September 19 Trekkers Update - Justin makes her way up the Khumbu Valley

This is Leila Silveira calling on September 19 from Namche Bazaar. I left our four expedition support trekkers in Lukla, where due to bad weather they had to wait for an extra day for their flight back to Kathmandu. They were all very disappointed since they all had made plans, of course for showers, dinners, clean clothes and shopping in Kathmandu.

We had our farewell dinner where Steve showed his talent. The result was, after training and teaching, our porters and trek guides sang a disco song. We all laughed and laughed, they really performed well. Dennis recorded the whole thing on his digital camera which will be a great memory.

I’m here with Nima, one of the trek guides from that trip, and he’s still singing the song. Steve: we all miss you and you will be remembered here for a long time in the Khumbu and God knows, before you know it, a lot of other porters will be singing the same song!

Now I’m here with Justin, our new trekker from North Carolina. She is really amazing. She has trained really hard for this trip. She’s also very, very strong. She’s a body builder as well as a competitive mountain biker. I’m looking forward to having her in our Base Camp for a few nights.

So far she’s acclimatizing really well. Actually, I had to spend some time with her explaining that from here up she would have to slow down her pace in the next few days in order to make sure she doesn’t have any problems with altitude. It’s very easy to go fast. She’s in such good shape. But you end up having a headache at the end of the day.

Today we all had a lot of fun because she decided to try on the porters’ load (the basket they carry) on to her head. Her comment was, “They sure need a strong neck and in order to carry this load up the mountain!” I really couldn’t agree more.

The important thing is that she’s having a blast. I’ve heard a bit about the book she is writing about Nepal. The story takes place in the Everest region 100 years from now. One of the main goals of this trip for her is to interview many Sherpas and do a lot of research for the group.

We’ll be going next to Base Camp where we'll rejoin the BAI expedition team. I’ll be staying for the rest of the expedition. I’m really looking forward to getting back to Base Camp.