I will be leaving the United States on March 19th, 2006 and I am scheduled to return in late May or early June. I am climbing with a team organized by Eric Simonson and led by Mark Tucker, a veteran of 6 Everest expeditions. I first met Mark at advanced base camp on Mount McKinley in 2003 and we ended up summiting on the same day. We will be climbing the South Col Route orginally pioneered by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953.

Our current plan is to depart the USA via Thai Airlines from LAX, overnight in Bangkok and reach Kathmandu by March 21. We will spend a day in Kathmandu and explore the Boudhanath Stupa, Pashupatinath and Swayambunath (the Monkey Temple). On March 23 we will fly to Lukla in a STOL aircraft or helicopter, meet our Sherpa support team and begin our trek to Everest Base Camp.

Trek to Base Camp
The trek to Base Camp will take 11 days. During this period we will begin the process of acclimitizing to higher altitudes. Aclimitizing will include our progress to Base Camp, along with hikes to higher elevations and rest days.

The South Col Route
From Base Camp there are many possible schedules for climbing Everest. Here we will be discussing many questions and calibrating our plans with weather, conditions of the route, the strength of the team and many other variables. Climbing up the South Col Route we will establish four (4) camps beyond Basecamp


Image Courtesy NASA Visible Earth