We Are Going to the Himalayas!

Words cannot truly express how exciting it is to type those words. We. Are. Going. To. The. Himalayas.

The Himalayas are a natural obsession of every mountaineer, beginning or advanced,  and a long time dream of mine. The Himalayas are home to the tallest mountains in the world and some of the most breathtaking scenery on earth. I simply cannot wait to see Everest, Ama Dablam, Lhotse, and so many other famous vistas with my own eyes.

Lobuche Peak

We will be climbing in the Spring of 2016 with International Mountain Guides on summit climbs of Lobuche East and Goyko Ri. The tallest of these mountains - Lobuche - is classified by Nepal as a 'Trekking Peak' which is a bit of a deceptive term. This term does not imply anything but elevation - a trekking peak is any mountain requiring true mountaineering skills and under 7,000 meters or 22,970 ft in elevation. Other well known peaks such as Island Peak, Mera, and Tent Peak are also included in this category. These are certainly smaller than their over 7,000 meter cousins but are serious mountains in their own right.

Everest Region - Lobuche Marked by Green Dot

Both of these mountains are located in the Khumbu region of Nepal right next store to Everest. We will be traveling into the Khumbu region following the traditional counter-clockwise route from Lukla to Everest Base Camp. Our travel companions for the first leg of the journey will be the first wave of Everest climbers on the Classic Climb Western Guided option. The journey up from Lukla will take almost two weeks, with three acclimatization days at Everest Base Camp, before pushing on to the Lobuche summit attempt five days later. The journey will next take us to Goyko Ri after bidding farewell and good luck to the Everest climbers. We will be in Nepal for a month total.

The climb of Lobuche is a technical climb requiring the use of fixed lines, crampons, and ice axes to reach the false summit at approximately 300 ft lower than the true summit at 20,075 ft. The continuation from the false summit to the true summit requires a high degree of technical climbing, including 2000+ ft of rappelling, in an area of very high exposure. I will be quite content with the false summit objective. An amazing video of the view from the summit has been uploaded here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTee4r5rnT0

Lobuche Summit View of Everest Massif

I will be blogging more frequently as we prepare for this journey. I will do my best to cover the topics of training, gear, health preparations, and other considerations for a journey of this scope. We have already encountered a few surprises not covered in other information sources.

As a side note, we also had the pleasure of climbing Mt. Rainier with IMG in the summer of 2015 and are proud to be journeying with them again. The IMG team provides amazing support, top notch guides, and top-notch skills training in the mountains. It is incredibly important to know that you are in good hands when you are up high.

Other Online Sources on Himalayan Climbing:

Alan Arnette - Top Notch: http://www.alanarnette.com
Mark Horrell - Great Insight Into the Overall Climbing Environment: http://www.markhorrell.com
Paul Pottinger - Account of 2015 Everest Climb: http://pottinger.net/osm/