It's Getting Real

August 24-26

It’s just about “go time”!  The amount of gear necessary for an 8,000 meter peak expedition is amazing.  We’ll start the trek in 80 degree humid weather and summit day 5 weeks later could be 40 below.  The name of the game is layers for clothes, a huge pile of down jackets, parkas, summit suits and sleeping bags.  At one point on the climb, we may have gear spread out into three camps, so organization is important.

Trying to be as prepared and efficient as possible, I rigged our harnesses for fixed line ascending with backup repel devices.  With extreme exposure and the reality of needing to pass others on the route, having a second safety tether is mandatory.  This should meet the expedition leader’s requirements.

It took a solid 5 hours to pack everything up into four, less than 50# duffels, two carry-on roller bags and two daypacks.  It’s something like 300# for the two of us and the idea of getting it all safely to Kathmandu and most of it to base camp is daunting.

Kriss and I are traveling together with our climbing partner Matt and our good friend Ngima.  It’ll take 3 flights for us to travel to Kathmandu.  The long ones are Singapore Air and I’m looking forward to their high level of customer service.  The first one is Alaskan and thankfully they can check everything all the way through, so our burden is eased within 150 feet of unloading the truck. 

We’ve been planning this trip for 9 months, training for at least 6 months and now it’s a reality.  Excitement and anticipation battle with other emotions for each of us.  Our goal is established but the path will be learned along the way…


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