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| River crossing in front of Mt. Ama Dablam. |
From: Kevin Cherilla
Everest Base Camp Manager
Namaste (Hello or Good Day) to you all!
Today is our second day in Base Camp. We have had a very eventful journey since we left the U.S. on Friday March 23rd from the Los Angeles airport. All 46 climbers, base camp support and trekkers took off at 1:30 p.m. headed for Bangkok, Thailand by way of Osaka, Japan on Thai Airlines. Upon arrival in Bangkok, we had a very short stay before leaving for Katmandu, Nepal. We spent the next three days in Katmandu shopping, organizing expedition gear, visiting several religious temples or Stupas, and getting to know everyone on the expedition.
After our stay in Katmandu we were finally off on our eight day trek into base camp up the Khumbu Valley. We flew into the little town of Lukla by way of fixed wing plane and helicopter. It was my first helicopter ride so I was pretty excited! Once we all arrived in Lukla, we were off on a six hour trek to Phakding. We spent one night in Phakding sleeping in tents. The following morning we were up early for breakfast and off on the trail for six hours to Namche Bazar. We spent two days in Namche Bazar at the Himalayan Lodge. The Himalayan Lodge is owned by friends of several of our team members. We got our first view of Mt. Everest, AmaDablam, and several other large mountains. The Himalayan mountains are absolutely breathtaking! Next we were off on a five hour trek to Tengboche were we spent one night sleeping in tents. It was a cold night but were up early and off to Dingboche. The trek to Dingboche was about six hours and very beautiful. We would spend the next two days in Dingboche resting and getting ready for our next stop in Upper Lobeche. We camped in tents at an Italian research center that was built in the early 1990's so high altitude testing could be done on climbers and trekkers. The research center is a glass pyramid with thousands of solar panels that has since been turned into a hotel. This was a very exciting night for all of us because the next day we were off to the base camp of Mt. Everest. We were up early and on the trail by 8:45 a.m. After a tiring hike through huge boulder fields and to 17,700 ft. (5400 m), I arrived in base camp at 1:30 p.m.
We will spend the next few days setting up base camp. The technology tent, all of our personal tents, dinner tent, medical tent, storage tent, and kitchen tent will all need to be put up and organized. I will elaborate more about our trek in and all of the events that took place along the way.
I hope you enjoy all of my dispatches and if there is anything specific you would like to know, just email me a question and I will answer them as soon as I can. Include your name and where you are from.
Make yourself a great day!