Mt. Everest Base Camp Trek 2005

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Update: Today is Saturday the 15th of October and our Summitclimb Everest Base Camp trekking party has returned to Namche Bazaars civilization.

We last wrote when we left the Summitclimb Ama Dablam expedition and continued our way up the Kumbu valley.  A three-hour walk brought us to Dingboche, where we stayed at the (ever so) Peaceful lodge, from where we walked up the Chukung valley the next day and saw Nuptse, Island peak and Ama Dablam peaking through the last monsoon clouds. The sun showed itself more and more and our next day to Lobuche was almost perfect. Some of us started to feel the altitude at 4600m a little, but keeping a slow and steady pace brought us to Nima Doma, who had gone up earlier and greeted us enthusiastically.  The next day -our early birds- Patty and Rob woke me up to show me the perfect bleu sky and the bright sunshine on the massive Nuptse wall. Our walk up to Gorak Shep was very enjoyable and we spent the rest of the afternoon, drinking, eating and acclimatizing. It was a unanimous decision to make an early ‘Alpine start’ the next morning. We left the lodge at 6 am and started our climb up Kala Pattar. Seeing the sun come up over these impressive Himalayan peaks is just indescribable and many photos were taken along the way! A good two hours later we were able to make a group picture at 5575m on Kala Pattar! Well-done guys! The weather was perfect and the views of Everest, Lohtse, Nuptse and Ama Dablam further down the valley were really spectacular. We spent a good hour up on this rocky outcrop of Pumori taking pictures and watching a parasailer take of and fly away over the Kumbu glacier. After going down the steep grassy slope we spent our afternoon relaxing, drinking, eating and playing -what could have been- the highest Frisbee game ever. On our last day in the higher regions of the Kumbu, David and Patty put in all their energy and made it up to Everest Basecamp and all the way back down to the little town of Dugla. We then continued our way down the valley and spent a night in Tyangboche before reaching Namche. This morning we said our goodbyes and wished each other well on future travels. The group is walking down to Lukla with Nima Doma today and Kandu Sherpa and I stayed up here to go back up the valley and hopefully climb Island Peak later this week. Deha will welcome the trekkers in Lukla and fly back to Kathmandu with them tomorrow.  I think this has truly been a very enjoyable –and successful- trip and I would like to thank Patty, Rob, David, Frank, Kandu and Nima Doma for being part of that!

Thank you very much for following our Everest Basecamp trek from all of us at Summitclimb! Elselien te Hennepe.  

Earlier Update: Today it’s Wednesday the 5th of October and all of us who came up are having a rest day at Namche Bazaar. Unfortunately Neil Charlwood (one of the trekkers) couldn’t join us on the trek anymore. We really regret this and are already missing his dry British humor! We arrived in the Kumbu on Monday after a spectacular flight from Kathmandu to Lukla. It took the Ama Dablam exp. climbers, our staff members and us trekkers four planes to get there. The second flight became quite thrilling when the pilots suddenly had to abort the landing -probably due to low clouds hanging over the runway- and pulled the small plane back up into a roller coaster g-force turn. Eventually we and all our gear made it and we started our trek for that day to Phakding at 2600m, where, after a long and exciting day, most of us had the best night sleep so far! The next day is usually one of our bigger days and takes us all the way up to Namche Bazaar at 3440m. After a lovely and nutritious breakfast from our talented cookstaff we started heading down to the river, which we then crossed on one of the many suspension bridges they have installed in the Kumbu over the last few years. Before we started heading up the big hill towards Namche there’s only one last wooden bridge high over the river, with a few missing planks here and there that challenges everybody’s nerves. Everybody negotiated this last authentic bridge just fine and a little past midday all of us had started our way up. Usually people find it quite hard to keep a slow pace going on such steep ground but not these guys. We were plotting away and could already at 14:30h enjoy a lovely cup of thee and apple crumble pie at one of the many bakery’s Namche is known for. After this welcome rest we continued our way a little up the hill to the Danfe Lodge where our staff had already put up the tents and were working on a great dinner. Everybody seems to be doing just fine and even though we woke up being closed in by low clouds some of us decided to walk up to the Everest View Hotel. Hopefully for them, the sun will burn away the clouds and they will actually get to see the top of Everest peaking out above the Nuptse ridge.

Tomorrow we’ll be heading of through the famous Monestary town of

Tyangboche to eventually reach the Sonam Lodge at Pangboche. This will actually be the last day we walk together with the Ama Dablam exp. After Pang boche they will go up to their Base Camp and we will continue our way up the Kumbu valley towards Dingboche.

Thank you very much for following our trip and we hope to get back to you soon! Thanx from all of us at Summitclimb. Elselien te Hennepe. 

Earlier Update: Here we are on Sunday the 2nd of October in the hot and sticky capitol of Nepal, Kathmandu. During the last few days all the trekkers have arrived and we've been going over our trekking schedule, gear and what (not) to do on the zopkyo and yak filled trail through the Kumbu Valley.

Unanimously Patty Burrit, Frank Hainke, Rob Ram, David Ronald and Neil Charlwood decided not to visit Ama Dablam BC, but to use those extra few days futher up the valley, to -if all goes well- visit Chukung, Everest Base Camp and climb Kala Pattar (5545m)! A shopping expedition into Thamel, lead by the only female member on this trip -thanx for accompanying me amongst all the guys Patty!- provided everybody with the last needed goods and it looks like we're ready to take off tomorrow. For the first part of our trek, up to the highest year round settlement of Pangboche, we'll join the Summitclimb International Ama Dablam 2005 expedition. After that we'll leave them  guys to climb the mountain and continue our way up the valley to Dingboche. Here w'll take a rest- and acclimatization day, where the fit and eager can walk up to Chukung to take a closer look at Island Peak and the south face's of Lhotse and Nuptse. We'll then keep on going through Lobuche to the last settlement of Gorak Shep, where we plan on staying for two nights. This should give us a chance to both walk up the glacier towards the Kumbu Icefall and visit the actual Everest Base Camp spot as well as climbing Kala Pattar for a hopefully stunning view at Nuptse, Lhotse and Everest!  

We'll then retrace our steps down the valley going through Pheriche,

Tyangboche -where we'll have time to visit the famous monestary- and Namche Bazar all the way back to Lukla. I'm already looking forward to go up into the mountains again and it looks like the trekkers are at least as motivated to visit this beautiful valley in the Sagarmatha National Park! So, fingers crossed for good weather in the morning...

All the best for now and we'll try to keep you informed about our

progress. Thank you very much from all of us at Summitclimb.

Elselien te Hennepe.

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