Our apologies for the long delay in news on the blog specifically. Most of the up to date information has been going to our social media channels. Be sure to check both Instagram and Facebook for the Mountain Professionals Everest current news.
Time certainly seems to fly once underway on an Everest trip. The group flew up to Lukla on April 4th and began the 9 day trek itinerary into the Everest Base Camp. Things were pretty normal on the trek aside from the glaring difference of almost no people on the trail. The difference in numbers was quite evident, since there are very very few pure trekkers on the trails. All the familiar Sherpa families welcomed our team and others into their teahouses for good food and sleep along the way. The group spent two nights in Namche Bazar and two nights in Dingboche for extra acclimatization. The final stretch of trekking brought them into Everest Base Camp on April 12th.
Due to the Buddhist calendar calling for that first day to be auspicious, our group went straight into our Puja Ceremony when they arrived to Base camp. It was a nice day and our climbing Sherpa, Pasang Lama, presided over the Puja. Through the ancient prayers he asked Chomolongma (the mother goddess of the earth) for safe passage for our group. Each team member threw sompa flower, and drank some select Craft Lagers courtesy of our partners at Upslope Brewing in Colorado.
Since the Puja, things have progressed well with the day to day. One note of sad news is that one of our climbers Erlend began to feel quite bad in the days just below base camp. After a visit from the HRA doctors at base camp, it was determined best for him to return down to Kathmandu for treatment. We hope he is getting better and progressing back to a potential climb.
Our group has already done two days of trainings in the lower Khumbu Icefall, in which we practiced using the various pieces of climbing gear for ascending and descending the route. People even got a chance to practice going over a ladder, walking on their crampons to get used to that unique part of climbing everest…
Today it is the 19th of April the group is taking advantage of a sunny rest day. Washing clothes and taking showers and generally relaxing. Yesterday the team did an acclimatization trek up to Pumori ABC at about 18,000 ft. in elevation. During this time, our climbing Sherpas went ahead for their 3rd carry to Camp Two. So far they have stocked many of the supplies we will need at the C2 location, some of which we actually cache there in the off seasons.
In the coming days, we will begin to chart out our first rotation with the team members up to camp one. Stay tuned for more!
