Camp 2 to EBC — Hopecam

The winds howled all night and the temps plummeted below zero which made a very tough 5:30 am meet up at the main tent dome at Camp 2. Getting dressed and motivated to get moving and my hands would not cooperate- fingers were frozen solid. Since I had already frostbitten several digits in Alaska a few years ago, including losing about half the tissue on my index finger, my hands were extra sensitive to being cold. Plus the kitchen staff were asleep and we had NO hot water to fill our thermoses. Thankfully Chhiring woke up a cook and by 6 am we had hot water for tea. Departed at 6:15 am, we descended the trail filled with 7” of hot liquid.

As I trekked downward through foot deep snow, I swung my arms in a windmill motion to force blood into the finger tips while descending to warm them up. It’s like trying to tap dance and chew gum at the same time. Well an hour later we approached Camp 1 and grabbed some hot tea in the tent shelter dug into the ice. After a quick bowl of corn flakes we set off to tackle the daylight descent of the Khumbu Ice Fall.

From memory I recalled that we would be descending 2,500 ft to get to EBC, but there was 700’ of uphill due to the circuitous path. Also the Ice Fall moves 3 ft every day as the temps get warmer so we were racing against the clock. The first obstacles were four ice cliffs that we need to repel downward between 25 and 60 ft. Second we’re a series of 10+ ladders that we needed to cross over carefully and that spanned huge and small crevasses. One ladder was 25 ft sloping downward - quite a challenge. I tried to keep pace with Chhiring but failed when we hit a 30 ft rope line that we “down climbed” -and 1/2 way down I lost my footing and hit hard against the ice walls.

I finally reached Everest Base Camp at 10:45 am, unloaded, showered and grabbed lunch. The chopper picked us up at 1:30 pm and then landed in the small village of Pheriche, about 10 miles down valley. We waited for a second chopper to take us to Lukla before heading on to Kathmandu. My 14 peaks bright yellow duffel bag was piled into a stack of a dozen other bags being loaded onto other choppers. I was told not to worry because ALL bags were being sent to Lukla and they would get there before us. Until one chopper lifted off and headed in the opposite direction back to base camp - and it had my bag! I shouted to Chirring and he made a stink about it. Within the hour the first pilot that dropped us off picked us up to fly to Lukla. We finally were flown from Lukla to Kathmandu and eventually my bag was delivered after supper.

I’ll stay here in Kathmandu and shake off my head cold and Khumbu cough for 4-5 days and watch the weather report for signs that the weather will cooperate for a summit chance.

I have internet again, and here are photos of the last few days. Thank you to Nina Toups who sponsored our journey today and to all the donations and support from everyone, we are at 38% of our $1 million goal. Today I honored Hopecam Child Britney, from Elcampo, TX. She is treated at the Texas Children’s Hospital and is in Grade 4.