Trip Reports
Lorenz called in from the Plaza Argentina Base Camp at 4150m (13,600′) after the team carried loads to Camp 1 at right near 5000m (16,400′) earlier in the day. The mountain presented very challenging conditions for the team. It was very cold and they climbed into a fierce wind, making for a very tough day…
Today was essentially a rest day, but the team was very busy finalizing preparations for their push up the mountain. They gained a lot of elevation yesterday, climbing from 10,200′ to about 13,400′, so it makes sense to take a day to let their bodies catch up on acclimatization. Tomorrow, they will hike loads of…
Lorenz called in from the relative comfort of Base Camp, after a long day hiking up the Relinchos Valley. Today was the toughest day of the trip thus far, as they gained over 3000′ of elevation as they hiked about seven miles from their camp at Casa De Piedra. The morning started with a crossing…
Jack Strickland called in from the second camp on the hike into Base Camp, a spot known as Casa de Piedra, so named for a rock hut that was constructed long ago by herders and, quite possibly, smugglers. Today’s hike was another eight mile day up the Vacas Valley, following the east bank of the…
‘Tis the season!! The season to climb the highest peak in South America! Jack Strickland of Texas and Lorenz Scheiwiller from Switzerland are headed up the deep and impressive Vacas Valley in the company of our long-time guide Fermin Avila. The team arrived in the tranquil and beautiful city of Mendoza a couple of days…
The team is back in Namche tonight, and continuing to Lukla in the morning. They’ve had a great trip and the weather, which started off a bit rough, turned around and was nice when they needed it. Here’s Ross with the evening audio dispatch from our team in Namche: recording
Jerry Bays called in with the audio expedition dispatch from our Island Peak climbing team. They are back down in the relatively low thick air of Deboche tonight staying in a really nice lodge and enjoying a bit of relaxation after a successful summit of Island Peak. They’ve had a great expedition so far and…
The team summited Island Peak (Ijma Tse, 20,305 ft) today! It was a big day and they got up long before the sunrise to begin the climb. It looks like they had a beautiful day, after some pretty rough weather for most of the trek, so it got nice when they needed it! They descended…
Mountain Trip guide Jacob Schmitz sent in an update on the Island Peak expedition, who has split from the Everest Base Camp trekkers to head on to their primary goal, summiting Island Peak. Jacob emailed: “We woke up at 4am and made it to the summit of Kalapattar 18,900′. Everyone did good. We got an…
They trekked up to Everest Base Camp (EBC) today from the village of Gorak Shep. Gorak Shep is the highest village on the trek at 16,950 ft just off of the Khumbu Glacier. The temperatures drop the higher they get, and nights can definitely be chilly up high in the Himalayas. It’s a 2-3 hour…