Friends, family, and loved ones,
We had another day of stellar weather as we depart form Thangthangkha camp for Cholmahari base camp. Team Jugi (let’s go) is adapting well by maintaining a slow and steady pace.
New bridge makes our trekking experience a pleasure.
We made friends along the way!
Tomorrow will be an acclimatization day for our team at 4100 meters in base camp. Join us as we explore this lovely spot.
Vern Tejas and Team Jugi.
Namaste all!
The team has trekked along the Dudh Koshi up from the lower valley and made it to Namche Bazaar yesterday! This is a central hub of commerce for the entire region and is surrounded by amazing views. After some deserved hot showers, delicious meals, and a night of rest, today we did an acclimation hike up to the historic Everest View Hotel and got our first sighting of Ama Dablam, sometimes called the most beautiful mountain in the world. Tea break surrounded by views of some of the highest peaks, even Everest was out for viewing!
Everyone enjoyed a free afternoon on the town and there is plenty to see around Namche including restaurants, art studios, and lots of fun shopping. Our hotel, Hotel Namche, has been wonderful and everyone is in good spirits and happy to have gotten two nights here before moving on.
From here we will detour off the main track and get a bit more solitude on trail for the next couple days.
Thanks for following along!
Ari and team
Our team climbed up to the world famous Tiger Nest monastery. We were blessed by the monk and he gave us Long Life pills which we all swallowed immediately. After an excellent lunch we drove to the end of the road and began our trek. With high cliffs above us and a roaring river beside us we sleeped extremely well.
Here are some photos from the last few days.
Namaste!
Hello from Nepal where the team has all safely arrived with all of their gear. Everyone got to enjoy two different days of city tours around Kathmandu, focusing on different aspects of city and including the largest Stupa (Bhuddist), a holy Hindu cremation site, and a healing bowl factory!
This morning we were able to switch gears and get our flight out of the city and up into the mountains to Lukla, gateway to the Everest region. We have trekked along a beautiful river valley to our first teahouse and the team is enjoying the new sights and surroundings. We will continue up valley and update you along the way, thanks for following our trip!
Ari and team (name undecided)
Hello friends, family and loved ones,
Team Jōgi (Jōgi means Let’s Go) enjoyed one the nicest acclimatization hikes in western Bhutan today. In near perfect weather conditions we trek up the ridge that separates the Haa and Paro valleys. Along our route we pass nearby several wind powered prayer wheels sending blessings out to all sentient beings.
Praying for good weather!
The clouds to the northwest parted long enough for us to glimpse our future, The Cholmahari Mountains. We intend to spend 2 nights at the base of these beautiful peaks after three days of challenging trekking.
Cholmahari l on the left is Bhutan’s second highest.
Our local guides served us a scrumptious hot lunch when we got to the top of the ridge. A meditation hut had been erected there so we use it for our dining hall.
A room with a view at 13,200
All are in good spirits and adapting well to the altitude. Tomorrow we will scale a slightly steeper and longer route to the famous Tiger’s Nest monastery. Won’t you join us?
All our best,
Vern Tejas and Team Jōgi
We were super lucky the thick clouds surrounding the airport cleared enough to allow the team to land in Paro Bhutan. They had to divert to India to refuel on their first attempt.
Look who I found at the Paro airport! !
So now that we are all here, Welcome to Bhutan! We are looking forward trekking through a dramatic part of the Himalayan range along the Tibetan border. Come along with us and experience one most breathtaking (literally) treks in the world.
Once the formalities of orientation and gear check were completed, we went exploring the culture highlights of the region. First we checked out the National Museum.
The museum is in an ancient watchtower.
Adjoining the huge watchtower was a cozy art gallery prominently displaying dance masks that are thought to drive away evil spirits.
Scary
Next stop Paro Zong the fortress temple that defeated Mongolian aggression.
Still standing proudly in the path of the Mongolians
Tomorrow we’re getting off to an early start for an all day acclimatization hike. Join in the fun!
All our best,
Vern Tejas
Hello Everyone,
We have decided to leave the mountain and are heading back to Kathmandu. Unfortunately with a lot of snow on the way it doesn’t seem like we would have the ability to climb safely higher on the mountain. It’s been a great expedition with a great team. We are flying back to Kathmandu this morning and will be returning home safe with great memories. Thanks for following along on our expedition!
Ben Jones
Hello Everyone,
Yesterday we returned to Basecamp from Camp 2 after an unexpected heavy snowfall throughout the mountain. We are all safe and happy back at Basecamp now. With this most recent snowfall and with a Cyclone on the way towards the mountain in several days we are leaning towards leaving the mountain because of possible unsafe conditions to climb higher on the mountain. We are talking through some options but will make a safe conservative decision with our climbers and staff here and will soon decide. The mountain will always be here and we have had a really fun expedition so far reaching 22,000ft on Manaslu but this may not be a year where we are able to safely reach the summit. We are all ok with this and will always made decisions based on safety first! I will report back here with what we decide but we are pretty positive we will be packing up here and heading back to Kathmandu soon.
Ben Jones
Hello Everyone,
Today we moved up from Camp 1 (18,800ft) to Camp 2 (20,700ft). The section between these two camps is the most technical on Manaslu and it was a busy day of groups moving up and a lot moving down. We had great weather though and it all worked out just fine. The team is doing great and acclimatizing very well here. We will rest most of the day tomorrow but hike just a couple hours to touch camp 3 and return to camp 2 for a second night. After that we will make a decision to continue up to C3 and C4 and the summit if the group is still feeling good and if the weather is good. I will keep you posted here when we decide.
Thanks for following along,
Ben Jones
