Monkey Temple

After morning's recap of our strange karaoke adventure Natang took us to the Monkey Temple. This stupa is in the center the city and rests upon the city's highest hill. About 150 stairs brought us to the top where we enjoyed a panoramic view of the city. This temple doesn't honor monkeys, but is referred to as such because of all the monkeys that inhabit the area. These small friendly monkeys acrobatically ran around the stupa and created very wild environment.

Back to The Yak and Covert Karaoke

Flying back to Kathmandu we returned to the Yak and Yeti Hotel where we enjoyed a hearty breakfast, some pool time and most importantly a hot shower and flushing toilet. In Kathmandu we expected to do some more sight seeing, but we returned to a city on strike. A peaceful international social movement has left the city virtually closed. As part of the strike the city's inhabitants refrain from driving. This actually makes the city much more manageable to get around with the added benefit of reduced smog. Some venues are apparently allowed to open from 6-8pm for tourists only.

For dinner we walked about 200ft from our hotel where two women clandestinely gave us a flyer for their Korean BBQ restaurant. They lead us through the back entrance into a well lit restaurant with Korean opera playing on TV. The food was great and the waitresses serenaded us, but by far the highlight of this venue was the karaoke. We had a huge room with mood lighting, tambourine (that met its eventual demise) and about five pages of English karaoke. We covered all the classics and sang the night away in our own little karaoke haven.   

Trek Day 15: Grand Finale

Natang advertised today's trek as only four hours, but as four hours turned into six and six into eight this was truly a grand finale. The most difficult portion proved to be the final couple of miles. On the way down we were so excited to begin our trip we didn't notice how much we were going down. As we crested the hill we arrived back in Lukla where we celebrated with every flavor of Pringles potato chips (including the illusive pizza flavored). After relaxing for a while we headed down to the local pub, The Wave. This relaxed "beach" bar had drink specials like the Everest Icefall and Everest Punch. 

Trek Day 14: Moonlighting

After six hours of trekking, one of our longest days of trekking yet, we arrived back at Natang's lodge in Namche. The Moonlight lodge carried a more casual vibe with the majority of the trek behind us. After a dinner comprised entirely of momos Natang's wife backed the team a chocolate cake. As a thank you for our leaders efforts the team gave our namesake banner to Natang to hang on the walls of the Moonlight Lodge. A round of Santa Cruz Island lemonade (my favorite backpacker friendly mixture of vodka and crystal light) warmed our insides and lifted our spirits as Natang showed off his dance moves.

Trek Day 13: Ama Dablam Garden Lodge

Leaving Lobuche we traveled through the Rhodedendrum forests and past the Tengboche Monastery we arrive in Dobuche at the Ama Dablam Garden Lodge (12,300ft). This lodge was tucked away and with a quaint atmosphere and the best showers of the entire trek. After four days of no showers this simple outdoor shower felt like a trip to the day spa.

Trek Day 11.5 & 12: Going Down!

After leaving base camp (17,600ft) we started to our quick descent. Our 10 day trek up will be done in 4 days of down. Although, for going down it seemed like there was certainly a lot of uphill. Our first day down brought us through Gorak Shep (16, 900ft) for lunch, where we decide that even though the pizza was wonderful the inn keeper was the grumpiest. We continued down to Lobuche (16,250ft) back to the Above the Cloud Lodge where our favorite inn keeper had hand knitted many of the team members caps with the words Everest B.C. on them. The inn keeper in Lobuche was so fast at knitting she whipped up a little CAF cap for our Sarah Bear.
 

Trek Day 10 & 11: Not a Bust and Puja Plus

We made it to Everest Base Camp! We joined Paul and Denise at what has been their home for the last month. Yes, it was our first night of true camping, but we get some bonus points for the elevation (17,600ft) and the fact we slept on a glacier. Our high altitude dinner of spaghetti and fish cake was shared in Mountain Trip's (the guide agency that is taking P & D to the top) huge central tent. We met Paul and Denise's other summit buddies and shared in a celebratory shot of whiskey. Sarah and Shawn trekked a bottle of Hennessy all the way from Los Angeles. It certainly warmed our souls because we followed up with some mountain karaoke.

In the morning we took part in a Puja ceremony. This ceremony was performed by a lama in order to ask the mountain gods for safe passage. During this ceremony we tossed rice, flour, and provided and offering of beer. After we shared our Everest Premium Lager with the mountain gods we said our heartfelt goodbyes to Paul and Denise. Paul and Denise will have their first summit opportunity in mid May and we hope for their success and safety.

Trek Day 9: Highest Point!

 We left Lobuche bright and early headed for Gorak Shep (16,900ft). We reached Gorak Shep at 10am where we ate tomato soup to prepare us for our next mission. Post "lunch" we started a slow meandering climb up Kalapatthar (18,500ft). With such a large group our Sirdar (the lead Sherpa) Natang didn't expect us all to make it. In fact he told Camille he would kick her butt if she didn't make it up the mountain. Apparently Natang's motivational words did the trick. Natang told us he hasn't had a whole group (let alone one as large as ours) make it to the top in over 10 years. While we reached our highest point it certainly peaked our appetites. When we got back to the Buddha Lodge we had momos, pizza, and tea to tide us over until dinner.

Trek Day 8: Yak Dung & Momos

We finished our our stay in Dingboche (14,150ft) with a game of brackets. This game is an elimination game that picks the ultimate food, music or movie. Each round was highly contested and no one wanted to see their favorites go down. Jeff defended sushi as an expert lawyer would. The winners are...for best movie: Star Wars...best food:Sushi...and best band: The Beatles.

Today's trek took us through memorial valley. These small stone piles (some with plaques) pay tribute to those who have perished on the mountain. These memorials are reminders of people who dared to dream and dreamed big. After lunch, a steep climb brought us into Loboche (16,250ft) where we gathered around the stove stoked with yak dung while we enjoyed momos (delicious Nepalese dumplings).

Trek Day 10: Everybody to Everest Team at Base Camp & Live NBC Interview!

Paul & Denise returned to Base Camp from 5 days up at Camp 2 at 21,500 feet to meet the Everybody to Everest Team who all arrived at BC around noon today! All are doing well, the entire E2E team made it to Kala Pattar at 18,500 feet yesterday and enjoyed the great views of Everest BC and the Khumbu Icefall.

Other exciting news, tune in to KNBC News for a LIVE interview via satellite phone TONIGHT (Wednesday 5:00 pm news local Southern California). Segment will likely air between 5:30 - 5:45 pm.

Trek Day 6 & 7: Higher and Higher

Today was a landmark day for a majority of the group. We hiked from Dingboche (14,100ft) to Chhukhung (15,200ft) where we enjoyed lunch before returning down the hill. This point is higher than Mt. Whitney which is the highest point on the continental US. It began to snow as we all gathered together in the lodges restaurant to enjoy Nepalese pizza.

One more day to acclimate in Dingboche with a quick morning hike. While we enjoyed the Nepalese pizza Nancy and Tina told our lead Sherpa we wanted to eat more traditional food lie the Sherpas. So after our hike today we feasted on french fries and Sherpa stew. The stew was great, but let's hope we don't eat our words.

Trek Day 5: Temperatures Dropping & Elevation Climbing

We traveled through the Rhododendrum forests on our way to Dingboche (14,100ft). Along the way we spotted a wild goat on the hillside. We arrived at the Snow Lion Lodge where we will be for three nights. It dropped below freezing for the first night, but we enjoyed hot showers for 350 ruppees ($5 US).

Trek Day 4: Tengboche Monastery

We left Namche and headed for Tengboche (12,700ft). The monastery is the center of town with only a small trekking lodge and a bakery in the town. The monastery was a beautifully ornate building the boasted a 15ft high Buddha statue. The bakery served warm sourdough bread and had a sign that read, "next stop for fresh bread France". Today was Camille's birthday and we celebrated with a traditional Nepalese curry know as Dalibut  and delicious chocolate cake from the local bakery. The Sherpas gifted Camille with scarfs that represented long life and good luck on our trek.

Trek Day 3: Layover in Namche Bazarre

We spent the morning hiking up to the Mt. Everest view lodge where we enjoyed majestic views and a spot of tea. The hike passed the local airport which was little more than a dirt air strip. We climbed an extra thousand feet to help us sea level people acclimate to the higher elevations. On the trek back to the Moonlight Lodge we stopped at the Sherpa cultural center that included an exhibit of all the Sherpas who have summited Everest. Dozens of men have summited, but only a handful of women with the the first woman summiting in 1993.

Trek Day 2: First Look

We left the Mt. Resort (8,600ft) and started our climb towards Namache (11,461ft). This hiking day took us across seven bridges. Tina triumphantly conquered here fear of bridges with the help from her team; Jeff and the Sarah Bear. After lunch we had our first look at Mt. Everest. Although a little obscured by clouds it seemed like the realization of a long dream. When we reached Namache we check in to the Moonlight Lodge where we enjoyed Yak steak for dinner. Our steak was accompanied by green beans (which were actually purple) and pom frites. Yak steak tastes a lot like Salibury steak, but chewier.

Trek Day 1

Our team of 23 adds 6 Sherpas and 12 porters. The Sherpas are our guides while the porters carry over gear. They carry two or three bags that each weight 25-35 pounds. Often they hike in flip-flops and use a strap that wraps around their head to carry the heavy load. At the end of day one we hiked about five miles and ended up at the beautiful Mt. Resort. A couple of the team members finished the day with a short yet steep hike up to a monastery.

Sarah Bear

The Sarah Bear is not your average teddy bear. The Sarah bear is named after Sarah Reinertsen who is a CAF beneficiary. The bear is also an above knee amputee complete with its own prosthetic leg. The bear helps raise money for CAF in the states and here in Nepal it continues to inspire the team. Tina brought the bear to pass from one team member to another in recognition of that team members contribution to the team. Each morning at breakfast the bear is passed to the next deserving member.

Landing in Lukla

The 30 minute flight to Lukla was on a small plain that Fritz just barely fit on. We were in small jump seats and the stewardess passed out candy and cotton. The candy to help clear your ears and the cotton to stick in your ears to dampen the noise of the engines. We flew only a couple hundred feet above some of the hills, but the landing was by far the most intense. The short runway ended in front of the tea house where we gathered for our pre-hike debriefing.

Touring Kathmandu

With the addition of Julie and our friendly neighbors to the North our group of 23 is finally complete. We jumped on a bus that took us on a tour of the city. The tour included a stop at a sacred temple of Shiva. This temple is where people bring the dead to be cremated. The ceremony happens right on the river and is preformed by the oldest son. Next stop on the tour was the Bouddhanath Stupa. This huge white structure is solid and is a sacred place of prayer. The prayer flags that adorn the stupa are said to represent the five elements, or the five different postures of Buddha: space (blue), water (white), fire (red), air (green) and earth (yellow).

Yak and Yeti

We arrived in Kathmandu where we checked into the Hotel Yak and Yeti. This is considered a five star hotel and it stands out from the rest of the city. Kathmandu is a fast paced city with with traffic that makes LA look tame. The streets are adorned with vendors and colorful shops along the cobble paved roads. There are a lot of dogs running around that seem to find the most peculiar places to sleep, like in the middle of an intersection!

Somewhere over Calcutta

For the last leg of our journey we took air aboard Flying Dragon airlines. We first endured a layover in Bangladesh before crossing paths with a nasty storm over Kathmandu. A preview of the coming monsoon season, warm rains accompanied by large thunder storms in
addition the pilot informed us the the airport was closed! As we circled over Kathmandu we wondered if we were going to have to turn back to Bangladesh. After two hours of circling above the city we finally landed n Kathmandu. 38 hours of traveling, a whirlwind tour of Hong Kong and we made it!

Hong Kong Express

We arrived safely in Hong Kong where we met up with our northern California friends. Our crew of 17 jumped on board a tour bus to pick up Lou and Branden who arrived in town a few days earlier. On our way to their hotel we crossed the Tsing Ma bridge which is the 6th largest span suspension bridge in the world. After our additional two team mates decided to come down from their lofty luxury perch we were off and running. We headed up to "The Peak" which provided us with spectacular views of the city and then headed down to the historic Stanley Market. For lunch we enjoyed an authentic dim sum meal and discovered that apparently proper dim sum etiquette dictates that you only use the bowl and not your plate...Opps! Silly Americans.

Leavin' On A Jet Plane

The majority of the team departs tonight from Los Angeles. We're headed for Hong Kong where we'll rendezvous with the rest of the team. Many thanks to everyone who has helped us get this far! If not for the amazing support of all our friends and families, none of this would have been possible. The flight to Hong Kong is a whopping 13 hours and crosses fourteen time zones! From there, after a bit of sightseeing, we meet up with everyone else and head for Kathmandu.

The Spot!

EveryBODY to Everest Trek for CAF

Share your Adventures with SpotAdventures

You can follow us along our journey with the spot. This GPS device will let our friends and family know where we are and when we make it to our next destination.

Trekking for CAF

The Challenge: A diverse group of fit and philanthropic individuals will travel to Nepal and push their bodies higher and higher to an oxygen deficient altitude of 17,500 feet in order to reach the legendary Mt. Everest Base Camp. They are undertaking this arduous journey for the benefit of the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF) to help those less fortunate who may be physically unable to hike freely and explore the world. The collective goal of the group is to raise $290,290 for CAF along with the quest of Paul & Denise Fejtek to reach the 29,029 foot summit of the earth's highest peak, while completing the Seven Summits for CAF.

Get all the details at http://www.everybodytoeverest.com

Meet the team at http://www.everybodytoeverest.com/The_Team.html

Follow Paul and Denise at http://www.fejteksevensummits.blogspot.com/