Arrival in Khumjung!

Today we trekked from the village of Thame to the village of Khumjung.  We had beautiful weather for our trek, and are now relaxing in the Eco Lodge tea house for the night.  Pictured above is the peak Thamserku and below the village of Thame.  Tomorrow we are looking forward to our hike to Tengboche and onto Deboche for the night.

Trekking through the snow!

Today we are trekking through fresh snow to the village of Thame, Lakpa Rita's home town.

Resting in Namche

Today we are acclimatizing in Namche.  We made a short acclimatization hike to the Everest View Hotel, and had a nice view of both Everest & Lhotse.  Now we are resting in Namche tonight, then off to the village of Thame tomorrow.  Everyone is doing well!
-Garrett Madison

Trekking to Namche

Today is the perfect temperature for our trek to Namche! Photo: Shuttleworth family at a break along the trail.

Team has arrived in Lukla!

We just flew from Kathmandu to Lukla via Twin otter. We are currently enjoying breakfast here in Lukla before starting the trek to Phakding where we will stay the night.

Expedition briefing with Elizabeth Hawley

Today we met with Elizabeth Hawley who is famous for creating the Himalayan Database.  Liz keeps track of all climbers who attempt 8000 meter peaks, and first started meeting with expeditions here in Kathmandu, Nepal, in 1963.  She recalls that year specifically when she met with those climbers before they set off and made history, the first Americans to reach the summit of Everest.  Today Liz went through all of our paperwork to make notes for her database, a very important record.  You can check out her work here:  http://www.himalayandatabase.com/

We will do a short city tour as well today in Kathmandu, then have one last great meal here tonight before setting off early tomorrow for the airport to fly to Lukla and begin the trek to Everest Base Camp.

-Garrett Madison

Gear Check in Kathmandu

We just finished our gear check with Everest & Lhotse climbers here at the Yak & Yeti hotel in Kathmandu.  This was a quick run through all of the expedition kit that includes our clothing, technical gear, sleeping bags, etc.  A quick process for our very experienced climbers.  Glad we are all here and ready to begin our journey!