Stephen

Stephen

Mt Hood

Kerry and I headed North for a 24 hour climb of Mt Hood. We flew into Portland after work, picked up a rental car and drove to the base of the mountain. After killing several hours a set-off at midnight.…

Back in Lhasa

Arrived late last night back in Lhasa, one day ahead of schedule. We gave the bus driver a little extra money and he was willing to do some long driving days. So today, spending a bit of time of the…

Last Day at ABC

This is the final post from Advanced Base Camp. We are breaking down ABC and preparing to leave tomorrow. We are all very excited about finally heading down. The Yaks just arrived and will be loaded up in the morning.…

Heading Home

We are starting to break down ABC and preparing to head home. Tomorrow night (Tuesday 10/2) the Yaks arrive. We will load them up on Wednesday (10/3) morning and hike down via Chinese Base Camp to the awaiting jeeps which…

We are done on Cho Oyu

Well we finally made our move up the mountain as part of the summit push. On Thursday (9/27) we headed up to Camp 1 in good weather. We were all very pleased to be heading up and on our summit…

Weather Weather Weather

Looks like another day at ABC. Although there are some signs that the weather might actually be clearing. This is day 7 that we have had to hunker down at ABC. And it is becoming a bit of a drag.…

Yet Another Forced Weather Day

That’s right – yet another day at ABC. The tropical depression is starting to dissipate, but we still have high winds and blowing snowing. So we are hunkered down at ABC. Many of the other teams are retreating from higher…

Another Forced Weather Day at ABC

We woke up to snowing conditions. While the snowing conditions would not stop us moving up to Camp 1, the forecast for tomorrow is for much more snow. So we decided that we did not want to spend the day…

Still at ABC

The weather is not cooperating with us as much as we would like. A tropical depression in the Bay of Bengal is having the effect of forecasted high winds in our region on the 25th and 26th. So we have…

Getting Ready for the Summit Push

Well, the weather up high is looking good. The detailed weather forecasts are now starting to trickle in. Also today, a Sherpa team went above Camp 3 to fix the last of the fixed lines. So everything is looking good…

Camp 2

Just returned from our acclimatization climb to Camp 2. We hiked to Camp 1 on Monday and spent both Monday and Tuesday night at Camp 1. Then we hiked from Camp 1 to Camp 2 which is a considerably more…

Hello from Shigatse!

The Potala Palace – what can I say! So far that was the emotional highlight for me: standing outside the little room where the 14th (current) Dalai Lama studied as a boy, brought a tear to my eye. On Mon…

Day 3 in Lhasa.

I’m enjoying every moment of my time in Lhasa! Yesterday we had a free day and 11 of us chartered a minivan to go and visit the Ganden Monastery 1.5 to 2 hours outside of Lhasa (depends on whether one’s…

Rest Day at ABC

Perfect day here at ABC. We just had breakfast and conference. The decision was made to take an unscheduled rest day here at ABC. While everyone is feeling good and strong, a rest day will really solidify our team.