Last night (August 3rd) I spoke to Bryan as he was getting ready to head out for a day hike to acclimatize.  I believe it is a hike to the Pastukhov Rocks.  Earlier in the day Bryan had been hiking around with his guide Sultun, who had to say “Slow down,” to Bryan many times.  Are any of you surprised?  They hiked up to a ski patrol hut, which is Sultun’s job on the mountain during the winter months, and hung out with a bunch of rowdy ski patrollers.  They speak Balkaria or Balkarian, which is a different language than Russian (though Bryan would have never caught on had he not been told).  It is actually their first language, as they learn Russian as a second.  They all drank brandy and Bryan learned how to say “cheers” in Balkaria.  Sultun also gave Bryan the sound advice to quit his job and dedicate his time to learning this language.

Depending on how Bryan does on the day hike, he will get the go ahead to proceed straight to the summit the next day.  With Sultun asking Bryan to slow down, I don’t think it will be a problem.  Though Bryan wanted to make the plan for the summit sooner, Sultun is making him wait to discuss until after the hike.  I am not sure Sultun knows Bryan will most likely see this as a challenge and move like a billy goat up that mountain just to prove he can.  On the same note, Bryan mentioned Sultun says the summit will take 6 hours from the Pastukhov Rocks.  When he mentioned this to me he said, “we will see.”  If you know Bryan, that means, “I bet I can do it in 4 hours at least.  If he tells me I can’t, then I will do it in three.”

I didn’t ask, but I would bet the PopTarts are still in the thin foil package because dinner the night before was stuffed peppers (he described it as a cross between a bell pepper and jalapeno since it was a bit spicy) with lamb, beef and rice.  He also had a creamy salad with cucumbers and soup.  He mentioned there is a high number of Muslims in the region, so pork doesn’t seem to be on the menu, “so that is kind of a bummer.”

Let’s skip to today (August 4th), as I just got off the phone with the hottest redhead in Russia.  It was snowing pretty hard, and he kept on mentioning the fear of being electrocuted.  Though I was worried for his safety, I sure do like hearing his voice, so I told him to stop being a baby and talk to me.  No really, he has to climb a hill to get reception and every time he moved a certain way he was shocked.  Love hurts, however, so he persevered in order to give me the latest and greatest.

Bryan got the go ahead to summit.  Yes what most people take 8-10 days to do, he is doing only in a few.  I guess that tent paid off!  That is great news, but also really crappy news because it means the tent is coming back for preparation for Everest which also means Bryan sleeping in a separate bed for a couple months.  But I get too far ahead of myself…

So yes, the summit of Elbrus.  Though he has the green light to go, he also has a nasty snow storm coming down on him as I type.  Depending on the weather, he will get going as soon as he is able.  Perhaps tomorrow night?  The plan would be to take a snowcat back to the Pastukhov Rocks which saves a few hours, and then hike from there.  His dinner of chicken and cheesy-creamy sauce and stewed eggplant was sitting full in his belly, and he was looking forward to getting warm and reading a book back at the hut.

Just hearing from Bryan makes my day.  He seems to be in high spirits, and his calls have calmed mine.  I have gone from having irrational fears of him being kidnapped in Russia, to my fears shrinking to nothing and then being replaced by the slight anxiety he won’t be able to find me some reasonably priced fur boots once he gets off the mountain (kind of kidding about the anxiety about the boots).  Continue to send well wishes his way as he makes his way to crossing numero cinco off the list!

Just talked to Bryan on the phone.  He is excited to head out today and seems to have adjusted fairly well to the time change already.  Bryan has this way of asking me about my day and showing interest in a way that makes me feel like I am one of the most important people around, and by doing so, almost glosses over the fact he is in Russia.  In Russia about to embark on a journey to a part of the world most people will never see, and work towards completing a goal most would never dream of, mind you.  How can he reach for such amazing things and find interest in some of the most mundane?

I just started to get off topic by exploring the amazingness of my husband, so let me bring it back to what I started this post about:

I got the leader guy’s name incorrect in the last post, and though Bryan would probably be able to help me edit the actual post, he is in Russia so I will just write more.  One can’t argue Bryan’s way of moving through life is based on the “more is better” idea, so more blog posts the better!  OK, back to the name…There is no Patrick on this trip, but rather a Victor.  Now Victor is a much better Russian name than Patrick by far.  But if we are talking good Russian names, I think Sulton (not sure how you spell it) takes the cake!  Sulton is the guide who will accompany Bryan up the mountain while Victor is the 60ish old logistics guy, will hang in the hut with Annett the cook.

Oh, and for those wondering if the PopTarts have been broken into, the answer is no.

Bryan’s posts are always so to the point and informative.  Mine are filled with fun details…like the fun detail most food they are serving him they call a “pancake.”  Turns out these “pancakes” taste really good, which works out since I don’t think Bryan has worked out saying “Thank you, but I was hoping for some fluffy breakfast cakes with butter and maple syrup” in Russian yet.  Upon arrival he received one of the “pancakes” from his guide Patrick filled with a ricotta-like-cheese and it felt more like a crepe.  He had one with lamb and beef the other night for dinner and described it as tasty.  We all know Bryan eats like a champ, so he might not even have to break into the PopTarts (cherry with frosting) I got for him just in case he got hungry.

Oh, the “real details” you say?  OK, OK…He is currently sleeping at the Chryan Hotel in the Baksan Valley.  Tomorrow he heads up past the barrels to stay in a “hut” at about 12,500 feet.  Apparently these “huts” are shipping containers.  Once there, they will sort out their gear and do a day hike to Pastukhov Rocks which is about 15,000 feet.  From there, the guys will make a plan as to which day to summit.  I have a feeling Patrick is skeptical of the effectiveness of the tent training (see prior blog post) and wants to see the day hike they have before setting anything in stone.

Back to fun details…On his team I believe he has a leader named Patrick who sounds just lovely.  He mentioned a female cook and another Russian man who has a great name, but remembering it now is beyond me.  I asked if they had conversations about Putin.  Bryan has avoided the subject with the Russians, which is probably a prudent decision.

Mostly, I want the time he spent sleeping in a tent (and away from me) in our house to pay off.  It was a pain for him, and not my favorite aspect of the trip planning.  If it does, the summit will be quick so I hope he doesn’t forget to take many pictures of himself and his Russian mountain men sporting the ever amazing and respect demanding Pit Viper Sunglasses. 

…was two days ago.

I’m sitting here in the Kathmandu airport on my way back to the US after having decided to leave the expedition early.

First, I want to thank everyone that has been regularly following this blog and supporting the team from afar. I’d also like to thank Mountain Trip, Expedition Himalaya and everyone else associated with this trip for everything you’ve done and continue to do.

I’m sure by now, there are a number of questions as to the “why” of the aforementioned decision. I’ve always prided myself on being transparent, and probably even sharing more than I should. With that, here’s “why”

Most people will struggle with truly relating to why I would have wanted to leave a comfortable life with those I love around me for two months of mental & physical anguish simply to strive for a mountain on top of which there is no prize or treasure. Why climb Mount Everest? The simplest answer as related by George Mallory almost a hundred years ago: Because it’s there. Obviously, there’s a lot more to it than that, but it’s aside the point. This has been a goal I’ve been working towards for several years, and represents a major life goal which is apart of another larger goal I’ve been slowly chipping away at – reaching the summit of the highest point on each continent of this place we call Earth. So far, I’ve successfully reached the highest point of four continents (North & South America, Africa & Antarctica) which is still pretty cool all by itself. Everest was to be number five.

Regardless of outcome, this was an incredible experience from day one. Getting to see Kathmandu for the first time along with its chaos, beauty, poverty, opulence and tranquility was an experience of a life time without ever needing to leave the city. Then, we flew by helicopter at the last minute into Lukla, which is famed as the world’s most dangerous airport. From there, we started a 10-day trek through the Khumbu Valley in the foothills of the Himalaya. Each village was special in its own right on the way in. From Pangboche, to Namche Bazar with its outdoor markets and cafes with amazing pastires to Debouche where we got an impromptu blessing from a 79yr old Lama granting us safe passage and return. We continued on to Dingboche where Mingma took exceptional care of us, and made roast chicken I still crave while sitting back in civilization. The French fries we had that first day, made with love, make me salivate while I write this. I had the best tea of my life at that lodge – Fresh ginger, hot lemon & honey. I want one now. We were fortunate enough to get a blessing by Lama Geshe, who is famed for blessing countless climbers & Sherpa on their way into the Himalaya and asking for their safe travels. We then pushed on up the valley to stay a final few nights in Lobouche where you had to take a pitcher of water and dump it in the toilet itself to force a “flush” It seemed that no amount of water truly did the job, but hey, that was part of the experience, right? Icing the cake in that luxurious bathroom was getting dripped on when you walked in from the bathroom upstairs. I think if that was the first bathroom of the trip, people would be a lot more disgusted & discouraged. After 8 days of progressively worsening conditions, you just wrote it off as part of the deal with no real consideration to what was happening. Finally, we pushed out and onward towards Everest Base Camp where we were greeted with teas, coffee, treats and a massive dining tent that would become our homebase for the rest of the trip.

Up to this point, you still might say “Sounds like a great trip, I don’t see what’s wrong.” Well, under the surface were boiling several negative emotions which everyone kept trying to fight & push through. Personally, I had a bad vibe from the moment I landed in Kathmandu. I knew this trip was going to be mostly a mental challenge and less of a pure physical push. Starting with a bad premonition was not allayed by getting sick for 3 days on the way in, nor was it when I couldn’t shake being sick. I knew that physical ailments were just par for the course on the trek, but this seemed to transcend that. On all prior trips I’d definitely had “WTF?” type moments where I questioned why I was putting myself through the suffering when I could be home, but they had all ultimately faded and disappeared. Not this trip. Not this time. I can’t explain why, but I just felt red flag after red flag. The catalyst of red flags came when we were en route to camp one for our first rotation. Just prior to getting to the first real stopping point, I started coughing up blood. The cough persisted for the next two days. On the way down, the desire of the entire team to continue on completely fell apart. Jon decided that he’d had enough and was wanting to leave. The red flags were too great for him to ignore as well. When we were back at basecamp, we had several deep conversations about the trip, why we do it, and what was most important to us. The answer was pretty straightforward for the three of us. Everyone reading this blog was whom we cared about most. None of us felt worth it to push through the warnings we were getting about the hill. This was not our year, and not our trip.

The decision to turn around and go home gave us peace of mind if for no other reason than it gives us the opportunity, should we choose it, to try the mountain again, or to simply do anything else. We all get to go home and see loved ones. We all have our digits. We all have our pride, if bruised slightly. This was one of the most difficult decisions I’ve had to make. This was a big deal. I put a lot of people through stressful times worrying about my safety, worrying about my absence. This decision wasn’t totally about me. This was as much about those around me that care. I wanted to see them again, and I didn’t feel comfortable pushing through the warnings simply to reach a goal of “mine.” I have reason to go home. Jon & Trudi felt the same way. This was not the trip to push it. We all felt it, and we all recognized it. We all made the conscious decision to go home, albeit an incredibly difficult one.

Manoj has chosen to stay on and give the mountain his all. We truly commend him, and wish him the best. I want that summit shot of Manoj and Scott! I want to see him at the top. Manoj is one of the most positive people I’ve ever met and he sees himself at the top. So do I. You’ll get it Manoj!

This is the end of the series on Everest in 2013. Thank you to everyone whom have been regularly reading this and sending good vibes! It was always nice to get emails, and comments from everyone supporting us. This was a life experience I will be eternally grateful for and never forget. I learned a lot about myself on this trip, and I’ve got some amazing new friends, well except Jon, he doesn’t count 😉 j/k.

Take care, and thanks for following.

-Bryan

It’s Christmas!!! Well, not really, but we did get snow over night. Now, our chore for the day is to keep shaking the tent to keep the snow from building up and ultimately leaking into our sprawling estate we call the dining tent.

The upside with the snow is that it keeps it a bit warmer at night than when we get the clear, crisp skies. The downside, is that the laundry I did and threw up on my tent is now stiff as a board and totally covered in snow. Awesome. Sure glad I wasn’t planning on using that stuff today…

The plan of record is still to head up to camp one tonight.

One thing we still haven’t quite gotten used to is the sound of avalanche all around us. From rock slide on neighboring peaks, to snow, to ice. It keeps you on alert, that’s for sure. Constant reminders that we are not in control, and Chomolungma (Tibetan name for Mt Everest) is whom will decide, not us.

I’ve thrown in a few pictures of the lower icefall for your viewing pleasure. The shot of Pumori turned out too, so I threw that in for good measure.

Yesterday we had our Puja, which is a Buddhist ceremony led by a Lama where the whole focus is on asking for safe travel and return on the mountain. It was about two hours long with three of our Sherpa, one of which being a Lama, reading from their prayer books. All the while, incense, Juniper branches and other items are smoking and ultimately, blessing all our gear.

One of the focal points of the Puja is to bless all of the gear we will climb with (crampons, ice axe, helmet and anything else we wanted in there) as well as to bless all of the climbers and sherpa to ask for safe travel and most importantly, safe return. They build up a shrine of granite rocks on top of which they’ll place several images of Buddha and other special deities. When the Puja is almost over, they raise a pole with prayer flags attached, and then strung across several hundred feet throughout camp. The belief is that every time a prayer flag flaps in the wind, a prayer is sent to heaven. Some people joke that the Sherpa people are lazy because they rely on the wind to send the countless prayers to heaven instead of doing it themselves. After watching these machines (aka Sherpa) work, I can tell you first hand that lazy is the last word I’d use to describe their ethos.

Under the shrine are plate upon plate of snacks, candies and breads as well as beer, rum & coca cola which are also blessed as part of the Puja. When all is said and done, naturally, you imbibe of the blessed food and drink. Disappointingly, I drank that one beer slower than I’d ever done so in my life. Something to do with the altitude, or so I’m telling myself. Not to mention, they made me have a bit of their boot-leg rum. At 17,500ft, it hits you like a brick. The rest of the Sherpa continued to drink what was left, and then started singing and dancing. Of course, Sherpa from other camps came over for the celebration to continue the good vibes.

Those machines got up and left camp about 2:30am this morning to start carrying loads up to Camp 1 (roughly 20,000ft) and onto Camp 2 (22,500ft-ish). Many were already back down to basecamp by about 1:30 today. In 11hrs they went to Camp2 and back… We’ll probably take 11hrs to get to C2, collectively, the first time. Very impressive.

While they were off doing real work, we went on a day hike up to Camp 1 on Pumori which put us about 19,000ft. That ledge, which I’d hate to sleep on, offered amazing views of the Lhotse face just before the clouds blew in and shrouded it from view. The cool thing, in addition to the view, was the fact that we got 3G from Gorak Shep up on that ridge. So, we checked email, sent out some updates and then headed back to basecamp, for yet another awesome lunch.

We’ve also learned of the tragedy that took place at the Boston marathon and we all send our condolences to those affected.

After a few days adjusting to the altitude of basecamp (17,500ft), we went for a short jaunt up into the icefall. The goal was to give each of us an idea of what to expect when we move through it up to Camp1 and beyond. It was pretty wild to be hopping on big ol’ chunks of ice the size of a car and seeing other larger blocks the size of a small office building above. In interest of safety, we only went into the icefall for about an hour or so. When we move up to C1, it’ll probably take us 5-6hrs to get through it the first go.

The icefall is a very sobering place to be, yet spectacular and breathtaking all at the same time. I’m hoping I got a bunch of good pictures today, and hoping to get even more when we make our actual move. I’m expecting that my best shots might not be until we descend through the icefall. When we’re moving up, we’ll likely be leaving camp between 2:00 and 3:00am to ensure that the ice is as cold and as glued together as possible.

Yesterday, Scott set us up a little training course to prepare us for what we’ll run into throughout the course of the climb. Everything from using our ascenders (which clip onto the rope and lock down to prevent us from falling backwards) climbing up nearly vertical ice to simulating a fall into a crevasse where we need to get ourselves out. We repelled a number of times as well to ensure we were comfortable with doing that regardless of what kinds of gloves or mittens we had on. All in all, it was a really fun day “playing” in the ice.

That’s it for now. Nearly time for appetizer hour 🙂

We’re here at base camp, finally! We got in around noon yesterday, in time for Sherke’s (the cook) all you can eat amazing meal. We are going to be spoiled when it comes to food, as there is absolutely no shortage of it here.

We spent the bulk of the afternoon just getting sorted out, arranging our ‘homes’ for the next several weeks. Each of us have 2-3 big bags in addition to the big bag we’d been trekking in. Now, we just need to find space for it in our luxurious three-man tents and put things in a location that will be somewhat readily accessible should we need it.

It’s weird. I’ve stared at countless pictures, Google Earth images, and read tons about Everest, but getting here and seeing Base Camp, the icefall and surrounding area has been quite surreal. The icefall is massive. It’s hard to imagine how big that thing is and until you actually see it first hand, it’s impossible to truly articulate the magnitude of that thing. We’ve already been watching people go up and down, which means the route is definitely in place. We’ve also heard that there may be fewer ladders than last year. We won’t know for certain until our climbing team starts up the mountain early next week to get Camp 1 and Camp 2 put in place.

The first night here at EBC was pretty nice, although it definitely gets cooler here than it has been on the trek in. I think Jon saw the temperature at 6º at some point throughout the night. Then, during the day, when the sun is on the tent it isn’t uncommon to get up to 80º or more. Pretty big swings in temperature here, which will just be the norm, although as the season goes on, it’ll likely just get warmer and warmer.

Today was our first formal rest day in 10 days. It was nice to not have to do anything all day long for once. For 10 solid days we were on at least one, if not two hikes. Good training for higher on the hill, that’s for sure. We’ll start doing day hikes out of basecamp in the next few days to get used to being even higher. Unlike a lot of other groups, Scott’s preference is to try to use adjacent peaks for acclimatization as opposed to going through that icefall a bunch of times. No argument here.

Well, it’s almost time for more chum, and dinner. Then, the subject of debate tonight will be what movie we pick to watch after dinner.

Right now we’re taking a tea break in Gorak Shep which is about 17,000ft on our way to Everest Base Camp. We should be there in about 1.5hrs and then can set up, sprawl out, and enjoy the little city of EBC.

John, Trudy, Manoj and Scott are all doing well, and eager to get there.

They have 3G here at Gorak Shep, so we’re all getting our technology fix before we continue on.

Almost there!!!!