Everest Expedition Friends and Family Base Camp Trek Dispatch

April 2, 2013 – Lama Geshe of Pangboche Offers Blessing to Our Group

It’s the morning of April 2nd and it’s a beautiful morning in Pheriche. We’re 4,300 meters above sea level (about 14,000ft). The sky’s perfectly clear; I’m looking up at the big peaks all around, Cho Oyu, Ama Dablam, Lobouche peak, which is right up towards Base Camp. We’ll go right underneath Lobouche beginning tomorrow as we approach higher towards Base Camp.

We’re definitely in the mountains now. Steve made that comment to me as we approached Pheriche yesterday. The air is much colder. We’re all feeling the altitude, but this is a very exciting place to be.

Yesterday, the time we spent with Lama Geshe was memorable to say the least. It will stay with us throughout the rest of this trek and expedition and I think for all our lives. What a character! 79 years old, he’s meant a great deal to the Sherpa people for many, many years. Geshe is the something like PHD. Lama Geshe is an academic. He was schooled in Tibet before the Chinese occupation then he came to Nepal.

He’s been a very dear man to expedition climbers for years; certainly to Berg Adventures climbers and trekkers. We’ve had a very close relationship with him. His laughter, his wisdom, and just his joy of life stays with you as you walk out of a blessing by him and we all felt very, very fortunate to spend that time with him yesterday.

Listen to Wally's call

Update from Wally Berg:

Joanne, Howard, Ed, and Ang Nuru climbed above Pheriche to the elevation of 15,000ft/4,572m to stretch their legs and enjoy the scenery. Then they returned by lunch time at 1pm. The rest of us spend the day in the sunroom, catching up on our journals and relaxing, continuing to acclimatize. Most of our group attended the lecture at the Himalayan Rescue Association Pheriche Clinic where they heard an explanation from the volunteer doctors there about acclimatization and physiology at altitude.

We had snow this afternoon also. That was particularly exciting for Katie Branham. She’s seen snow three different days on this trip so far. Being from Knoxville, she loves snow. She says it snows there a few times every year but not enough. Now evening time, the sky’s getting clear again. We’re getting ready to spend our last night in Pheriche. We’re going to Lobouche at 16,000ft tomorrow and we’ll keep everyone updated on our progress as we climb up onto the terminal moraine of the Khumbu Glacier towards Everest Base Camp.