Nepal Everest Team Trains at 18,500 Feet

21 April 2013

Today we woke up to a beautifully snow encrusted basecamp with gorgeous dawn sunrays sparkling across the entire camp. We enjoyed hot tea in our individual tents brought by loyal and hardworking kitchen staff. After wiping the sleep from our eyes we rolled out of our sleeping bags and stumbled down hill to our spacious dining tent where we all joined together around the table to compare notes on how we slept. The breakfast began with tea and coffee, then progressed into porridge, and on into pancakes, omlettes, fried sausage, and ended with further tea and coffee. After such a delicious repast, we lolled back in our comfortable chairs and unhitched our belts just a notch.

Looking out the open front wall of our dining tent we could see giant ice peaks of Lhotse, Nuptse and a bit of Everest. The intimidating Khumbu Icefall was layed out in front of us like some mighty carpet. Low and behold, the sun was still out, so all of us in the group decided that today could be ideal for a walk to higher elevations in a quest for acclimatization. So we pulled on our boots, filled our water bottles and the cooks gave us a lovely packed lunch of tibetan bread, apples, cheese and eggs. We heisted our day packs and proceeded to cross the mighty Khumbu glacier and then walk up the west valley wall high above the glacier, clambering on snow leopard trails through grey spikey rocks, across frozen brown Himalayan tundra, and eventually up to towering boulder ledges with incredible views across the entire region. Clouds lowered, the wind picked up, and snow flew. Our high altitude adventuring legs had, in just four hours of hiking uphill from basecamp, brought us to 5650 metres / 18,500 feet. A very tall spot to be indeed. We sat on rocks, ate our lunches, sipped water and hot tea from thermoses, and enjoyed looking down at soaring birds far below us. It was an exhilirating and somehow calming place to be, so high above basecamp, which looked like a vast rockfield punctuated with a few colorful dotlike tents spread out across the undulating glacier.

Finally it was time to go, so we headed back down the slope to our comfortable warm basecamp home, anticipating another tasty dinner of fresh ingredients, feeling like we had touched the sky today...for a little while anyway...

Thank you very much for following our expedition. All of the best to you and yours. - Dan Mazur


 

Millet One Sport Everest Boot  has made some minor changes by adding more Kevlar. USES Expeditions / High altitude / Mountaineering in extremely cold conditions / Isothermal to -75°F Gore-Tex® Top dry / Evazote Reinforcements with aramid threads. Avg. Weight: 5 lbs 13 oz Sizes: 5 - 14 DESCRIPTION Boot with semi-rigid shell and built-in Gore-Tex® gaiter reinforced by aramid threads, and removable inner slipper Automatic crampon attachment Non-compressive fastening Double zip, so easier to put on Microcellular midsole to increase insulation Removable inner slipper in aluminized alveolate Fiberglass and carbon footbed Cordura + Evazote upper Elasticated collar. Expedition footwear for mountaineering in conditions of extreme cold.  NOTE US SIZES LISTED. See more here.

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