Back from the Mountains

Well I am back in Kathmandu after a truly amazing trip in the Everest Region, and a couple extra days rained in in Lukla. I include a few photos here but there are many more on my Picasa page.

I flew up to Lukla in a little Twin Otter plane on May 6th. There I met up with Alex, a British guy who has been volunteering in an orphanage and who was going on the same trip as me to Island Peak. Though our climbing trip did not start until we got up to Chukhung in another week, we decided to meet in Lukla and trek up to Chukhung together.

Porters carrying loads of plywood into the mountains--some of their loads were remarkable

For 7 days we hiked along, up into the mountains. We took the pace very slowly to allow us to acclimate and because moving quickly at that altitude is really difficult. On the second day we hiked up to Namche Bazar, the last piece of which is a steep hill. We started hiking up it as a normal hiking pace but quickly were absolutely exhausted. It took us a while to get into the pace of walking really slowly. It is kind of strange, the standard walking pace up there is a very slow plodding along, and it took us a while to get used to that.

Day hike out of Namche

About 5 days into the trek we got to Pheriche where it turned cold and started to snow. It snowed off and on for the next several days. Also in Pheriche we went to a high altitude lecture at the health post of the Himalayan Rescue Association. After the lecture we got our blood oxygen saturation tested. At that altitude, roughly 14,000 ft, apparently the average is about 85%, mine was 91%. I'm not really sure how meaningful that is, but I found it kind of interesting. And, I had no problems with the altitude, even as I got much higher, so that was nice.

Snow in Pheriche

From there we headed up to Chukhung where it was also snowing. We met our guide Ang; spent a day practicing ropes, ladders, and jumars; a day ice climbing; and then headed up to Island Peak Base Camp. No one had summited Island Peak for about a week because of all the snow. While in Chukhung I also ran into Robert and Keith. They were doing a similar course but with another company. Turns out Robert had gone to Apple Hill and we had mutual friends from Keene. The four of us ended up hanging out in Chukhung for several days and then summiting Island Peak together.

Hanging out around the stove in Chukhung: Robert, Keith and Alex

Learning to walk on ladders

On May 17th we made out attempt at the summit. At 12:30am when we woke up the sky was clear and the stars were out. As we climbed through the boulder fields up to high camp the moon came out and we hiked by the light of the moon much of the way. We came to the snow line where we put on plastic boots, crampons and harnesses right as the sun was coming up. It was gorgeous. From there we traversed across a glacier, crossed a couple of ladders over crevasses, and headed up the fixed ropes. Then we traversed the final ridge to the summit. It was 9am; 20,306 feet above sea level.

The summit ridge


Happy to be on top

The sky was perfectly clear, giving us 365 degree views of the surrounding mountains. There was fog in the valleys but we could see everything above about 5000 meters. Lhotse and Nuptse rose to the north, Ama Dablam to the south, Makalu was visable to the east, Cho Oyu to the west, and so many others in between [Everest is blocked from this angle by Lhotse].

We then rappelled down. I generally find rappelling to be fun and easy but I found it so tiring this time. I was just exhausted.

I also thought back to reading about disasters caused by bottle necks on the fixed lines, and I understood exactly how that can happen. While we were on the way down, a large party was on their way up. You can't rappel down a rope that someone is jumarring up, and everyone is trying to use the same ropes. Communication is often difficult over the long distances. We ended up setting up additional ropes to get down. The fixed lines were also a new and minorly unsettling experience. I found it difficult to tie into a rope of questionable quality and questionable anchoring. In some places we put in additional anchors, but in others the ropes were frozen into the ground to the point that you could not see the original anchoring.

After climbing Island Peak I had an extra day before I needed to head back so I decided to hike up towards Everest Base Camp, up the next valley. In the late afternoon I ran into a guy who turned out to be the doctor with the Indian expedition to Everest. After talking for a while he invited me to stay with them at Base Camp. Despite being exhausted, I couldn't refuse the offer.

Hanging out in the Indian tent at Base Camp

That night I hung out with the Indian team. Many of them were up on the mountain taking advantage of the first break in the weather since early May. The rest of them were hanging around camp, eating really well and playing cards. Sleeping on the glacier was an experience; you can hear it cracking all night long. In the morning we sat in the strong sunlight drinking tea and I fried one ear. The sun reflecting off the snow at that altitude is really intense. Then we went for a walk in the Khumbu ice fall. I wasn't sure how far I was allowed up without a permit but I got the sense that we were pushing it. We could hear people from other camps celebrating as a few teams summited--some of the first summits of the year [one party summited on May 5th]. We also watched helicopters come in to evacuate people, an almost daily occurrence.

After lunch I headed back down, and in the next two days I hiked down to Lukla. I was supposed to fly out on the 22nd. I got to the airport in the morning, checked in, and waited for my flight. The first round of flights left but the second round never came. The clouds came in. They told us maybe in a couple hours. The airport emptied out, no one to ask what was going on. There were no planes there either though. Finally we left the airport and went back to town.

For 2 days I sat in Lukla waiting for a flight out. They won't fly in the clouds here because they are flying small planes with no radar through steep mountain valleys. I read a quote somewhere about how they don't fly in the clouds because the clouds tend to have mountains in them.

People started accumulating as everyone came out of the mountains from the end of the climbing season. Every morning we would go to the airport just in case a plane showed up and every day at 3:45pm we would go to the Yeti airline office to get re-booked on a flight for the next day. During the day we would sit around the coffee shops and lodges and walk back and forth on the street (singular). I actually met a bunch of cool people hanging out waiting though. All sorts of climbing teams and trekkers were also hanging out so that was pretty fun.

Finally on May 24th the weather cleared and I was able to fly out. Being stuck for 2 days isn't so bad but there is always a fear that you can be stuck for weeks, though it is always an option to walk down which is about a 4 days walk and one day bus ride. Some people were freaking out because they were missing their international flights home. Helicopters would fly in the clouds so they came in offering to fly people out for about $3500 per flight which can take 4 or 5 people. Apparently as the day went on the price kept increasing. Some people took them up on it; personally, I would have to be pretty desperate to take them up on it, especially after only one day.

So many more stories, but I think that that is it for now. This trip has gone so fast; it is hard to believe that I will be back in Maine next week.