Winter Is Here! Climb update!

Well, we got skunked by the weather. The good news is that the mountains got some much needed snow - 12cm and building this weekend. The bad news is it's melting almost just as fast as it piled up,

except for the higher elevations it's sticking.

We made the call to go for Lobuche summit as soon as we got to base camp for our best shot before we are turned back by high winds. Wind this time of year is the indicator that winter has arrived come Tuesday. Wind and snow combined is the deadly mix for avalanches. Wind forms slabs on fresh snow and when a climber cuts/breaks through the slab, chances are you will have created an avalanche and we avoid this scenario at all costs.

We got pretty high, almost the summit before the snow got too deep to continue, there were a couple other small teams on the route who turned back yesterday and today so no one has been up for a few days now.

We gave it our best shot, we had a good work out and a good time while doing it. That's climbing, we climb and test the routes -  sometimes we are lucky to stand on top and sometimes we aren't.

Great group, good fun, staff got to work, we climbed!

**More photos to follow in a few days of the climbing in action.

Yak Tales 

We got a note from Herman who was in Pheriche that's worth repeating. He went to bed very tired at 8pm and was woken at 1:00am when a yak who somehow got on the roof of the lodge fell through. This doesn't happen everyday. Hope the yak is ok!

I remember when we used to sleep in the yak barn in Pangboche before the new lodges were built. It was common practice to move the yaks outside to hang about to accommodate climbers. If someone went out at night to relieve themselves and didn't latch the door well enough when coming back in, we'd often wake up with some welcomed added heat next to us, but with pretty smelly breath.

The good ole' days.

Tim
www.peakfreaks.com
http://peakfreaks.com/everest_mountaineering_course.htm
http://peakfreaks.com/lobuche.htm