“Like Returning to Earth from Another World”

Most recent update from MM Guide Shayan: We have left Ever­est Base Camp under clear skies and cold tem­per­a­tures. We had a very com­fort­able night there hud­dling in our heat­ed din­ing tent. The camp has many few­er tents this year, but it seems by the amount of traf­fic head­ed up the trail that won’t last long. The ice doc­tors con­tin­ue to work every day on the ice fall which, rumor has it, is much more com­plex than usu­al this year. Since many climbers haven’t arrived yet, we were able to take an extend­ed tour of the glac­i­er which was quite beau­ti­ful. As we descend the col­ors are get­ting rich­er, the air is get­ting thick­er, and our bel­lies are get­ting hun­gri­er. It has been a won­der­ful vis­it but it’s nice to retreat to where life is abun­dant. It’s like return­ing to earth from anoth­er world.

On our way down we con­tin­ue to see signs of the rebuild­ing process, and I am deeply hum­bled by the strength of the Sher­pa peo­ple. We saw a train of men car­ry­ing hand hewn tim­bers weigh­ing 200 pounds per load a three day walk up the val­ley . Some­thing not to believe until seen with your own eyes. We are enjoy­ing hot show­ers and thick air tonight, and will con­tin­ue on toward Nam­che and beyond the next few days.

A mem­ber of the com­mu­ni­ty car­ry­ing sup­plies for rebuilding.

~MM Guide Shayan Rohani