The following is a continuation of Mera Peak Expedition — Namdolingomba to Ngyngso Camp. Sunday, October 16 There was a steady patter of rain on the tent as we fell asleep which we always find very reassuring somehow, perhaps because we live in dry Southern California.  At some point during the night the temperature dropped […]

Dilli Bahadur Rai, or “D.B.” as he is known to his customers, is a senior guide in the Himalaya Mountains of Nepal. He comes from the village of Basa 6, one of 9 villages that make up Basa Village Development Committee (VDC). These VDC’s are a creation of the Nepal government for administration purposes and […]

The following is a continuation of Mera Peak — Adheri to Namdolingomba Saturday, October 15 Morning came at 5:30am as usual, and we were packed and ready by 6am “washing water.” followed by a delicious breakfast of rice pudding. Karlin was late for breakfast for a great reason, he agreed the night before to meet […]

The following is a continuation of Mera Peak Expedition — Spending a day in paradise Adheri, meaning “dark place” was very appropriately named. It sits high on the same steep mountainside that Basa occupies, but is situated in a way that the sun comes up very late over the mountain to the east and sets […]

The following is a continuation of Mera Peak Expedition — Why Basa matters so much If arriving in Basa was remarkable, spending a day there was incredible. We slept incredibly well after our prior evening of rahksi and dancing…and rahksi. Even though we were in their home village and they slept in their own homes, the […]

The following is a continuation of Mera Peak Expedition — Arriving in Basa Challenges Nepal is a great example of what happens when extremely poor meets well-meaning. Westerners have been coming to Nepal in large numbers for several decades because of its amazing mountains and equally amazing people. Westerners have opened their hearts and pocketbooks and donated […]

The following is a continuation of Mera Peak Expedition — Phaplu at last. The next day’s trek was almost entirely downhill from just above 3000 m. (about 10,000 ft) and ended up at 1800 m. (5900 ft). We were in the sun most of the time, making it a warm but very enjoyable journey into […]

The following is a continuation of Mera Peak Expedition – Getting in and out of Kathmandu. After our aborted attempt to fly to Phaplu from Kathmandu on Monday, we were able to successfully fly out at around noon on the 11th of October. The Tara Air plane was a small turbo prop that sat 19 […]

No arrival in Kathmandu, Nepal can beat the greeting that we’re always given by our friends from Adventure Geo Treks, known as ‘AGT’ by us, and ‘Geo Treks’ by the locals. For us, they’re much more than a commercial operation and much more like friends. Though he owns and runs one of the largest tour […]

The following is a guest blog by Jeff Rasley From the Prologue to my book, Bringing Progress to Paradise: “The avalanche struck when our team was hiking out from base camp after a failed attempt to climb 21,224-foot Mera Peak in the fall of 1999 in the Solu-Khumbu region of Nepal. Fifteen climbing teams spent […]