I haven't been able to train for Mt. Kilimanjaro for a while now. Life has continued to be very very busy!
Still adjusting to my new job, 90 mile RT commute (at least now I'm part of a vanpool - I highly recommend it!), family weddings, and PADI scuba certification!
Here are some pics from my first open water boat dive. I finished my PADI certification with a beach shore dive yesterday but it wasn't very practical to bring my phone/camera.
The boat dive was my first open water experience. I was a little nervous but I seemed to do well and passed all the tests. They're not overly difficult. The main thing is to always breathe and don't freak out.
The boat dives are extra (I paid $115). they are an awesome luxury. I wish I could've done both my dives with the boat but that was just an extra $230 I could spend on gear or something. If you have back issues or other serious physical problems, I would recommend it because I was carrying almost 50% of my weight on my back. It was HARD! I had to walk a few blocks and several flights of stairs.
On a boat dive, they bring everything for you, help you put on all the gear, and have snacks and food for you in between dives.
I went with Beach Cities Scuba from their groupon/living social deal ($200). I'm pretty happy with it! I bought my scuba gear from Sports Chalet with the help of my boyfriend. I saved some money and got the gear quality I want.
I highly recommend everybody at least trying it. It's pretty amazing being able to breathe underwater and watching fishes swim up to you in curiosity. I wish I had an underwater camera but I will post pics when I go recreationally :)
We are 12 weeks away from Mt. Kilimanjaro. Here is what I am going to do for training.
Week #
Week
Hike
1
21-Oct
6-8 Mile local hike
2
28-Oct
Mt. Baldy, 10,064 feet
3
4-Nov
Recover
4
11-Nov
6-8 Mile local hike
5
18-Nov
Recover
6
25-Nov
San Jacinto Peak (10,834) or San Gorgonio (11,503)
7
2-Dec
Recover
8
9-Dec
6-8 Mile local hike
9
16-Dec
Rest
10
23-Dec
6-8 Mile local hike
11
30-Dec
Rest
12
6-Jan
Rest
Aside from hiking, I will also run (with the training mask), swim, yoga, and work on the elliptical machine at my work gym. Unfortunately, my 10 year relationship with LA Fitness ended last week so I don't have access to a stair climber anymore. It'll only be real stairs from now on.
For my Everest trip, I had no time to train. I'm not too worried this time since I have been relatively active.
It's been a while and we are now less than 3 months away from our Mt. Kilimanjaro trip. I haven't had much time to train since changing jobs and driving a terrible 3hour commute every day to work.
I have to admit I've been an lethargic on the weekends after fighting traffic all week + learning the ropes of the new job. It's going to change now. I am going to start hiking at least every other weekend.
I went hiking with my friend who will be joining me on Mt. Kilimanjaro. We went for a 6 mile hike at Crystal Cove in Newport Beach, CA.
I wore my EBC (Everest Base Camp) boots by Oboz. Even though I pretty much broke them in IN Nepal, I figured I should get used to it again. My feet were fine but I feel like I have a bruise on my ankle where the upper part of the boots constantly rubbed onto my ankle. My calves were sore the next day but that could be from the serious ascent on the "Cut Across" trail. It was a pure uphill battle.
I track my work-outs with Endomondo. It used to be called something else and then Endomondo bought them out. Out of all the activity tracking apps, I like this one the best. It tells you the distance, avg. speed, calories burned and it also tells you elevation.
I used the "walking" category because I like to underestimate my calories burned. The Hiking category might include additional weight - or maybe that's myfitnesspal. We definitely did more than "walk" - as you can see the almost 1000 feet gain.
If you're interested in my other workouts (mostly private), please contact me and we can be friends on Endomondo.
In the next weekend or two, the three of us will be doing Mt. Baldy or another mountain with a high altitude (for socal). We will all be using a high altitude training mask! I should be receiving this week by mail. Stay tuned!
Welcome to the final Nepal post! I will keep this short and simple with lots of pics. If you have any specific questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at miniglobetrekker@gmail.com :)
After we left Lobuche, we started our trek up. This was the first time I saw ice/snow on the ground. We arrived at Base Camp around mid/late March. It was cold but not so cold that you need super thermal gear. The walking keeps you warm but do as your outfitters tell you :)
There is our first sighting of base camp! From a very far distance, we can see the tiny little yellow tents (and when you arrive, they are HUGE tents that fit, what seems like 30-50 people!). I had my music turned up and was dancing my way to base camp. I was beyond ecstatic.
OK - Here is one of the most amazing moments of my trip. I met Phurba Tashi. He is the main sherpa for Russell Brice's Himalayan Experience Ltd. They are featured on the Discovery channel show: Everest: Beyond the Limit. There he is in the picture below! This man is a legend. He's summitted Mount Everest 20+ times and that's just what's officially recorded when he guides. He's gone way more than that to fix and maintain the climbing equipment.
Our guide, Thupten and Phurba are cousins! so it was so hilarious when Thupten called Phurba on his cell phone to ask if he was free to meet us! Cell phones, up at almost 18k feet above sea levels. Cell phones, where there are no flushing toilets!!!
I didn't have anything easy that Phurba could autograph so he autographed my pink jacket shell I'm wearing!
It's so amazing when you see all this stuff up here and realize that it was either a fellow human or a yak that carried it up here by foot. Helicopters do not fly to this altitude. There is no machinery that can bring this stuff up. It's 100% manual hard work.
It actually makes me sad to hear stories where an expeditioner wanted to bring their superfluous luxury items up and it's these poor sherpas or yaks that have to carry it. I guess they realize they're "paying" for the service and take advantage of it :|
Here are the cousins!!!
More yak traffic... more expedition yaks bringing climber's stuffs!
Here is an awesome photo of my team mate Deborah. There aren't much colors up at base camp so her bright green jacket contrasts so nicely against the drear. Also, this pic shows how harsh the terrain can be. It's not easy trekking through these mountains over big boulders and trying to keep your balance.
Another example of the amazing sherpas carrying probably a hundred pound of weight. I forgot what the weight restriction is but there is one for people and yaks :)
KALA PATTHAR
As if 17,500 feet wasn't high up enough, the next morning, a few of us woke up at 5am to start our trek up to Kala Patthar at 18,195 feet. I can tell you, it was the most miserable experience of my life. I never felt so much pain and hardship trekking up ONE mountain. It was freezing, my fingers and toes were going numb. I couldn't breathe so every step, every breath was hard. It was so steep that at MULTIPLE times, I wanted to turn back. I kept thinking, this isn't worth the pain...and I have a pretty high threshold for pain folks (ask me about my personal life one of these days). Our head sherpa, "Mr. K" and my team mate, Tim were so encouraging to not give up so I trekked on.
I can't remember how long it took us but it was somewhere between 3-5 hours to summit. It was miserable but so rewarding. Like most things in life (at least my life), it doesn't come easy and you have to fight for it. When you do, you're left with the reward and not so much the pain it that it took to achieve it.
I felt terrible for complaining about how hard it was. Poor Nuri not only carried some of our stuff when I couldn't even hold my dang water bottle anymore, he carried the group's tea and biscuits for us to eat!!! I swear these Sherpas are about the most amazing people on this planet.
Here is one view of what the climb looked like. I took this picture coming down. There was no way I could pull out my camera in the early freezing morning on our way up.
Here is the clearest view of Mount. Everest! It's the one with the cloud cover.
That's the end of my trek. We had a celebratory dinner and dance back at the Lukla lodge we stayed in our first night. It was so incredible to shower and wear clean clothes (luckily, I saved some clean clothes!). We drank their alcohol that was poured out of an old motor oil bottle. It was good times :)
We flew back to Kathmandu the next day through the Lukla airport. I got some good sleep. Had to get up early for an interview with REI :-O
Note: there are some helicopter rescues up to a certain altitude. We witnessed a couple throughout our trek.
hey everybody! apologies for the delay in finishing up the final Mt. Everest Base Camp blog!
There have been lots of big changes happening! First, my brother got married!
Ring boy went down!
On the same day, I gave my two weeks notice/resignation letter to the company I have worked for 8+ years! It's a huge change for me because it's been 80% of my post-college career.
It's a very stressful and demanding career with 80% travel required. I'm opting for a more simpler life without the travel.
So apologies again for not getting the EBC pics up soon enough! The next two weeks will be crazy wrapping things up but I will get cracking on it soon!
In the meantime, I haven't been working out very much. I've been doing some boot camp style workouts at Fit Body Boot Camp. It's pretty killer but I haven't done much hiking.
Welcome back! This post will cover most of the trekking uphill. The next post will be Mt. Everest Base Camp.
Namche Bazaar
Thupten was kind enough to invite us inside his home when he's not trekking all over Nepal with REI folks. Thupten's father was also a trekking guide. His father won a medal for saving an American's life back in the 60's. They flew his father out to the US and I think Kennedy awarded him this medal.
Hand painted room by Thupten himself, 15 yr Monk
The REI Sherpa staff are so wonderful. They're so service oriented without a single complaint
The sherpas served us 4-5 meals a day, Breakfast, Lunch, Tea, Dinner every day.
The cooks even made us pizza with some pot-stickers and green beans. It tasted heavenly to be, not only be 7,000 miles away in another country but 13,000 feet above sea level and to have pizza.
They don't eat cows or have cows up here so it was "Yak Cheese" :D
Unfortunately, our filmography/camera man got sick due to having soup at a restaurant outside the REI cook's staff. Now, I think this is an important factor when choosing your outfitter. REI knows the trekkers are westerners and cook the food for westerners. They know that food made by Nepalese for the Nepalese might not sit well with westerners that are not used to the food yet. So, to be safe, don't eat other than what the cooks make for you. , .
The amazing Renzi had to carry one of our crew's pack bag down to a lower altitude
A scenic moment. Steep drop off, eh?
Here we are at 3,975 m or 13,041 feet above sea level. Even though we sat down at a restaurant, the REI staff cooked our meals.
Just a really cute Nepalese boy enjoying his meal. I don't know what it is about this country but all the children are really adorable. They all have such rosy cheeks. Unfortunately, rosy cheeks usually means they've been wind-burned :(
Another fine meal cooked by the REI cooks :)
This was an incredibly hard day. I don't know if I was just exhausted or if the elevation gain was VERY high or the weather made the atmosphere kind of dreary but it was just SO hard. Unfortunately for my fellow trekker, he caught a case of traveler's diarrhea. I think the only remedy was to take the antibiotics they require you to bring and to let it pass.
If anybody has watched Everest: Beyond the Limit (I watched it on netflix), you will know the name Russell Brice. I won't go into details other than you should watch it ESPECIALLY if you are planning to do the trek to base camp or everest itself. Well, we ran into the expedition yaks transporting the goods to go to Russell Brice's Himalayan Experience!!!!
Here's a Baby Yak. SO cute :)
Aw yeah! We got to see the hand of a yeti!
We passed by some Nepalese kids on our way trekking. I could imagine these kids were probably laughing at us with our big boots and trekking poles when they do this walk every day twice to go to school and back :P
Once in a lifetime trek for me, every day walking commute for these days :D
More baby yaks! :)
Helicopter rescue! At a certain altitude, helicopters won't be able to do any rescues. the injured trekker will have to descend by foot (or horse) as soon as possible.
The sherpas taught us a card game. Unfortunately for me, I have no aptitude for card games. I forget the names and forget how it was played i can tell you everybody had fun but don't remember anything else :(
Scott Fischer's memorial. I highly recommend reading "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer. It's a Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster is a 1997that claimed 11 lives.
Here we are in Lobuche. The last "city" before we hit the base camp. Everybody stays in this area before they ascend for base camp and Kala Patthar. It was COLD AS hell! Being a native southern california, I am not used to temperatures below 60. so... seeing 22 Fahrenheit with my own eyes was just baffling. My hands felt like they going to be frostbitten.
Mr. Nuri serving our dinner. I managed to crack a smile despite being FREEZING cold. When REI tells you to bring a down jacket, you best bring one! :)
Thanks to Diamox, I got up to pee in the middle of the night about every night since I started taking it at 14,000 feet. I really wanted to try to go the whole thing without but one of the trekkers played some joke on someone that startled me and started a series of head clamped massive headaches. Our guide said I should definitely start on the Diamox so I took his advice. Glad I did because other than having to pee a lot (because I was also drinking a lot of water), I made it strong to base camp.
I originally intended to keep this as one blog but because of all the photos and the amount of time it takes to actually write something, I have ONE more part... Base Camp of Mount Everest itself.
Till next time.
Intro
Since I couldn't remember the day by day details, I tried to fit the whole 21 days in one post but it takes too long so there will be a part 3. I'll try to minimize the writing and highlight notable photos with short commentaries :) If you do have any specific questions, please feel free to email me at miniglobetrekker@gmail.com
If you do want day by day details from another trekker's perspective, check out my friend's blog who was the other winner in the REI contest.
http://tsouzaadventures.blogspot.com/
Kathmandu - Densely Populated
Kathmandu has INSANE driving conditions. I have been to Brazil and Peru so I wasn't too phased by the crazy driving conditions of Kathmandu. But I was not happy about not being able to breathe the air freely. All the vehicles spew out terrible exhaust fumes.
Did I tell you that I won this trip from REI? Along with that and 5 other contest winners, they sent the coolest film producer, Paul to film us. We are going to be famous! :D
We took a tour around the city for a couple of days. It was busy with residents, vendors, and tourists. The picture below is of Thamel, a popular city before trekking off to the Himalayan mountains.We ate the restaurants here. You can get "western" food in popular restaurants.
We also visited a thangka school/shop. I bought one (medium intricacy) :-O Wasn't cheap but I love it. I think it's common for tours to include these schools/shops (we also visited a rug making that held refugees from Tibet). I always the slight pressure to purchase something but remember you don't have to. BUT if you wanted souvenirs or gifts to bring back, why not buy something handmade before your eyes, that helps out the local community.
The basic infrastructure in Kathmandu is not the best. This is common scene with most third world countries though. It's just amazing how they make it all work.
We also visited some other various popular parts of Kathmandu but the pics were boring. I know you're more interested in the actual trek.
Here we are at Monkey temple. Monkeys just "monkeying" around the temple :P
Flight to Lukla
We met Thupten, our guide the day before and went over logistics. We woke up SUPER early the next day to catch our domestic flight from KTM to Lukla. It must have been 4am or something ridiculous like that. There wasn't even any sun by the time we got to the airport. Feel my coffee-less pain?
Wonder how we eat on the trail? Here's all our food for the next 15 days! thankfully, the REI Nepalese guides/cooks don't resort to local game (except for yak) when they run out of food.
No Pictures allowed inside the airport - I risked my life to take this photo! :P
You will have to get on the tiniest plane in the world. I flew on a Dornier Do 228. The planes aren't dangerous themselves. The runway is super short, at high altitude, and surrounded by mountains. There is a flight attendant to greet you but it was really funny because she while she's handing you the mint and cotton to stuff in your ear, she has to tilt her head totally sideways to not hit the roof of the plane.
Taking from Lukla Airport (take off doesn't take very long)
Lukla - 9,383' (2,860 m)
Once you arrive at Lukla, you'll stay at a hotel/hostel (if this is an
REI trip, not sure what other outfitters provide).
You can see right off the bat these amazing porters carrying 100+lb packs on their backs
It's the first night
you meet you will meet the porters and cooks. And your first cooked
meal :)
Get some rest on the nice beds because it'll be the last for the next 15 days! :P
We had some fun watching the planes and helicopter land and take-off. Our hotel was literally right next to the airport landing strip.
Not to worry if you are feigning some Starbucks coffee ;)
Official Start of the Trek - Very cool spot to take your photo
The Mt. Everest Welcome Arch :)
The first suspension bridge (and not your last!)
What an amazing view from the bridge of the river and prayer flags.
Here is our camp setup. Since nobody came together, girls stayed with girls and the boys stayed with boys. There are 2 people max in each tent. I got really lucky being the odd number of girls. I didn't have to share my tent with anybody else. One of the boys got lucky too. He was supposed to tent with the Film/Photographer but since he had so much video/camera gear to store in the tent, the other guy got his own. Future trekkers, please don't sing your own tunes. Nobody else wants to listen.
Next Day - Another bridge crossing
We've reached the visitor's center, Sagarmantha National Park. You'll see miniature versions of all the mountains you will be crossing. In Nepal, Mount Everest is called Sagarmatha. The Tibetans call Mount Everest, Chomolungma. You can use the bathrooms here too! They are still squatty potties.
Yet another bridge to cross
and the Yaks have to cross too - same bridge :)
Here was our first cooked lunch of the day! It was a sandwich toast (can't remember what it was filled with), some potatoes and veggies. The sauce you see over the rice is dal bhat (cooked lentils) which is the staple of Nepalese food. You can have it on every meal if you'd like because the cooks will cook it for themselves and the rest of the team. But you can also politely refuse it if you start to get sick of it.
Here we cross the world famous Sir Edmund Hillary Bridge! It's the HIGHEST bridge. But check out this amazing sherpa carrying probably the weight of his body in hay.
He catches up so quickly to the hikers that are in full gear and light packs. I swear these sherpas are some hard working amazing people. They are so humble.
This guy is catching up quick! It's like the hikers haven't even moved!
Here is proof that we are being filmed! You might be able to catch this clip on REI.
and then go to REI.com/adventures http://www.rei.com/adventures/trips/asia/mount-everest-base-camp-trek.html#sec4 Namche Bazaar - what a beautiful sight! This is your primary stop check out the internet cafe/check email/facebook, drink a beer, buy some souvenirs or gifts. I don't recommend buying gifts just yet because you'd either have to lug it with you or store it some place. You will come back to this city after you're finished so no worries. Some of the internet cafes provide a wifi access with computer time. So you can "Check in" in Namche Bazaar. I did. So cool :)
Our very yummy dinner. Pasta with sauce, cole slaw and some fried chicken. I always got 2nds so if this looks small, don't worry. You may end up consuming 5000 calories but you will probably burn as much, if not more. YES it is an EXCELLENT way to lose inches off your tummy without even trying. I ate EVERYTHING and everything twice but I still lost weight that I could not shed for the life of me. Base camp to the tallest peak in the world, beautiful sights, amazing culture, and some weight loss? WIN for all!
Here is our first group trail photo. As you can see, some people are dressed very warmly and some are dressed for summer. At this "lower altitude" of 12k feet, the temperature is warmer. But the sun beats down on you. I wore long sleeves the entire trip for that reason. Speaking of clothing... (I will need to go back to post one and revise with this info) Nepal is a Buddhist religious country. They are very conservative. We were warned not to wear bare shoulder clothing or shorts above the knee. Look - I'm not in America. I'm in someone else's country and I really want to respect their culture and their ways. Please respect your guide's hike attire wishes. If they ask you do not wear spaghetti tank tops and short shorts, please don't. you will save your skin from the sun actually!
For the first time in my life, here I am looking at the tallest peak in the world
Everest 101
These volleyballers are hardcore. Doing this at 12,730 (or 3880 meters) is not easy! This was taken at the Mount Everest Hotel.
On this particular day, we didn't go anywhere but got ourselves acclimatized. You will have a few days of going up thousands of feet to get your body acclimated and then come back down. You will other days of just going up and up.
The descents can be brutal so bring your trekking poles!
I wanted to complete my Mt. Everest Base Camp trip in one post but it's taken forever just to get this up. My work schedule is crazy!
Stay Tuned for the final chapter of Mount Everest!
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