Namche Bazaar - Mountain City

Triple Crown 2016- Nepal in Namche Bazaar

Just a quick update on our progress. We were lucky to get out on schedule to Lukla, the weather window closed in behind us so we are happy about getting in, and on, with this expedition on schedule.

I must say I'm surprised by the evidence of wealth up here in the Khumbu. New lodges are going up all around and they've built a water fountain in the village, or rather mountain city. There is a new high-end North Face store that resembles something you'd see downtown Vancouver and more shops coming. The dominating visitors this year appear to be Asian and mostly small groups. I haven't ran into any climbers yet. Things have definitely changed since I was here this time last year.

What's happening in Nepal is good example to those looking to help Haitians. 

 Grassroots works!  

We are sleeping in Debouche tonight and tomorrow we visit with Lama Geshi for pretty special blessing. We'll share the details of that with you tomorrow.


Tim

http://peakfreaks.com/everest_mountaineering_course.htm
http://rippeling.blogspot.ca  (Earth Bag Build)

Gammon Bag Demonstration 

Linda Blakely & Tee Tolliver 

Nepal Triple Crown 2016 Team

Triple Crown Team 2016' - Kathmandu - Nepal

Here is our team minus one who arrived later from India, and also minus our Sherpa staff that they'll join with in the Khumbu tomorrow.  This years team consists of professional athletes, beginner/novice climbers and the rest come with impressive climbing bios.  Members are from Canada, Australia, USA, UK and India, and most are close to the same age. 

Kathmandu is quiet. Tim met with a couple longtime Nepalese expedition agents the past couple of days and learned that tourist visits are definitely down which contradicts what local news has been reporting. Agents are however still keeping busy with administration due to more individual bookings compared to the groups they used to get. 

The past day or two the team has been busy purchasing required equipment, going out for meals together, bonding, and doing reviews of emergency equipment like the Gammow Bag (hyperbaric chamber). 

Tomorrow the team is up at 5:00am and off to Lukla if weather permits. Ive been watching high winds in my weather reports that has the potential to thwart tomorrows flights. We'll keep followers updated on the situation here on this blog.

Becky Rippel

• OCTOBER 2016 http://peakfreaks.com/everest_mountaineering_course.htm
• NOVEMBER 2016  Rippel Effect Earth Bag Build Nepal
• TO LEARN MORE AND TO DONATE TO THE EARTH BUILD First Steps Himalaya

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 

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