Post by Bruce & Ed
Well, today was the day, 2,600' straight up without level ground to walk on. A big tribute to our mentor Ray Kopconski for all the hints he gave Ed and me last August in Colorado. Visit the blog item for a description of the two things he taught us - pressure breathing and free-step. Ray said it was a "ball-buster" of a climb and he wasn't pulling punches. As for Rodger, he just scampered up without even breaking sweat it seemed. The guy is a machine. Ed had a headache after flying into Lukla at 8,000 feet, but taking is slow and steady, today was fine. Today was what I had had as my objective as I trained for the last 14 months. I was ready, and prepared for the effort. What I don't think any of us were ready for was the sheer vertical of it. Every time we got to a corner, the trail continued on ahead, even steeper.
Half way up the hill, there is a clearing where Everest and two other surrounding mountains can been seen. Awesome to know we'll be walking there soon. Looking back over or sholders, I pointed to a high hill behind us, not snow-clad, but high. Rajinder, our Nepalese guide then said, yes, we will be going that high by the time we are done.
What a relief to be out of Kathmandu. The night Ed and I arrived, we were driven through the blacked out streets (rolling power outages) where we could see the pollution, and smell the pungent mixture of car exhaust, and cooking fires. You didn't dare take a breath or it would kill you. Never got used to the air quality. Visibility was about two miles at best because of the smog. A very interesting and entertaining city But all three (Rodger came in the next afternoon) agree we were glad to leave, and are not looking forward to having to return for a couple of days before splitting up and heading our separate ways. But that's in the future after many more experiences.
Yesterday we flew into Lukla on a 16-seater propellar driven airplane. What an approach and landing!. Usually you drift down and land gently, here they aim the plane down at the runway.
Obviously were survived. I had a few moments to write then before the group left.
We walked for a few hours to Phakding. Once checked in at the hotel, we went for a couple of hikes in the neighbourhood to get our altitude legs. Good thing we did as we needed them today.
Tomorrow is an acclimatization day to get used to this height, then we move on. If I can we'll write again tomorrow.
Lovely and hot today. but cold when the sun goes down. By the time we woke up this morning, it was 4C/38F
in the room. We are all already up to three levels of clothes now that we are stopped. Once our shrepas (yes, our porters are both Sherpa) arrive with our bags, we'll have a shower ($4 for the hot water) and get more warmly dressed.
Well, today was the day, 2,600' straight up without level ground to walk on. A big tribute to our mentor Ray Kopconski for all the hints he gave Ed and me last August in Colorado. Visit the blog item for a description of the two things he taught us - pressure breathing and free-step. Ray said it was a "ball-buster" of a climb and he wasn't pulling punches. As for Rodger, he just scampered up without even breaking sweat it seemed. The guy is a machine. Ed had a headache after flying into Lukla at 8,000 feet, but taking is slow and steady, today was fine. Today was what I had had as my objective as I trained for the last 14 months. I was ready, and prepared for the effort. What I don't think any of us were ready for was the sheer vertical of it. Every time we got to a corner, the trail continued on ahead, even steeper.
Half way up the hill, there is a clearing where Everest and two other surrounding mountains can been seen. Awesome to know we'll be walking there soon. Looking back over or sholders, I pointed to a high hill behind us, not snow-clad, but high. Rajinder, our Nepalese guide then said, yes, we will be going that high by the time we are done.
What a relief to be out of Kathmandu. The night Ed and I arrived, we were driven through the blacked out streets (rolling power outages) where we could see the pollution, and smell the pungent mixture of car exhaust, and cooking fires. You didn't dare take a breath or it would kill you. Never got used to the air quality. Visibility was about two miles at best because of the smog. A very interesting and entertaining city But all three (Rodger came in the next afternoon) agree we were glad to leave, and are not looking forward to having to return for a couple of days before splitting up and heading our separate ways. But that's in the future after many more experiences.
Yesterday we flew into Lukla on a 16-seater propellar driven airplane. What an approach and landing!. Usually you drift down and land gently, here they aim the plane down at the runway.
Obviously were survived. I had a few moments to write then before the group left.
We walked for a few hours to Phakding. Once checked in at the hotel, we went for a couple of hikes in the neighbourhood to get our altitude legs. Good thing we did as we needed them today.
Tomorrow is an acclimatization day to get used to this height, then we move on. If I can we'll write again tomorrow.
Lovely and hot today. but cold when the sun goes down. By the time we woke up this morning, it was 4C/38F
in the room. We are all already up to three levels of clothes now that we are stopped. Once our shrepas (yes, our porters are both Sherpa) arrive with our bags, we'll have a shower ($4 for the hot water) and get more warmly dressed. 
2 comments:
I'm really proud of you guys...you're doing GREAT !!!!
Keep up the good work, take it slow and easy and enjoy every precious moment. I know you will soon be out of "web range" so will look forward to a very long post as you make your way back to Namche. Hope you get a chance to visit the monestery at Thiangboche and/or the Himalyan Rescue Clinic in Dingboche. Keep on trekin', guys...I'm still INSANELY jealous..
All the Best...Ray
Ed - glad to hear you are doing well! Love the pix and the play by play.
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