April 1, 2021

Team 2 at the Pasang Lamu Gate (Ang Jangbu Sherpa)

We received  welcome updates overnight from both of the IMG Teams.  Down in Phaplu the Team 2 was up early looking at the weather and standing by for their helicopter flights to Lukla.  The team made a great decision to head out of KTM by vehicle in order to get to higher ground and clear skies, and they were rewarded with excellent weather and smooth flights.  After departing Lukla via the famous Pasang Lamu Gate, the trail slowly traverses and descends to the Dudh Kosi river at Phakding.  Getting to Phakding is a great feeling.  The river flowing along with cool and clean air is always a welcome feeling for the first day on the trail.  Team 2 will head uphill to Namche in the morning!

Up in Namche, Team 1 had a casual morning at the lodge before taking the short trek up to Everest View Hotel.  The clouds broke and the team got their first view of Mount Everest.  Team 1 is feeling great and will head to Phortse in the morning.

Ama Dablam, Lhotse and Everest (Greg Vernovage)

Karma Rita also checked in overnight with some photos of the progress being made at Everest Base Camp.  The advanced

Storage, dining and cook tents up at EBC (Karma Rita Sherpa)

team has been working hard!  They now have all of the big tents up including the cook tents, dining tents, storage tents, charging and comms tents.  They will now start carving out member tent platforms in anticipation of the teams arrival in just over a week.  It is great to see the Puja Alter ready to go.  We cannot wait to usher in the 2021 Everest/Lhotse Climbing Season with our entire team.

All is well in the Khumbu Valley!

Greg Vernovage

March 31, 2021

Phaplu heli (Jonathan Schrock)

All Teams were on the move today in Nepal.  Up in Phaplu IMG Leader Jonathan Schrock checked in at dawn to let us know the weather looked good after a night of thunderstorms, and that the team was ready to head for the Khumbu Valley.  Sure enough our charter helicopters were soon flying and they were off to Phakding (normally the first overnight on the EBC trek, beyond Lukla).  After a nice breakfast in Phakding, the team loaded up and hit the trail for Namche.  They enjoyed beautiful weather for the entire day as they climbed above the lowland haze and had great mountain views.  At Monjo they entered Sagarmatha National Park, then crossed over the classic high bridges over the Dudh Kosi River before tackling the famous Namche Hill.  They pulled into Namche feeling good and will explore the largest village in the Khumbu Valley tomorrow.

Back in Kathmandu, Ang Jangbu called to report that Team 2 was loading the SUV’s with gear and were ready to hit the road for Phaplu.  Air quality had improved slightly but the team decided to make the move to Phaplu where their chances will be better to catch heli flights up to the Khumbu Valley tomorrow morning.  The team will be up early tomorrow morning in Phaplu to check at the weather, and hopefully will soon be following Team 1 into the mountains.

We are so excited to be back on the trail in the Khumbu Valley!

Entering Sagarmatha Park at Monjo (Jonathan Schrock)

Greg Vernovage