Berg Adventures International: Everest Base Camp Expedition Cybercast

October 9 - The Summit and Sushi?

It was 12 years ago today October 9, 1992 that I first stood on the summit of Mount Everest so this is a special day for me. I am happy to report that this was a really special day for all the trekking members of the Berg Adventures Everest Base Camp Trek this season. It was our Kala Patar summit day as you know at 18,191 ft (5544m).

We were surprised when we awoke at 4:00am to find the sky absolutely clear. We have been lucky with weather on this trip but we have not had a perfectly clear day by any means. Today our Kala Patar summit day was the first day without a breath of wind, no clouds at all and still quite warm. A beautiful day for a summit climb.

It took us 3.5 hours at our slow pace to climb from our lodge at Gorak Shep to the top. I was aware on the way up of the success Cami and Brittany had had reaching Uhuru Point on Kilimanjaro, the top of Africa , just the morning before [see Cami & Brittany Climb Kilimanjaro]. I was also informed by radio that Grant and his team were crossing the Cho La pass from the Gokyo valley into the Khumbu valley. So success from other Berg Adventures teams has been on my mind.

This team had to be the luckiest; we settled down at the top of Kala Patar in the sun, took photographs and looked across at Everest which was in perfect condition today. It was beautiful and even at 8800m there was not a breath of wind. This October 9th would have been a perfect Everest summmit day.

On the descent Barbara, Susan, myself and Susan’s new favorite Sherpa, Nima, took the long way down from Kala Patar along the edge of the Khumbu glacier and descended past the memorial for the five Polish climbers lost on May 26, 1989 on Everest, a day that I remember very well.

Now we are taking naps after a long day and I just stopped by the kitchen and the staff is preparing one of their favorite food items, sushi for tonight’s meal. If people think we eat raw fish at 16,000 ft (4876m) we do not but they have seaweed, rice and vegetables and of course we love soy sauce and especially the wasabi which clears our sinuses and tastes great at this altitude.

It’s our last night over 16,000ft and we begin descending the Khumbu tomorrow and we’ll keep reporting our adventures as we go.