[everest 3.0]
[climb, Nepal, school curriculum, seven summits]

Our team has all arrived safe and sound in Kathmandu. I am pleased to introduce you from left to right: Hugo (team leader), Ade, TA, Amit, Dendi (team manager) and Bill. It’s funny that, instead of a Flat Stanley this expedition, I’ve taken Climber Smurf with me because when I look at our team picture, next to Ade, I look like a smurf 🙂 .

Keep an eye out to see what adventures Climber Smurf or CS gets into.

Today I visited the Everest Hardware Store and Factory. It was great to see my friend, Norkey Sherpa and to see where my big red fluffy red expedition parka was made.
Hugo handed out our team jackets yesterday and they are like wearing a giant warm bear hug.

Here is a picture of the fine folks who sewed our jackets for us. Today, since they were preparing for the upcoming trekking season, they were working on trekking shirts and pants. I’d hoped to see how they stuff all that down into jackets but I was a few days too late.

The staff has been very busy. These are all the kinds of clothes they make at Everest Hardware.

We’re all getting pretty excited to get underway. Our preparations and training are now done and it’s time to start the trek into base camp. If the weather allows, we will fly into Hilary Tenzing Airport at Lukla tomorrow morning. The funny thing is that our first day’s trek is mostly downhill. But I’ll tell you all about that tomorrow. For now, I’m off to our team send-off dinner.

I’m not sure how cell coverage will go as we trek up the valley. As long as there is coverage, I will be able to share pictures. When coverage is spotty, I will rely on my descriptive audio updates. An interesting fact is that you can use Twitter in Nepal without incurring data charges, so until I reach base camp, if you are a Twitter user, you can be in touch via Twitter @taloeffler. A few schools have used Twitter to show me how they’ve participated in some of the activities.

Happy Friday to all. I’m excited. Somewhat nervous. A bit scared. Eager to get under way…and thrilled that you all are coming along!