Daily Dispatches

Title: Island Peak Climbing 2010

10th April, 2010- Arrived in Kathmandu

11th April, 2010- Sightseing in Kathmandu

12th April, 2010- Kathmandu to Phakding

13th April, 2010- Namche Bazar

14th April, 2010- We saw Mt. Everest

15th April, 2010- Tyangboche

16th April, 2010- Pheriche

17th April, 2010- Nakarsung top

18th April, 2010- Lobuche

19th April, 2010- Gorakshape

20th April, 2010- From Everest Base Camp

21th April, 2010- At Chhukung

22 April, 2010- Rest Day

23 April, 2010- Island Peak Base Camp

24 April, 2010- Summit Day

25 April, 2010- From Deboche

26 April, 2010- From Namche

27 April, 2010- From Phakding

28 April, 2010- From Lukla

29 April, 2010- Another Last Day at Lukla

30 April, 2010- Lukla to Kathmandu and Departure for Home

14th April, 2010- We saw Mt. Everest

Group (background Mt. Khumbila)

Today we saw Mount Everest. It had rained overnight, calming all the dust, which made for clear air and blue skies. We crawled out of our sleeping bags at 5:30am to scarf down breakfast and get on the trail. We took a very nice day hike to an Everest viewpoint. On the way up, there were a few inches of snow on the trail, which were melted by the time we came back down. Good thing we had the snowball fight on the way up! The mountains are so tall, it is hard to watch the trail and take in the mountain scenery without tripping over the rocks! We saw a number of peaks including: Mt. Everest, Lhotse, Ama Dablam, Thamserku,Kongde, Tauche, Cholache and many more.

Mt. Everest

In my opinion, the best part of the day was having milk tea at the Mt. Everest viewpoint restaurant. We sat at an outside table with the most spectacular view imaginable. We also walked past Syangboche airport which is the highest airport in Nepal at over 12,000ft. It is only amenable to small planes carrying no more than seven people.
	On the way to Khumjung

Sometimes Everest expeditions use this airport to bypass Lukla. We happened to see a small plane landing…..better them than us as it looked a little rocky! After we returned from our hike, we spent the rest of the day walking the streets of Namche Bazar and thinking about what we were going to eat for dinner….its seems like we are always hungry!! Stacee is sure enjoying the Snickers and Pringles. We just finished an excellent dinner of garlic soup, momos , popcorn, rice pudding and ginger tea.

Namche Bazar

Khumbu Valley