Pasang Sherpa

Our faithful porter and bodyguard. He was deaf but we could communicate with him better than anyone else.

When we started the journey we were with the team doctor, expedition leader and very competent teammates and Sherpas. We assured Mike that we were in safe hands. As we progressed we went our own way until eventually it was just Sara and I. I swore Sara to secrecy so hopefully Mike won't read this.

Worth a thousand words

We were surrounded with majesty. You'll want to double click on this one to get the full effect.

Porters (a post script cause mom wanted more pics)

Porters doing what porters do. Most of them are Reye. They are lowland people and don't do as well as the Sherpa in high altitude. I think that there are more deaths along the trail than on Everest.

We tried to help as much as possible but most of the time we were too late and they were either already dead or in one case died the next day.

The kitchen crew

Here is the chef and waiter at the fine dining establishment at the Sunrise Hotel.

The best momos in town.

Just hanging out on our rest day at the local Sherpa tea house. It was rumored that this lady made the best momos in the village, sort of a Nepali filled dumpling. They were delicious but served with a HOT sauce that made every one choke. (except Cami Sherpa)

Translated - Have a Nice Day

At least I think that was what it said?
Signs of Buddahism were all along the trail.

Party room and laundry room

A behind the scenes look at Sara's infamous 17th birthday party.

A plethora of socks

Yeah, clean socks tomorrow . . . dry socks in about three days.

Kumbu Poster Girl

Hair and makeup provided by earth, wind and a little cook fire smoke.

Boiled potatoes and Tea

Jenny Craig eat your heart out. Drop 10 pounds in 10 days without even trying on the Himalayan diet

And then there were Yaks

Dodging yaks on the trail was a little like the running of the bulls in Spain.

Into thin air

That smile is actually a grimace caused by lack of oxygen. This is base camp

Basic lack of O2

This picture looks so benign but the reality was that we were at 18,000 feet which is almost 4000 feet higher than any mountain in the continental US. We had to be continually on guard against AMS (acute mountain sickness). A splitting headache was the first sign.

Sometimes we talked about getting a headache, sometimes we imagined that we were getting a headache and sometimes, when we pushed too hard, we got a headache.

Not quite the Hilton

This is a typical room. This is one camp before base camp. We had gotten pretty messy by this time. My pants are rolled up, not so you can see my fine long johns but because I had just come from the squatter.

Parting Shot

The Everest portion of this blog starts with "The Everest Saga". Don't start viewing here but scroll back and look at the photos from bottom of the page to the top. Then you will see the saga from start to finish.

This shot was taken from the plane window as we were leaving Nepal. The tall one in the middle is Everest. It was odd to think that we were at the base of that majestic mountain.

A little mountain philosophysing

Some poor soul was trying to find meaning in what he was doing when he scrawled this with charcoal.

We were wondering the same.

What can I say?

The infamous squatter. This is one of the nicer ones. You poured water not to flush but hopefully to dilute.

The night before I actually took a bucket bath in this very room as did another female trekker. At the time we felt so fresh but I'm sure we'll never speak of it again after we have had time to think of it with a rational mind.

We went in style

This was the hallway to our room. It was indoors. The floor was made of loose rock as you can see. Suffice it to say that when we had to use the squatter, we wore boots.

Just another day in the hills

Cami, Peter and I just chillin'. No, really, I think that we stopped to put on our coats.

Sara is one with the Kumbu

Sara is getting down with her bad mountain self.

Life is good when your clean

I must have showered the night before because I looked like I was feeling pretty good about life.

Climbers on the Kumbu

Those little dots are climbers on the top of the Kumbu glacier. Double click to enlarge this photo.

Sara and the Summitteers

Noel, Sara and Carina. Two of the three women to traverse Everest last year.

They are all smiling because we are at the airport about to head home.

Carina had just run in the Everest Marathon and I believe broke the international women's record.

Mingling with the Locals

We had just arrived back down to Namche and stopped here to call Dad. We hadn't made contact with anyone for about two weeks.

Good morning sunshine

One of the better lodgings.

Spectacular Himalayas

An early morning greeting card on our way back down through "Monk town".

There is an expression in prize fighting . . .

Every body has a plan til they get hit. I just got hit, the getting up is up to me.

Birthday Party #2

The gangs all here.

Notice the socks hanging on the table. We had done laundry earlier and it didn't occur to anyone to move the socks. We we on our way down and had gone pretty much completely "dero".

Bedtime

Nights were great . . . once you got warm

Yak Train

We had a miracle here. We stopped to take a picture of these yaks who were on the trail above us. If we hadn't we would have been hit by a boulder they dislodged. Thanks for all your prayers.

Kumbu glacier

You can see why this is the most treacherous part of climbing Everest.

Two years ago, the Filipino team watched as four climbers were killed by the ice fall. Pastor (our team mate) lost his nerve but regained it and went on to summit.

Mount Everest

This is the old girl herself. Actually, we are so close that other mountians are blocking all but the summit.

Base camp

Base camp with the infamous Kumbu ice fall in the background. Soon after this photo the realization set in that we had only completed half of our journey.

A really high birthday

This was Sara's 17th birthday party at base camp. The party guests are Peter (Filipino teammate) Cami (our Sherpa) and the base camp baker. A good time was had by all.

Everest Base Camp

We did it. Peter and I at base camp.

Sara the Conquerer

Sara was feeling very
"Himalayan" on this day.
Only two days til base camp.

Scott Fisher monument

Never thought I'd see this. For more information on who he is look him up on the Internet. But I'm warning you, it is a sad story about a mountaineering great. The company he founded is Mountain Madness and is still thriving.

Sara and Noel

Last year Noel set a record as one of the first women to traverse Everest. She started on the Tibet side and came down the Nepal side. She was so funny and Sara's favorite on the team.

Tea Houses

Just me and the Bulgarian Engineers. This was a typical after dinner scene. Anyone in the lodging would gather around the only fire to keep warm before heading off to a cold sleeping bag.

Sara and the School children

These children were so cute. They were excited to practice their english and have an excuse to delay going to school which is where they were supposed to be heading.

Dingbouche

Doc Ted and I at Dingbouche. We passed the tree line the day before and this was the last place with shrubs. I don't know why we were so happy since it's the last place that the body can recover. If you get sick or hurt up higher there is not enough air to heal and you just have to live with your ailment till you come down.

Later in the day we were called out on a medical emergency. A porter was sick. By the time we got to him he had been dead for hours, AMS. Sara handled it like a seasoned pro.

Tenzing Norgay Monument

Here is part of the team. We are at the Tensing Norgay chorten or monument.

Ama Dablam

This incredible mountain was in view a lot. It is 22,500 feet, not as high as Everest but much more technical.

It was surreal wake up with all these famous mountains outside our window.

The Whole Team

Here is the team. They include the female summiters, guy summiters, our expedition leader our Sherpas and porters (who were also Sherpa), medical personnel and one Italian guy who we just met.

After this photo, we seperated for about a week.

Another bridge

We would go up an mountain just to go back down but always gaining altitude. We generally followed the river for the first week.

Monk town

Actually it was called Tingbouche, Thyngbouche, Tyangbouche, Tengbouche, Tangbouche depending on what sign you were reading. The Sherpa have no written language so they decide on whatever spelling they want. One Sherpa wanted two h's in his name. It was explained that this was not correct but he didn't care, it was his name and he wanted two h's.

We called this village Monk town because it had a monastery there, the highest in the world. The Himalayas are in the background.

Namche Bazzar

You can see why we thought this was an odd little mountain village. Early in morning you could see Everest from here. In the afternoon, the clouds always rolled in.

Namche Bazzar

We waited for the team here for several days. It is about 11,000 feet. It was the last chance to pick up any essentials you forgot. They sold Diamox in every little shop. That is a drug used to stave off AMS.

When we first saw this village we thought what a small odd mountain village. After we returned a month later we though what a thriving metropolis it was!

Trail Life

At this point, day two. We thought it odd that we had to brush our teeth right outside the tea house and in full view of all passers by. We didn't realize that this sink was just one of the luxuries that we would no longer have. We ended up just brushing and spitting out our window or at worst in the squatter, ugg. I know, too information.

Suspension bridge

One of many suspension bridges. We were very lucky that we didn't have to pass a yak train on any bridges. The yaks didn't like crossing bridges and would run across.