Nepal - Almost There!

Peak Freaks autumn expeditions in the Himalayas will soon begin.

We've formed two nice sized teams on our Triple Crown- Everest Training Climb, including our Island Peak expedition,  and our Nepal Relief Work team who will be learning and building earth quake safe earth bag structures and schools beginning in November.

The political climate in Nepal remains unpredictable but nothing out of the norm.  A new prime minister has been elected, the ninth in eight years. Political shuffles like this rarely effect our expeditions in the mountains. Many are asking if Nepal is safe for travel and we say "yes it is". The fuel crisis is over and the country is trying to get back on it's feet.  The country relies on our tourism dollars more than ever now.

Thankfully there has been a considerable amount of snow this year created by the seasonal monsoon and three cyclonic events affecting the Indian subcontinent. We've been watching these storms and feel confident it will settle out by the end of September and the mountains will begin to heal from the past two years of warmer than normal temperatures, and ice-melt. It's hopeful that the snow will stabilize the potential for rock fall and landslides that can happen when there is not enough snow to glue to hold the mountains and routes together. All said, it looks like a good mix and it should be a better than normal autumn climbing season.

Our expedition supplies have been purchased, inter-Nepal transportation is booked, international flights are secured and our staff are anxiously awaiting our teams arrival.

Onward and upward! We are almost there.

Tim and Becky Rippel
peakfreaks.com 

Everest 2016 - safety evaluation continues

Everest 2016 - Cancelled once again.

We cancelled Everest in 2015 and as a result our staff were spared, and not involved in the tragic avalanche at base camp created by the April 25th earth quake last spring. Amen!

Everest 2016 season is now getting underway, however our concerns for cancelling in 2015 are still present, (see announcement below). Our biggest concern is the affects of global warming in the Himalayas and other mountains around the world. We are not prepared to put our climbers and Sherpa guide staff in harms way climbing through the crumbling ice-fall, and passing under fast melting seracs and dodging rock fall on the Lhotse face. Mountaineering has always been risky, but educated risk taking is key when taking clients money offering them your guidance in safety.

We are also very much concerned about the environmental protection implementations that we worked so hard towards the past 20+ years, we fear it will be compromised as the industry becomes more desperate with new competitors using price cutting as their edge and not investing in the costs of leaving footprints only and how corruption will prevail when bottom-lines are too low.

The Nepalese government has yet to restrict the number of climbers allowed to climb nor have they made any attempts to regulate who can operate there. Low ball operators are taking novice climbers up the mountain on a one-way ticket. We saw this coming and don't want any part of it.

More important than ever before, we continue to prepare aspiring climbers for Everest and other mountain objectives on our TRAINING CLIMB offering extensive instructional ascents on 6000m peaks in the Everest region. Helping participants be climbers NOT just a client as they should be.

We will also continue with our work helping REBUILD NEPAL with First Steps Himalaya and organize private base camp and Annapurna treks, and our annual group BASECAMP STAY TREK in October each year. We will do our best with the help of our customers to bring tourism back to the beautiful people of Nepal.

"PEAK FREAKS CANCELS EVEREST IN 2015 ANNOUNCEMENT"

Since beginning our operations over 24 years ago, it has always been a challenge to navigate through the complex and ever-changing political, social, and environmental aspects inherent in running a climbing and trekking operation in the Himalayas. The pay-off nonetheless has always been worth it – to our clients, to our Sherpa’s and their families, and to us. And as much as last year’s tragic events highlighted both the need for better safety regulations and a reassessment of the business which climbing Everest has become, our present concerns and consequent conclusions come from a much larger set of worrying circumstances.

The local government’s fickle posturing and vague statements relating to mountaineering policies, the drastic alterations to the weather both traditional ENSO and ENSO Modoki have and will continue to cause, the growing list of socio-political events which has a cumulative effect of compromising regional security, present us with only one responsible and rational course of action. We at Peak Freaks are cancelling our commercial Everest 2015 summit climb. As clear as this decision has become it is still far from an easy one for us to have come to. The financial impact on our partners, our Sherpa’s, will be severe.

The patience and loyalty of our clients will be taxed. Even so, our love for the region and what we do remains intact. Our determination to continue expeditions and our commitment to those who welcomed us to the Himalayas almost a quarter century ago and who continue to work by our side has inspired us. It has inspired us to widen our offerings. To provide adventures free from thorny politics, crumbling glaciers, and looming ice-falls. After all, the majesty of the Himalayas should never be locked away.

So on the eve of our sad Everest news we hope solace can be found knowing that Peak Freaks will not close its doors. Instead it will open paths for adventurers to climb other challenging and awe-inspiring peaks, to take cultural tours through the highest lands of Nepal and Tibet, and to experience unconditionally this magical kingdom we now call our second home.

Recognizance of the Khumbu Post Quake

Flights are operating as normal Kathmandu to Lukla and the weather is good but definitely quiet.  

Day 1: Trek to Phakding/Monjo: There is an area here that has always been prone to landslides. Anyone who has

Phakding slide area reconstructed

been here previously would remember the sand slide area after crossing the river in Phakding. This area slid during the earthquake and has been rebuilt by a team of locals. The new trail is actually much improved now, better than the previous one.

Another area affected near the same location is the largely photographed waterfall, boulders came down changing this area and altered the trail.

HOMES:  The ones built with rounded rocks didn’t stand up too well to the earth quake, but houses that were built with chipped and sculpted stone did well, and ones using mortar faired really well. 

FOOD: There is a lot of food in the Khumbu, all the lodges stocked up for the autumn trek season well before the fuel crisis began. Kathmandu and outlying areas however are suffering with lack of supplies and cooking fuel. 

Day 2: In Namche Bazaar, it's so good to see the village in good shape. I spent the afternoon walking around the village with Tsedam, he showed me the houses that were affected and what they did to rebuild them. The school had been destroyed but is now rebuilt. Tsedam's Home-Away-Home was destroyed. Luckily a lodge in the village fixed it up for housing the children and make a classroom and rented it to Tsedam for his children till he is able to get enough money together to rebuild the one next to his home. It makes it difficult to take care of their day to day needs being further away.

I passed off a thoughtful gift from bluegrass musician Karen Jungnitsch from the Pine Pass, B.C. A couple of the

Fiddle supplies

girls at the Home-Away-Home are learning to play the fiddle. Karen made them fiddle covers and set them up with CD's, instructional books and other useful fiddle components. 

Yes please! If you want to donate to help with this, get in touch. peakfreaks@me.com  As promised we've been passing off the few personal donations designated to individuals. If you haven't heard back from them yet; it's

Enjoying a nice meal at Tsedam's home.

because they are working and this is a good thing.

As I walked with Tsedam we talked about the day it happened. Apparently there were huge boulders plummeting down from Kwande Ri adjacent to Namche Bazaar that was frightening for them as they watched. Our concern was the boulders above the village. Tsedam said they sent a team up there to evaluate their stability and reported everything was anchored quite well. This made sleeping at night a lot easier for everyone considering the aftershocks were significant and went on for a for weeks.

TOURISM:  Not as bad as it feels. It feels really quiet but the locals are saying it's down about 50%. The sad part of this story is the governments ongoing mismanagement of the mountaineering industry. Their silly announcement that all climbers must prove climbing to 6600m in order to climb Everest has pushed everyone  over on Ama Dablam. Ama Dablam is already ridiculously overcrowded as it is, and a toilet bowl at that, with a hazard of the hanging glacier that is expected to come off at some point. With what we've been watching around the globe recently, you won't find Peak Freaks up there.  This was a foolish statement on their part. Climbers- don't buy into it! It's a setup for something else we'll discuss another time. 

Tomorrow we'll head off to Khunde and Khumjung to have a walk around. I expect it will be in good shape. Everyone was quick to do repairs and be ready for the tourist season. 

Tim & Becky Rippel

www.peakfreaks.com

Deja-vu in Kathmandu & Team List

We're happy to announce that we are some of the fortunate to have the trust of our customers to

Kathmandu's fuel dependancy today

continue with our climbing objectives in the Himalayas post earth quake, thus allowing us to help bring a small number of people back to work, but not without heartache witnessing a country that has just taken a 24 year economic turn back.

We first came here in 1991 when there was no traffic on the streets and in particular in Thamel. Bikes weren't readily available, only the odd one for rent for a tourist. We remember renting one for a young man we befriended, we asked him to take us for ride around his city. We soon learned this was a bad and dangerous idea as he struggled to stay balanced resulting in a hurdle into a roadside bush of wild hemp. Fortunately vehicular traffic was not a concern back in the day and the bush was forgiving. Walking was the way of life here. Even goods were carried to the shops by cargo porters instead of trucks, their loads were huge and they were exceptionally skilled at the art of weight and balance. Then came the films on Everest, the stories of adventures like no other;  the crowds - the money- cars- and motorcycles for everyone and the thirst for fuel followed but with  consequences. We know we contributed to this but we also know that we contributed to education, families affording sending their children to private schools and universities around the world. Our wages paid out built homes and hung big screen TV's on walls - Nepal rightfully began to evolve.

As I walked Thamel, Kathmandu's tourist district tonight I experienced a great sense of deja-vu. It's

Durbar Square in the 90's 

the Dashian festival. The the lucky ones will have found a way to go home to their villages, but there are also many not so lucky. Due to the fuel crisis at the India/Nepal border, bus prices have tripled and no seat is guaranteed. Hundreds resorted to riding on the roof-tops of anything with wheels and a smitten of fuel in the tank. Fuel is $5US a litre, private vehicles are only allowed a litre or two after a 6 hour wait. There is black market fuel circulating at $16US a litre. Taxi's from the airport to the city used to be $5US now $30US. It's a long story how this all came about, it's said that ethnic groups are standing their ground since the release of the new constitution after 8 years of not having one and living  in peace. The uprising agains the constitution has brought on violence at the border where fuel trucks from India cross. Research Madhesi and Maoist and landlocked Nepal online if you want to learn more of the complexity of the situation.  This situation today is being referenced as Transit Warefare launched on Nepal.  China watches closely. 

Tonight we looked everywhere to find a restaurant to have a meal. Signs were up on our favourite restaurants stating "closed due to no fuel and no food" or "closed for earth quake reconstruction. "  We've been here before. We recall going into an inviting little establishment for a bite to eat in the 90's. The waiter handed us a menu with just 3 items on it. It took forever to receive what we ordered because the establishment didn't have food. The owner/waiter had to find it at the market but not until he was able to establish some form of credit till we paid our bill. We remember the sweat dripping from his forehead giving everything he had to make this sale happen. It is some of these people that are the owners of some of our favoured restaurants on our "must eat at" list.  Sadly due to the the current problems in Nepal they are closed.

Aviation fuel seems to be making it in when needed. We have taken note that a large shipment arrived today. Because of that we are headed up to the Khumbu tomorrow to do a recognizance of Lobuche and other mountains in the area post quake. Our team members are some of my long-time customers from my heli-ski guiding days in Canada joined with some new friends. I'm looking very forward to getting back and checking in my friends in the Khumbu and learn more on how the two disasters have affected them.

Our team!

1. Tim Rippel- Expedition leader/Guide
2. Ang Karsung Sherpa- Base Manager
3. Desh Kumar - Cook
4. Nima Sherpa- Guide
5. Paul Pargeter- USA
6. Greg Pickel- USA
7. Scott Dricoll-USA
8. Herman Hull- USA
9. Jason Snell- Australia
10. Will Goodon- Canada
11. Rob Seeley- Canada
12. Patricia Harris Seeley- Canada


Tim & Becky Rippel
www.peakfreaks.com