Have stayed mum about the recent earthquake tragedy in Nepal – and my planned Everest excursion this August. For now, all’s still a go – Spring season is closed but Fall climb season remains hopeful.
More than 9,000 Nepali people have perished in the Apr 25th & May 12th earthquakes – literally, hundreds of thousands of people are displaced, sleeping outdoors. People are fighting for survival, yet I am climbing a mountain? Mighty self serving, huh.
Everest Base Camp a ‘War Zone’ After Earthquake Triggers Avalanches
The local climbing team reached out before the 2nd earthquake (a 7.4 aftershock), asking folks not to cancel – that the country would need economic dollars. Mentally though I remain conflicted.
we are in need of your support now more than ever! As things are slowly getting back to normal and people resuming their daily lifestyle, you can help us by coming to Nepal, visiting us and boost the morale of this devastated nation. In this time of need, we urge you to help us rebuild our nation from this disaster. We would like to assure you that our services will not be compromised and there shall be no hindrance while operating the trips.
We look forward to your support to Nepal and its people.
Visited the American Mountaineering Museum last night in Golden.
Attended a Nepal Relief benefit, hosted by a local Sherpa living in Boulder. Many Coloradoans have visited Nepal – and those of us who haven’t, feel a connection because of common geography & our love of high peaks.
Pemba Sherpa will travel to his hometown, Sengma in mid-June. His goal to build 200 homes at a cost of $1,000/home before heavy winter weather hits in November – puts it all into perspective, huh.
If you can donate, Pemba Sherpa’s details are: www.youcaring.com/boulderpemba
100% of your contributions to this campaign will go to helping the people of Nepal whose lives have been devastated by this recent disaster. As we all know, Nepal and its people have been rocked by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake, which had left thousands upon thousands sleeping in the streets, country wide blackouts, and over 5000 dead. Please, donate what you can and you can rest assured that your entire contribution will be brought to Nepal by me personally when I travel there in June to support the relief efforts.
There are many ways to help. I have personally supported the following 2 immediate-need operations.
To support our fundraising efforts via GoFundMe.com, please click on the following link: https://www.gofundme.com/t95dm85d
Finally, as you can imagine our recovery will require the efforts of a lot of people. We are also asking for volunteers to help us in Nepal. If any of you or someone you know are interested in volunteering in Nepal please contact us at sagar@himalayanglacier.com
WE’RE BETTER TOGETHER
We are humbled by our members’ overwhelming response and the collective power of the co-op. In just 24 hours, over 4,500 of you donated more than $350,000 to help the people of Nepal. This unprecedented level of support is indicative of the strong connection our members have to the people of this area.
If you want to share with others, here’s how to get involved: SUPPORT NEPAL RELIEF EFFORTS
Jerry Stritzke, REI President and CEO
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- Golden, CO
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- Mt Everest — still a go…for now
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- Everest model – AMAZING! Hoping to take route depicted on the right.
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- Pete Schoening saved 5 climbers with this axe in 1953
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- [Buddhist] Prayer Wheel: ‘Om Mani Padme Hum’
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- Boulder’s Pemba Sherpa requests help in rebuilding his hometown Sengma, Nepal
Kilian Jornet
“Nepal will climb now one of the most difficult mountains, and we, this time, must be their porters”
We are back home, Jordi Tosas and me have been almost 20 days in Nepal, changing the plans from climbing to helping the people who has been giving so much to all alpinists. We arrived at Kathmandu 2 days after the earthquake, expecting a big destruction on the city as we saw on the medias. Kathmandu was (is) not collapsed, just a few located buildings. After a week the life on streets was “normal”.
Jordi has been many (28) times on Nepal and has many friends on Langtang area, so we were going straight there. The destruction there is huge, the valley did not exist as it was anymore. Big landslides and avalanches collapsed the valley and all the people there. The dimensions of the avalanche on the upper valley are not human, not even on a science fiction film. We was reporting identities and finding persons. After that we meet people from ACTED association and we join them to run on remote villages in Ganesh and Tamang areas asking their needs and making the trails destroyed, and giving after food and shelters. Last days we saw the help has been well expanded, many associations are working really hardly to give food and shelters to all the country, after a few weeks where the corruption and slow decisions of Nepali government was slowing down the help. In Kathmandu we had a last earthquake that make more fear to the population.
Now Nepal need help, mostly on remote areas to get shelter before the monsoon that is coming soon. Many ONG are on place giving the help on the moment, and it is important to help them, they are many good options. But it will be really important to continue traveling there, to impulse the local economy and reconstruct the trails and villages and give the continuity and money they will need to survive from tourism.
Nepal is a poor country, many people is living with nothing and after the earthquake on many mountain areas they lose everything. But the smile was always on the their faces, Nepali people have a incredible capacity to fight problems, to be positive and strong on the pain, to find the happiness on the small cracks. We was going there to help them and they help us with their friendly reception, with their smile and shearing all they have.
Namasté
With so much marathoning in 2015, no worry folks – eye’s still on the prize: Everest.
Been actively hill training since December – improving mental & physical strength, increasing lung capacity. Additionally, HUGE thanks to my Colorado tribe who’ve been feeding advice, news articles & contacts on everything Everest since early January.
Good to live at 5,300ft – in 5 months, I’ll be sleeping at 20,000ft 🙂
Nepali 101
Hello namaste
Good luck (& toast) subhakamana
Thank you dhanyabad
Help! sahayao garnus
Where’s the toilet? sauchalaya kata chha
Welcome swagatam
Carole’s teaching this semester so she will be easy to reach. I talked to her about you, so she’s aware you will be reaching out. I think I told you – but she is one of the premier Tibetan scholars, and has spent a lot of time in Nepal…including very recently. She’s an anthropologist, so she can talk to you about pretty much any questions you have: food, culture, etiquette, political situations you may want to be aware of, Sherpas (I’m pretty sure she knows a few personally), knowledge of the mountain (to a small degree). Definitely utilize her as a resource, I cannot speak too highly of her!!
Everest: Reroute Through Khumbu Icefall for the 2015 Climbing Season
In wake of the tragic 2014 season, which killed 16 Sherpa guides in the most deadly single accident in Everest history, the Nepali government has decided to change the established route through the Khumbu Icefall for the spring climbing season of 2015.
The Khumbu Icefall is considered the most difficult section of the South Col route up Everest. The icefall is located at the bottom of the Khumbu glacier, where the glacier passes over a series of cliffs, causing it to break into massive ice blocks, riddled with crevasses. To make matters worse, the terrain is constantly changing—seracs collapsing and new crevasses forming—as the glacier flows downhill.
Since the 1990s, the path through the Khumbu Icefall connecting Base Camp (17,500 feet) to Camp 1 (19,500 feet)—which consists of fixed ropes and ladders—has weaved its way through the maze of ice along the “western shoulder” of the icefall, taking an easier variation than the more direct, original route. But due to environmental changes causing increased avalanche danger, and the Sherpa strike after last year’s fatal avalanche, ropes and ladders will now return to the original route in hopes of improved safety.
The original route is relatively more technical and time consuming than the western shoulder, but is more stable and further away from the probable path of falling debris from overhanging glaciers above the western edge of the icefall.
Throughout a typical climbing season, a porter might pass through the icefall 30-40 times, increasing his time under the seracs and therefore risk of being caught in an avalanche. According to BBC, nearly 40 climbers, most from the Sherpa community, have been killed in the Khumbu Icefall alone, and both Nepali and foreign expedition operators welcome the change.
trekking Everest
I’ll save you a seat!
My marathoner pal Stacy is the best – thanks! I’m not a huge fan of driving into Denver – especially during rush hour – but the chance to watch Polar Explorer (& Everest summiter), Eric Larsen LIVE was worth leaving the Boulder bubble.
Intention was to educate myself on everything Everest, I left with polar exploration on the brain.
Someday, maybe…you never know 🙂
Denver REI — Colder: Adventure and Inspiration from Everest & the Poles
- Date: 1/12/2015
- Time: 6:30 – 8:00 PM MST
- Presenter: Eric Larsen
- Group Size: 120
Polar adventurer, Eric Larsen, shares stories from two decades of extreme expeditions. Hear stories about months on the Arctic Ocean, perilous conditions, Polar Bears, avalanches, and much more. Eric will also share anecdotes from his recent unsupported speed record expedition to the Geographic North Pole called Last North.
To date, Eric has completed more polar expeditions than any other American in history. Included in that list are the first ever summer expedition to the North Pole as well as a world record expedition to the South Pole, North Pole and top of Mt. Everest all within a 365-day period.
https://www.ericlarsenexplore.com/
