Day #8:

Location: Namche Bazaar
Altitude: 3440m
Local Time: 9:00pm / April 4
Weather: Warm Day (70's) and windy

Today was a rest day and we stayed in Namche Bazaar. A leisurely breakfast was followed by a moderate hike up a local hill to have mid morning coffe at a restaurant that had an unbelievable panoramic view of snow capped mountains. The distant Mt. Everest caught our attention as the jet stream winds (100 mph plus) could be seen creating a cloud that covered the summit and spilled across the sky. Each time I gaze on this mountain I am humbled by the enormity of it's size, and left to wonder if I am capable of reaching this summit. I am hopeful that this will be the outcome, but have promised Carol that should anything go wrong or I find myself in a precarious situation I will turn back. I want to live a full life and would rather try my hardest and know that I gave it my all ... than to be injured or perish due to pushing forward when I should be retreating. A fellow climber said today that one of his proudest moments was knowing to retreat off a mountain when conditions turned deplorable ... great advice!
I could have sat all day and every other day at this location as on every turn of the head there was a spectacular view of towering mountains. Carol said that I should have approached a certain credit card company (Mastercard?) to appeal to them for sponsorship and use the fact that I would be climbing Mt. Everest as a potential commercial which would go something like this:
Cost of mountain climbing gear
$5000.00
Cost of lessons to use gear
$1000.00
Cost of flight to Kathmandu
$2000.00
View from the top of the world
Priceless

Well, I was not on top of the world today, but indeed the view was priceless!

I am impressed by the number of tourists/hikers at this altitude as you need to be in pretty good shape to hike these trails at this altitude. I would highly recommend any and all to look into a hike into Mt. Everest basecamp as the beauty of the mountains, the richness of the people, the variety of foods, and the ease of accomodations enroute make for a great vacation with little planning needed ... just a good set of lungs!

Tomorrow we have a long hike ahead of us as we head up the trail to Pangboche at 3930m. I hope that this post finds all of you well and look forward to replying to your recent comments within next few days.

Take care,

Pat :>)

Your Messages:

The following format will be how I respond to your messages as they will be displayed within the text of the update. Unfortunately I will not be able to respond at present time to those that wrote me in the last two days as I let my battery get too low on my pda ... and it wiped out my settings on the pda. Thank goodness Paul had helped me to do a backup when I visited with him on 3/31 in Kathmandu so we were able to use one of his replacement batteries and restore everything! So, what I have lost is the latest lists of responses on the blog site that were sent to me by my brother Danny. I will have him resend those responses from the past few days and will play catch up with responding to your comments. Technology is great when it works ... but when in the middle of the mountains there are not many resources when problems occur! I had read all the responses last night and made notes on some earlier blog postings of which I don't believe that I responded, so can respond to those few ... and again will play catch up with all others over the next few days!

Gene at USC:
Hey Gene ... thanks for your message of support and will try to avoid bumping into people on the mountain
Liesl at USC:
Hey Liesl ... thanks for the Bob Seger lyrics on Kathmandu ... very timely! I appreciate the update regarding me being on the USC homepage, and am able to do the media interviews/updates by phone as I move up the hill. Let me know how they would like to procede.

Lisa at USC:
Hey Lisa ... thanks for the support. Hope all is well in the research dept.

Sherri in Almonte:
Hey Sherri ... thanks for an earlier post. Look forward to seeing you guys in July.

Dave & Melle:
Hey guys ... thanks so much for your kind words. I hope that I can visit with y'all on my return and share some stories ... and maybe get a run in with Dave.

Ashley (USC Student):
Hey Ashley ... thanks for your earlier post and I hope that school is going okay. It already seems so long since I left! Keep me in your prayers.

Jane Elizabeth (Sumter):
Hey Jane ... thanks for an earlier post and hope you keep tuned in.

Jacqueline:
Hey Jacqueline ... thanks for your best wishes for all the cllimbers ... most considerate.