Nepal

Last day of Training

We had an excellent day of Ice Climbing in various forms. I scaled a near vertical ice wall without any ice tools (now that was fun). We are starting to prepare for our move up to Camp 1. Tomorrow we…

Training on Vertical Ice Today

That’s right, the training continues in EBC. Today we practiced vertical ice climbing. I suspect we will be going high in 3 or 4 days time. The weather continues to remain wonderful, so life in EBC is not so bad…

Another beautiful day in EBC

Today we had Puja ceremony to bless our climb and all those involved.  This is a cultural highlight of the trip for me. We prayed to the gods, drink, ate and danced. It was very interesting. And in the afternoon…

Rest Day in EBC and walk in the Ice Fall

We continue to have wonderful weather here in basecamp. The team is really starting to get use to the higher altitude. It is hard to believe we are about 1km higher than any mountain in the 48 states of America.…

Everest Base Camp

The team has arrived safe and well to Everest Base Camp (5,325 mts). It is really quite beautiful up here.  We have been slowly getting use to the thin air up here. It will be quite a few days before…

Day 1 in Tokyo

Arrived safe and well in my Tokyo Hotel last night. I had dinner with Patricia (my friend Olivier put us in touch) and she gave me some really good pointers: about the metro (which is fast becoming my favorite one,…

Off to Tokyo

My turn to leave today: first stop Tokyo for 4 days. I look forward to getting a taste of this city and it will give me another ‘tick’ on my ‘countries visited’ list – can’t let Stephen get ahead of…

Periche – Day 2

Another day in Periche due to accomodation issues higher on the hill. So today we went to Chukkung. Tomorrow we head to Laboche (for sure).

Pheriche

We continue up the valley and are currently in Pheriche. Weather is generally beautiful and we are having wonderful views of local 8,000 meter peaks. This morning I even spyed Cho Oyu. Plan is to move to Laboche for two…

Touring around Namche

Today was our “rest” day. Except we spent the morning hiking around the Namche district. We climbed up to Syangboche which is the local airstrip and checked on our gear, and then onto Khumjung where along the way we got…

Namche Bazaar

Yes indeed, we made the plane yesterday and hiked onto Phakding where we spent the night. Although I made it, my gear did not, so I just had my day pack. My teeth are a little furry. But tonight I…