Everest Trekkers &Lobuche Climbers Back To Kathmandu

November 8, 2013

: Tsering Dolkar shows off the view to Boudhanath from the rooftop of her new Hotel Tibet International. (Eric Simonson)

: Exploring the old Newar town of Bhaktapur, a short distance from Kathmandu. (Eric Simonson)

The Lukla flights departed on schedule, allowing Erica Engle and team to fly back to Kathmandu today.Â Rumor has it they are heading to the Fire and Ice pizza tonight in Thamel for a celebration! Â Some members leave immediately and some will stay a bit longer to explore Nepal.

There are lots of interesting things to see and do, so I know they will have fun.Â We will be back in Nepal with our IMG teams for Everest season next March.Â Thanks for following along with us on this trek.

Eric Simonson

Myanmar Trekkers Reach Inle Lake

November 7, 2013

Leg rowing fisherman at Inle Lake

IMG guide Jenni Fogle reports that the team finished their trek to Inle Lake on schedule, and are now taking a free day there today to do some exploring.Â She reports â€œwe are having a wonderful time at Inle Lake. Here is a photo of one of the fishermen on the lake. They row with their legs to keep their hands free for the nets. Pretty amazing. We fly back to Yangon tomorrow.â€

Eric Simonson

Myanmar Trekkers Heading For Inle Lake

November 5, 2013

: Monks receiving rice from women in village (Jenni Fogle)

: Trekking in Myanmar (Jenni Fogle)

IMG guide Jenni Fogle reports by sat phone that the team is making good progress on their three day overland trek to Inle Lake.Â They have been weaving through the forests, farms, and many little villages along the way.Â Yesterday they started in Kalaw and trekked to Tar Yaw and then after lunch they pushed on to Ywa Pu.Â All total it was about 10 miles of hiking with an average altitude of about 5000 feet, and they spent the night in a house at the Ywa Pu village.Â Today they have another good chunk of trekking to do, going first to Kone Hla and then on to then Hti Thein for an overnight stay at a local monastery. Â Then, tomorrow they will do a third day of trekking to Nan Yoke and on to Inle Lake. Â Jenni said everyone was doing well and that they are having a great time.Â So far so good!

Eric Simonson

Bunkbed Top Roping

November 5, 2013

Last week a few of our friends from JanSport stopped by (ok, it was a planned meeting) to talk about the Tahoma pack we’ve been developing with them.Â We checked out the latest prototype, the newest fabric and the tweaks and changes they’ve made. Pretty cool stuff.

After the meeting JanSport Designer Extraordinaire Ahren BonnemaÂ took me aside and asked if we had any random gear we could off load to his 3 and 5 year old boys to beat up, I took a quick look around and found a couple odds and ends – old stuff sacks, rope scraps, etc. – perfect stuff for the imagination of his boys Gahren (5) and Milo (3).

The result? Next generation IMG climbers…

: Bunkbed Top-roping.

: Sending Mr. Sandman (5.12b).

Tye Chapman

Gokyo Ri Summits!

November 5, 2013

: Gokyo village (Ang Jangbu Sherpa)

: Gokyo Panorama taken by IMG guide Adam Angel

: View from Gokyo Ri looking down valley towards Kangtega and Thamserku peaks (Ang Jangbu Sherpa)

IMG guide Erica Engle called on the sat phone to report that the team had a gorgeous summit today of Gokyo Ri (17,575Â ft).Â This peak is located on the west side of the Ngozumpa glacier, which is the largest glacier in Nepal, descending from the south side of the Cho Oyu and Gyachung Kang massif along the Tibet border.

The team took lots of photos from along the shores of Gokyo Lake, and also had good views from the summit of Gokyo Ri Â including (east to west): Cho Oyu, Everest, Lhotse, Makalu and many smaller Khumbu peaks.Â The team headed down later in the day to Machermo (about 14,600 ft).

Tomorrow they descend back to Namche Bazaar and the world of cell phone, internet, and chocolate cake!

Eric Simonson

Nepal Trekkers Cross Cho La Pass to Gokyo

November 3, 2013

IMG guide Erica Engle reports that they crossed 17,700 foot Cho La pass to Thaknak:Â “Lobuche Base Camp to Thagnak was a solid day of trekking for everyone. We had snow for the majority of the day, a little slippery on the descent, but overall the trail was good for fit, capable trekkers. Everything is good, and we’re planning to continue to Gokyo tomorrow and climb Gokyo Ri. Then on to Machermo, Namche, Lukla”.

So far so good!

Eric Simonson

Myanmar Trekkers Reach Kelaw

November 3, 2013

Today the Myanmar team flew to Heho, then drove to Kelaw via the Pindaya caves.Â Jenni Fogle reports: “we visited the Pindaya caves which have more than 8400 Buddha statues. Pretty impressive.

The countryside here is beautiful – almost like Tuscany. We are all squared away in a nice villa in Kelaw now, where we just enjoyed another spectacular sunset and are getting packed up to start the trek to Inle Lake tomorrow.”

Eric Simonson

Lobuche Peak Summits!

November 2, 2013

IMG guide Erica Engle called on the sat phone from Lobuche Base Camp to report that the team were all down and safe after a great summit day.Â She said the weather, conditions, and views were excellent, and they enjoyed climbing with Pangboche’s Everest all-stars Mingma Tshering and Tashi Tshering.Â The plan for tomorrow is to head over the Cho La pass (5,420 metres 17,782 ft) to Gokyo.Â Sounds like there has been plenty of traffic over the pass, so the trail is now well established after the snowstorm.

Eric Simonson

A Good Day In Myanmar

November 2, 2013

We had another great day in Bagan. We climbed the 777 steps to the Mt. Popa shrine, enjoyed a beautiful Bagan sunset, then finished with dinner at a restaurant owned by the sweetest family you could ever meet. I think they gave us twice as much food as we ordered (but didn’t charge us anything) and gave all the women beautiful bracelets as a gift. The food was wonderful and fresh, and the prices better than reasonable.

Tomorrow morning we fly to Heho, then drive up to the Pindaya caves and Kalaw. The trek from Kalaw to Inle Lake begins on Monday, and we’re all looking forward to it.

Jenni Fogle

Myanmar Trekkers In Chin State

November 1, 2013

: Family at their home in Chin Village near Kanpalet – Note the woman’s tattooed face. (Jenni Fogle)

: Shaman trying to cure woman near Kanpalet. (Jenni Fogle)

: Top of Mt. Victoria. (Jenni Fogle)

IMG guide Jenni Fogle managed to send a few photos and a report from their visit to the western part of Myanmar:

“We just returned to Bagan from three amazing days in the Chin State. We stayed in a remote lodge near the town of Kanpalet and took day trips from there, including a hike to the top of Mt. Victoria, just over 10,000 high and the highest in Chin State. We also visited villages where women still have faces tattooed from the days that the king would take the most beautiful women from Chin villages. At the age of 18, the women would have their faces tattooed to protect themselves from the king. In one town we were able to witness a shaman performing a ceremony to help a young woman bear children. By reading an egg heated over fire, he could determine who was causing her to not be able to bear children, and remove the curse. Everywhere we go, we are greeted with smiles and curious looks. It’s easy to see they are not used to western visitors here…we only saw a couple other foreigners the whole time. We made the jeep drive back to Bagan today and will visit the Mt. Popa shrine (777 steps to the top) tomorrow.

Jenni Fogle