Today we started up to establish base camp for the climb of Kyoja Ri which took us on a route that was new to me. We climbed past the Gomba above town that I had visited early, then headed on the main trail towards Thamel. We didn’t get started until 9 for various reasons and it was a difficult steep push until it dropped to cross the river then up again sharply on the other side. Elias, Lonnie, Bridget and Furba were the climbers on this 6126 meter peak, I was planning on sp

I just got back to Namche from the trip to the base camp for Kyajo Ri- a mountain at 6126 meters so fairly significant height. Was quite a climb up - about of the way Mtn so we saw no people on the trail. We spent the night at a remote Gompa (monastery) where there were 4 Spaniards staying and a Young Swedish woman named Sarah who was spending 7 hours a day meditating in a cave behind the Gompa. The inner part of the cave was covered with Buddhist ceremonial objects and sm

Our mission wouldn’t be possible without our great team. We’ve learned so much about the Nepalese culture through stories and laughter from our homeland team. Furba Tamang - age 34 (front center) handles all our logistics in communities and communications with porters. He’s a skilled mountaineer and will represent Nepal as a member of our summit team. Left to right. Purna Tamang - age 52, Bule Tamang - 45 and Chan Dra Tamang - 32 are respected porters in the region and a

​ The team is currently in Namche on their final rest day. Here's a note from Dupre on the stay in Machermo just the other day. "In Machermo we stayed at a fine Tea House called Namgyal. There we warmed ourselves around the stove fueled by dried Yak dung patties. A few of these grass pies were pre-soaked in kerosene to get the whole works going. We drank ginger tea to help with our dry throats from the mountain air. We always seem to talk about the amazing things we'd seen

Our team is resting in Namche after being between 16,000 and 17,000 feet for a week. This has us acclimated both for altitude and the physical trials we expect during our climb of Kyajo Ri (20,295 ft) in the coming week. We hiked up and down multiple valleys since being here trying not to get gored by passing Yaks. Actually they are mostly docile unless steered by Yak drivers to get moving. ​ While acclimating north of Gokyo we searched for a potential route up Tenzing Pe