EBC and Lobuje climb, nepal #8

Gabcast! EBC and Lobuje climb, nepal #8

EBC and Lobuje climb, nepal #7

Gabcast! EBC and Lobuje climb, nepal #7

EBC and Lobuje climb, nepal #6

Gabcast! EBC and Lobuje climb, nepal #6

Namche Bazaar

Made it Namche today in good time. very nice views and not much trekking taffic as the Europeans haven't got here yet because of the volcanoe. They had market day today and it is a pretty spectacular sight with just about everything you could imagine for sale. Live chickens, grains, tupperware, sides of Yak, pots, clothes and lots of stuff from Tibet. We are having a lot of laughs and enjoying the trek. Our guide Purba is going to take us up Khunde peak tomorrow and then to his home in Khunde. the valley that Khunde and Khumjum are in have an absolutley fantastic view of Ama Dablam. Weather was clear this morning except for the smoke haze. Got the first views of Mt Everest today and it looked really windy. Bumped into the wife of Mango who is climbing Everest with Peak Freaks and Lucille. Lots of neat things to buy from the merchants here. Will need another porter to haul it all back. Hope all is well at home.
Ekim Jimmah and Steve

Hello from KATHMANDU

Yes we actually arrived WITH our luggage and actually only came close to missing one connection. At least that's what I figured the gal meant when she came and picked Jimmah and I up with the airport golf cart and said there are 300 people waiting for you to sit so they can leave. Who knew!!
Kathmandu is noisey and hot but certainly entertaining. From the half a pork sitting on a table in the sun to the man giving haircuts sitting cross legged on the street corner to the fellow that opened up his sandal repair shop in the middle of the side walk.
We managed to pick up a couple of Jumars today after spending a couple of hours wandering around the Thamel district seeing who had the best price. Finally landed two of them for 3500 Rp's each after starting out at 8,000 Rp's. It was a good excuse to see a fair bit of the district.
It is 3:00 AM here on the Friday the 23rd. We are being picked up at 5:00 to go to the airport to get onto a twin Otter for the flight to Lukla. The airport at Lukla is the freakiest airport I have ever landed on. The approach is a cliff face and the runway goes up very steeply which is good as it is very short. No worries about running off the end as there is a hill side protected by a concrete wall at the upper end of it.
After that we start our Trek to Monjo which is just outside the Sargamath (Everest) National park.
We have enjoyed the journey so far and look forward to getting into the hills. Will try a gabcast today if all goes well.
will post again when we get to Namche Bazaar in 2 days.
The three Musky steers

3 Days to take off

While Lucille is busy going up and down at Everest we are all busy trying to get all the last minute things done at home. I'm getting closer to getting Barb's shelves done in her craftroom. It should keep her busy sorting thru craft goodies and getting them a new place to live.
Wow, sure is nice to see that Lucille has already been thru the icefall. I'm betting she is happy to have the first climb thru there done.
Been watching all the fun happening in Europe with the Icelandic ash and hoping it stays on that side of the continent.
Ekim

Departure day is drawing near

I think that probably the most fun of any of these trips is the new gear that you "need" to be able to pull the trip off properly. Jimmah and Ekim went on a 1 day shopping excursion to all the usual places, Valhalla, MEC and Adventure (used to be Coast Mountain) and actually got pretty near everything on the lists. Plus I scored this incredibly light walking axe (no it doesn't have legs, you still have to carry it). It is a Camp Corsa Nanotech and weighs 250 grams. Yikes! I will have to make sure I keep it tied to the pack or have something sitting on it so that it won't float away. Jimmah acquired gear literally from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet and the waterproof bag to put it all in.
Both Steve and Jim have decided to join me on the Lobuje climb so it will be nice to have the rest of the three musky steers together for that part also. All three of us are busy getting things done around our houses so everything is ship shape while we are away.
A really BIG THANKS to our wonderful wives for making it possible for us to be able to head out on this adventure. You really are the tops!!
Ekim

Gearing up and getting ready.

Trying to put this trip together has been interesting without the help of my usual travelling buddy Loosewheel. It looked like it would be just the two of us, Steve D and myself until last nite when Jimmah decided after some coaxing from Doreen that he would like to go along. So now all that we need to do is get him on the same plane. Until that happens we are just "talking about it" as Lucille would always remind me.

ekim