I will be traveling to the Khumbu region of Nepal at the base of Mt. Everest to volunteer to teach English to aspiring sherpas in a monastery near Phakding from August to September. Girls are not allowed to spend the night in the monastery. Dad & I will be living with a host family at the bottom of the steep hill that leads up to the monastery. Each day we will hike 45 minutes up the hill to reach the young monks who will be waiting for their English teachers.
As part of the adventure, we will also be trekking to Everest Base Camp and Kala Patthar at over 18,000 feet.
Hey, that's nice Mike -- very commendable. My wife's family did some charitable work in Nepal a few years back. The stories they told were mostly about how absolutely poor the population is there.
Hey Wow. I climbed Kala Patthar in about 1985. I had it signed by George Lowe... he died a few months ago... the last of the Everest 1953 team.
She will meet some really lovely people up there. One of my favorite counties in the world. Good on her. Both of them!
THEY SAY:
Driving in Nepal is similar to India. There are basically no rules. The center line if there is one is meaningless. Cows, dogs, monkeys, and grandmothers with babies on their back are all wandering the road without regard for insane traffic all around.
THEY SAY:
Driving in Nepal is similar to India. There are basically no rules. The center line if there is one is meaningless. Cows, dogs, monkeys, and grandmothers with babies on their back are all wandering the road without regard for insane traffic all around.
Should be a great experience for her. India/Nepal in 1984 was my first trip outside of the US and it was pretty eye-opening. It can't help but change a young person.
Quote from: Rupert on August 14, 2013, 11:47:49 AM
George Lowe... he died a few months ago... the last of the Everest 1953 team.
I was about to say, "but I was just talking to him in May and he climbed The Nose in June in 30 hours" (Lowe and Mallory were trying to be the oldest team to climb The Nose In A Day, aka NIAD)...
But you mean
- the George Lowe who was on Everest with Hillary in 1953... and not
- the George Lowe who was on Everest with Hillary in 1981,
but failed b/c of bad weather and went back in 1983 for the first ascent of the Kangshung Face and for whom the 3500 foot Lowe Buttress is named. He's only 69 and still alive and climbing
- http://www.everesthistory.com/climbers/georgelowe20031108.htm
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lowe_(mountaineer)
The 1st set
SEE MAP 1st
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay9rg-8gVxI
next pic
MM
Lovely pics :) Nepalies look as lovely as ever.
Sorry not to respond, I been in Wales in the Sun. 1000's on the top of Snowdon this Sunday. Amazing site.
I never realised there was a second George Lowe.... The elder George was a good friend of My Dads. He is the only one of my "Heros" I can say I have got to know.
It is 6:00am on Tuesday and we are awake and getting ready for the first day of our trek to Everest. We are super excited to start our journey and no longer is it just Kirsten and I on this trek, we have gathered a team now. Kirsten and myself are joined by Michiela from Melbourne, Australia. She will be hiking all the way to base camp with us. For those who have read the other posts, this is the friend Kirsten made her first day in Nepal. We have also invited Emma from Scotland and her boyfriend Jamie from England to join us and they will be with us until Namche Bazaar. We are lead by Jangbu and supported by two Sherpa porters who will be carrying our gear for the next two weeks.
You like the Pic, I have vids to share
http://kirstenmackin.com/?page_id=56
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ovq9Ih6-Iq8
Bunch of Photos here http://kirstenmackin.com/?page_id=54
Update:
We just hiked to the top of a ridge line to get a chance to peek at the big peak, but the cloud base is only at about 14,000 feet. We need it to be 15,000 feet higher. We are all feeling really good today at 11,500 feet. We are taking an acclimatization day here and plan to hike to Tengboche tomorrow.
Day 3
We are leaving Namche for Tengbuche today. Unfortunately, we must first descend down about 1000 feet and then gain back 2000 feet to end up at 12500. Namche has been fun. It is very interesting to see how a completely remote village operates as the center of all Himalayan business and life. It is even more amazing how they function with the hydroelectric plan offline for 3 months. No running water. No lights. There is a constant stream of porters hauling water up the hill to use for everything from cooking to flushing the toilet.
Adding Monks pic from a few days ago.
SHE WRITES "We made it to Base Camp!! The trek was more difficult and longer then we thought, the head cold made things harder. BUT WE MADE IT!!!"
about an hour ago ยท Like
Speaking of EBC @ 17,396 Feet = So Proud !
Monk PIC from earlier
Feb 2013