More on Day One Trek

The landing strip at Lukla is about 300 yards with a cliff at one end and a vertical wall at the other end, with an sharp incline to assist the planes in stopping short of the vertical wall.  The inclined runway also helps the planes gain sufficient speed to take off before the encountering the cliff.

It was also a day of crossing suspension bridges.

The buff/mask is to protect our lungs from the dry air, dust and yak dung which can lead to the "infamous" Kumba cough....they tell me the pine trees will disappear soon.

Below is downtown Lukla....a unpaved street lined with shops with lots of yak traffic. 

...along the way to Phakdung (i.e., our first night's stay)....saw lots of mini temples and an more pray wheels

Early flight to Lukla (9000 ft.) and then trekked to Phakding...about the same elevation. Plan to start taking Diamox tonight...it increases the oxygen saturation level in the blood which allows one to sleep and helps with the acclimation process. No Internet access in Phakding (yes...pronounced just like it is spelled) so cannot post pictures.

Kathmandu and Summary of Everest Climb

Toured Kathmandu...received a good luck blessing from a monk...visited big temples, saw lots of pray wheels, monkeys, traffic and smog.

EVEREST SUMMIT PLAN
Tomorrow, weather permitting, we will fly from Kathmandu (approx. 4500 ft) to Lukla (9000 ft.) and will begin the Trek to Everest Base Camp.  Once at Base Camp (17,300 ft. or 17,700 ft...depending upon which T-shirt one buys), we will train and review mountaineering skills for 4-5 days.  Then up through the Kumba Ice Fall (i.e., lots of crevasses and aluminum ladders) to Camp I (19,500 ft.), spend the night, then up to Camp II (21,000 ft.) for a couple of nights.  Camp II will serve as our Advanced Base Camp ("ABC")....then back down to Base Camp. 

After a couple days of rest, we go back up passing through Camps I and II and on up to Camp III (23,500 ft.) where we will spend the night without oxygen.  Most climbers have a difficult/interesting night at Camp III....then back down to Base Camp and below for rest, oxygen and rejuvenation.

Once recovery has been achieved....back up to Base Camp....and back up to ABC (i.e., Camp II) without too much delay.  All focus then turns to weather forecasts.  When a weather window appears to be opening, up to Camp III where we begin using oxygen during the night...then on up to Camp IV (26,300 ft.) where we spend about 24-28 hours resting and breathing oxygen...then around 10:00 p.m. we begin the summit attempt---weather permitting---and should reach the top around 8:00 a.m. if things go as planned (i.e., weather holds, our brains don't blow up, our lungs work properly, we've trained sufficiently, we are strong enough, no one panics, the oxygen bottles aren't empty etc.).  We dance around at the top for about an hour and then return to Camp IV where we spend the night and then down to Camp II...then down to Base Camp...and an all out sprint off the mountain.

More details later....

Kathmandu

Arrived late yesterday in Kathmandu.  Fifteen hour flight from L.A. to Hong Kong; twelve hour lay over in Hong Kong; saw some tourist sites (i.e., the Peak); ate some Dim Sum; and was a beneficiary of a tour of Hong Kong orchestrated by James Collison (i.e., a friend and former CPH attorney--now living in Hong Kong).  Another six hour flight from Hong Kong to Dahka, Bangladesh and another hour flight to Kathmandu.....and my bags showed up. 

All clients are here, also with all their bags, execpt for one....I heard he missed at least one leg of his flight.  Went to bed super tired and slept surprisingly well.

...and whats up with Kathmandu time?  It's thirteen hours and 45 minutes different from L.A. time....I guess I don't really care, and no one seems to understand the origin of the 45 minute offset.

Today, we did the gear check and repacked the bags...again...one destined for a direct trip to Everest Base Camp, the second to follow me on the trek to Base Camp.  It was also communication upgrade day.  I purchased an Internet modem that should allow me to Blog from Everest Base Camp, assuming the Internet is actually accessible from Base Camp like everyone seems to believe. 

Tomorrow, we will tour Kathmandu....more later....lots of polution here.

4 hours of packing

4 hours and a couple of glasses of Australian Shiraz....and I'm ready for Nepal.