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)

And so it begins

I've been on a unique road this past year. My decision to take a year's leave of absence from good ol' Mercyhurst has entailed moving a sizable chunk of my office at the college, packing up the entire household, moving everything into a newly built storage unit in my basement, renting out my condo, packing for the year and then packing for specific long-term trips, driving cross-country with all my gear and toys strapped to my car, setting up a base of operations in Colorado at my brother's house, and so on. No wonder my head is still in the spin cycle. But all is well.

I've been hiking, biking, and training here in Colorado and in the Cascades in preparation for the first big trip of the year. Got in a couple of 14ers--Mt. Yale (14,202 ft) and La Plata Peak (14,336 ft)--in Colorado and also did some glacier work and ice climbing on Mt. Baker (10,781 ft) in the North Cascades of Washington.

And now in just two days time I will be flying to Kathmandu, Nepal, by way of lovely Newark and then Delhi. The primary goal is to climb Ama Dablam (22,494 ft), the Eiger of the Himalayas. It is a classic mountain in every way imaginable. It's shape, prominence, beauty, and technicalities all call out to be admired and, hopefully by some, climbed.

I will be climbing with Eric Larson, a guide from Telluride, CO, who has summited Ama four previous times. I climbed the Grand Teton with him last year. Our group consists of just the two of us, but there will be larger teams and up to 100 other climbers heading up and up and up to make the same attempt.

Not sure about how able I'll be to add additional posts and pics while in Nepal. And this is my first go doing a blog...so stay tuned.