The whole CTSS climbing team are now settled into Basecamp which gives us the chance to post some nice photos of the last few days for you below.
The IFMGA team and the Private Sherpa Guided Climbers started their training in the lower part of the Khumbu icefall today, where it’s nice and safe but still offers up some nice vertical to practice their rappelling etc. Brushing up on those skills until they become second nature particularly when wearing their big mitts etc is a great way to get active and start getting their mindset on that big goal they have in front of them.
Meanwhile, our Western Guided/International Team got further settled into camp life, and took a rest day today, they’ll start their training schedule tomorrow.
Our Trekking Team are down to Namche and will head to Lukla tomorrow. They’ll be enjoying seeing the greenery and having thick, lush air in their lungs.
Our Sherpa are finishing the “Big House” today, an enormous geodesic dome which will be the hangout heart of our basecamp complete with heaters, air lounges and of course a projector and screen for movie nights! They are also fetching some loads from Gorak Shep, and separating gear to carry to c1 and c2 over the next few days.
Tomorrow is our Puja Ceremony; this is a sacred ceremony that has deep meaning to the Sherpa and the climbers alike and is a vital part of any successful Mt. Everest expedition. It can’t be held on just any day, the day must be an auspicious day chosen by the High Lama who will come to bless the expedition and the team. The purpose of the Puja is to make contact with the divine Sagamartha (which means “Goddess of the Sky”) and pray for safe passage.
Hours of enthusiastic preparation go into a Puja, from the day being selected, ensuring the whole team is together, to moving the hundreds of rocks to make a cairn, which is decked with cloth and a long pole. From tomorrow it will fly long strings of prayer flags above camp.
Our climbers will bring their crampons, ice axes and other items to be blessed, lean them against the cairn for the ceremony. At the end of the Puja, rice and flour are thrown. It is a way of showing our respect to the mountain we are about to climb and the culture of the people on who’s land we meet, but also this deeply touching ritual bonds the team together as one bigger family.
On a more sombre, but important note, as tomorrow is the 18th of April no one will pass into the icefall as a memorial to the Sherpa who died in the icefall avalanche of 2014.
Cheers
Caroline
Bye Lobuche Basecamp – onto EBC!
You call that a pie? This is a pie!
