Today we had our Puja ceremony with our entire climbing team including six climbers on the Everest permit, three also on the Lhotse Permit, and all of our climbing Sherpa who will go with us to the summit.

We received blessing from the Buddhist Lama to begin our climb which starts with the Khumbu Ice Fall. Tomorrow our Sherpa climbing team will carry equipment and climbing supplies to our camp 2. The following day, the first of our climbers will begin their ascent to camps 1 and 2.

It was a very special day and great fun with dancing, singing, and plenty of good cheer!

Everyone has been enjoying the past two days settling into day-to-day life at EBC. Here is the entire team (minus two climbing Sherpa) assembled in our camp. Orders of the day have been sorting out gear, getting ready for ice training, making our tents organized for the many weeks we will live here, and just enjoying the many comforts provided by our excellent staff, including hot showers and incredibly delicious meals.

The team visited the Himalayan Rescue Association (HRA) clinic today to meet the doctors and check out the facilities. We are fortunate to have a membership with the HRA for all of our guides, climbers, staff, and base camp crew.  Highly valuable in the event we would need to make use of their services. HRA is a tremendous asset here at EBC.

Yesterday we enjoyed beautiful morning conditions, like today.  We were able to fine-tune our solar power system and our satellite internet access.  Both of which are now working excellently and providing plenty of power and access to our climbers and staff. These resources will allow us to stay in touch and stay entertained with high fidelity.

Our plans for movement up the mountain are starting to firm up.  We are looking forward to training here in base camp and to our all-important Puja ceremony to bless safe travel on the mountain later this week.

Yesterday we trekked up from Dingboche to Loboche and today we moved up to Gorak Shep, the last village before base camp located at 5,150m / 17,000 ft. Tonight we will enjoy the comforts of a soft bed and meals in a heated resort, err lodge.

Yesterday’s trek is one of my favorite segments of the entire Everest Base Camp trek. We traversed high above the valley and enjoyed incredible views. At one point we were able to view three of the world’s 8000m peaks: Lhotse, Cho Oyu, and Makalu. Stunning! The crux of that day was climbing the snout of the Khumbu glacier. At the top of the hill is a memorial area with many chortens memorializing many who lost their lives in surrounding mountains. It is a powerful place for reflection.

Today was a relatively short day of trekking, just 2.5 hours from Lobuche to Gorak Shep. The weather was a bit different today and we were fortunate to reach the lodge before the snow started to fly. The area received a very light dusting but the temperature remained quite cool all day. We have been enjoying a relaxing afternoon hanging out and getting caught up on our reading.

Tomorrow is the day we all have been dreaming of for months – base camp! It should only take us about 2.5 hours to get up there, just in time for lunch. Hopefully our state-of-the-art solar power and communications systems will allow us to maintain more frequent updates as we adjust to living at EBC!

Namaste!

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Beautiful blue skies above the incredible views from Namche Baazar this morning. The entire team enjoyed a another breakfast at the Hotel Tibet and have head out in many different directions for separate projects, including some viewpoint hiking, for our last acclimatization rest day here in Nachme. Tomorrow will we hit the trail and have a chance to visit the Tengboche monastery on our way to the Rivendell Lodge in Deboche.

The climbing team trekked up to Nachme yesterday where we will spend two nights.

Garrett and Kurt will arrive via MI-17 helicopter this morning as their fixed wing flight as cancelled yesterday due to cloud cover in pass leading to Lukla.

The whole team will be together today in Namche.