Author Archives: Encore

Today’s acclimatization hike felt surprisingly good after yesterday. We climbed from 3500m from Namche Bazar to 3880m (just over 12,000ft) over two hours before resting and enjoying lemon tea and snacks. The trail was quite steep for the first 45 minutes, eased a bit to the first high point, and then traversed the rest ofContinue reading “6 April – Hotel Everest View”

This hard leg took us up the Dudh Koshi river across several suspension bridges, including the highest of all, past several more villages. Pictures show the place at which we stayed in Phakding, one of oodles of attractive young Nepalese children, through the entrance to the Sagarmatha National Park (Everest is called Sagarmatha – theContinue reading “5 April – Phakding to Namche Bazar (where bandwidth is awful and dogs bark most of the night! ;)”

Today we flew to Lukla – the most dangerous airport in the world – and enjoyed the surprisingly fast, efficient process of checking in, getting tickets, boarding the aircraft, and taking off. Upon landing, climbers and trekkers (us) enjoyed breakfast together and set off to Phakding with our day packs leaving the heavy lifting toContinue reading “4 April – Happy Easter! – Lukla to Phakding”

We spent several hours touring the of the large temples in the city. Two are Buddhist and one is Hindu. To say the least, the day provided the degree of sensory overload one might expect in a large city in a “developing” country. Unruly and loud traffic, comprised more than half by motorcycles and scooters,Continue reading “3 April – Kathmandu”

2 April – A quiet, uneventful half-day was spent at the Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar. Directions to certain things are rather lacking, but there was ample time to wander around. On the home-bound layover, we will try the Stay N Sleep bunk pods. Madisons liked them. The Doha-Kathmandu leg began at 0205am andContinue reading “2 April – final travel day”

1 April – It is already midnight local time where we are, so Happy Birthday to my brother Chris and nephew Rick … and Happy April Fool’s Day!Voyage and visit to Doha, QatarIt should have been expected that QA720 would take off on a great-circle route northbound from SeaTac and assume a heading north byContinue reading “1 April – travel day”

We are finishing packing this morning. Son in law Joe Hein will pick us up at 11:15am, pick up Madisons, and then grab the 12:20pm ferry to Seattle.

Marc and Jane Stewart decided year ago to join another couple, Chris and Mary Madison, whose son is Garrett Madison of Madison Mountaineering, on a bucket-list trip to Everest Base Camp alongside another group with intentions to summit Mt Everest in May. The trip has come together given the ebb and flow of Covid 19Continue reading “Everest Base Camp Trek – 2021”