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Mountain Madness
Peru with Mountain Madness

Trekkers Reach Everest Base Camp!

April 6, 2011

Overnight at Ever­est Base Camp

We made it! After a few gut-crunch­ing days on the trail, and hav­ing our final goal in sight for an hour or so, we arrived at the base camp ​‘rock’ .…the much dec­o­rat­ed point where you know you’ve ​‘made it’! Pat your­self on the back, throw out the high fives and reflect on the sat­is­fac­tion of being exact­ly where you want to be. It may not be on-top of Ever­est, but for us it was the pin­na­cle of our hopes and achieve­ments. And now time to relax…and that would be eas­i­er if it was­n’t 15F at night. After eat­ing din­ner in the oft seen din­ing tent, we retreat­ed to our 2‑person expe­di­tion tents for what was a sur­pris­ing­ly warm and ​‘com­fort­able’ night’s sleep .… except for the kamikaze walk to the ​‘bath­room’. But this is the roof of the world, what can one expect?

–Chris Under­hill, trekker

The Ever­est Base Camp mark­er — we made it!

The stun­ning Khum­bu Ice­fall sprawls before us.

What a great team! Sher­pas and Moun­tain Mad­ness trekkers on the Khum­bu Glacier.

Ever­est Base Camp Under Construction

Trekking in March/​April to Ever­est Base Camp is a fas­ci­nat­ing time because you can see the ​“city” come to life. All along the trail, we have passed yak car­a­vans and porters bring­ing up sup­plies. Every­thing – from din­ing chairs and plas­tic flow­ers to refrig­er­a­tors and gen­er­a­tors – has to be car­ried for days to con­struct this tem­po­ral abode. Sher­pa staff carve out plat­forms on the glac­i­er with axes and sledge­ham­mers, and more tents appear day by day. The city slow­ly grows. Climb­ing teams share the trail with us, and where we turn home­wards, their adven­ture has only just begun!

–Deana Zabal­do, Moun­tain Mad­ness Guide

Every­thing — and I do mean EVERY­THING — has to be car­ried into the moun­tains:
a gen­er­a­tor, lum­ber, a refrig­er­a­tor, food, and more!

The tem­po­rary ​“city” of Ever­est Base Camp comes to life in March and ear­ly April.

April 7, 2011

Ever­est Base Camp – Rise and Shine!

What a spec­tac­u­lar morn­ing await­ed us at Ever­est Base Camp! Bright sun­light made the Khum­bu Ice­fall stand out in all its ter­ri­fy­ing glo­ry.… We’re thank­ful that the way back to Luk­la does­n’t require a trip across this for­mi­da­ble obsta­cle. After break­fast, we start­ed our jour­ney back, retrac­ing our labored foot­steps, but this time with a skip in our step, know­ing full well that a 5,000 foot ele­va­tion drop would be achieved the next 48 hrs. Back near Nam­che Bazaar, we final­ly wal­lowed in the sat­is­fac­tion that we indeed did make it. Many per­son­al long-held goals were sat­ed. Many ques­tions as to where next? For this trav­el­er a few days, weeks, or months back home reflect­ing on this expe­ri­ence will be nec­es­sary before know­ing how to trump this incred­i­ble jour­ney. Thank you Moun­tain Madness!

–Chris Under­hill, trekker

Sher­pas and climbers on the Khum­bu Glacier

Our group hikes out across the glac­i­er, return­ing down through base camp, and head­ing back to warmer climes.

Back on firm ground and head­ing down towards Lobuche Pass.

April 8, 2011

Eat­ing Well!

Being a celi­ac (gluten-aller­gic), I was a lit­tle con­cerned about the meals pro­vid­ed on the trip. From day one I was pleas­ant­ly sur­prised. Lit­tle did I know that buck­wheat is a local­ly grown crop and they are very expe­ri­enced in cook­ing with it. I did not feel left out dur­ing the meals, and in fact, I was envied by many of the oth­er trekkers. Pan­cakes, noo­dles, and spe­cial soups were all pre­pared gluten free for me. Thanks much to the tal­ent­ed cooks!

–Damon Yuhasz, trekker

April 9, 2011

Awestruck In Nepal

I am awestruck by the moun­tains, nepali peo­ple and spir­i­tu­al life. Many amaz­ing events have hap­pened on my trip. I’ve seen the most beau­ti­ful land­scape, at night seen a mil­lion stars, and for fun played dice with our nepali sher­pa’s. One of the most mem­o­rable events of this trek is get­ting to know our local porters and sher­pas. In the day they lead us through the himalayan moun­tains, at night we play dice and laugh a lot. Our guide Deana has done a great job guid­ing us and help­ing us to get to know the Nepal­i’s much better.

The moun­tain of Nepal are rich in cul­ture, beau­ty, and SMILES!!

–Susan Wojie, trekker

Trekker Susan Wojie feel­ing strong on her return down the val­ley. Mec­si Aron photo

April 10, 2011

Mak­ing Dreams Happen

As mag­i­cal as the climb to base camp is with the most majes­tic moun­tains any­one has ever encoun­tered, it would not have been near­ly as ful­fill­ing had we not had Deana, our exem­plary guide. Deana brings the place ALIVE, with her sto­ries of the local peo­ple, their lives, their cul­ture, their fas­ci­nat­ing his­to­ry, and their reli­gion. We could not have imag­ined a bet­ter trip or a bet­ter guide! Thank you Moun­tain Mad­ness and Deana. A Dream Come True!!

–Jen­ny and Wayne Miller, North Car­oli­na, trekkers