Thorung La Pass....Grind Session!

With our sherpa guide safely down the mountain, we pushed on up the valley to 14,700 feet at Thorung Phedi which would be our base camp and acclimatizing village before the pass of Thorung La which was 3,000 feet above. We were all nervous and ready to conquer the pass that had been in the back of our minds since the beginning of the trek. In total, we would climb over 15,300 feet from the valley floor through jungles, gorges, evergreen forests, and now high tundra. We awoke at 3:30 and had a sherpa breakfast of vegetable noodle soup and then egg and cheese omelets and and boiled potatoes to share. The first portion of the hike, from Thorung Pedi to High Camp was very steep. We hiked this with our headlamps under the stars, but towards the end the sun was starting to come up. After a short rest and some water at High Camp, we continued upward to the summit. This was one of the first days we hiked around a lot of people so that was quite different. The sunrise on all of the peaks was amazing. There were several sections where we went down, but most of the time it was up. As our guides say, "Steep and not as steep." We all pushed through the hike, taking few breaks, and just kept going. Once we reached the top, it was such a relief and celebration, all in one. Groups cheered each other on as everyone came over the top. We had digestive cookies, jerky (thanks to a new great friend), leftover boiled potatoes, a coveted Snickers bar and coffee. We spent some time on top resting and enjoying the view. A bit further up, there was another viewpoint where we took some great photos. Husker fans-the flag was displayed proudly at almost 18,000 ft while you all slept-GO BIG RED! The hike down was nearly as insane as the hike up, we descended about 5,400 ft. We were all extremely tired and got our rooms at the Bob Marley guest house in Muktinath, gateway to the Mustang region of Tibet. We ate some great food and celebrated our triumphant summit with local apple brandy and beer with fellow tourists. We will never forget our day up Thorung La!

Acute Mountain Sickness....Rescue

Well, the adventure continues here in Nepal. We have hiked up the same river valley for 10 days and took a rest day in Manang at 11,600 feet. We continued up the valley to a beautiful town Yak Kharka at 13,000 feet on our way to Thorung La Pass at 17,750 feet. We awoke and ate breakfast and noticed that our Sherpa guide and friend Ang Phurba over slept a little and wasn't acting himself. We assumed it was a hangover from the local wine(Raksi). We climbed 600 feet to the village of Letdar and asked Ang if he wanted water. He began shaking and appeared to be having a stroke and feel off a 7 foot embankment into a garden near the town. We were quite alarmed and ran down to get him to his feet. He was completely in delirium and forgot all of our names and didn't know where he was. We got him some soup and water and walked about a hundred meters and he was almost falling over. We decided it was imperative to get him down to the clinic in Manang and decrease elevation immediately. Paul and our porter Pasang went down with Ang and tried to keep him from falling off 1000 foot cliffs into the massive river valley below. Seth ran ahead to Thorang Phedi(7km) at 14,700 feet to inform Bogue that Ang was sick and we needed help getting Ang down safely. The brothers ran down from Thorang Phedi to Manang(15km) and picked up Logan, Nima, and Minh on the way who were waiting at Letdar. After a brutal descent with a full pack of about 22 kilos we arrived at Manang. Paul informed us that the doctors diagnosed our guide with Acute Mountain Sickness and could have easily died if he stayed at elevation any longer. They ran diagnostics on him and gave him diamox and other medications for stabilization. The doctors concurred that we made the correct decision and saved his life. Doctors orders were to have him rest for the night and then head back down the river valley to Beseshar and then to Kathmandu....his trek was over. It was one of the craziest and grueling days of our lives with our guide almost dieing and group members traversing over 23kilometers. In the end Ang had passed out 4 times, almost swallowed his tongue, and went into delirium on many occasions. Luckily, Ang is doing fine now and is back in Kathmandu running more tests at an altitude clinic there. Unfortunately, it put the trek back 2 days, but we are all healthy and safe and we our proceeding with caution up to Thorung La Pass. The Fellowship started with 8 members and is now down to 7......Hurry you fools!

Traffic Jam, Monsoon....3 miles from Tibet!

Well, after our departure from Kathmandu we left the Kathmandu Valley and dropped into another river valley on our way to Beseshar to start our trek. We hit a massive landslide stretching around 40km in total. We were in an ideal location and spent two days at a rafting resort and stayed in beautiful bungalows on a raging monsoon river. After, two days it opened and we had an amazing drive through canyons and river valleys to begin our trek at 2,400 ft. We started in the lowlands and rice fields which was incredibly humid and wet with monsoon rain. After, trekking through the lowlands we ran into some massive river gorges and landslide areas. We finally hiked out of the river gorge that we hiked in for 7 days and are now in the highlands viewing some of the biggest mountains in the world(Annapurnas). We are now at 11,600 ft and enjoying a rest day that consisted of a glacial lake swim, coffee, curry, workouts, and apple pie. Tomorrow we are off for Thorung La Pass which will take us two days to reach. We will start early at High Camp and cross the 18,000 foot pass and then drop 5,000 ft into the 2nd largest river gorge in the world. Thanks for following and we will post photos and blog updates from the other side of the pass. Cheers from the other side of the world!

Namaste

This is the last internet access that we will have for several days. We have loaded our gear in our vehicle to Beseshar near the Annapurna Circuit. We are very excited to see the mountains of Nepal. Holy Shit........One month in the Himalayas and then R and R before our next trek. Stay tuned for blogs from the Himalayas!

Logistics and Beer!

The jetlag has officially wore off and we are all feeling comfortable here back in Kathmandu. Typical days include morning breakfast followed by coffee and workout sessions on the roof early in the morning. Throughout the day we have been exploring Kathmandu and eating incredible food. The afternoon has been consisting of a few beers and wine and talking about logistics for our first trek on Friday. We hit the town in the evening for food, rickshaws, and maybe a couple of bars. There is an incredible conglomeration of different people here and it is very exciting talking with everyone. Today and tomorrow will consist of organizing our gear and arranging for porters, pemits, rentals, and flights. More posts to come!

Kathmandu!

After 53 hours of traveling we have arrived at Kathmandu and are recovering quickly from the jet-lag. The city has certainly not lost its character. Walking the streets of Kathmandu is an experience that cannot be put into words. We met with our sherpa guide and friend Ang Purba yesterday and drank several beers and warm whiskey discussing our trekking logistics. We laughed and talked for the afternoon at their apartment in Kathmandu. The group ate at a restaurant that you most definitely will never see on the Travel Channel. The restaurant was in the basement an we all ate spicy food and sweated in the humidity(under 10 dollars for all 8 people). We also went to the famous Buddhist Stupa and sent prayers for safety on our journey. We spun the prayer wheels and walked 3 times around the Stupa for proper Buddhist tradition and prayer. Everything is in order and leave for the Annapurna Circuit on Friday near Pokhara. That gives us a nice work week to explore the city of Kathmandu and be well rested and ready for the trek to come. Everyone is in good spirits and very excited about the adventure to come!

2 days!!!

We have officially entered the last phase of preparation, which is packing our bags at the ranch house in Nebraska. A great number of family and friends attended the send-off celebration for the sojourn. Great food and cheer accompanied by family, friends, the outdoors, and even a Nebraska football game have left us all full in our hearts and ready for the journey. Thank you to all for the great weekend.........Next post will be from Kathmandu!