Proposed climbing schedule and updates as reports become available (please note the time difference - 12 hours ahead of Pacific Time):

Mt Everest

Day-by-Day Itinerary/Updates

Trip begins March 25, 2007

3/27/07-3/29/07Arrived in Kathmandu after a 17-hour flight from Los Angeles to Bangkok, an hour layover in Bangkok and then a 3-hour flight to Kathmandu. In Kathmandu, we got permits and visited the Boudhanath Stupu, one of the biggest Buddhist Shrines in the world and watched the monks as they chanted their daily mantras. In addition, we visited Pashupthath, the most famous Hindu temple in the country located on the banks of the Holy Bagmati River.  Here we saw Hindu holymen (sadhus), pilgrims bathing in Holy water and funerals where they placed the dead on wooden logs, burned the body and then threw the ashes into the Bagmanti River.  Hey girls, the Tibetan jewelry is all over the place with beads at every stand - beads, beads and more beads.

3/30/07 We flew in the early morning from Kathmandu to Lukla (elev. 9,275 ft).  The flight was awesome as we flew parallel to the Himalayan giants bordering Nepal and Tibetan China. The flight was about 40 minutes by plane but would take seven days to trek.  The airstrip was built by Sir Edmund Hillary and the Sherpas in the mid-sixties.  Without the airstrip the trip from Kathmandu to Lukla would be a 4 week trip. In the afternoon, we trekked up the Dudh Koshi river valley then joined the main trail to Namche.  We passed through the small village of Ghat and crossed over the Dudh Koshi river to our camp in Phakding.  

3/31/07

I called Valerie and Corey from the bank of the Dudh Koshi in the village of Phakdin by sat phone.  After this conversation we headed up the Dudh Koshi Valley to Namche Bazaar, the Khumbu's capital.  This valley is a very busy trail used by porters and sherpas with their Zopkio's (half yak, and half cow). We followed the river valley and re-crossed the Dudh Koshi river at Benkar.  At this point, we caught our first glimpse of Kusum Kaanguru (elev. 20,896 ft) and Thamserku (elev. 21,729 ft). We then crossed to the eastern bank at Jorsale where we entered the Sagarmatha National Park.  We continued upstream to the intersection of the Bhote Koshi and the Dudh river where we crossed a large suspension bridge and begin our steep ascent to Namche Bazaar (elev. 11,306 ft).

4/1/07

We got up early to climb the ridge above Namche where we could get our first view of Mt. Everest, Mt. Ama Dablam and Mt. Nuptse. Tomorrow we will climb out of the Namche Village and follow the trail above the Dudh Koshi river to Dingboche and then to Tengboche were we will camp for the night.

4/2/07 We completed our acclimation rest in Namche.

4/3/07 From Namche, we climbed out of the village and followed the trail high above the Dudh Koshi River. The views are incredible - I can see behind the west ridge of Nupla and Kwangde Himal (elev. 20,322 ft) across the valley to the south, the towering ice-fluted walls of Thamserku (elev. 21,729 ft), and to the east at the head of the valley, I can see the Lhotse and Nuptse wall towering about 12,000 ft. above the valley at Dingbocke. The mighty Everest looms above the ridge - a black, triangular rock. We trekked towards Tangboche - it was a steady ascent of approximately two and a half hours through a forest of pine, fir, juniper and wild rhododendrons. Tangboche sets in a beautiful meadow high on a ridge surrounded by the Himalayan peaks. From Tangboche, we descend through a forest of birch, fir, juniper and wild rhododendrons to start a long two to three hour ascent to Pangboche. We will be camping in Pangboche (elev. 12,350 ft)tonight right next to Mt. Ama Dablam.

4/4/07 Today we will be trekking from Pangboche to Pheriche (elev. 14,000 ft) which is a small town built on the trekking traffic to Mt. Everest base camp. This will be an easy climb of approximately one and a half hours and we hope to be in base camp in five more days.

We attended a Puja which is a Buddhist Prayer Ceremony led be a Lama - a Buddhist Priest. He was a kind, elderly man with a warm and friendly demeanor. When he asked the ages of Bill and myself, he laughed because he had to look up an appropriate prayer for persons of our age. We each presented him with a scarf (with 500 rupees wrapped inside the scarf). He opened the scarf and let the money fall out. Then he blessed the scarf, said a prayer and put the scarf around our neck.

We visited the Himalayan Rescue Association and talked to several volunteer doctors whose main goal is to reduce the number of casualties especially deaths from acute mountain sickness.

The children in these mountain villages are educated through the 3rd grade and they are trying to increase this to grade 6. There is a high school in Kunde just above Namche Bazaar. Those children live in Namche with relatives who have the means to finance an education to attend this high school. There is only one hospital, which is in Kunde, which makes it difficult for the people in these villages to receive appropriate health care.

We stayed over night in a small tea house - the room was approximately 8 x 8 with two beds. They heat the main dining room with a pot belly stove fueled by yak dung instead of wood. Once it has been filled to the top, they start the stove. It takes a few hours before your eyes and throat get over the odor which gets into your long johns and clothes. So, I'm not sure which smells worse - me or the yak dung but I do get a little warmer by the stove.

4/5/07 From Pheriche, we trekked to the village of Dughla (elev. 14,900 ft) where we stayed the night in another tea house - yes, heated by yak dung. My eyes and throat are sore from the smoke. The mountain views are breath-taking. I can see the northwest face of Ama Dablam, Mt. Nuptse, Mt. Makalu, and Mt. Chukung as we trek north up the Khumbu Valley following the Dudh Koshi River.

4/6/07 We are still moving up the Khumbu Valley from Dughla to Lobuche (elev. 15,700 ft). The Khumbu Valley from Pheriche seems very dirty, dusty, windy and cold. Very little is green above Dughla. The dust gets in your lungs with the dried yak dung from the trail which has been ground into powder resulting in the "Khumbu cough." Lobuche is a little dusty town located in the most beautiful place at the end of the moraime of the Khumbu Changri glacier.

Paul and I climbed to the top of the False Summit above Lobuche to get our first view of the Khumbu Ice Fall - the staircase to Mt. Everest. We will be trekking to Gorak Shep just a small distance from Mt. Everest base camp tomorrow.

4/7/07 We trekked through the Khumbu glacial moraine from Lobuche to Gorak Shep (elev. 16,300 ft). At Gorak Shep the Khangri Shar and Khangri Nup glaciers flow into the Khumbu Glacier just north of where Gorak Shep is located.

4/8/07 We continued up the Khumbu glacial moraine from Gorak Shep to Mt. Everest base camp (elev. 17,100 ft).  We are finally here!

Our camp site is made up of a kitchen, mess tent, toilet and individual tents. Our food and supplies were transported by yak from Lukla here to base camp and all arrived in good shape. Our site is in the middle of the Khumbu glacial moraine and very close to the Khumbu Ice Fall. We had to remove the gravel, rocks, etc. to expose the ice so we could level it - our tents are directly on the glacial ice.  

4/9/07 Mt. Everest base camp is surrounded to the east by Mt. Nuptse, north of Nuptse which is the western ridge of Mt. Everest, northwest of the western ridge is Cho-la, northwest of Cho-la is Mt. Khumbutse, west of Khumbutse is Lingtren and wouthwest is Mt. Pumori. These mountains form a ridge line bordering between China and Nepal. The Khumbu Glacier is compressed between the near opening between the western ridge of Everest and Mt. Nuptse forming the Khumbu Ice Fall. The Khumbu Ice Fall consists of large jumbled blocks of ice called seracs which are several stories tall and constantly moving. This is the most dangerous part of the mountain.

In your wildest dreams, you can't imagine Mt. Everest base camp. I have never been in a base camp of this beauty and complete horror. During the day and night you can hear frequent avalanches and icefalls collapsing with horrendous crashes. During the night, you will awaken to the glacial ice cracking beneath your tent. We still have no power, so we eat dinner by candlelight in the mess tent that is pitched on the rocks. 

Note: The weather is cold and snowing.

4/10/07 Today we took an 8 hour acclimatization walk up to the Advanced Base Camp (ABC) on Mt. Pumori (elev. 18,460 ft)on trails and through some scree (an accumulation of stones, boulders and rocky debris). The weather was good with sunshine and clouds. Our team did well after a long day out.

4/11/07 Rest day in base camp. We had a prayer ceremony for the sherpas where a 65 yr old Lama blessed our group and climbing equipment. The sherpas built an alter out of stone that support a post. Prayer flags are attached to rope then put up at 90 degrees from each other and tied to the ground with stones. These flags are colorful squares (white, blue, yellow, green and red) decorated with images, mantras and prayers. There are two kinds of prayer flags - horizontal ones called Lungta and vertical ones called Darhor. The sherpas believe the prayers and mantras on the flags will bring them good luck on the Mt. All the members and sherpa's in our expedition have been blessed as well as our ice-axes, crampons and equipment by the Lama from Pheriche. He ealked up to base camp to give his blessing on our expedition. Now the high altitude sherpas can start climbing as they needed to be blessed before entering the icefalls.

4/12/07 We hiked back to Pumori ABC and sleep overnight for acclimatization purposes followed by two days rest at Everest base camp. We camped on a very near ridge (elev. 18,900 ft). It was windy and cold.

4/14/07 We went to the icefalls to work on rope and ladder crossings over crevasses. The passed four days we have had snow each day. The temperatures with wind chill have been about 10 degrees in the morning with winds at 30 mph with gusts to 60 mph. We have had two big avalanches.

4/15/07 Acclimatization day and getting our gear ready for moving through the icefalls to Camp 1. We will be leaving around 3:00 am so we can get through the icefalls before the falls start to thaw.

We left base camp around 4.30 am to get through the Khumbu Icefall and
establish camp 1 (elev. 20,000 ft).  The icefall is a horror-field. There are
countless scary things that can happen in the icefalls. A crevasse might
open under you while walking or an ice-pennacle can fall on or near you.
The entire area could collapse. The sherpas are praying the entie time while
in the icefalls and we must concentrate on getting out as quickly as possible.

We were ¾ths  the way through the ice field when a serac from the Everest western ridge
broke loose forming an avalanche.  The avalanche came down the
ridge directly towards Lhakpa Chiri and myself.  We could see a cloud of
ground-up ice particles about 60 ft wide x 60 ft high coming straight at
us travelling 60 to 70 mph.  We yelled at each other - then he went left and
I went right.  I jumped into a crevasse because there wasn't an icewall or
pinnacle that I could hide behind. Thank goodness there were several
crevasses the avalanche had to jump hurling huge ice boulders into the
crevasses before reaching us. We only got a dusting from the cloud passing over. Bill
got some pictures of the avalanche from a lower location on the icefall.  This is going
to be a good story over a couple of beers.

In the icefall, there are 43 ladders over crevasses that need to be crossed.  You attempt
to fit your crampons between the two ladder rails.  Sometimes a heavy
wind or your body weight sets the ladder into motion.  In areas that have
large walls of ice, we climb ropes by kicking our crampons into the ice and
jumar (mountain climbing term) up the rope.  On the other side, we down-climb or repel hand over arm.

We stayed the night at our new site, camp 1, in the Valley of Silence (elev. 20,000 ft).

4/16
We left camp 1 and hiked slowly through the Valley of Silence to reach our
site for Camp 2.  We claimed an area and dug tent sites. This was the last
rocky patch at the base of the icy  Lhotse Wall (4000 ft high) and the base of
Mt. Everest. This place is absolutely stunning.  Clouds rolled in from the
lower ranges of the Himalayas, up the valley and into camp.  Camp 2 will be
our Advanced Base Camp.

We descented to camp 1 and stayed the night.

4/17-19
We descented back through the icefall to base camp where we will acclimate and rest for
several days.

4/22 We've had an unexpected snowstorm and Everest Base Camp (EBC) is now covered with snow. Bill, Bruce and I hiked back down to Gorak Shep and had a nice lunch in a restaurant. We then hiked back up to base camp just missing the snowstorm. The three of us visited the Base Camp Bakery which is a new addition to EBC this year. I will be in base camp for a few days to rest and acclimate. 

4/26 I and Lhakpa Chiri left base camp and went through the icefall once again constantly on the lookout for ice pinnacles falling, avalanches, deep crevasses and huge ice blocks hurling towards us. Stayed the night in Camp 1.

4/27 Khumbu Glacier (Silent Valley) is between the Nuptse ridge on the right and the west ridge of Everest is on the left with Mt. Lhotse capping the top forming the Silent Valley. There are many crevasses and the these two ridges (Everest and Nuptse) avalanche frequently into the Silent Valley. We are now in Camp 2 where we will spend the night. Camp 2 is Advanced Base Camp where we have a kitchen tent and cook as well as sleeping tents.

Assuming fixed lines have been installed on the steep and icy Lhotse Face, we will then move to Camp 3 on the Lhotse Face. Camp 3 is established at approximately 24,000 ft. Our tents have not been installed at Camp 3 yet. Once we arrive at Camp 3, we will move back down to Camp 2 and spend the night. The next morning, we will return to EBC for several days of rest and acclimatization.

4/28 The Lhotse wall is a blue icy slope with an incline of approximately 45 to 60 degrees and a height of 4,000 ft. I climbed the Lhotse wall to reach Camp 3. I was one of the first to get to camp 3 and the first one from our group. I returned to Camp 2 to spend the night.

4/29 We left Camp 2 to return to EBC.  Just before Camp 1 on the Nuptse ridge, I met two of our sherpas carrying supplies for Camp 2. While we were talking, a small avalanche hauling ice boulders and a 40 ft snow plume came down towards us - we all got out of the way just in time. We continued our descent through Camp 1 and the icefall to EBC. On May 2nd we will be going back up to Camps 1, 2, and 3 for about 5 days and then back to EBC.

5/3 We made our third push through the icefall and are resting at Camp 1. It started to snow upon our arrival and has been snowing since. This seems to be a typical pattern for our trip. Tomorrow morning we will head up to camp 2 and spend a few nights. The plan is to head up to Camp 3, sleep at Camp 3 for 1 or 2 nights and then return to EBC.

The collective consensus of the Sherpas here is that we will summit between May 15th and May 21st but that is pretty much just a guess as the mountain weather controls the outcome.

5/4 We are at camp 2 where we will rest tonight then get up early tomorrow morning to head up to Camp 3 where we will stay the night. Daniel Kim of the Lhotse team was feeling unwell and decided to return to Base Camp.

5/5 We received word from Daniel Kim sadly informing us that he was still feeling unwell and decided to end his expedition and return to Kathmandu. Bill, Terry and myself decided to take a rest day in Camp 2.

5/6 The Lhotse team climbed above Camp 3 on the Lhotse Face just below the Yellow Band. The Everest team (Bill, Terry, our sherpas and myself) departed Camp 2 and climbed up to Camp 3 where we spent the night. 

5/7 Terry and Lhakpa Gelu also climbed above Camp 3 towards the Yellow Band before descending to Camp 2, while Bill and I descended immediately back to Camp 2 with our sherpas. I am experiencing some acidic stomach problems where I am unable to keep any food down. We will spend the night in Camp 2 before descending to Base Camp to rest and recover.

5/9 We are all safely back at Base Camp and the Everest/Lhotse teams are reunited. Tomorrow we will all head down the valley to the lower villages of Pheriche for a "holiday" and to enjoy the thicker oxygen at lower altitudes which will allow our bodies to rest and recover prior to us returning to Base Camp and beginning our summit attempts. I plan to seek some medical attention while in the village since I have not been able to keep food down for a few days and am feeling weak.

5/10 We completed the six hour trek from Base Camp to the Himalayan Hotel in Pheriche where we will spend the night in a bed. I went to the hospital in the village where I was given some medication for my diaphragmatic hernia problems and to counter this gastric hyperacidity. The main cause seems to be the failure of the sphincter to relax and allow food to enter the stomach so the medicine they gave me is to help relax this flap. Hopefully, I will be able to keep my food down and build my strength back up.

5/11 Today, we hiked over to Denboche, a village just over the mountain, and had lunch at the Snow Lion Hotel and Restaurant. I had an omelet and seem to be doing 100% better than I was which is about 80% of where I should be. I'm not sure how long we're going to be staying here in the villages as everything depends on the weather in terms of our return to Base Camp and our last move up the mountain. The tentative plan for the Everest team (Bill, Terry, and myself) is to move to Camp 1 on May 16th and then move to Camp 2 the following day. We will then move to Camp 3 on the 18th and Camp 4 on May 19th. May 20th will be our summit day. All of this is subject to weather and any individual need for rest days. The big unknowns are the moves from Camp 3 to Camp 4 and then from Camp 4 to the summit. These are huge moves and big, challenging long days. I will need all my strength as this is the most difficult thing I have ever done. I appreciate your continued support and prayers.

5/12 Happy Mother's Day to all mothers. I surprised my mom with a call by Sat phone. We will rest in the village one more day before trekking back to Base Camp. 

5/13 Back to Base Camp.

5/16 Today, I had to make the decision to end this expedition. After a loss of 32 pounds, a return of my stomach problems, and not enough medicine to be effective, the odds were not in my favor. I will spend the next four or five days trekking back to Lukla. My sherpa, Lhakpa Chiri will return with me due to an injury he recently encountered. Once I reach Kathmandu, I will make adjustments for my return flight. I appreciate all the prayers and support from those of you who have been following my journey. I do have a lot of great pictures to share and stories to tell.

Over and out for now, Mark Luscher 

5/20 Arrived in Kathmandu.

63 Extra day in Kathmandu, in case of delay.

64 Fly home!!!