Update from Namche Bazaar — Team to Begin Descent Tomorrow

It’s been quite chal­leng­ing the last few days but the team has stayed safe and been look­ing after one anoth­er dur­ing this hor­ri­ble tragedy. We had just reached Nam­che Bazaar on the 24^th and done an acclima­ti­za­tion hike on our rest day on the 25^th when the earth­quake hit. Say­ing we were lucky is an understatement. 

The whole val­ley shook back and forth with build­ings in town sway­ing in a sur­re­al fash­ion like they were made of rub­ber despite their stone and wood con­struc­tion. We hap­pened to have just returned to our com­fort­able lodge, Camp de Base, so were well pro­tect­ed under the cir­cum­stances. Oth­er parts of town were hit much hard­er with old stone struc­tures crum­bling under the stress.

Nam­che Bazaar

Since then, we have been rid­ing out the after shocks and glean­ing infor­ma­tion from oth­er teams about the con­di­tion of the trail below and above. We have deter­mined it is now safe to descend so will be head­ing down to a low­er town near Luk­la tomorrow.

All mem­bers are doing well, are safe and healthy. We have only expe­ri­enced the minor bel­ly and head bugs that are com­mon with a for­eign expedition.

Our hearts go out to those that have suf­fered from this mas­sive cat­a­stro­phe, includ­ing some of our staff mem­bers who no longer have func­tion­al homes to go back to. 

We will keep you apprised of our descent and look for­ward to see­ing our loved ones again in the com­ing weeks.

~ Stew­art Wolfe, MM assis­tant guide