Nepal has been an amazing learning experience for me as well as the rest of the Vertical Nepal team. One thing I learned is that the Nepal people are amazingly resilient. Whether you're living in the mountains, the valleys or Katmandu, all places have their own challenges to overcome. Trifc Pictures Courtesy of Robert Rose Villages in the mountains are maintained through a web of rock trails traveled by porters, yaks and mules. Often these trails, though fairly wide, are steep and rocky. A half-day trek from one village to the next requires several thousand feet of up and down elevation often with 25 to 60 kgs on a porter’s back. Simple travel with just a small pack between villages wo
Had a great time on the climbing wall with the TRIFC kids. Not sure how it was going to go with the kids and some adults being visually impaired, but they loved it. We climbed for at least 3 hours and everyone go at least two turns. We had a banquet right at the climbing wall then gave out Granite Gear backpacks to the kids…so cool. We then went for a long bus ride to school/care center for disabled kids. A nice facility though damaged in part by the quake. The team will be heading back from Nepal to the US in the coming days. Stay tuned for a follow-up on the newest plans for the second phase of the Vertical Nepal expedition happening this spring.
The team arrived safely into Kathmandu from Lukla yesterday, tired and worn from the previous weeks of climbing, but safe. The next few days the Vertical Nepal team will be volunteering with TRIFC's kids helping construct an indoor rock climbing gym, delivering the GG backpacks donated by Granite Gear and stuffed with school supplies and more. See how you can contribute with humanitarian efforts in Nepal with the Vertical Nepal expedition's current partnerships:
Our team trekked from Namche to Cheplung to Lukla yesterday and that night had a short celebration of laughs and hugs as we said goodbye to your porters; Purna, Chandra, and Balle. They have been a source of inspiration, friendship and education about an amazing culture. On our way we stopped by Cheplung. I visited with carpenters there working alongside stone masons to rebuild a Tea House. They were hewing lumber into posts and using long-handled plans to shave down the rough spots. He smiled down at me from the scaffolding with a big smile. Proud of his work I signaled with a “thumbs-up” I was amazed that how fast these people work, all with non-electric hand tools - adzes, rock chis
The Vertical Nepal team has managed to collect a snow sample from the summit of Ama Dablam. THINNING MOUNTAIN GLACIERS Dr. Natalie Kehrwald, University of Venice: "Glaciers around the world are retreating. The majority of this retreat occurs at the toes, the lowest elevations, of glaciers, where the glaciers then tend to melt upslope. However, my research shows that glaciers are also thinning, or losing mass from their upper surfaces, at elevations as high as 6000 meters above sea level. Such documented thinning occurs on Naimona’nyi in the central Himalaya and also on Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, but the geographic extent of this thinning is unknown. I am trying to collect as many high elevatio
Two Summit Ama Dablam We wanted an adventure, and we got one. For our alpine ascent of Ama Dablam, we needed to go light and fast. As a solution, we took from Camp One (C1), 2 days of food and fuel, 2 sleeping bags for four people, and 1 two-man tent. C1 to C2 was along a saw blade of a ridge with a few teeth missing. The ridge had three towers on it, of which we had to climb up two of instead of skirting around them. The largest tower had a 100 foot of vertical rock with nicks here and there in the granite, only deep enough to scratch the edge of your Vibram sole. To pull on an ascender, your full body weight plus loaded backpack, was a herculean effort in the thin air of 20,330 feet. G
The team is making their way back down to base camp from Ama Dablam. A voicemail was left, but was completely chopped up due to location. The team is safe and will report more as soon as we receive another update.
The team was reported at 20, 340 ft (6,200 meters). They're going to be making a push for the summit tomorrow, weather permitting. They'll be leaving at 1:30am with hopes of a summit around noon. Stay tuned for more updates from the mountain! Upward ~
Latitude:27.85133 Longitude:86.85181 GPS location Date/Time:11/01/2015 23:37:27 AKST Message: All OK, Doing Well The team sent a Spot Beacon reading in last night at 18,700ft (5700m), at camp 1 on Ama Dablam. Image: Climb on Kyajo Ri by Lonnie Dupre Click the link below to see where I am located. http://fms.ws/Rnyx-/27.85133N/86.85181E If the above link does not work, try this link: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=27.85133,86.85181&ll=27.85133,86.85181&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
The team was reported this morning to be at the Ama Dablam basecamp. They're planning on making a move to camp 1 tomorrow.