During the climb I was not able to connect and blog as easily. Wifi connection was unstable and slow. Best I could do was to update my FB feed with short post and a few pics.
Let me relate them here for the rest of you who are not on my FB network.
This is what happened.... Enjoy the read...
Oct 21st: Quick update while I still have WiFi. We made it to Lukla around 9:30 Am. Beautiful flight. Excellent conditions. Amazing views of the Himalayas all along the ways
Possibly the last blog entry before we head to the airport at 5:45 to hopefully fly to the mountain sometimes tomorrow…
Oct 23rd: Greetings from Namche Bazaar one of the most surreal place in the Himalayan range. A mix of old traditional Sherpa houses and modern bars with WiFi, loud music, and fancy pastries. The ambiance here in Namche has to be lived to be believed. If you haven’t been there I highly highly recommend it. I couldn’t wait to be back here since 2019 and I’m really digging it.
We made it up here in a little over 3 hours instead of the 7 hours suggested by guide books. Great weather. Some great company and I even run into climbing celebrities (that is Kami Rita Sherpa in green on the first picture, who was my Sherpa on Cho Oyu summit day back in 2014 and who is now the Everest summit world record holder with 30 summit of Everest).
Tomorrow is “rest day”. We will take a leisurely walk up to the Everest view hotel where we should have some amazing views of Ama Dablam and Everest if the weather is good.
Overall a great great great day. Really enjoying the moment.
Oct 24th: Great active rest day today with a small short hike up to the Everest view lodge in perfect weather conditions. We are definitely blessed with weather so far. The views were amazing. Much better than 5 years ago at the beginning of our severest expedition back then. The team is gelling and getting along really well.
Oct 25th: Another fantastic day in the Khumbu heading up towards the Tengboche monastery and world famous bakery. We had gorgeous views of Everest and Ama Dablam all day long. It can’t get better than that. Lots of traffic on the trail. It is high trekking season.
In Tengboche we toured the monastery and got blessed by the Lama. And then we of course had to try to world renowned famous Tengboche bakery. I had a decent chocolate croissant. The highest in the world.
We then ended up in the brand new renovated Rivendell lodge in Deboche. The restaurant area has the feel of an alpine ski lodge. Waiting to see if I can order fondue a la carte. Oh wait. We did find a restaurant when leaving Namche this morning (see first picture) that does offer Cheese Fondue AND Raclette. We have all agreed to eat there if we have a successful summit.
Oct 26th: Short day today walking up from Debuche to Dingboche where we got blessed by the monastery Lama.
We got to our lodge for the day by noon. So this afternoon will be mostly a rest time visiting the town and enjoying the views of the towering mountains all around us.
We got a room with a view too.
And we are hanging out at the village bakery this afternoon.
Oct 27th: Middle Earth vibes this morning… #himalayas #middleearth @robjtant proud of me yet?
Morning views when waking up from our tea house room. We got greeted by a Lords of the ring style view. I was looking for elves in the bushes.
Another amazing day getting closer to the Mother’s necklace. #amadablam #himalayas
Oct 28th: We are there. Thing is getting real. #amadablam picture courtesy of our amazing guide @terray_s
Today our expedition turned from trekking into climbing as we made it to Ama Dablam basecamp.
It was a short 2 hours hike from Pangboche. This hike was the most beautiful part of the trek so far. Views all around are amazing and we got treated with a fantastic lunch and diner already. The soups re honestly amongst the best I have had in my life. Seriously. And the lasagna and fried chicken tonight was very legit too.
Base camp is beautiful and so much more comfortable than Everest base camp. We have pineapple juice and Nutella. I am set for life here. We are going to be good here for the next 10 days. Tonight is movie night with TopGun.
Oct 29th: Active rest day at base camp today. This morning we were supposed to get some rock climbing skills practice. Once we got to the rock wall it was already used by two expeditions. So we switched to a short acclimation hike towards Yak camp at 16700ft. It took a us about 3 hours and got some great views all around us and a close up of our hill too.
Back for lunch we got treated with a fantastic butter chicken spaghetti that was worthy of a restaurant.
Afternoon we are chilling. I did a bit of laundry. Hopefully there will be enough sun left before the clouds move in to dry all this out. Otherwise I’ll finish it tomorrow.
Talking about tomorrow we should have our Puja in the morning and then we go practice jumaring up and rappelling down with our big fat expeditions boots. That should be fun. That’s it for today. A short update.
Oct 30th: Today we had our Puja ceremony. A traditional lama blessing for the expeditions until which the Sherpas won’t go up on the mountains. We even had an individual blessing from the lama. Hopefully that will give us all the positive vibes we needs and keep the clouds, snow and winds, that are currently in our forecast for our summit push, away.
And then we went to do some climbing skills review and practice. It kicked my butt today but it is done now. Pulling yourself up a featureless vertical wall at 15500ft is not like at the gym. I spat my lungs out today, but I made it up 3 times in a row. Training paid off. But it sucks to be old. Knee and elbow joins are all hurting now. But the good news is that apparently the training rock is harder than the yellow tower so that is a positive boost of confidence. (In case you wonder I’m wearing the light green yellow jacket.) and you can figure out which one is the guide. The one with the orange jacket that makes it look so easy up this rock. He is dancing up this face like a mountain goat. No problem at all. While we all look like frogs with slippery feet’s.
Nov 2nd: Disclaimer. It is a long post with some key news. Hope you enjoy the videos too.
So today we just got back from a 3 day rotation to acclimatize at camp 1 and camp 2. It was a rough rotation with the hardest piece of climbing I have ever done.
It’s not particularly hard for a well train gym climber, but the 1000ft of 5.8 level climbing with big 8000 meter boots and a backpack at 18,000 feet elevation between camp 1 and 2 took the wind out of me. I got stuck about 50 ft below camp 2 on the last vertical slab of the yellow tower. I just simply ran out of juice. Then coming down back to camp 1 was quite scary too. Lots of very exposed terrain and transitions between rappeling sections and horizontal traverse sections mostly done purely at arm’s strength. That was clearly the most difficult and physically demanding climbing I have ever done.
To safely summit one needs to get to camp 2 using about 25% of its strength, then use another 25% of its strength to get to camp 3 and summit and then have at least half a tank of strength left to get back down to base camp through all this very technical and steep terrain.
I didn’t feel I have the technical skills or fitness level to move efficiently at this altitude and get back down safely. So after discussing options with our guide, who is great, offered many alternative options to help me succeed and who eventually supported my decision, I have decided to stop my climbing attempt at Ama Dablam today.
I have enjoyed every single minute of it. The team, the views, the overall experience. I am planning to stay here at base camp with the team and enjoy life in the mountain up here with the team until they start their summit push. I will then start my trip back toward Namche, Lukla and then Kathmandu at that point.
I am blessed by this experience. I have been lucky enough to succeed on my first attempts of every other mountain before today.
But today I found my climbing limits. And will come down off the mountain safely to tell the tales of it.
Thank you for everyone’s support and encouragement and especially my family’s and my wife who has been anxiously holding the fort, carrying two people workload on the home front, while I have been away on all my past expeditions and on this one in particular. While, I am having fun on the mountain, those who stay behind also carry the emotional and stressful load by proxy.
I am thankful for the love and support of my family and all of you my friends who keep cheering me on and who give me strength while I am in cold rough and sometimes not very safe environment.
I will likely publish another post or two on my return journey through the lower Khumbu valley through Namche and Lukla. This region is amazingly beautiful and serene. I can only encourage anyone who reads this to go and experience it directly yourself someday. The spirituality and serenity of this valley will change your life. I can guarantee it.
As for me, there are many less challenging mountains and trek in my future. I am looking forward to them.
Nov 4th: Today was a bittersweet day. It was time to leave Ama Dablam basecamp to go down to Pengboche and meet up with the crew who’s is coming down from EBC and Island peak.
I was very emotional walking down from that basecamp alone. Like I was worried it would be the last time I was in these high altitude environment or maybe it was my last expedition in Himalayan. But meeting up with Kat and the rest of the group in Pengboche and spending the afternoon at the Everest bakery and coffee and then the evening with everyone and celebrating their successful Lobuche and Island peak was awesome and gave me a big moral boost. I am enjoying every single last moments of this expeditions.
Tomorrow we are shooting to reach Namche Bazaar by noon. I LOVE that place. Being in the Khumbu valley is such a blessing. I love this valley, its people, its peacefulness and serenity. Time to suck in as much of this experience as possible.
Nov 5th: Good morning from Pengboche. Off to Namche Bazaar today. Another beautiful day in the Khumbu. I hope it turn out to be a beautiful day in the US too 🤞
Nov 6th: Just made it down to Namche bazaar. Love All the vibe and energy this place has to offer. Gosh I have a real passion for this town. We are back a little over a week later and it feels like all the fields are blooming almost like a spring floraison which is weird. Back at the Sherpa Barista cafe with the team having good Lattes and bakery. It’s also a lot warmer here than where we left way higher in the valley this morning.
Well today was a nice shopping day for Xmas in Namche. I loaded up. Hope it fits in the bag now 🙂
Oh and all the lodges are getting major upgrades. Look at that room it almost looks like a proper hotel in the US with 2 layers of pillow and everything.
And Sherpa Barista never disappoints.
And to top it off, Nimsang and I went to have a Nak (female of a Yak) cheese fondue. It was quite decent and mostly very unexpected here in Namche.
Did I say how much I love and have a passion for that place? :)
Nov 7th: Last day in the Khumbu valley. We left Namche at 8 and hiked down with a lot of up and down in between and got the Lukla around 2. We made good time for a 7 miles hike with about 2000ft elevation loss but it feels that we climb about as much in between.
We also got to participate in bring trash down which is nice. It’s a servicesnoffered to all trekkers heading down to carry a full trash bag of about 2-3 pounds. It’s cool. Everyone was taking some and they were running out. Unlike what newspaper claim, the Khumbu valley is quite clean now.
Got to take a selfie once down and realized my goatie has gotten quite long. Probably time to shave it, but how short?
Lukla has quite a few nice bakeries with views and cafe now. I even got a pretty decent strawberry smoothie amd pain au chocolat. And of course I checked that infamous “most dangerous in the world” runway which we will use tomorrow to leave for Kathmandu. Unfortunately all the planes had left for the day so no take off action to share here.
Nov 8th: Time to return to Kathmandu
We all woke up pretty early, ready to fly back to the lower valley and city.
We all got togerther for Breakfast at 7 and by 7:20 we got called to get to the Heliport. By 7:30 we were all loaded on the Heli and taking off.
By 8:15 we landed in Kathmandu after a super smooth flight. I was lucky to be in the front seat and got fantastic views all along the flight.
Our room weren't ready so we had to wait at the hotel but by 10:00 we got our keys.
We all spent the morning showering, shaving and getting cleaned out.
I met with Mike for lunch and then Kat and Robert joined us to head ot Thamel and check out the Makalu outfit store.
We also enjoyed a nice Nutella croissant at the Artisant bakery. I also met with a fellow hiker, Jamie, from the Coachella Valley hiking cloud and her team which was very nice. At 6 we all joined together and headed out for our team for diner.
It was all and all a very nice day.
What a nice end of our expeditions.
Nov 9th: Trip is winding down with a relaxing day visiting the monkey temple, the golden Buddha and wandering around Thamel.
After bidding goodbye to Jamie Staudenmyer Baird and Lakpa Rita Sherpahe Shangri La team, I spent my day walking the little streets of Thamel and enjoying my new fav bakery l’Artisan right at the entrance to Thamel. Legit croissant.
Ended up enjoying the best massage of my life in the afternoon and nice dinner at the Yak and Yeti Chimney restaurant with the team.
All and all a very nice relaxing day.
Tomorrow heading to Chandragiri temple site with hopefully some nice final views of the Himalaya…
Nov 10th: Last day in Kathmandu. It was a slow day. Some email work in the morning and then visit to Chandragiri Hill. It’s a Hindu temple on top of a mountain where you are also supposed to be able to see all of the Himalayan range. But not today. It was cloudy.
Still, I really enjoyed driving from the hotel through the city and to the outskirt to the base of the cable car.
I got to see the real Kathmandu where people live and not just the touristic center. Loved it.
Then now, it is packing time. First I had to fix one of my duffle bag that had a big puncture at the bottom. Thank you for duck tape. Saved the day. As always.
Nov 11th: Today I’m leaving Nepal.
Before that, I went on a walk to Thamel for the last time this trip. I wandered around looking at all the shops and enjoying the smells and the noises and the vibrant activity one more time.
I got back to the room and changed into my travel clothes.
It is a bittersweet moment with a lot of mixed feelings. I loved my time travelling to Nepal. I loved the trek; the people I met, the stories and memories we created. I’m sad that I didn’t get to the summit of the mountain. Part of me is proud of my decision to turn around. Part of me is wondering if I gave up too quickly and easily.
I had lunch with Terray the guide and Joe my tent partner who summited. It was great to hear all about their summit success and all the details about how much harder the climb was beyond camp 2 even. So, no regret. Apparently, a bunch of folks even turned around above camp 3 due to a large crevasse opening up that was too difficult for many to get across. And the descent was long and arduous. The entire ascent and descent took over 22 hours. So no regret really.
Then it was time to head to the airport, get a last glimpse of Kathmandu while driving to the airport. Go through the 3rd world airport security and immigration which was a chaotic organization as always is here.
Looking forward to being back in Kathmandu already for another adventure in the coming years hopefully...
Bye Nepal. I love you. I’ll be back.
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