| Professionals | Amateurs |
| Tap Richards | Chris Balsiger |
| Heidi Richards | Christy Balsiger |
| Lhawang Dhondup |
We expect the climb to take 12 days. After arriving in Kathmandu on October 9, we plan to depart October 10 for Lukla in the Sherpa region at 8,000 feet and begin the trek toward Everest Base Camp. We hope to arrive at Base Camp (17,600 ft.) by October 16 and then climb thru the route for the next three days.
This will be Chris' second time to Everest Base Camp and his first attempt at the Icefall and the climb to Camp 2. This will be Christy's first trip to the area.
In addition to climbing, the team will be testing various new equipment (i.e. boots, oxygen systems, tents, etc.) in preparation for our planned summit attempt in the spring of 2006.
Planned itinerary:
| Date | Day | Issue |
| 10-12 | 1 | Depart from LA at 1:40 p.m. |
| 10-13 | 2 | Vanishes as we cross the dateline/Spend the night in Bangkok |
| 10-14 | 3 | Arrive in Kathmandu @ 12:35 p.m. - Stay at the Hyatt |
| 10-15 | 4 | Depart in the mid-morning for Lukla (8,000 ft.) and then trek to Phakding (9,500 Ft.) |
| 10-16 | 5 | Trek to Namche Bazaar (11,300 ft.) |
| 10-17 | 6 | Trek to Tengboche (12,684 ft.) |
| 10-18 | 7 | Trek to Dingboche (13,575 ft.) via Ama Dablam Base Camp (16,000 ft.) |
| 10-19 | 8 | Trek to Lobuche (15,000 ft.) |
| 10-20 | 9 | Trek to Gorak Shep (17,000 ft.). Take side trek up Kala Patar (18,600 ft.) |
| 10-21 | 10 | Trek to Everest Base Camp (17,600 ft.) |
| 10-22 | 11 | Everest Base Camp - Rest Day |
| 10-23 | 12 | Explore the ice-fall |
| 10-24 | 13 | Explore the ice-fall/ABC |
| 10-25 | 14 | Trek down to Pheriche |
| 10-26 | 15 | Helicopter to Kathmandu in the morning |
| 10-27 | 16 | Depart Katmandu @ 1:40 p.m. and arrive in Los Angeles at 10:40 a.m. on 10-28 |
 | My first report is that the expedition was delayed. One of my children, Avery, had some health issues that caused a five-day delay. The health issues are under control, but things didn’t work out for Christy to come.
I just arrived in Kathmandu. Met up with the rest of the team. We’ll get up at about 6 o’clock tomorrow and head to the airport and take about an hour flight to the Himalaya from Kathmandu. We’ll go from about 2,000 ft to about 8,000 or 9,000 ft in the town of Lukla and then we’ll start the trek up. It’s good to see everyone again and after the delay we are now on site. We will begin tomorrow which is Friday for you and Saturday for us. I’ll call in with my first report from the mountain tomorrow. Communications Manager's Note — October 14: Current Everest weather report from snow-forecast.com at 4,827 meters…Mostly dry, Freeze-thaw conditions (max 7°C on Sun morning, min -5°C on Sun night). Wind will be generally light. |
 | Saturday was a basic day. We just got up very early, caught the flight into Lukla, and did about a three hour trek to the town of Phakding. It was pretty basic and straight forward. About 8,000 ft at Lukla to 9,000 ft at Phakding. It’s a little bit hustle and bustle and takes awhile to get out into the countryside.
Sunday we got up. Did a pretty aggressive trek up to Namche Bazaar. That goes from 9,000 ft to right at about 12,000 ft. Namche Bazaar is sort of the commercial center of the Sherpa. It’s just beautiful. Around every corner of the trek were just waterfalls, bridges, and spectacular countryside. Namche Bazaar, again we are at still at about 12,000 ft. We are still trekking, no climbing of course. We are still about 4 or 5 days from the first base. While we are in shape to move faster and higher, you can’t because it’s important to acclimatize. So we’ll take a day here at Namche Bazaar. We’ll probably climb to a little village about 3 or 4 hours away up to about 14,000 ft, come back down again tonight, and sleep in Namche. Then we are off tomorrow to the monastery at Tengboche. The following day, we’ll make a big move to Dingboche and Lobuche and then on into Everest base…(static and then lose connection). Communications Manager's Note — October 17: Current Everest weather report from snow-forecast.com at 4,827 meters…A dusting of new snow, Freeze-thaw conditions (max 4°C on Mon afternoon, min -8°C on Wed night). Wind will be generally light. |
 | Sorry I haven't called in much...the reception has been very bad. The last time I talked we were having a rest at Namche Bazaar. We then moved up to Tengboche. From there, we moved to a town called Dingboche. I'm now calling from a town called Lobuche, right at about 16,000 ft. I'd really forgotten just how hard this trek was. It's quite hard and we're running into a lot of trek teams that didn't train too well and are having a lot of problems. Still pretty, and really great aggressive trekking. It's early in the morning here, about 8 or 9 o'clock. We're going to head on up to Everest base. It'll take about 6 or 7 hours. We're in a snowstorm and the trail is not exposed, so we'll just move through the snow. We'll be in Everest base tonight. The objective of the climb will be Saturday, Sunday and Monday we'll start checking out our oxygen gear, climb through the ice falls and see how well we do. It's been pretty but hard, and cold as heck. Take care. Communications Manager's Note — October 21: Current Everest weather report from snow-forecast.com at 4,827 meters...A light covering of new snow mostly falling on Sat afternoon. Becoming milder with light rain (total 3.0mm) on Sun afternoon. Freeze-thaw conditions (max 4°C on Sat morning, min -5°C on Fri night) Wind will be generally light. |
 | It's Saturday morning here, we are at base camp. We had a long trek and climb yesterday through some cold, snowy weather. But we're here today setting up. Today we'll rest. We'll have a Puja ceremony to make sure we're properly blessed for our way through the ice-fall. Prepare to launch tomorrow... |
 | It's been hard getting through to a satellite. It's early Monday morning here…we moved to base a few days ago. We had a Puja ceremony which is required of the locals here before they enter the ice-fall, which is a very risky part of the climb. We made some friends, celebrated the Puja with them and that afternoon (which I think was Saturday) we began our first foray into the ice-fall right up to the fixed road. It was hard, but fun. Sunday we got up early and went all the way inside them. We threw the fish ropes up the ladders and it was a good experience in mountaineering. We felt it was successful and it was an eight-hour day. We came down safe. Now on Monday morning we are going to lay camp. We feel we've accomplished all of the objectives we wanted to and we're going to work our way home. The ice field, the climb itself, was as tough as I've experienced. We had good teachers and it was mostly technical climbing, but it was a lot of fun and we all did well. Being first on the ladder...trying to balance yourself is a skill. I'm not quite sure where I'm going to use it again, but it is a skill that was definitely required here.
Communications Manager's Note — October 24: Current Everest weather report from snow-forecast.com at 4,827 meters...Moderate rain (total 16.0mm), heaviest on Mon afternoon, Freeze-thaw conditions (max 6°C on Mon morning, min -7°C on Tue night) Wind will be generally light. |
 | We are back in Kathmandu and got back safe. It’s early Wednesday morning here. I’m going to head back to the states.
The objective of the trip of course was to prepare for the trekking of the summit attempt in April and May of 2006 and to recheck the routes, to recheck what kind of conditioning people may have to have who want to come on the route and then a climb objective of going through the ice-fall which was the most technical demanding and dangerous part of the climb. The third goal was to check out some new gear from the oxygen containers that we’ll be using to boost the tents and any procedures we may want to change. We had the Sherpa team in place as well as the ice doctors who helped set up the route through the ice-fall and everything lived up to its expectations as far as challenges and dangers. We moved extremely fast which was very hard. We did about 9 ½ days on the mountain. In the spring, so we don’t wear ourselves out, we’ll take about 18 days. The team is paying for it a little bit, everyone got a little sick, and is fatigued, but the basic climbing and trekking objectives were achieved. The weather was rough. I think everyone heard about the avalanche that occurred more on the western side that killed the French team. We experienced avalanches that avoided our tent; you just have to be smart where to go. But, I thought avalanches on McKinley were big. Everything here is bigger and more intimidating than any mountain that I have ever seen. From the size, avalanches to other dangers, but I think it was good to shake out and I think I have a shot at this mountain. For those who want to trek with us, you’ve got to be in shape. Everything here is big and tough, but very rewarding. The country is gorgeous, the people are neat and the culture is very interesting and fun. I’ll call in about 2 days with my wrap-up. |
 | Here is my last phone in for the completed climb. It is now November 4th, about a week after I have returned. I returned still sick and a week after the return I’m still fighting sickness. The climb itself, we were pleased with the climb—we pushed very, very hard. Even the original schedule was very aggressive and given the delay in the trip we even cut out one or two days out of that aggressive schedule so I guess it’s no surprise that some of us returned with, what I think is, a case of the flu—but not the Asian bird flu.
We felt good on the climb. The objectives were somewhat achieved. When we return safe, as they say in every wrap-up, that is the most important. The secondary objectives, the unstable conditions of the snow, we knew actually before we left that going up to camp two was not going to be a possibility. I think everyone heard of the disaster that occurred, well down the road from us on the French team, that wiped out the French team as well as some Sherpas and the Yaks. And we saw the same unstable snow conditions where we were and wisely put a base camp well out of harm’s way, even though there was a couple of breaks that I thought maybe we were still in harm’s way. We made our climb through the ice-fall to a level that we felt was safe. It was still challenging and we feel very confident that the entire team, with specific emphasis on me, will be able to handle it with no problem when we come back for our summit attempt. The experiment with me on oxygen did not go as well; I found it very confining, so I’m going to do some more work on that which I can do here in El Paso. It was smart of us to test it and not wait until the summit attempt so we know that’s an area to work on. We were able to more definitively plan for the summit attempt, get the budget in the shape we needed to. We took a lot of time to do detail planning for the trek, for those friends of ours that will be accompanying us on the trek up to base camp, stay a couple of days and then leave and then for those of us that will remain for the climb itself. The plans are still to go for the summit in 2006. I, of course, got a very good look at the route, experienced a very hard part of the route and I’m realistic that I’m going to have to have everything break my way for a summit to result. I still think for me to get to the balcony right under 28,000 ft would be a reasonable goal. And then if weather and strength and everything is working my way, perhaps we then make a shot. We will have on the team pros and will be designed to get at least as many of the team as we can to the summit. My final thoughts are, you know, I can sense coming to an end. With this climb completed, I’m down to my last two climbs. January will be the attempt on Vinson. All mountains are tough, but we think we'll definitely have a great shot at that one, which will give us our sixth continental summit. If that is the case, then when we turn around for Everest, going for our seventh continental summit, it will be me, Tap and Heidi and that will be quite fun to see if those of us who started this goal four years ago, it will be sort of fun to see if we can complete it at the same time. So, I’m down to my last two—very excited that I’m down to two and can see the goal at hand. I appreciate once again everyone’s support and we’ll depart for Antarctica on January 6, so stay tuned and I’ll keep you up to date. Thank you. |