. The view from the summit was awe inspiring with the greatest views over mountains and the glacier below. The rest, bar Louis, summited over half an hour later as it was just so hard, Louis couldn’t summit as he was close to fainting and had a huge headache so was made to turn back and go down to base-camp. The first summit group started their accent to the bottom of the slope after the second team had all gotten to the ridge. After sitting in the sun at the bottom waiting for the other team to complete their decent down the face, we all started the decent to base-camp all thoroughly proud and exhausted.
At about 9 o’clock the members of the group who had stayed at base-camp walked around the corner, along the glacier, to see if they were able to see the climbers on the summit. But were unfortunate as clouds were around the summit and thus were not able to be seen. They then sat down and played cards for most of the day until Louis returned with a guide. The rest of the climbers returned in two groups, with a large gap between them, then ran out to congratulate them. The rest of the day the climbers spent recalling tails of their 12 hours of climbing that day, telling the others all about it.
On Monday we began our decent to Pangboche, of 1000 meters, with lunch at Dingboche for about an hour, we then passed down back to Khumjung for the last time, with a long day of walking. We were welcomed to a familiar sight of our lodge and staff from the community project.
Looking forward to the rest of the decent to Lukla.
Written by Lhotse.
by Ian | Sep 26, 2013 | Nepal 2013
Saturday 21st September 2013 We walked from Khumjung to Pengboche today, it was really hot and because we had acclimatized in Khumjung, the walk was fairly easy. En-route we came across Tengboche bridge which had collapsed. We had lunch at Tenboche and had the perfect view of Everest up the valley. We arrived at Pengboche and Lakpa took us to the school where the 2007 did their community project. It was nice to see what Ollie and Chris had done the last time they were here.
Sunday 22nd September 2013 Today we walked from Pangboche to Pheriche and we saw our first view of Island Peak. We saw where the valley split in two, we were taking the left route to Everest Base Camp and Kala Pathar. We finally arrived in Pheriche and had the best meal of the whole trip, including pancake covered mars bars!
Monday 23rd September 2013 Today we had 700m to climb from Pheriche to Lobuche. We stopped in Thukla for some tea and we met some people from Dorset, one of which was a scout leader. We carried on up the valley in the sunshine and when we arrived in Lobuche (4950m) we saw Kala Pathar behind our lodge.
Tuesday 24th September 2013 Today was a really long day. We set off to Gorek Shep, the last village before Everest Base Camp. We had an early lunch here. The walk to Base Camp (5345m) was long and it snowed along the way. It took us 1.5 hours to reach and when we got there we saw multicoloured tents and the Khumbu Icefall through the fog. Some of the group got talking to the Italian team, who were going to climb Lhoste and then ski down it! We filmed for buff by advertising and demonstrating how we wear them. Whilst we were there, we also witnessed an avalanche on the other side of the valley. The Dorset scout leader was there as well. Once we had got back to Gorek Shep, we realised we had walked 14km at altitude, which we were all proud of. The resat of the day consisted of recovering and preparing for the hike tomorrow morning up Kala Pathar.
Wednesday 25th September 2013 Today we woke up at 0430, ready to leave at 0500 for Kala Pathar. The stars were our and we didn’t need our torches as the moon was so bright. It was reflecting off the snowy peaks around us. It was surprising how quickly it got light and after 2 hours of climbing, we summited the 5550m peak. We spent half an hour at the top taking pictures and admiring the beautiful views before heading back down to Gorek Shep for breakfast. We then spent another few hours hiking back to Lobuche, where we spent the rest of the day.
Thursday 26th September 2013 Today we had a short walk from Lobuche back down the valley to Dingboche. It was fairly easy as it was mainly downhill and the weather was good again. We got an even better view of Island Peak from a small ridge, outside Dingboche (4410m).
In the next few days we will be trekking up the valley to Chukung and preparing to climb Island Peak.
by Ian | Sep 20, 2013 | Nepal 2013
On Sunday and Monday we continued painting and varnishing various rooms.
On Tuesday we had a day off so after breakfast we headed for the local monastery. The only Yeti skull in the world was held at this monastery and we paid a small donation to see it. It just looked like the top of a goats head. After visiting the monastery we walked up a hill behind the lodge to a chorta which had some information on Sir Edmund Hillary. If it was clear we would have been able to see Everest from here. Unfortunately, there was a cloud right where Everest would have been. We saw a bunch of other mountains, including Lhotse, and Lakpar took a group picture of all of us in front of the view. Once we got back our patrol repacked the barrels with all the stuff we would need for Island peak. In the afternoon a bunch of us played football. It was all against all and then we played in pairs and Chris and Joe won. After that lots of people did some washing outside using the eco wash we’d bought and hung it out to dry in the Sun. This evening we had some bonding time where we all sat around the table discussing our favourite things. It was nice to get to know people more.
On Wednesday morning some of us varnished the rest of the dining hall as well as the tops of some tables. A couple of people finished painting the roof green whilst others painted the school office. In the time before dinner and after tea about half of the team played football. We played England vs Nepal which was a very even game. In the beginning we outnumbered them but they had the advantage of being used to the altitude. Our side were tired easily after running the length of the pitch. When we had to go in for dinner the score stood at England 12 Nepal 11, a narrow win.
On Thursday our patrol worked for the whole day, painting several classrooms. The top half of the room we painted custard yellow with the bottom half being light blue. In the afternoon we had quite a large audience of children watching us. As we painted their classroom the children had to learn outside.
Friday morning between breakfast and starting work all of us walked back up to the chorta with the hope of seeing Everest given that it was clear. However when we got there a cloud was blocking the mountain yet again. Our patrol went for a walk around the mountain whilst everyone else went back to the school to do the mornings work. We walked up to the top of the hill where there was a really nice lodge. Continuing on we saw some spectacular views and saw our patrol’s first glimpse of the summit of Everest. Then we went around the hill spotting the airport we passed on our way to Khumjung and walked back into the village. In the morning the team had finished all of the work that we needed to do. So in the afternoon we went back to the school to say goodbye to everyone up there. They wanted to thank us for all the work we had done so gave us Carter scarfs after some tea and biscuits.
by Ian | Sep 16, 2013 | Nepal 2013
On Tuesday all three of our patrols headed down to the Khumjung School for the first time.
After all the leaders had been briefed on the work needing to be done at the school, they then briefed us. Some if not all of us started on painting, some on the outside of one classroom, others on the theatre hall and a few started varnishing tables and chairs. This then carried on for the next couple of days with one patrol having the morning or afternoon off to help with the acclimatisation, meaning that two patrols would be working at a time. On the Thursday we finished the the theatre hall, in a dashing custard yellow and dark blue, with many of the painting of walls being done from ladders precariously placed, others of us started on rooms for the children boarding at the school from areas around the valley.
Friday was National Children’s day in Nepal and so the Khumjung School held a sports day with other schools, Namche and Pangboche, coming to join in in the schools activities. During the day there were many events such as the triple jump and hurdles. After the children had a go we all started to join in and give it a try, the children found it rather amusing when we dove into the mud pit used for the triple jump. The leaders, Josh and Andy tried the 100m hurdles, of which most definitely exhausted them, it was funny seeing them jump over the hurdles in such strange ways. They were then shown up by the local school children who ran it much faster and for longer. In the afternoon we continued painting the rooms for the boarding children.
On Saturday we headed back to the school to find it empty as we’d become accustomed to the noise of the children there. Later we finished off painting the rooms and started on the theatre roof, where it was rather hot and a little daunting to start off with as the roof would bend and creek as we moved across the roof, but once over the initial fear we were managed to get most of it done before lunch.
Written by Lhotse Patrol.
by Ian | Sep 11, 2013 | Nepal 2013
Saturday 7th September 2013
The group woke up in Phakding after a good night’s sleep, which made a difference from being hot all night! We had a nice breakfast in a conservatory before leaving for Namche Bazar. We saw the yaks for the first time, the yaks and sherpas head off before us in the morning with our duffel bags. We hiked up the Khumbu valley, crossing the Dudh koshi river, by way of high bouncy bridges, now metal, but were once made of wood… Scary!
The paths were rocky but as a group we managed to keep a good pace. We ascended 400m up Namche hill (across a new bridge opened last month which takes some considerable time of the journey!) which seemed to take forever however once we got to the top we saw great view of Namche Bazar; the Sherpa capital. The houses here reminded us of dolls houses and this place was much colder than before; there had been a lot of cloud in the valley recently. For dinner we had a very nice curry which had to be eaten by torch light as there is no electricity here… Bliss.
Sunday 8th September 2013
Today was a rest day to acclimatise. After breakfast, Lakpa (our head Sherpa who HSX members may remember from 2007) took us up to the Everest view point, in the hope of seeing the highest mountain in the world. Even this short walk was harder than it should be due to the altitude. At the top it was really cloudy so we couldn’t see Everest however we saw a few snowy peaks through the gaps in the clouds which was enough to whet our appetites. We then looked around the National Park HQ Museum about the natural history of Khumbu and the people who live there. Ellis also broke a bench outside…
The rest of the day was spent resting, chilling out and exploring Namche. In the evening everyone got hyper and ran around in the dark. Sam put his stobe head light on and people were pretending to be the weeping angels from Doctor Who! … A symptom of the altitude?
Monday 9th September 2013
We set off for Khumjung and our community project. We were taken via a hill which had a monument dedicated to Sir Edmund Hillary, his wife and daughter at 3900m… The highest place that many of us have ever been. The monument was placed here because it is another view point for Mount Everest and is an apt reminder of Hillary and his contributions to the Sherpa people. The going was hard but we decended for lunch in Khunde before the short walk to Khumjung (our base for the next two weeks). Members of the group have been up early enough to see Ama Dablam when the cloud clears, an awesome way to start the day…
Thankyou for all your comments during our radio silence… Keep them coming, the group love to read them and we hope to give an update on our community project work very soon… Now off to enjoy the sun that has shone all day for the first time since being in the Khumbu
by Ian | Sep 11, 2013 | Nepal 2013
Friday 6th September 2013
A 0930 revised flight was booked for today, and for once we even made it to the airport!
After finally checking in and eventually getting through the security, an area not before reached by us, and a hour wait before our flight in the departures lounge, our flight eventually was announced and we all moved over to the correct gate where a bus awaited us to take us to our plane.
Out the windows we passed planes slowly getting smaller and smaller until we reached ours. It really didn’t look like it would fit us all on, but somehow it did. Up the smallest set of stairs and many of us bumping our head getting through the smallest door, where the smallest air hostess showed us our seats, not like we had many to choose from, but we all fought for the left hand side as you get a spectacular view of the Himalayas.
After the not so bumpy flight, we unloaded in Lukla, the smallest airport many of us had seen or been to, in one piece. After lunch in our first tea house, used by the explorer Team in 2007 on their final night in the Khumbu, we began our trek.
The trail, led by our lovely guide Kasang, followed the river through many ups and down, over many pretty sketchy bridges. We arrived in Phakding and moved our kit into our rooms then retired for some tea in the lodge.
We had some free time before dinner, of which started off with soup and popcorn, followed by curry with dhal – a spicy soup – followed by fruit salad. Before dinner some of the group played catch and ball games with a local girl, of which was fun.
That evening we all went to bed with the sound of the river flowing close to us, we are all thankful to have left Kathmandu and could breath fresh air from the pine trees all around us…
