Fortunately, after a small delay, we had a super mellow flight into Lhasa. We just loaded all our bags into the bus for the hour journey into the city of Lhasa. 

We made it!!!

After lunch, we should find out if we get to drive into Shigatze or if we have to stay in Lhasa for the day. 

It’s good to be back on track, for the most part. 

In Chengdu, China. 

After some of the most gnarly turbulence I’ve ever experienced in all my time flying, we were then diverted from Lhasa to Chengdu. Just before landing, the plane gave all its thrust and we were back in the air. 

At first, we thought that we’d just be making a big loop and we might make another attempt at the landing.  With the plane still ascending, we knew something was off. The flight attendants were running back and forth to each of the windows to look outside, which of course is not exactly confidence inspiring. All the while, there were no announcements being made. Finally, after it was pretty clear that there would be no landing attempt, the flight attendant came on and informed us that due to bad weather in Lhasa, we were heading to Chengdu. 

Allegedly it’s fairly common for that to happen, given that the airport is over 12,000ft. With less dense air, it makes it much more difficult to consistently land, which then of course translates into diversions. 

When we were about 30 minutes outside Chengdu, we got another nasty dose of turbulence which was actually worse than the first round. I think the plane dropped a few hundred feet in the middle of it all. These pilots have got to have pair of brass ones.  For all I know, they wear a diaper and I can guarantee they will be changing after this flight. Hell, I may need a change too…

I’ve always wanted to see central China!  Well, that’s not entirely true. However, I don’t have much of a choice, which means we’ll be making the best of it!!

Continuing to add to the expedition excitement!!

Due to “bad weather” in Lhasa, our flight was cancelled and we’re staying in Kathmandu for another night. It’s not an expedition with out disruptions!

Turns out that the weather was just fine and the airport in Lhasa allegedly wasn’t staffed for our flight.

We got all our visas and permits for Tibet today, which means tomorrow we push past the next obstacle of the expedition.  Hopefully, all goes well and we’ll be spending the night in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet.

From there, the plan is pretty similar to last year’s.  We’ll drive to Shigatze, then hopefully on to basecamp thereby skipping Tingri, assuming our ‘tour guide’ allows us to do so.

Yeahhh!!!

Just got to Nepal and taking advantage of our downtime for the next day. As of now, our plan is to fly to Tibet on Wednesday. 

We’ll get a day or so to adjust to the time difference at the Hyatt in Kathmandu, which certainly does not suck. 

Just spent the night in Bangkok, got my fill of some awesome Pad Thai and now at the airport waiting for my flight to Kathmandu. 

It’s now time to put all my training, planning and effort to work. No more sleeping in a tent that simulates altitude, it’s time for the real thing. 

You never know what you’re capable of without a test. This is my test. 

Leaving is never easy. In fact, it’s really damn hard. This morning was tough. It’s hard to say goodbye to my kickass wife under normal circumstances. Saying goodbye to a pregnant Mary Beth was even harder.  I’m so excited to get back and see what’s changed and how she’s come along.  Hopefully I’ll see the baby kick when I get home!

I have awesome parents too, that got up at the butt crack of dawn, just to say goodbye. Even my father in law got up, even though he’s got to rest for his intense tournament :). 

Who knew I’d be so appreciative of a coffee from Starbucks?  That’s what the prospect of being gone for 6 weeks will do.   
I feel like I’m in better shape than I’ve ever been. Thanks to my main man Paul Roberts and his disciples from the amazing project: Gym Jones. 

I’m acclimatized thanks to Hypoxico. 

I’m ready for this test thanks to my awesome family, friends and coworkers. 

Time to let er’ rip!

Morning motivation provided by Jay-Z

Just winding down the training, and ramping up the caloric intake.  We’ve got the party today, and then it’s the final stretch before I leave in a week. 

It sounds like the border to Tibet is closed a few days longer than expected. Hopefully, that opens up and we get to head in shortly after getting to Kathmandu. 

I’m super stoked to watch Adrian and Cory give the mountain hell without Os. I’m sure they will crush it. 

 Starting to lay out all the stuff I think I’ll need and/or want for 6 weeks.   
Getting in some last minute work at my favorite project, with some solid people. 

As the season for climbing in the Himalaya draws near, it’s now down to final preparations for my third attempt of Mt. Everest.

In many ways, last year wasn’t a “real attempt” as we never even made it out of base camp.  From a preparation perspective is that it certainly was an attempt.  After the mountain was shut down, the entire group was still very much wanting to climb, which was inclusive of our Sherpa climbing partners.   It was difficult to return home as I had gone there to do a job and was unable to complete said job.   Of course, logically I knew that it was the right thing to do, which is to say, we weren’t welcome on the mountain.  However, it was really tough to let go and leave Tibet.

With all that, it took until about December of last year before I fully committed to returning this Spring.   It was hard to get back into the swing of things.  It was hard to fire up and get excited about being gone for 6 weeks.   Just like my second attempt, the decision to return was largely a result of the support by my kickass wife.

Fast forward a few months and training is in full swing. I’ve been sleeping in the Hypoxico for a few weeks and ramping that up every few days.  At this point, I’ll just be making minor tweaks to my gear & setup as I have a pretty solid idea of what I’ll want/need to make the trip as enjoyable as possible.

 I’m eagerly anticipating our arrival in Tibet and beginning our journey onwards.

We should have Internet access the bulk of the trip, so I’m hoping to keep the blog regularly updated, so stay tuned!

We successfully, made it out, albeit with a hit & almost run.  We flew through Lhasa to Kathmandu and I was able to make the flight to Bangkok with all my bags.

It was a quick goodbye to the folks with whom I’d been sharing the chaos with.  All things considered, I guess it didn’t need to be any longer than it was, but as it stood, I needed to rush to make sure I could catch the close connection.  Hopefully, we’ll get the band back together to try the North side again.  To be continued…

Now to go off the grid for a bit and process the loss, with an awesome travel partner – Mary Beth.    Later..