Time to wake up! I had a hard time sleeping, the news from last night that Mike and team almost decided for us to leave, kind of rocked me with nervousness a little bit. I haven’t really admit to anyone, but by far lasting this long in Everest is the furthest that I ever thought I would be staying. If...
Day 39 – Weather, Weather, Whether?
Since Wednesday Summit from our brave and resilient Sherpa’s, the Mountain is semi-open for the rest of us to attempt up to the summit. The biggest challenge so far has been the wind making it extremely dangerous at very exposed high altitude. This is when the temperatures will likely be in the -30’s and with additional winds of over 30mph,...
Day 38 – A very slippery Kala Patthar
Per Mike’s (our expedition lead guide) suggestion into keeping my acclimatization and fitness by climbing a peak, today I’d be venturing to trek up to Kala Patthar. Kala Patthar is known as the Black Rock mountain which is just behind of Gorak Shep, the last town before the trek up to Base Camp. Kala Patthar can offer one of the best...
Day 37 – Snow, The Everest Diet and Searching for Mark’s Behind
As we patiently await the right weather window for us to depart into the higher camps, we are trying to recover all of our strength and rest before the intensity of a summit push. Somehow the weather at Base Camp has gone from nice and sunny to mostly snowy. It’s amazing how fast the whole of Base Camp can be...
Day 36 – Cooking skills handy
During breakfast we got word that Dendi’s condition had improved once he landed in Kathmandu. He also had been released from the hospital and was already eager to return back to Base Camp. Though several days of rest will be key before he could get the clearance to return. It’s amazing how tricky any type of small disease can be...
Day 35 – Oxygen Training – a step closer
I slept well after tiring myself the day before. Today we’ll have our Oxygen training class and get at least the practice ready for that opportunity which hopefully will come soon. By 11am, Mike and Dorjee were ready to start. We all got our special set up, a big mask and the oxygen valve that would get connected to it....
Day 34 – A rocky Mother’s Day
Today was a bittersweet day, I got to celebrate Mother’s Day in front of the “Mother of the World” (The Tibetean word for Mt. Everest = Chomolungma which means Mother of the world) though the emotions of missing my mom made it tough. As I got more into mountaineering, my Mama Telle would always have a puzzling look in her...
Happy Mother’s Day!!!
Special Mother’s Day video from Everest Base Camp!
Day 33 – A massive improvement and electrical problems
Finally a massive improvement on my health. The Ginger water and its elements had helped an overnight improvement. Since Camp 2, my nose was no longer running as bad. This will become my newest mandatory drink for the next several days. Luckily ginger is in abundance on Nepali cooking, so sparing some for my healing would be ok. After breakfast...
Day 32 – Ginger Remedy to the Rescue
The day was quite cold. As it’s the beginning of May, I had hoped we’d be transitioning into warmer weather, especially as the Monsoon will loom towards June. However due to the El Nino’s ongoing weather impact, the Mountain weather has been less than ideal. After breakfast and with my running nose, Mike talked to all of us. We were...