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Alpine Ascents International's
Khumbu Trek Fall '99

NEPAL TIME:   

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View of Everest from Kala Patar

Barbara Wentworth
Hear the Team's Call from Nepal
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Namaste, this is Barbara Wentworth from Kettle Moraine, physical education teacher, to all who are following the Everest '99 Base Camp Trek. We have lots of information from the last couple of days to report to the Mountain Zone, starting with Sunday, November 21 to today, Monday, November 22. Yesterday, Sunday, we played — or, actually, on Saturday — we played Frisbee with the Sherpas after we returned from a day hike to 15,180 feet. The hardest part was keeping it out of yak dung in the field. It was a magnificent sight, though, to be playing with Lhotse and Ama Dablam in the background.

Today, actually, on Sunday, we gained another another 1300 feet of altitude on our trek from Dingboche to high Lobuche, where the Italian Research Center is. This lodge and research center was built in 1997 for GPS studies and other high-altitude research. It's quite striking, as the main power comes from a pyramid of solar panels, which was visible as we walked into camp.

The most memorable part of today's climb was the memorial area for the Everest climbers who had died in their summit attempt. Both Sherpa and Western climbers, and others, have either their cremated ashes here or are memorialized with cairns, or piles of rocks, if their body remains on Everest. If you've read Into Thin Air, you know that Scott Fisher died on Everest in 1996. We were able to see the cairn erected in his memory, along with fields of others. It was quite a moving experience, as our guide Pete Athans was part of the rescue team that year. He helped guide Beck Weathers down the mountain after he was discovered to be alive. They remain great friends.

Yesterday, Sunday, actually, November 21, was an incredible experience and one which was the most difficult of the trek, an optional climb of the peak Kala Patar, 18,600 feet. Beside myself, Roger, Elton, John, Caroline, Leslie and Geoffrey, Steve and Dave from Minnesota, also successfully summited. The view of all the surrounding mountains was breathtaking and we could even get a bird's eye view of Everest Base Camp. Several of us stayed for sunset pictures of Everest with the nearly full moon rising from just to the left of the South Col peak. It was hard to leave, even as the sunlight was waning, but it was a five-mile walk down the mountain back to Gorak Shep Lodge. We turned off our headlamps and were guided by the light of the silvery moon (and that one's for you Margaret [Unintelligible]).

When our late group returned, we found one of our expedition members fairly ill and was not able to continue easily. For the sake of the group — and this is part of what expeditions are all about, we were all pretty exhausted from the Kala Patar climb — the Base Camp attempt was scratched until Monday.

However, there was time for myself and Dave from Minnesota to walk out to the Rob Hall, Andy Harris and Sherpa memorial, just before the beginning of the Khumbu Icefall. There, he and I tied the signed prayer flags from Rob Hall's chorten to a tent-sized rock — actually a huge tent-sized rock — anchored from east to west. If you look with Everest at you back, you will see Pumori on the other side of the flag; if you put Pumori to your back you'll see Everest through the flag. Dave and I said some private prayers, not only for those who signed the flags, but for all those Sherpas and climbers who had died living their dreams.

We will stay tonight in high Lobuche and we will trek to Pheriche, a little bit past Pheriche and on to Devuche. Our concern is getting to a lower altitude so Casey Day feels better.

I hope the class is researching parts of this trip and also studying about the Sherpa, an amazing people. I've also decided that yaks are the finest animals I have ever seen. More about them later, I've been yakking too much now. Namaste, Mountain Zoners.

Barbara Wentworth, MountainZone.com Correspondent

EXPEDITION DISPATCHES


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