November 10, 2011
Ama Dablam taken from Pumori Camp 1. (Photo by Eric Simonson)
This is Justin Merle writing from Kathmandu, where the Ama Dablam expedition is wrapping up. Roger got on a plane last night, and Doug and Billy are headed home today. Mark and Sierra have another day here, and Peter and I will stick around for a couple more days to tie up loose ends and do some organizing.
The last days of the trip went smoothly. It was great to get back to our comfortable BC after the summit day. We were fairly tired, but the good cooking of Jor Bahudur Rai gave us some energy. The next morning we finished up with some packing and had a short day walking down to Pangboche, the town where a some of our climbing Sherpas live. That evening and the next morning, we were fortunate to spend some time visiting Ang Passang’s and Kami’s houses, and to meet some of their family.
We spent the next couple days walking to Namche Bazaar, then to Lukla. Things went off without a hitch, and we were able to fly out to Kathmandu the following day. I saw some folks flying out just before us who’d been stuck in Lukla with the bad weather, waiting to fly out for a week. I guess we timed it right!
Personally, I had a wonderful time trekking again to Everest Basecamp and climbing on Lobuche and Ama Dablam. Our group was fantastic, and it’s always a pleasure to work with our sherpa staff. Thanks for a great one!
Justin Merle