Local time: 07 April 19:20
Location: Tengboche
Altitude: 3850m
Weather: Fine early, now snowing heavily -2C
Hi Everyone,
It’s Damien at Tengboche. Today saw the end of our acclimatization rest days at Namche Bazaar so we continued our upward trek arriving at our next stop, Tengboche.
Namche Bazaar Market
Before departing for Tengboche we visited the Namche Bazaar market. The market was buzzing with traders and shoppers buying and selling just about anything from fresh produce, to Yak cheese, to shoes and whisky. The market is held weekly and we could see many of the locals, including the cooks from our lodge, stocking up on supplies.
The Trek to Tengboche
The trek to Tengboche today was the most physically challenging day we have experienced so far. The path here from Namche Bazaar drops down to enable a river crossing before turning steeply uphill. We were eager to reach Tengboche before 3pm in order to catch the monk prayer ceremony so we maintained a smart pace. The non climbers (Tim, Reni and I) appeared to be the most puffed by the time we reached Tengboche, however we quickly recovered and are all feeling fine. About two thirds of the way through the trek Tim remarked that he hopes the GPS does the steep track justice!
Tengboche Monastery
Shortly after arriving and settling into our lodge we visited the Tengboche Monastery in time to watch the daily monk prayer ceremony. For this the monks sit in rows in front of an alter, dressed in traditional red and yellow gowns and chant out loud together. Periodically large gongs, symbols and an instrument that looks like a clarinet are used that combine to form sounds that vibrated though our chests. Visitors sit around the edge of the room to watch the proceedings and we were surprised that the flashes of cameras did not seem to phase the monks or break their concentration in any way.
Tomorrow
Tomorrow is a rest day. Depending on the level of snow that falls overnight we are planning a walk up nearby hill to get good view of the area.
Your Messages:
MC,
Glad you are enjoying the Google GPS map. The football field refers to a particular part of the icefall where it is relatively flat open area. Good luck with the stair master.
Ann and Graham (Kentucky),
Thanks for the message. The PDA, GPS logger and communications equipment we use to update the website attracts alot of attention from everyone here including the local people who are very inquisitive about it. There is definitely a sci-fi element.
Cam,
Tim and I have been surprised by what is available here also! To answer your questions; (1) All up we have about five porters accompanying us on the trek. (2) Yes Asian Trekking will have base camp set up prior to our arrival. (3) In total there will be seven climbers in the group. (4) We are not sure what a Tongba is.
Scott,
Glad you are enjoying the maps. Yes all going well it will work on the mountain.
Ryan (OHARARP LLC),
We are really enjoying using the GPS data logger. We cant believe how quickly it obtains the sat coordinates and shuts down. It is so quick (about 1 second) that at first we thought it was not working. A great device!!
Bev,
Thanks for the message. Glad you are enjoying the 3D maps.
Regards,
Damien
Hey guys,
Following along closely here from the US as usual. Those photos from the Namche Bazaar were great! Did you guys buy any of the Yak cheese? I’m a cheese aficionado, but there’s one that made me not so sure!
Like last year, my three kids (14,11,8) are following along with me. The Google Earth GPS tracker has really caught their attention and imagination. Each day now they want to follow your progress in 3D. They wanted to know: the dots along the path, are they time markers? We were thinking perhaps hourly time markers, uploaded by the GPS? They like the “Tent” marker where you camp each night!
The kids caught Everest Fever a bit more last fall from watching the Everest Beyond The Limit documentary on Discovery Channel. We all learned alot about the North side, but wish someone would do such a documentary on the South side route.
When will Fi be trekking in? She’ll have some Adler Army companions as well?
Enjoy the rest at Tengboche. We’re praying daily for your safety — and grand adventure!
Cheers,
Mark
Hi Damien and family,
We love the images from this post, the prayer wheels are so interesting.We looked at the GPS track and wow, it really looks like alot of ground you guys have covered!
Keep on speed!
Ann and Graham
(04-07) 09:03 PDT Bend, Ore. (AP) —
Mountaineers are bringing back firsthand accounts of vanishing glaciers, melting ice routes, crumbling rock formations and flood-prone lakes where glaciers once rose.
The observations are transforming a growing number of alpine and ice climbers, some of whom have scientific training, into eyewitnesses of global warming. Increasingly, they are deciding not to leave it to scientists to tell the entire story.
“I personally have done a bunch of ice climbs around the world that no longer exist,” said Yvon Chouinard, a renowned climber and surfer and founder of Patagonia, Inc., an outdoor clothing and gear company that champions the environment. “I mean, I was aghast at the change.”
Chouinard pointed to recent trips where the ice had all but disappeared on the famous Diamond Couloir of 16,897-foot Mount Kenya, and snow was absent at low elevations on 4,409-foot Ben Nevis, Britain’s highest peak, in the Highlands of northwest Scotland. He sees a role for climbers in debating climate change, even if their chronicles are unscientific.
“Most people don’t care whether the ice goes or not, the kind of ice that we climb on and stuff,” he said. But climbers’ stories, he added, can “make it personal, instead of just scientists talking about it. Telling personal stories might hit home to some people.”
Alpine climbers are worrying about the loss of classic routes and potential new lines up mountains that are melting, from the Cascades in the Pacific Northwest and the Alps in Europe to the Andes in South America and the Himalaya in Asia.
Their anecdotes often reflect what science is finding, but with stories and pictures from places where most scientists aren’t able to reach.
“As climbers we see these places, we go all over the world,” Mark Bowen, a climber and physicist who wrote a book on climate and mountains, told the American Alpine Club at its annual meeting last week in Bend.
“We’re in touch with the natural world like few people are. We can see the changes better than most people can,” he said.
Scientists and diplomats at an international conference in Belgium predicted on Friday that global warming would turn many glaciers to lakes and cause rock avalanches because of frozen ground melting up high. People living in mountain areas can expect more risk of floods by glacial lakes.
Already, Switzerland’s Matterhorn had to be closed to some climbing at times because of recent summer rockfall attributed to global warming and its Great Aletsch Glacier — Europe’s largest — has retreated a couple miles from its peak of 14 miles in length in 1860. The Swiss Alps’ icy soil that glues its rock faces together is thawing, causing instability.
At Montana’s Glacier National Park, glaciers are vanishing like the storied snows of Africa’s Mount Kilimanjaro. In South America, the great ice fields of Patagonia in Argentina and Chile are shrinking; Bolivia hopes to keep its only ski area open by using artificial snow as the Chacaltaya Glacier fades.
The glacier from which Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay made their first ascent of 29,035-foot Mount Everest in 1953 has retreated so much that mountaineers now walk hours longer to reach it. A mile-long lake replaced the glacier at 20,305-foot Island Peak in Nepal’s Everest region.
Japanese mountaineer and explorer Tomatsu Nakamura, editor of the Japanese Alpine News, said climbers are seeing more melting and less snow and ice in the mountains of the eastern Himalaya, Tibet and Bhutan, home to many of the highest unclimbed peaks in the world.
Since the 1940s, when geologist Maynard Miller began conducting research on Alaska’s vast Juneau Icefield, he has seen how global warming has affected glaciers studied in the longest continuous research program of any icefield system.
“We’re going to be in one heck of a mess, I can guarantee that. We have mucked up the world’s climate,” said Miller, who was part of the 1963 expedition that got the first Americans to the summit of Mount Everest.
“Everything is changing, minute after minute, nothing is the same,” he said. “Glaciers are extraordinarily sensitive indicators of climate change.”
Hi Mark… I have just posted about this 6 parts documentary a few days ago here:)) (post title: Discovery Channel: Beyond the Limit – Everest) their is an outdoor event related to this documentary right now in Hungary. Check the right side of this pic :
http://www.projectb.hu/everest/20070403_discovery_budapest.jpg
There is a Hungarian guy climbing with Paul, and one of our climber friends has climbed up to this tent you can see on the picture and he is living there for 2 weeks to promote the Everest and also raising awareness about this mountain and what it takes to be there.
I am not suprised the kids caught Everest Fever….Everest Beyond the Limit is a stunning tour de force, easily the best documentary on Everest. And the Everest Fever is spreading all around in Central Eastern Europe right now;) and MyEverest.com just really brings this so close to us – it seems it is going to be a meeting pont and and online community for Everest Climbers and Expeditions, with very special features thanks for the creators of this site;) this technology (SD LOGGER V2.0 + PDA + SAT Phone + GE4) is just so amazing:)
I have already found a link on wikipedia about MyEverest.com
Best
Mira
Hi Paul, Tim, Dame and team
Great job picking up the pace in order to make the prayer ceremony at the Tengboche Monastery. It sounds like a beautiful experience to see and hear. I hope you have enjoyed your rest day in Tengboche and that you were able to hike up the local hill (weather permitting). Great photos as usually!
Continued success,
MC