Made it to Kathmandu

I, and just as importanly, my bags, made it to Katmandu. Have just settled in to the Yak and Yeti, which will be our hotel here until all the climbers and all the bags arrive. Gear check is in 20 mins. Let's see how much stuff the guides will not let me take :-)

All Checked In

I am all checked in and having an Orange juice with Caroline before heading through security. All went smoothly, with bags checked all the way to Kathmandu.

Next blog from Kathmandu.

mobitv send-off

The team at mobitv threw a send-off bash earlier today.

Stephen's "planned" itinerary.

Here is an idea of the "planned" itinerary for the Everest climb. I am sure this will change based on weather conditions and other factors.

Day 1: Sunday (3/29) - Depart San Francisco.
Day 2: Monday (3/30) - Arrive in Bangkok.
Day 3: Tuesday (3/31) - Arrive in Kathmandu - Meet the guides and team.
Day 4: Wednesday (4/1) - Rest and touring Kathmandu.
Day 5: Thursday (4/2) - Fly to Syangboche and then onto Namche (via Helicopter).

Trek to Everest Base Camp.

During the entire trek to Base Camp, our goal is to stay healthy and make sure all climbers are acclimatizing well. We are on no set schedule and will take extra days anywhere along the trek to further acclimatize if necessary. It is extremely important that when we reach BC we are feeling good and are comfortable with the thin air at 17,200 feet.

After spending several days in BC acclimatizing, moving into our new home and practicing ladder walking, we will head up to Camp I (19,500ft). We spend a rest day there and then climb up to Camp II (21,000ft). We will then spend 2 – 3 nights at Camp II and return to BC.

Camp II serves as our advanced base camp and consists of large tents for cooking and dinning and several smaller tents for sleeping.

Another rest period is taken in BC and when all are ready we head back to Camp I and the following day up to Camp II. A rest day is taken here and if the weather the following day is good we climb up to Camp III (24,000ft) and spend the night. The following day we return to Camp II for a night and then back to BC.

After this process we will head down valley for a rest period to breathe thick air and enjoy the sunshine and warm weather for several days. This has proven to be extremely beneficial in preparing climbers for the summit attempt. We then head back up to BC and prepare for a summit attempt.

When the weather reports give us a good forecast we will head up to Camp I and the following day move to Camp II. The next day is usually a rest day. If the weather is still holding the next day we will climb up to Camp III. It is in this camp that we start breathing bottled oxygen. Our night there will be spent sleeping on oxygen and we will remain on oxygen for the rest of the summit climb.

** Caroline is planning to arrive at BC on Sunday, May 17th.

The following day we climb up to high camp at the south Col (26,000ft) and rest on oxygen for that night and all the next day. This rest day has proven to be a great asset in letting us rest and recuperate for the summit attempt that starts that night. Around 9 PM we will be woken up and begin getting ready for summit attempt. We will leave between 11PM and midnight and head for the Summit. The next day we will descend to Camp II and the following day to Base Camp.

The following is approximate:

Day 57: Monday (5/25) - Pheriche
Day 58: Tuesday (5/26) - Namche
Day 59: Wednesday (5/27) - Namche
Day 60: Thursday (5/28) - Lukla
Day 61: Friday (5/29) - Fly to Kathmandu
Day 62: Saturday (5/30) - Fly to Bangkok
Day 63: Sunday (5/31) - Arrive back in San Francisco

Camps shown on a map of Mt Everest courtesy of Alpine Ascents

Nederlands: Wat zijn cybercasts? (This can be found in English on the cybercast link to the left).

Eventjes wat uitleg in het Nederlands voor familie en vrienden in Belgie:

Cybercasts: nieuwsberichten speciaal voor familie en vrienden van de Expeditie leden. Op deze manier kun je de Expeditie op de voet volgen.

Let wel:

Alpine Ascents (het team, de compagnie waar Stephen mee klimt) doen hun best om de berichten er zo snel mogelijk op te zetten.
Een dag geen bericht wil niet zeggen dat er een probleem is met de Expeditie:

- de berichten worden doorgebeld met satelliet telefoons vanop Everest en slechte of geen verbinding kan voorvallen. (Voor de expeditie leden zijn satelliet telefoons niet het enig communicatie middel; ze hebben ook radios om onderling en met Basecamp in contact te blijven).

- De berichten worden doorgebeld naar het hoofdkantoor van Alpine Ascents in Seattle, Washington, en daar worden de berichten dan op hun website gezet. Dit kantoor is gesloten gedurende het weekend en op feestdagen. Dus weerom: geen paniek indien je op die dagen geen nieuw bericht vindt! En vergeet het tijdsverschil niet.

- De Expeditie teams hebben ook meerdere rustdagen en dan wordt er ook niet steeds nieuws doorgebeld want dan is er meestal niet veel te melden.

groetjes,
caroline.

Maps

Here are some links to useful maps to help you follow along:-

- Everest Base Camp Trek
- Everest
- Annapurna Circuit

Please note: These maps require a flash player to be installed.

Want to get Updates via email automatically?

If you want to follow along with automatic email notifications then you can subscribe to Google groups. So everytime we post something, you will get an email notification.

This is really easy:
If you have a google email address (or you can/want to create one) just go to Google Groups and join the everest-and-annapurna-2009 group by clicking the link "Join this group". That should do it.

With any other type of email address: let us know you want to subscribe to the updates and which email address you want to use and we will 'invite' you to the blog.
Please do this in the next few weeks and we can set it up before we leave.

Should neither option appeal to you, you can simply check our website frequently!!!

Nepal / Everest / Annapurna Adventure

Only 2 weeks and a day before Stephen boards a plane to start his Everest Expedition!
On March 31st he will join the Alpine Ascents team in Kathmandu, Nepal. This whole expedition will take 2 months, give or take 10 days.

I will now leave on April 11 and will first spend 3.5 days in Tokyo before flying on to Pokhara, Nepal.
I will do The Annapurna Circuit Trek from April 19th till May 6th. Then, after 2 rest days I will fly to Lukla to start my 7-8 day trek to Everest Basecamp. I'm hoping to be in EBC when Stephen and his team are going for the final push to the summit and when they walk back into Basecamp.
I'm doing both treks again with 3 Sisters Adventure Trekking.

Caroline.