3/18

With a slightly delayed flight out of Miami, en route to London the adventure began. This was to be a 36 hour reunion with friends and family in London prior to leaving on Gulf Air flight GF006 to Katmandu, via Abu Dhabi.

 

3/20

After a slightly heavy night out in London I spent the day relaxing before being transported to London Heathrow for a 10.30pm flight to Abu Dhabi. I had already feared the excess baggage charges – I was 38kg over the allowance, and at £18 per kilo that was an expensive start to the expedition! At the check-in desk I charmed the assistant into putting me down for a 16kf overweight charge of £289, still a hefty sum! £400 better than it should have been at 1% per kilo of the total flight cost. That’s what comes of cutting corners when ordering flight tickets and having them delivered to the UK when you reside in the USA. What a measly 29kg limit!

 

3/21

It was an uneventful flight through Abu Dhabi where I met Malcolm, going for an unguided budget expedition to Everest through Tibet. Steve, a guy from Ottawa was to be part of an Everest expedition to put the oldest Canadian on the summit – he was the technical member of their team working on getting satellite updates back to an Ottawa school.

I eventually arrived at Tribhuvan airport, Katmandu at 6pm to 26’C comfort, and was immediately met by a member of Great Escapes Trekking with his IMG banner. Our hotel, Manaslu was a nice easy 15 minute drive from the airport and I was there in no time – open arrival I found that I was sharing a room with Nacho, a Spanish climber who was climbing with the use of a Sherpa only. I hadn’t met Nacho yet but soon bumped into Jeff at the reception whilst collecting my room key, the only room key!

We then went out to meet the guides and a couple of other team members in a nearby restaurant. We met Eric Simonson, IMG owner, Dave Hahn, world renowned mountain guide with 5 Everest summits under his belt and guiding Doug Brockheimer, a Neurologist from Utah. Then there was the 3 of us and Mike Hamill, followed by other expedition members who were to be either totally unguided or using the assistance of a high altitude climbing Sherpa. After dinner we ended up in the Thamel district of Katmandu in a bar, followed by the Raddison Hotels casino until 1am. I arrived back at the room to find no room mate!

 

3/22

Today was to be a free day to visit Katmandu. I arrived down for breakfast after still having no room-mate and mentioned this to Eric who also thought this strange! Anyway, within a short time Nacho appeared and explained that there was only a single room key and since I had it he had nowhere to sleep! He slobbed out in reception for a couple of hours and they then gave him another room – what a great way to start getting to know other team members!

After breakfast we went through a gear check by Mike and ventured into town to get the last few items, In the afternoon, using Jeff as our guide we hired a couple of bicycle rickshaw drivers and went sightseeing. We visited the Monkey Temple, where obviously due to the name we saw many monkeys on the 365 steps leading to the temple and all around the temple itself. This was quite a dirty area but very nice to visit. Upon leaving there we headed for Durbar Square which is like a small village within the Katmandu City. Finally we went to Bodhinath, the site of a huge Stupa in Katmandu where many monks and people doing what looked like stretching on mats, but praying and chanting at the same time were viewed. All of these locations are tourist sites and due to this there are many shops and stalls selling everything from prayer flags to mini Stupas and prayer wheels.
Earlier in the day it was apparent that I would probably need a third set of gloves, something between my Windstopper gloves and mittens, mainly to make the task of clipping in and out of fixed ropes and jumaring an easier chore as it was going to be done hundreds of times!
When Jeff arrived yesterday he had thoughtfully printed the Green Gibbon emblem from my website and took it to a tailor to have it embroidered onto some fleece clothing – I decided to go along with this and have this amazing design stitched into the back of a Mountain Hardware fleece jacket. Everyone in the team commented and the obvious questions on how Green Gibbon became were asked! More is to come…

That evening after dinner we disappeared back into town for a drink or two and on the way home Jeff and I ended up having a rickshaw race with Rex (aiming to be the youngest Australian at 21 to summit Everest) and Ed, from California. Sometime during this lunacy our competition leapt off to take advantage of a lead and due to this I took control of our rickshaw by getting Jeff to run behind, then telling our Nepalese driver that I’d take over – I then realized how difficult these things are to steer and upon reaching a junction in the road outside of the palace the rickshaw decided to have a mind of its own and however hard I tried braking and steering to the right the beast continued at full speed towards a metal railing fence – Bang! I hit it hard and jammed the front wheel into the railings. Jeff and the owner were soon at the scene and helped remove the rickshaw from its awkward position – it was apparent that the brakes were broken and the wheel was heavily damaged! I got robbed as the owner said that it was going to cost 2000 Rupees to repair ($30), although how could I argue with that as it was the poor guys livelihood – he probably went on to have it fixed for a fraction of that!

 

3/23

This was to be our final day in Katmandu and after breakfast we had a team meeting to discuss the forthcoming few weeks. Eric, Mark Tucker, and Dave Hahn all spoke about various topics and what was expected of us and what we should expect of the trip. We were given IMG baseball caps, stickers, badges and some paperwork on the next 10 days trek to basecamp.

The remainder of the morning we collected the 25 badges we had had made, and had my IMG cap embroidered with the Gibbon! We were all set! The guides and Ang Jangbu (Great Escapes owner) were each presented with a Green Gibbon badge.

The afternoon was spent in Bakhtapur, a town on the outskirts of Katmandu which was just about vehicle-less and appeared as though it was set back in time. Truly authentic place! We watched Thangka’s being made which was an absolute art with amazing detail – the pictures were about the lifecycle of Buddhism and depending on whether they were done by a teacher or a pupil the prices were accordingly applied.

Walking through the narrow streets we stopped for paintings of the mountainous region and snapped photographs of the locals at work, else just relaxing watching the world go by. Photographs were taken with the Sadhu’s who relished in this money making opportunity. We were probably rude with an individual Sadhu who wanted his picture taken, so we placed the Green Gibbon on his head and snapped away although he didn’t seem to take offence! One onlooker said with a raised voice that we must have been American! I did feel guilty about that incident and hoped we hadn’t accumulated more bad Karma after the rickshaw crash! It even topped the rickshaw race of the previous evening with Jose and Michelle, which we obviously won!

 

3/24

Up at a frightening 4am in preparation for a 7am flight from Katmandu’s domestic airport to Lukla in the Khumbu region of Nepal. Our bags were all scanned through X-ray machines and we were searched on numerous occasions, probably something to do with the recent Maoist activity. Our Yeti Air flight departed on time and we had a 40 minute flight of reasonable comfort considering the twin prop plane we were aboard, albeit noisy! We had fairly good views of the Himalayas but without the clouds it would have been outstanding. Coming into the airport at Lukla, built into the side of a hill was spectacular, and the mountainous views from Lukla were awesome.

We watched the local porters gather up our duffels which had accompanied us on the flight – the other duffels were following and would be at basecamp ready for our arrival. To see these little 5′, 130lb locals collecting, not one but two or three huge duffels and strap them on their backs and to their foreheads is amazing, and then to go marching up hill defies belief! Lukla is at an altitude of 2286m ASL and the difference from Katmandu is immediately apparent. After a few teas we began the trek to basecamp, initially to Phakding, which was to take us downhill a couple hundred meters to 2640m ASL. This was to be our easy day before Namche Bazar! It rained on and off for the couple hour hike, and stupidly my day-pack containing a laptop had no waterproof covering! Luckily no damage was done and we arrived at our campsite, not to tents but to a teahouse in no time. Because of the rain IMG and Great Escapes decided to make our first night a comfortable one and we had a bed each. A couple of beers and some Poker lessons later and we were all out for the count.

 

3/25

An early start for our hike up to Namche Bazar, which incidentally was definitely the norm from now on, and where we are to spend 3 nights. The day started the same as every day going forward with breakfast of oatmeal, cereals, followed by eggs on toast, and more toast… and a departure of 7.30am. The first part of the hike which takes us up to brunch was easy enough with no crazy height gain, but then throughout the early part of the afternoon we went up and up, switchback after switchback to reach Namche Bazar at an altitude of 3440m ASL. During this part we had our first glimpse of Everest, a long way off in the distance, but very awesome looking! Lhotse, which was closer, looked more daunting with the summit winds, but at over 300m lower would probably be the easier task!

We had a fun hike which tended to show how the different trekkers / climbers would be broken up for the remainder of the hike up to basecamp. Mark Tucker, our basecamp manager also liked to be known as the “service provider” was always giving out advice regarding various parts of the trek and what we should expect en route. Between him, Dave Hahn and Ang Jangbu they were an excellent source of information.

I arrived at Namche Bazar with Rex, Ed, Jim and Pete closely followed by Jose, Jeff and other team members – it was obvious that Rex and Ed were to be the ones who always wanted to be out front. Would this harm them going forward?

Namche Bazar was a fairly large town, with its growth mainly due to its location and being the last main place en route to Everest basecamp. Everything in the town was mountaineering related with many shops selling knock off North Face clothing, among other brands – I guess when you only pay the equivalent of $60 for a down jacket you get what you pay for! There are pictures in all of the lodges from previous high profile expeditions with signatures of many of the worlds top class mountaineers.

Upon arrival at our camp which was set high above the main part of town we came across the North Face tents, mainly 2 per person except where people had requested a single supplement, along with the dining tent and a couple of Sherpa tents. We hadn’t been there long when a smart looking group of young Nepalese Sherpas arrived – we quickly realized that they must be our high altitude climbing Sherpas. We were introduced to our climbing Sherpa, Pa Nuru, who was probably the oldest out of them all but still looked young – he was 36 years old, came from Phortse and had already summited Everest a staggering 5 times! All of these guys had worked their way up through the ranks from porter to Sherpa to climbing Sherpa and were definitely admired from below. They were all from the Khumbu region of Nepal so are very highly suited to Everest’s high altitude, although that certainly doesn’t make them immune from altitude sickness and accidents.

As it was Friday we headed down into Namche Bazar to sample the beer and take a look around – there were many lodges and a couple of Internet cafes, albeit with slow service! What do you expect miles from civilization using satellite dishes for connectivity! At 450 Rupees ($6.50) per half hour it was a bargain.

 

3/26

We awoke early, had breakfast and headed into town for the locally renowned Saturday market day. People come from the surrounding valleys to trade, buy and sell goods, including sugar, salt and meat – we saw the IMG cooks leaving the meat area with 2 huge carcasses for the next few day’s supplies. It was fun to watch the locals trading and this definitely seemed to be one of the town’s highlights.

We hit the bakery next for coffee and cakes – it really does make you wonder how they can do the things they do so far away from the cities. I had a coffee as good as any Starbucks, with a cinnamon roll not dissimilar from Cinnabons!

An Internet café and the Khumbu lodge were next for emailing updates back home and for consuming refreshments! The Khumbu lodge was a pretty famous place in the area as approximately 20 years previous Jimmy Carter, the president of the USA had stayed there en route to basecamp. The lodge was into everything from the Internet café to a mountain clothing shop to its lodge / restaurant. We were even told that are Dollar millionaires in Namche Bazar due to the tourism and having Everest on its doorstep!

That afternoon Jeff and I headed off up the trail towards the infamous Everest View hotel, some 2000′ higher. It was a cloudy afternoon and we had to ask numerous times after getting to the top of the trail – this was the location of Syangboche airport, which we completely missed, and where a lot of our basecamp baggage was to fly into followed by a 3 day yak ride eventually taking it all the way to basecamp at 17,600′. We eventually found the hotel after stumbling upon its helipad, and although it was a pretty remote place it was fully booked with mainly Japanese tourists – at $175 for a single room and $275 for a double, dictated by the morning views of Everest, Ama Dablam and other Himalayan giants. We saw nothing and stayed briefly for a drink. Today worked as an acclimatization hike and we were back in Namche Bazar within 30 minutes.

That evening was to be where I started feeling ill and I knew it was a bad idea to go back into town! This was meant to be a rest day after all.

 

3/27

Sunday was to be pretty much a free day to do as we pleased, and we decided to head back to the Everest View hotel to see what the views were all about. Obviously this time it was easy to find and the view from the huge panoramic windows and the outdoor veranda did not disappoint.

Khumjung was our next stop, famous for the school that Sir Edmund Hillary had built – we were now at 3790m ASL and I was still feeling groggy! The classrooms and teachers rooms were far more than you’d expect for somewhere this remote – I even noticed computers in one of the classrooms! Another monastery and bakery later and we headed back down to Namche Bazar. I had another update to send and wanted to get back to camp for some shuteye! Tomorrow was to be our departure to Tengboche.

 

3/28

I felt lousy this morning as during the night I suffered from shivers and sweating outbreaks – where I normally felt comfortable in only boxer shorts sometime during this night I was shivering pretty bad but decided to ignore it for a while, the same as taking a drink! Eventually I put more clothes on later on was sweating profusely, which wasn’t enjoyable, especially when the bag got wet! By morning I felt pretty bad but had to get prepared for our departure to Tengboche, luckily not too far to travel in height gain. We had breakfast and it was obvious that I was quiet due to my bad night – no sympathy though! Jeff still played the music at normal volume!

We had brunch overlooking a river, where I managed to nap for a few minutes before heading off up a hillside of switchbacks. It was only 800′ in height gain but felt much tougher to me than the hike to Namche Bazar a few days previous! We passed by the famous monastery and went downhill for a further 20 minutes to our campsite where I crashed out.

I slept most of the afternoon, up until dinner, followed by many hours throughout the night. It was at this campsite that we ate in the teahouse as it was warmer and more convenient. Sometime during the night there were mysterious goings-on!

 

3/29

We awoke to high altitude theft – various members of the team all throughout camp were complaining that footwear left in the tent vestibule had gone AWOL. Immediately Mike Hamill came over to our tent to blame Jeff – for some reason he was the number one culprit on many peoples list! At least 6 pairs of sneakers and trekking shoes were gone, along with items from a campsite next door to ours, probably the blame was to lye with the porters from outside of the Khumbu. The last thing the local people would do would be to steal from the hand that feeds them. Good news was that the Gibbon was attached to the outside of the tent and was left unscathed!

I sweated like crazy throughout the night to try and get rid of the damn fever – it seemed to be working but the sleeping bag was soaked and sometime during the night I had to climb out of it and sleep underneath it! After breakfast I went back to sleep making full use of this rest day as a recovery day. This day became even more interesting as whilst members of the Green Gibbon team were resting the gibbon was snatched and replaced with a ransom note – 20 Mars bars had to be at a rock pile by 3pm or else! A cute picture of the gibbon with a knife to his throat accompanied the note.

The number one target was Ed, with Rex and maybe Christine (Christine was trekking in to basecamp and climbing nearby Island Peak) as accomplices. We were investigating the handwriting of the note, including spelling mistake’s, gibbon with only one ‘b’ and piece spelt “peice”!

Later on in the afternoon I joined my team members in a hike back up to Tengboche monastery. We arrived in time for an afternoon prayer session, although only a single monk was present! This monastery is renowned in the region for its beauty and it was certainly that – it was also the place where the IMAX Everest team had their blessings prior to their 1996 dramatic summit. After filming and photography we visited the gift shop where I purchased a Mani stone in a small handmade bag – for good luck! The rest of the afternoon we played cards outside of the Tengboche bakery which we found to be the best yet – it seems that the more altitude we get the better the cakes and coffee become!
Upon our arrival back at camp we discovered another link in the gibbon disappearance where a MiniDV tape was hanging in our tent. It was 15 seconds of the gibbon undergoing pain and threats, and was extremely amusing!

I felt much better after the hike and all of the sleep I had got in the past 48 hours, as well as pumping myself full of Ibuprofen!
Later that day we recovered the Green Gibbon intact but in a state of shock – the news was relayed back to Erin (Eric’s wife at IMG) in Seattle and has maybe attracted global interest. This put an end to a very interesting day and to a full recovery progression…

 

3/30

Off to Dingboche for 2 nights, and all part of the acclimatization process. This was to be our seventh night of the trek to basecamp and all things considered I had had no ill effects from the altitude, pity I couldn’t say the same regarding regular health!

The hike today was far more enjoyable now that I was feeling better – it was nice to be at the front of the pack, not pushing too hard but showing me that things were looking up! As we got closer to Gorak Shep and basecamp the villages en route were getting smaller and the few things that were purchasable were getting steadily more expensive. Camp was just over a hill as we trekked in, past a large white Stupa, and overlooking the small village of Dingboche. We arrived soon after lunch and already our duffels were with the appropriate tents – nice and easy to move straight in. This was the same for our arrival at each camp we got to!

We could see from here where our acclimatization hike would take us the following day. It had snowed in the afternoon here and by dinner time there was enough of a sprinkling to make snowballs – of course I came out of my tent close to 6pm and had a 2 or 3 shot battle with Mike, our guide. I was just about to hurl another hard snowball when out popped who I thought to be Jeff, bang!, it hit him right in the face just as he turned around – I made a mistake, it was Jose and he instantly went down! We had a minor scuffle and he didn’t let me forget the incident for a few days after!

 

3/31

The eve of April Fools day and the chance for Jeff and I to decide what was to take place in the evening.

Before our acclimatization hike, after Rex’s departure and whilst Ed was otherwise engaged Jeff put loads of rocks under both of their tents – just a bit of revenge for the gibbon antics! We then went on our hike for a 1000′ or so of altitude up the hillside which we camped on. Ed was seen dragging the inconvenient objects out and was up to no good around our tents!

We were only gone for a couple of hours but it was enough for our ascent plans. The rest of the day was for resting purposes and was duly taken.

 

4/1

For some reason I awoke at 5am, coincidentally the same time as Jeff. He called out and we went for it – first we went over to Mike’s tent to try and zip-tie his tent doors closed but he had both of the internal zippers at the top and we were unable to reach in! The next culprit was to be Rex, the front zipper Jeff had to pull closed a few inches but he successfully managed this. I worked on the rear of the tent but lying on the floor it was difficult to feed the zip-tie through the zippers – I was on the process of pulling it tight when Rex moved the internal zipper and yelled something! Jeff and I were out of there pretty quick, with the job mainly done. We later found out that Rex had to demolish a razor to cut himself out! Our fun was had!

We had all experienced Larry’s fun but higher than average voice at every meal by now, amongst other occasions. Today as it was Jeff’s birthday (and this was to be the scene for the other upcoming birthdays) he came up with a little poem – this was relayed to us all at breakfast and was quite witty!

Some extra time was had before departure up to Lobuche, the penultimate destination prior to Basecamp – this was to be another day of realistic altitude gain so nothing too heavy! The trail started on the same course as the previous days hike, up the hillside behind us and continuing towards Pheriche, where the HRA (Himalayan Rescue Association) have a rescue building. Some team members decided to hike to Pheriche the previous day as they do a history of altitude and mountaineering medicine talk, along with items to purchase including tee-shirts and medicine.

We followed the trail to the right, leading us to a location where there are many Stupas dedicated to mostly dead Sherpas, and Westerners for that matter! The more prominent ones included Babu Chiri Sherpa who summited Everest 10 times and died by falling 30m into a crevasse at Camp II in the Western Cwm on Everest in 2001, and then there is Scott Fisher of Mountain Madness fame who died in the infamous 1996 storm. A lot of the Stupas had engravings with their name, year and reason for tragedy.

I continued to get many good photographs of the yaks passing us in the opposite direction, obviously en route from Basecamp. A lot of these yak trains were lead by female herders who were equally capable of hurling rocks at the disobedient yaks! These beasts were absolutely suited to the environment and apparently they can’t survive below 10,000′. We lunched as usual at approximately 11am in a great location after passing over 2 extremely dodgy wooden bridges – the pictures of the yaks coming across these bridges should be excellent, in fact watching them go up and down the hillside next to our lunch stop was fascinating. I remember this location due to the large pile of yak dung neatly stacked behind the hut we were next to – this must have been for fuel during the colder months, if in fact anyone inhabits this outpost during those times!

Lobuche was like any of the other villages on our hike towards Basecamp, just smaller and slightly more expensive, that is if you could consider $3 for a can of San Miguel expensive! Our camp was perched on a hillside just over the top of the village, about 15 minutes walk away. We settled for a 2 night stopover.

Today was Jeff’s 38th birthday and after dinner he was presented with a nice looking chocolate cake with a single candle – slightly dry tasting but considering where we were and the resources that the Sherpas have it was outstanding!

It is definitely worth mentioning that we weren’t even tasting the meals of the best cook, Pemba, as he is to be located at Basecamp and has been the main cook on many IMG expeditions. Sadly Da Sona would be leaving us then and going off with the Island Peak trek that was also part of the IMG schedule.

Ed would have to wait until the next birthday as he was feeling ill and decided to only from Dingboche to Pheriche and then travel up after a day or two when he was feeling better. During today’s hike it was also apparent that Rex had pushed too hard on previous days and was now suffering from headaches amongst other ailments! To add to the casualties Jeff, the birthday boy couldn’t keep anything inside his stomach and was ill out of both ends, but only at night which wasn’t too god for his tent mate, me!

 

4/2

Today was to be entirely a rest day and we proceeded to do nothing. Much time was spent in the tent as the weather was also getting slightly cooler and windy.

I managed to send 2 emails from the Thuraya Satellite phone, at the reasonable cost of $9! Only small but at IMG’s costs of $3 a minute this was the going rate, besides what are the alternatives when this far from civilization and within touching distance of Basecamp! This afternoon we took the brief walk down to Lobuche for a quick drink and snack at one of the tea-houses. There were quite a few trekkers heading to or from Basecamp, chatting and chilling out – they could have even been climbers for all I know! At every tea lodge on the entire route there were pictures, mostly with Wally Berg’s name attached to them on the walls. At this particular house there was even a great photograph of Annabelle Bond, the English bombshell, born in Hong Kong to a wealthy HSBC banker – she was aiming for the Seven Summits and had summited Everest the previous year, probably with an entourage to do everything for her!

Later this evening, after dinner, Jeff was once again up to his antics – I have never smelt anything so vile coming from any human orifice, especially not a mouth! I had to sleep with my head out of the tent vestibule for most of the night, hence had one of the worst nights sleep of the trip so far! Luckily this was the last but one night of double occupancy camping, and Jeff was soon to digest some horse size pills to overcome the dilemma!

 

4/3

Departure to Gorak Shep, the last inhabited location on the trail to Basecamp had come none too quickly. I couldn’t wait to see Everest Basecamp and find out if it lived up to what I expected. Again, only about 800′ of altitude gain but most importantly another major step closer to our goal.

We went downhill into the village itself which from what Jeff had said had grown considerably from 10 years previous – instead of a single tea-house there was now a handful of buildings. Our campsite overlooked a dusty plateau which was to be the route for the next day and to the left was the trail leading up to the best views of Everest known as Kala Patar. It was a possibility for us to hike up there today but it was a 2-3 hour hike to an altitude of 18,300′. It was great to look down onto the plateau below us and watch the yak trains coming to and fro, kicking up dust in the process. Some were setting up camp for the evening as it was only a short hike to Basecamp from here, although it didn’t look too comfortable – I’m glad we were in tents! Dinner was served in the dining tent tonight and it definitely felt like it was going to be a cold night, then the snow started although thankfully only a sprinkling.

It was to be a final evening sharing tents with Jeff as at Basecamp we were to get single occupancy! From there up the mountain we would again be sharing tents but that was in the future. A cold evening pursued but with the thought of finally arriving at Basecamp tomorrow it was not a problem. We were close to a full team again with Ed rejoining us after spending the evening of 4/1 at Pheriche then catching up with us in Lobuche. We had temporarily lost Rex in Lobuche who had decided that he would head back down to Pheriche for a night, and eventually spending 2 nights down there and meeting us later at Basecamp. Luckily he had only a headache and nothing to do with AMS.

 

4/4

It was overcast, cloudy and cold today but still Peter, Jim, Mike and Christine decided to head up to Kala Patar on their way to Basecamp – needless to say their views were non-existent. Luckily we waited a couple of days!

The rest of us headed down to and across the dusty plateau, and because of the wind and yaks this was not too enjoyable. We turned to the left at the end of the plateau and before long the multi-colored dots of Basecamp tents were apparent – it was still another couple hour hike but was thoroughly enjoyable as we were actually walking on the Khumbu Glacier that within a few days would become our route up through the Icefall to camp one. This part of the glacier was actually more or less covered in rocks and huge boulders but every now and then the ice would show through.

All around us now were huge 7000m plus peaks but as long as we were going up and traveling up the Khumbu Glacier we were getting closer to the summit Mt Everest.

Just before reaching Basecamp we passed the upside down wreckage of a Russian M17 helicopter owned by the Nepalese government, which was torn in two main pieces – the body and tail, otherwise trashed. This had crashed into the glacier in 2003 late in the climbing season, but miraculously with only 2 deaths. Another 15 minutes and we were at the IMG Basecamp being shown to our tents on what was soon to be known as “Green Gibbon Ridge”! It was nice to arrive at Basecamp as the full team of 3 and our Guide, Mike Hamill – I’m glad that I had waited for them and we rolled into Basecamp together.