The Island Peak climbers, David and Alisha, left base camp yesterday with Dawa Sherpa on their way to Dingboche, and after a night at our favorite lodge, the Snow Lion, they’ll head up to the Island Peak base camp.

Scott and Jacob have been spending their time settling in to base camp and acclimating to their 17,000 ft home before heading higher up the mountain.   They’ve practiced climbing ladders and are moving through the ice with their crampons on, so they should be pretty efficient by the time they are ready to move up to Camp 1 in a couple of days.

Jacob, Scott, and DaOngchhu at the Mountain Trip Everest Base Camp

The Mountain Trip Team having their Puja Ceremony on a snowy morning at Everest BC

Our Sherpa team is carrying loads up to Camp 1 and Camp 2 today to establish those camps for the climbers.  Tomorrow is the 1 year anniversary of the avalanche that claimed the lives of 16 Sherpa guides last season, so it will be a day to remember and our team will not be climbing tomorrow.

The route is established through the icefall and has been getting plenty of traffic by the early teams already.  There are more ladders and the terrain is slightly more technical this season as the route has moved out to the middle of the icefall a bit in an effort to avoid the more avalanche prone areas on the climbers left under the W. Shoulder of Everest.

Here’s a great image of the route and a comparison between where it has been in previous years.