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Everest Base Camp Trek 2004- Live Reports
Scott Woolums will be leading another trek to Everest Base camp this May. The group will include Charlie & Bonnie Wolff, Dave & Darlene Young, Mike Sellers, Patricia Post, and assistant guide Walter Burkhardt.
For more information regarding our Nepal trekking program follow this link: Nepal
April 30-
Kathmandu, Nepal
Started this morning in Bangkok, Thailand. Seven of us flew to
Kathmandu today through lots of clouds so no view of Everest. Arriving here is
always a sensory overload with the bustling narrow streets, thousands of small
shops, temples, markets, all through the windows of a speeding taxi! We all
settle in and relax this afternoon. Always a rough few days getting used to an
eleven hour time change. Tomorrow we visit two of the temples here. Scott
Woolums reporting.
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May 2- Ghat, Khumbu
Valley, Nepal 8500 ft.
An exciting early morning flight to Lukla today. Feels good to finally be in the
mountains after Kathmandu. From here we have 19 days of trekking into the Khumbu
Region. One of the world's greatest treks! We're staying tonight at a very good
Sherpa friend's lodge in the small village of Ghat. Tomorrow we'll move up to
Namche in the heart of the Khumbu region. Scott Woolums reporting.
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May 5- Tyangboche,
Khumbu, Nepal 12,500 ft.
We're off to the Tyangboche Monastery this afternoon following a long trek from
Namche. So far we've had beautiful weather. Everyone is doing great, enjoying
the Magical Mountain Kingdom of Nepal. Getting up to fairly high altitude now so
everything slows down out on the trail. Yesterday we enjoyed a day hike up to
the famous Everest View Hotel above Namche, and we were not disappointed! A
spectacular view of Everest with a huge
plume blowing off the summit. Also Ama
Dablam, Kang Tengri, Lhotse all were visible. The trail today traversed along
the side of the huge Duhd Khosi River Gorge with the river thousands of feet
below. Drop down to and across the river, then back up a couple thousand feet to
Tyangboche here. Scott Woolums reporting.
May 6th Dingboche,
Nepal
Hiked up to Dingboche this morning in beautiful weather. Definitely looks very
windy today up higher on Everest. Here in the Duhd Kosi Valley it's sunny and
reasonably warm. Getting cooler at nights as we move up to higher elevations.
We're at 14,100 ft. today with a rest day scheduled for tomorrow. We have
basically two teams on this trek. The Everest Base Camp Trek with Charlie,
Bonnie, Dave, Darlene, Mike and myself. Then we have another team going farther
up the Chukung Valley to climb Imjatse, 20,500 ft. High. Walter is leading this
trip, with Chewang Sherpa and Patricia. Check back for more reports. We will
post these every couple days
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May
7th Dingboche, Nepal
Enjoying a rest day today. A short hike up to 15000 ft., a new
altitude record
for almost everyone. Way to go! Tomorrow we move up to Chukung a few hours up
the valley. We are hoping with some good weather, to climb Chukung Peak, 17700
ft. Stay tuned for more reports! Scott Woolums Reporting.
May 8th, Chukung, Nepal
Another great day! We moved up to Chukung Village here at 15,400 ft. then
scrambled up Chukung Peak, with it's summit at 17,500 ft. Tomorrow we are
heading over to the Khumbu Valley and making our way up to Everest! Everyone is
doing really well, acclimatized and ready to go! Scott Woolums Reporting.
May
10th, Gorak Shep, Nepal
Success on Kala Patar! We all summated Kala Patar this morning in perfect
weather. A tough day as we started out from Lobouche this morning at 5am! Dave,
Darlene, Charlie, Bonnie, Mike and I all stood on the exposed small rocky 18,500
ft. summit around 10am today. Everest rises just across the Khumbu Glacier from
Kala Patar, and today the visibility was simply spectacular! A huge lenticular
cloud capped Everest all day, a very vivid indicator to the extreme winds up
high all day. We're in Gorak Shep (17,000 ft.) tonight relaxing and getting
ready for a bit easier day walking to Everest Base Camp tomorrow. We plan to be
back down to a lower altitude tomorrow night. Scott Woolums Reporting.
May
12th, Lobouche, Nepal
A casual morning today as were all
recovering from the last couple days up high. Arrived back from Everest Base
Camp last night after an exciting day visiting several expedition's base camps.
Things are getting exciting now as all teams are getting ready for summit
attempts. No one yet has summated. It's a rough hike in
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and out from BC along
the broken Khumbu Glacier and quite a tough hike. Everyone did great, just a
long day all up! Way to go team! Now it will be low altitude, warm sun, and
easier walking down the valley. Perfect weather now and its getting warmer as
the summer monsoon season pushes closer. More reports coming soon. Scott
Woolums Reporting.
May 12th, Pheriche, Nepal
Just met up with our Island Peak Team today. Walter summated yesterday! Yahoo,
way to go Walter! In fairly high winds they made it to Island Peaks 20,500 ft.
summit. Sounded like a lot of blowing dust at base camp led to Patricia getting
a moderately serious respiratory infection that kept her in base camp. They will
go up to Kala Patar also over the next few days and meet us in Namche on the
16th. The rest of us are starting down the valley slowly with plans to take our
time on the way out. Feels like sea level here at almost 15,000 ft. today. Very
beautiful day today. We went by the base of Cholatse, one of Nepal's most
spectacular peaks. More stories from the Himalaya soon. Scott Woolums
Reporting.
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May 15th, Namche, Nepal
We're down to Namche for a few days. Feels great to be here relaxing after being
up high for a week. Namche is a small refuge within the Himalayas. Nice lodges,
Internet Cafes, Bakeries, Pubs and other trekkers that have been on our schedule
also. Getting news from the Everest climbing expeditions, the first summit
attempts are going on today! Walter and Pat are up high right now, but should be
here tomorrow. A few more clouds now, but they usually burn off by the
afternoon. Will post another report when we get out to Kathmandu! Namaste,
Scott Woolums Reporting.
May 18th, Kathmandu, Nepal
Hello cyber trekkers! We just made it out from Lukla this morning after sitting the last couple days in Lukla in heavy rains. The weather really took a change just as we arrived in Lukla. This is the forefront of a huge tropical Cyclone that is now just south in the Bay of Bengal. We feel lucky to be out right now as the weather may be fairly bad for awhile, at least all week! Anyways, I always feel a bit lucky when everything goes well flying out from Lukla and were safe in Kathmandu. Although that brings us to another interesting situation here as the Maoists have declared a city wide strike in Kathmandu starting today for the next three days! More or less things are going on as normal but there is far fewer cars on the streets and many shops are closed. We have decided to depart a couple days early as all of us would rather spend a couple extra days in Thailand instead of stuck in the hotel with not much open in Kathmandu. The strike is not really too big of a deal as far as safety, more an inconvience when you are unfortunate enough to be here during one. So
that's about it from Sunny (and hot!) Kathmandu! Off to Thailand next! Everyone on the trip has
different plans for more adventures in Thailand. Walter and I plan to go directly to Krabi and the limestone crags of Rai Leh and Koh Pra Nang for a week of rock climbing. Bonny, Charlie, Dave and Darlene are heading for Koh Samui Island and the ultimate beach vacation. Pat and Mike will spend a bit of time in Bangkok and go there
separate ways onwards from there. What a great trip. Thanks for checking out the reports! Namaste from Kathmandu. Scott Woolums Reporting.