March 26, 2016
We had a great day in Kathmandu. It started off with a cup of early morning coffee with a few of the gang downstairs at the Hotel Tibet working through our jet lag. Then, we sent all the climbers’ Base Camp duffels out the door after breakfast to start their journey to EBC.
After that we had a very good rooftop meeting with the first team members and their guides Justin Merle and Emily Johnston, to go over the plans for the trek to Base Camp. This group is going to have a fun trek to EBC; I can tell already. They will be flying tomorrow morning to Lukla.
After the team meeting, we went to the Ministry to get our four climbing permits (3 for Everest, 1 for Lhotse). It is official: we have our 2016 Everest climbing permits! Big shout out to Pasang and Mohan for all their help over the last few days working with the Ministry staff to get the permits finished.
On our way back to the hotel, we decided to stop in to visit Liz Hawley. It is always nice to visit for a few minutes with Ms. Hawley before the Everest Season. Pretty simple really, “Whenever you have the chance to be in the presence of greatness, you make sure to take the opportunity.”
Finally, Ang Jangbu just got off the phone with Nuru Gyalzen at EBC. Sherpas now have all of the big tents up. They are building the Puja alter tomorrow, and then they need to work on the interior of the two-member kitchen tents. After that all they have to do is to make platforms for dozens of sleeping tents. Fortunately, the weather at EBC has improved, and there are now sherpas pulling into base camp every day for other teams.
Tonight is the Welcome Dinner. Just like Justin said this morning, “All of the training is complete, and now we are here.” Tonight we will celebrate the start of the expedition! Thanks to everyone who has helped get us here. It has been a heck of a year.
-Greg Vernovage, Expedition Leader
Follow the 2016 IMG Everest Expedition Updates Here