4/10/06

Doug Reporting From Dingboche

Doug and Mingma Sherpa

 

This is Doug reporting from Dingboche, approximately 14,500 feet into the Khumbu Valley. It is 8:25 PM, Nepali time and myself, Matt and Larry are doing well. Yesterday (Saturday), we hiked from Namche Bazaar to Tengboche and spent the night at a Teahouse owned by Mimga Sherpa who was on the Everest Expedition of Sherpa women in 2000. This was the first Everest Expedition made up entirely of women climbers. Mimga Sherpa was memorialized in the award winning film, Daughters of Everest.

While in Tengboche, we visited the Tengboche Monastery. This is the largest Buddhist monastery in the Khumbu region. It was recently rebuilt at great expense after being destroyed by a fire. The tip of Mount Everest is visible to the left, and Ama Dablam stands to the right. The team and I spent a great deal of time at the Monastery. We watched as Monks chanted in a deep and resonating harmony.

Today we trekked from Tengboche to Dingboche (14,500 ft). The trek from Tengboche to Dingboche took about 5 and 1/2 hours which included an 1 1/2 hours for lunch and rest. During our trek we concentrated on breathing to help with the acclimation process. On our journey we ran into a young woman who was suffering from altitude sickness. This reiterated to us that we must remain acutely aware of altitude risks. Along our way we had a stunning view of Everest, Lhotse, Nuptse, and Ama Dablam. A ton of wind driven snow was blowing from the summit of Everest indicating that the jet stream is still firmly parked over the mountain.

We have received confirmation that our gear has made it to base camp. Getting the gear transported included the use of 70 yaks as well as porters. Porters are amazing people who carry tremendous loads and their nature is characterized by toughness and humility.

Tonight we will stay in Dingboche and if all goes well we will head out for Noboche in the morning. We are still waiting for Roger to catch up with us and have nothing but appreciation for his efforts in straightening out the team's technical difficulties.

Our hearts go out to the people of Nepal and are team is dedicated to all efforts that are geared toward supplying these wonderful people with the tools needed to continue to improve conditions in the region. While entities such as the Himalayan Trust, established by Sir Edmund Hillary, have been dedicated to efforts that will help improve the region, there is far more work to be done.