The last 48 hours have been quite the whirlwind, but I’m writing this from the comfort of the Pyramid 8000 Hotel penthouse in Lobuche on Friday 4 pm Nepal time. Thursday afternoon we trekked 3.5 miles from the town of Lobuche, Nepal to the base camp of Mt Lobuche, elevation 17,000 ft. After an early dinner I was in bed at 8 pm. My Alarm went off at 1 am and after gearing up and meeting back at the mess tent at 1:30 am for a bowl of oatmeal, we were off at 2 am with lights on and full gear - harness, helmet, ice axe, ascenders, carabiners and wind proof layers. Chirring and I climbed in the pitch black darkness up the steep winding snow, gravel, rock and mud trekking path until we hit deep snow after an hour. We stopped and and put on our ice crampons which give us great purchase in snow - ice conditions.
There were 40 other climbers and guides ahead and behind us. As we ascended the pitch - slope was so steep that fixed ropes were set up to assist climbers to navigate the dangerous uphill sections. That’s usually where the bottlenecks arise when climbing, because all it takes is one person on a rope line that’s not in shape or has little experience with an ascender and everything backs up. Except for my team because my guide Chhiring is an expert at speeding past this situation. We were tied together with a rope line connected to each others harnesses and we bypassed everyone on the rope line passing at least 20 climbers. This style of climbing is called “alpine style” it’s how we traveled over glaciers in Denali, Vinson and Elbrus (3 other mountains in Alaska, Antarctica and Russia).
4 1/2 hours later we were at the summit at 6:30 am and the views were indescribable. The actual top peak of the mountain is inaccessible but we were within 25 ft at close to 20,000 ft.
After filming a video (see below) honoring Hopecam 6th grade child Danica from Elk Creek MO, we turned around and descended the 3,000 ft back to camp by 9:30 am. The terrain at Mt Lobuche is very similar to Mt Everest and most people training for Everest climb Lobuche as prep for acclimatization.
Pyramid 8000 hotel - I’m in the top of the pyramid in a research room with a bed in it and a massive view.
It was physically demanding in every way possible - huge stamina - big demand on upper body strength on the rope lines - quad screaming descent of two hours downhill back to BaseCamp. But when we arrived at camp I pretty much collapsed for an hour with exhaustion in my tent. I was able to keep my hands warm with a new pair of arctic gloves I had purchased for the North Pole expedition. That was our first big challenge in the long list of prep for Everest.
Huge thanks to the BridgeBuilder Accounting team in Kansas City and Kevan Acord, owner for sponsoring the summit bid.
Today I honored Hopecam Child Danica, she is in 6th Grade and is treated at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
My Video Message to Hopecam Child Danica
LEN IS HONORING HOPECAM CHILD Danica TODAY. READ MORE ABOUT danica HERE!
Thank you to Bridgebuilder for your sponsorship and support so that we can connect more children fighting cancer.
View all of Hopecam’s Mt. Everest Sponsors here: Sponsors
BECOME A SPONSOR TODAY! Contact brett@hopecam.org
Thank You BridgeBuilder!
Stay tuned for more updates from Len! You can also follow Len on his Garmin to see his location here: Where is Len?