Lukla

4am woke up in a strange room in Kathmandu, took the cab to the airport, which was not open yet, the monkeys were not even awake, we waited, but there was no sign of Nima, who also had our four bags of mountaineering equipment...after a long time a young Nepalese man rode up on his motorcycle, and said Nima's cab had a puncture, gave us tickets, and we went into the airport and tried to slow them down as much as possible, they all knew Nima, but soon they told us we had to board, we got on the bus, to the plane, but no Nima. The driver started the bus, pulled out, then Nima runs up, they stop the bus, and we get on the very small plane, the stewardess gives us cotton for our ears, and we are off in a cloud of smoke.

Kathmandu 6:am

Sitting in the dark, power is off in Kathmandu, we visited a little temple district this morning in the hazy morning light, i watched the prayers and offerings, candle flames, little plates of food, garlands of bright orange and yellow blossoms...

Everest: Climbers get in fight with Sherpas

Switzerland's Ueli Steck and Simone Moro from Italy were at 7,470m (24,500ft) when the brawl occurred.
The pair allegedly ignored orders to hold their climb and triggered an icefall which hit the Sherpas laying fixed ropes. The climbers deny this.
Both sides have since reached a peace deal, reports say.
Mr Steck told the BBC that their three-man team - which included Briton Jonathan Griffith - was nearing Camp Three on Saturday, when the "conflict" broke out.
He said they had been keeping a respectful distance so as not to disturb the work of the Sherpas laying ropes.
The climbers continued to Camp Three but later descended to Camp Two to "finish the discussion" and were met by more than 100 angry Sherpas, who began to beat them and throw rocks, Mr Steck said.

REad the rest of the article at  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22336540

Kathmandu

Then there is Kathmandu airport. planes do not want land there so our Indian pilot decided to have us all sit in the plane for two hours in Delhi, while she waited for weather reports from Kathmandu, on these flights you must aggressively assert yourself to get off the plane, most people are out their seats when the landing gear goes down. Couldn't find Nima since the plane was 3 hours late, finally jumped into a car with some men who may or may not have been cab drivers, wondering which part of this town are they going to roll me out the door and go sell all my down clothes. But enough about airports, I am back in Nepal. it is good to go back to a place for the second time, like doing a climb the second time, it seems both familiar and new, it can be studied and enjoyed more thoroughly.

Delhi airport

In Amsterdam airport they sell bulbs and seeds for the garden. The KLM planes are a lovely turquoise blue, they sell hot chocolate in little cups.
Then there is international transfers in Delhi, bureaucratic purgatory, at 1:00 am then 2:00 am now 3:00 am, what is in your bags? , the bags we cannot seem to find, should I tell them extremely sharp and fierce looking ice tools? Ice axe? Steel pointed crampons? How many jetair attendants does it take to lose my bags at 3:00 am, I have counted 15 so far. I bribed my baggage fees down to $70, for overweight.

Airports

Airports. Minneapolis airport, this is a good one, feels like being in a nice mall, everything is in its place, carefully curated stores, book stores, not too many choices, but interesting popular ones, lots of magazines, big windows and airplanes everywhere, airports are good places to read, sort through your backpacks, listen to the news, make plans.

Plane Crashes and Disasters

There are several stories of airplane crashes flying from Kathmandu, Nepal to Lukla the small village where most treks start up some of the most famous mountains in the world. Just google Kathmandu plane crashes. It's not a very comforting sight. One story said that the total number of people killed in eight aviation disasters in the last six years has now risen to 114. Here is that story.
Here is a bit from a BBC news story. 
British mountaineer Alan Hinkes told the BBC he had taken the flight from Kathmandu to Lukla many times and that problems usually occurred at the Lukla end.
"The landing strip in Lukla is a bit like an aircraft carrier with a mountain at the end of it, with a 1,000ft drop at the end of the runway. Normally crashes happen at that end," he said.
He added: "It is not the safest place to fly, I must admit, but it is what you have to do to get into the mountains."
Aviation accidents involving small aircraft are not uncommon in mountainous Nepal.
In May, 15 people were killed when a plane crashed trying to land at an airport in the north of the country.
And in September 2011, 19 people were killed when a Buddha Air plane crashed during a flight to view Mount Everest.
Here is a link to the rest of the article. It also has a video that describes the crash.

Plan crashes aren't the only disaster to worry about. Ama dablam has many reported incidences many from Avalanches. In 2006, a large Avalanche happened which killed 6 people.  Camp 3 completely fell off the mountain side. Rescue Helicopters have also crashes while attempting to save climbers.

empty chair

deaf smith canyon moss

baseball hat                            10oz

sleeping bag silk liner                            12oz

mountain hardware down pants            1lb10oz

feathered friend -20 sleeping bag            3lb12oz

3 hats                                                            9oz

feathered friend expedition down coat  2lb 4oz

mont-bell down coat                              15oz

mont-bell down sweater                       6oz

pagagonia hard shell jacket                 16 oz

Patagonia hard shell pants                   17oz

3 socks pair                                          10oz

2 wool long john                                 14 oz

chocolate                                              17 oz

books...how could you go up a mountain without a book?

natalie wood painting

Gear weigh in

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6 ice screws and crampons    2 lbs 18oz

la sportiva approach shoes                2lbs 3oz

foam sleeping pad                             14oz

inflatable sleeping pad               16oz            

mt hardware mountaineering  tent 3 lbs

black diamond tent                3lb 4 oz

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nomic ice tools                               2 lbs 14oz

black diamond mittens                1lb

mt hardware down mittens   6 oz

black diamond gloves                 12 oz

outdoor research wool blizzard glove 2 pair 6 oz

mt hardware climbing wet-proof gloves               4 oz

glove liners               2oz

trekking gloves               3oz

fleece balaclava   2oz

heavy balaclava            3oz

hat                           4oz

sun hart    2oz

north face fleece hat   3oz

open heart

visit the zoo

let it go

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advil  clonazepam

 ambien

cipro alprazolam

acetazolamide -diamox

benedryl Imodium

exedrin levaquin

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black diamond trekking poles   11oz

outdoor research gators               7oz

10 foot-warmers               1lb 4oz

pillow               10oz

glacier glasses   5 oz

leash for ice tools    4oz

grivel  ice ax                           1lb 6oz

leash for ice ax   2oz

goggles   4 oz

3 water bottles   16oz

figure 8 belay device            4oz

   

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2 petzl acenders                15 oz

petzle traxion                6 oz

18 freeze dried meals    7lb

10 recovery drink packets    1lb 2oz

26 gel nutrition packets    2lb 6oz

27 energy bars    2lb 3oz

2 spoons            1oz

8 hot chocolate packets 6 oz

petzl headlamp    3 oz

black diamond headlamp    3oz

climbing helmet    9 oz

reactor stove  and spoon                1lb 6oz

micro stove                3oz

 

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2 locking carabiners                6oz

leash for ascender and biner    5 oz

2 quickdraws with screamers    10 oz

2 cordelletts            15 oz

1 atc and biner    5 oz

knife, rappel ring and cordellete 6oz

ama dablam reintroduced

The original introduction of Ama Dablam can be found here. The description from Herman Melville here.

A

the flight comes into Lukla and from there we follow this trail to base camp where we start our accent of Ama Dalam.

Monday morning Walk

it was a crisp morning, nothing was open in 

Bryant Park, only empty chairs, and the chess table
it was gone, too.

so i decided to go to York street and see if i could find a bakery, well Front street is what i was really looking for, everyone was taking their small children to school, very tall massive buildings, bridges, and small children, cobblestones, it all made me happy, like my home was just upstairs in a very bright loft looking out over the river. it was lovely morning spring light, the building machines were making that thumping noise, the crane was making the backing up noise, it was just like Monday morning in  Tribeca.

 These are the mossy covered trees in the desert, where I gather everything up to take it into a mountain, into a mountain cloud, the lost mountain. I should be packing, almost everything is weighed. The ski lifts are closed, now i have the hill to myself.