We have just arrived at Tengboche and settled into a comfy Tea House - the Hotel Himalayan, right opposite the Tengboche Temple. We are at 3867 metres now. A brief visit to the very ornate and historic temple - check out the photo, and then an expedition blessing ceremony by one of the Monks at the tea house - Gazza reckons he’s now coming to the Everest summit he’s so blessed. Unfortunately we had news for him - sorry Gazza, the news is bad.
The hike to Tengboche was mostly down hill for the first few hours but…….yep you guessed it - from then there was an extremely steep climb up to the temple And our accommodation for the night. I really thought Joe might struggle but what a champion - he slogged it out and before you know it he was drinking coffee at the Hotel Himalayan. Apple crumble was good too. (I do prefer Jetz Cafe Berry apple crumple though Elle).
A couple of days prior in Namche Bazaar acclimatising at 3400metres altitude, was quite relaxing but the time seems to go by very quickly, a bit of shopping, a coffee, a relaxing read and a chat, sort of feels like a holiday. A casual walk to the Everest View Hotel (3880 m) to aid acclimatisation, with a looped return via Khumjung Village for a look at Edmund Hillary’s school, then back to our accommodation in Namche for lunch.
The views of the high mountains is just getting more awesome and Ama Dablam looks that close you feel you could reach out and touch it.
Everest in the rear with high winds on the summit-no flying today
A bit of news re the permit to fly from Everest- today the Australian Ambassador, Felicity Volk was in touch with Nepal Tourism Minister Ale and discussed our project. Minister Ale had not heard of our expedition so it was fantastic that he is now aware of what we hope to do and more importantly, why we are doing it.
I have been trying to get this project off the ground for over 3 years now but this year things have moved in a never ending positive way and the ducks keep lining up, one after the other. Our application, the first ever application as far as we know (we know a permit to fly from Everest has never been issued) is currently with the Civil Aviation Department, and Department of Tourism, both departments under Minister Ale’s portfolio. Minister Ale is heading to Australia tomorrow on Nepali Government business, so co-incidental. So can everyone at home in OZ - please be on your best behaviour. I sent my sincere thanks to our Ambassador for her involvement, part of which I copy below:-
“The Polio cause, completing what we started over 35 years ago, and being so close, is such a history moment with nothing but positive outcomes for children everywhere.
I know there are no guarantees (of a permit) but remain hopeful - our project so far has gone around the world and if we get a positive outcome, this will only increase, and the results- well who knows what a difference we can make.”
A reminder to everyone, please get on board with us, we are still asking for fundraising donations- the smallest donation really helps. www.flyfromeverest.org
Last night our expedition leader, Sumit, had an impromptu meeting with the local Army/National Park officials who new of our paragliding plans. If we get a permit they will arrange for all other air traffic in the region to respect our flight plan and stop air traffic. There are considerable volumes of helicopter traffic in the Khumbu, so this is a great consideration by them (helicopters and paragliders don’t mix to well)
TRACKING OUR PROGRESS
Anyone wishing to follow our progress, we now have location tracking set up on:
share.garmin.com/flyfromeverest
Our intention is to maintain the tracking during the entire expedition, including the summit attempt and paragliding flight if we obtain the permit. Thanks to Marcus and Joe for getting this up and running. I now know where I am.
Good news that brother Anthony (Tony to many) is feeling better from being quite ill and is due to catch a flight to Lukla from Kathmandu tomorrow morning. We should see him in about a week in Loboche. Niece Denali is with us and I am sure father and daughter will unite for the climb of Loboche Peak together.
Sleep time for me - trek up higher again tomorrow for two nights at Dingboche at 4410 metres.
Goodnight
Ken
everything seems to be moving ahead well. The scenery must be just awesome. Your altitude is getting up their for us sea level dwellers however a long way to go. Interesting how you adjust to increasing height. Stay safe John