Heading for Lobuche

Well, our rest day is finished here in Dingboche. Tomorrow we head further up the Khumbu Valley for the even more desolate village of Lobuche - elevation 16,100'. We are all doing well as a team and feeling healthy, therefore, we will go straight to Everest Basecamp on the 8th and skip Gorak Shep. This will be nice as our basecamp facilities are second to no other team on the mountain. I will be able to start sending pictures again from there as our satellite/modem/DSL connections are more reliable.

More coming real soon. Thankyou for your continued prayer and encouragement.

The Voice of Truth?

The last 2 days have been filled with some of the most breathtaking (no pun intended) scenery on the planet. i am now sitting in the tiny, dusty, windswept village of Dingboche - elevation 14,465' - and I ponder not the beauty around me but something even more beautiful.
Nepal and its people are grounded firmly in Buddhism. It is apparent everywhere. A stupa here, a "sacred" mani stone there, countless prayer flags, and the distant hum of a local lama chanting daily prayers surround me constantly. One of the "highlights" of any trek to Everest Basecamp and for the expedition member is a visit to Lama Geshe. He is the reigning holiest of holy Buddhist spiritual advisors, 2nd only to the Dalai Lama. For a small donation you can enter his monastery high in the mountains, bow to him, and receive a blessing of safety for your expedition as he throws rice all over you. Yesterday, around the snack table this visit became our groups topic of conversation. Everyone became so excited with the prospect of receiving this special blessing.
Backtrack 5 minutes. As this conversation began to develope I turned on my I-pod shuffle. For those not familiar, you load your I-pod with hundreds of songs from many different artists. In listening to the music, one option you have is to shuffle the music inventory so that there is a true mix of music. The VERY 1st song that came on was by Casting Crowns - The Voice of Truth. One of the lines of this song is "With all the voices calling out to me, I will choose to listen and believe the Voice of Truth".
With excitement in the air we went around the table and everyone began to give their approval of this "sacred" visit. All eyes turned to me awaiting my response. With Casting Crowns playing in the background and with all the voices calling out to me, I chose to listen and believe the Voice of Truth. In the Bible book of John, the 14th chapter, and 6th verse, Jesus says " I am the Way, the TRUTH, and the Life, no man comes to the Father except through Me.
I believe any and all blessings, past, present, and future come from Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. If I achieve the summit of Mount Everest, I rest assured knowing that that blessing came from above and not from some "blessing" received by a Buddhist holy man.

First views of Everest!

Today was meant to be a "rest" day. We are camped at 11,200' above sea level and this is the point in elevation where some people begin to feel headaches and nausea. We are a fortunate team as none of our members are suffering from any apparent altitude related issues. For those who know me the act of taking a "rest" day is hard for me to do. Therefore, Margaret, Raphael, Mike and I decided to go on a little acclimatization sortie to 12,800'. We ended up at the Everest View Hotel (loose term) and the views of the mighty Himalaya were amazing. We were treated with our first view of Mount Everest. In the pictures above, Everest is the "smaller" peak in the distance with its trademark cloud plume blowing off to the right. You see, Mount Everest is so high in altitude that it pierces the jet stream. That is why the clouds and moisture are blowing off the top and not off of other mountains you see. Each year around mid-May, as the monsoon season is approaching, the jet stream moves north of Mount Everest and the winds die down. This will allow for safe passage to the summit and back.
Well, tomorrow is Easter and our plan is to move to the tiny village of Deboche. This will be a beautiful trek and will provide a few challenges. Mainly the constant up and down of the trail making for a tiring day. Oh well, it doesn't get any better than this. This may be the last post for a few days. I am not sure yet. Thanks for following along and for all of your prayers. Happy Easter everyone and remember "He is Risen - He is Risen Indeed!

Made it to Namche Bazaar

This place is beautiful! Day 2 of our 9 day journey to Everest Basecamp found us trekking to Namche Bazaar. We covered a total of 13.1 kilometers. I am at 11,200' above sea level and will take a rest day tomorrow in order to acclimate to this elevation. This place sure has changed since the last time I was here (4 yrs). There is now running water, hot showers at select places, and hi-speed (ish) internet access.
After our rest day we will trek to Deboche which will begin to provide us with the most beautiful views imaginable. Another high light will be the Tengboche Monastery.
Thank you for your prayers. Until next time.

All flights delayed due to weather

APRIL FOOLS! We left our hotel at 5:30 this morning, checked in at the domestic terminal, and was on the plane at 6:30. The flight in to Lukla went great and we are ready to hit the trail toward Everest Basecamp. We will lodge this evening in Phakding at our Sirdar's guestlodge. Tomorrow we will head to Namche Bazaar and I hope to be able to attach photos there. The computer I am on is not working properly. C'est la vie. Oh boy! Oh boy! It's really happening.

And the rains came tumbling down

The Kathmandu Valley has been crucially dry for some time. Very little, if any, rain has fallen for a long time. I am told that a sprinkle here or there has happened but nothing steady, until last night. We received a huge downpour and a big lightning show. This was totally in our favor as it cut down the dust and pollution in the city. This little event has allowed for some beautiful views further in to the Kathmandu Valley. Some that I have never witnessed in my previous visits. I went back to one of the highest points in town for a little visit and just enjoyed my final day in Kathmandu, I hope.

The tiny town of Lukla can have very fickle weather. Clouds often obscure all views of the Lukla airstrip. Since this airstrip has a mountain at one end, a cliff at the other, and is pitched steeply uphill I don't mind one bit if the pilot waits for the views to be perfect. Just Google the airstrip and you will see exactly what I mean. Currently, it is another deluge outside so we are all hoping that the weather clears for the morning. I am optimistic that it will. I hope the next update will be from the Khumbu Valley of the high Himalaya. Cheers.

Monkey See - Monkey Do

I truly wish that every person had the opportunity to travel to a 3rd world country. As Americans we are so blessed far beyond what is even imaginable here in Nepal. I just read an article in the newspaper today that said most Nepalese do not even get 1 meal per day let alone the 3 or more that we are used to in America. How heartbreaking. It is easy to see why so many people beg on the streets of Kathmandu. Just consider that I get cranky when I miss a snack let alone 2 or more meals in a row. What does that say about me? I pause for thought.

Today was spent wondering through some of the poorest of the poor districts in Kathmandu. I went through these areas because I wanted to visit the Monkey Temple. This is one of the holiest of sights for the Nepalese people who are devout Buddhist. There must have been some sort of festival or holiday going on today because there were more people at the temple than I have ever seen. I just worked my way in to the crowds and climbed the 1000+ steps up the hillside to the very top. That explains the nasty sweat spot in the picture above.

One thing I did notice this time was that there are many more baby monkeys than in previous visits. Some are cute looking but I have been told never to look or even stare in to the monkeys eyes. This gesture is interpreted as aggression. Couple that with their sharp teeth and the knowledge of biting people, I decided not to take any chances. I quickly snapped a few photos of the monkeys and walked by quickly. Although, the antagonist in me had to make a few chirps and squeeks and grunts and whistles just to see if I could spook them. No such luck. One did look at me as if to say "Dude, grow up". I just laughed to myself and kept on.

Another cool thing today is that most of our team has arrived in Kathmandu. We are just waiting on 1 more to arrive tomorrow and then the trip officially begins April 1st with the commencement of the trek in to Everest Basecamp. We are a team of 6 climbers and we are all getting along great. It is so nice to have a small team. My previous Everest trip saw a team of 23 climbers. To big for my taste. I also met our Sirdar. This is the head sherpa. He is very famous as far as sherpas go. He was also the sherpa responsible for carrying the IMAX camera to the summit of Everest in 1996. He is hilarious as well and we have already compared notes on just how funny we think we are. Thanks a million for following along. More tomorrow as we hope to wind down this initial phase of our journey to the highest piece of real estate on Earth.