Summited!!

WE DID IT. Summited Ama Dablam Oct 25, 10:00 am Kathmandu time. Possibly longest, hardest day of my life. Started from Camp 2 at 3:30 am. After summiting, we descended to Camp 2, packed tent, etc, continued down to Camp 1. Today we descended to Base Camp, stopped for tea and then headed down to Pangboche where we r now. Safe and sound. Didn't use Camp 3 at all. Too cold there.

Now we are in Namche drinking a celebratory beer. Tomorrow Lukla, then Kathmandu.

New pics uploaded

Uploading pics from my Canon to the iPhone and then to my website has been a little problematic, but things seem to be working today. Managed to get a bunch more from Kathmandu uploaded so check out my gallery at http://gallery.me.com/didvad1.


Sent from my iPhone

Namche Bazaar

I'm in Namche Bazaar! Amazing place. Gorgeous vertical world. And in the middle of it this beautiful market town. Two days hike to get here. Staying at these cool teahouses on the way. Everything here arrives on the back of a porter or a yak from either Tibet or Lukla, Nepal. Pretty incredible to say the least. Have read about Namche since I was a kid and pretty stunned that I'm here now. We'll spend tomorrow here and the head up the Khumbu the following day.

To Lukla we go

We're flying out to Lukla today to begin the trek into the mountains. Should be an exciting flight. And we've revised our plan. Instead of climbing Lobuche, we are going for Mehra Peak and Pokalde. And maybe we'll go do Kala Patthar, too. These are our acclimatization climbs in preparation for Ama Dablam.

Ama Dablam weather

Great link for checking on the weather at various heights on Ama Dablam.

http://www.mountain-forecast.com/peaks/Ama-Dablam/forecasts/5000

Delhi

Made it to Delhi on a long flight from Denver via Newark. Now in limbo land without visa or going thru customs. I'm at an airport hotel that allows overnites for those waiting for international connections. Kind of weird but it seems to work. Anyway it will allow me a proper rest and cleanup before tomorrow's flight to Kathmandu. Should be an exciting arrival. Can't wait.

A few pics to ponder

Ama Dablam

 Base Camp (photo: Eric Larson)