April 2013

Thame & Khumjung

We visited Thame 3,700m the village of most of our Sherpas. I visited Tapke’s home and met his parents. Tapke is our teams serdar (head Sherpa). We had tea, and spoke about the old days in the mountain. He was a serdar, and a porter in Hilary’s expedition.

The rest of the team headed a few hundred meters to the Monastery while I visited my Sherpa’s house. They were blessed there by the monk, and gave them good luck ribbon.

We later filmed a surprise for all of you that we will post at Everest Base Camp you will love it.

Today woke up at 7am again, for a 5hr trek to Khumjung. Once we reached here we visited the Hillary School that was built in 1961. To contribute back to what Nepal gave him in general and Sherpas in specific. The Alpine Ascents head Serdar Lakpa Rita Sherpa had to commute to school everyday from Thame, he read his studies as he walked everyday.

The community here owes it to Sir Edmond Hillary for this school. In just one generation there are doctors, pilots, guides Sherpas all over the world. So honored to be the brand Ambassador of ROTA that strongly believe in the same vision as Hillary and hope by the fundraising I a doing I can also give back to Nepal.

Khumjung is at 3,790 not a big gain in altitude but will certain help our acclimatization up to base camp. We are all feeling great, the days are not that tough yet.

Note: the pic is with Kami Rita Sherpa (Tapke) and his parents

Namche Rest Day

Reach out to asia (ROTA) started he hash tag #rotaoneverest and to keep posted with our updates follow @everestarabs

We spent a rest day here at Namche 3,440m. Had a late breakfast that’s 8:30am here! We headed to the military base which had the view of Everest. It is the 1st time to see it on our trek. Our faces just lit up when we saw it. I remember the last time we were there 4 years ago with our friends Sacin, Anshul, and Rishop. Wow what a view, seeing it there, and inshala in less than 2 months we will be standing on top.
We headed later back to the lodge where Vern, Bassam (sound guru), and the team were jamming it in the lounge, we had a blast. We also walked around Namche Bazaar where we bought some carpets for our tents at base camp. We will be living in the. For a while why not make it more comfortable right. We then headed to Everest Bakery where we met Sushila Sherpa and her husband. She made the best brownies ever, and they served Starbucks coffee. So lattes and brownies what else can we ask for here.

Tomorrow we will head to Thame the home of Sherpas and where most of our Sherpas are from. Our head serdar Sherpa Lakpa and Kami Rita are from as well.
I will do my best to update you tomorrow, but not so sure if I will get connection, promise I will do my best.

Day 2 Phakding to Namche

We woke up in Phakding 2,610m, had breakfast and headed to Namche. We had had a good 8hr trek with a relatively slow pace. Drinking lots of fluids to stay hydrated and high calorie snacks to stay strong. We had a lot of fun today, Vern was playing his guitar while we were trekking, was very entertaining the Sherpa kids loved it.

We stopped half way for lunch, at a hut on our way. The famous tea with milk here in the Khumbu is just A-mazing, we can’t get enough of it. I can remember the last time I was here 4 years ago, little experience I had then. More like no experience. This leg last time crashed us; we were so exhausted and ended up trekking in pitch dark for some time. We are in much better shape this time, didn’t feel it at all. We are starting to feel the altitude at 3,450m in Namche. This is normal to feel it here, especially to reach 3,450m in 2 days.

We are settled in a nice lodge, with a hot shower 😀 probably not again for a few days. Tomorrow we will have a rest day here in Namche, where we will have the first view of Everest, walk around the famous Namche Bazar, and enjoy the bakery here.

Himalaying

We woke up at 4am this morning, for and early start took a quick shower hand rushed down. As usual we ended up waiting for Masoudin the lobby for 40min. We bearly made it to the domestic airport in time. The flight to the most dangerous airport Lukla 2810m.
The trek to Phakding was for about 4hrs mostly down hill. We just had one stop at a tea house for tea and biscuits. We are now in Phakding 2660m where we will rest for the night.

Last Day in Katmandu

Where can I start, today was an amazing day. It started we breakfast 8am, and a trip to the slums. I went to visit a school that ROTA helps support. A 15min drive ended to be 45 but we eventually arrived. We were greeted by action aid representative who liaises with ROTA here in Nepal. We were also greeted with over 100 students, their teachers, and head principal. They gave us flowers and scarves for good luck.

The students were very well educated and all spoke English. However the school infrastructure was really bad. 900 Students had 3mx10m playground. This one girl who was very out spoken was explaining the school system and the hardships they face as students. When I explained about out Arabs with Altitude team and team members, I was mentioning all the countries. Once I reached lebanon the girl burst in tears, when I asked her why she is crying. She replied that her mother used to work there, that she worked really hard caring apples up and down the mountain. That she works really hard so she can provide for her children for food and education. That she misses her mom a lot when she leaves for 3 years to work in the Middle East. Most of the team were in tears, because we never think of the helpers at home how they also have families and miss the a lot while they are away providing for them. This girl wants to become a lawyer and I see her become an amazing one. I hope that the funds I will be Raising will at least help those kids get good education and a chance to live a reasonable life out of the slums of Katmandu.

I then had an interview with 2 reporters from the Katmandu post and a Nepalese newspaper that is widely read in Qatar. It was a long interview about my climb, the fundraising, and business.

We went back to the hotel and met with an Everest rockstar Elizabeth Hawley born November 9, 1923, is an American former journalist and chronicler of Himalayan expeditions. She traveled to Nepal in September 1960 and never left. She is the best-known chronicler of Himalayan expeditions for over four decades and was an honor to meet her in person. She has an amazing character and would certainly be great to meet her again when we are back (inshala after we summit).

We also met with Ted Atkins the inventor of Tap Out mast the is used in the mountain for years. He invented it in 2004 while he was summiting Everest. This device saved many lives, and increased the success rate a lot. He showed us his new version of the mask and regulator and looks like it will be a huge success. Ted also explained what might go wrong on the mountain and how to solve the problem if it happens (mask and regulator related).

Over all was another long and rewarding day in Katmandu, can’t ask for a better one. We will wake up at 4am for an early start to the airport and off the airport to fly to Lukla where we will start our trek to Phakding.

Day 1 Katmandu

We woke up today at 8pm for breakfast, then head to Thamel to get our selves Nepalese SIM cards. Only in Nepal you have to get finger printed and sign your picture to get a SIM card. Good thing now we have cell reception all the way to base camp.

We then had our gear check done at 2pm, it took us a while but went smoothly. We have all our gear set. We also have chocolates enough for 60 days to load us with calories.

We went to our favorite restaurant fire and ice for dinner. There we met Tod the owner of Alpine Ascents. We dealt in the past but never met, very nice guy. We discussed our it itinerary and ways to maximize our chances of summit.

We will have an early morning tomorrow, lights out 9:15pm

Landed in Katmandu

Just settled in out hotel, the famous Yak & Yeti, very well known in Katmandu for all the adventurers who stay here. We had a very smooth flight form Sharjah to Katmandu, it was about 3:15 hrs. We had the spot connect (tracker) on the whole flight and guess what we forgot it on the plane hahaha. Good thing the cabin crew spotted it and handed it over to the duty manager. Hopefully we will pick it up first thing in the morning.

We had to wait for ages for our bags; you have to understand we have a lot of them. We will be spending almost 2 months on the mountain. Once we headed out Michael, Vern, and Elia greeted us. Michael and Vern will be our guides and Elia Saikaly is our cameraman that will accompany us during the whole trip.

We cramped up in a bus that took us to the hotel, it was a very short ride to the hotel where we are settled in. Tomorrow will be a nice day sightseeing and gear checking.

Here We Go Again!!!

The time has come for my next expedition, this time it’s the big one Mount Everest 8,850m. This has been my dream for a long time and I have been climbing and training hard for 4 years for this one.

Unlike other mountains I climbed, Everest has lots of perks; the good thing is that I will have limited data at base camp. This will allow me to update you much more. Just like in my previous climbs I will be updating my blog regularly (https://www.moealthani.com/blog/) whenever I have data access I will be writing and when we pass base camp I will be using an audio cast that will also be on the blog.

A new addition on my main page is the Google maps tracker; I used to use different software that may have been confusing to some people so I decided to find a better solution. You are able to see the route I will be taking up the mountain (blue line) and tack my progress (yellow line).

This is a must, check out the fly-in app (top left corner on the map www.moealthani.com) it will shows you the whole journey form Sharjah to the top of the world.

I will fly from Sharjah to Katmandu on the 3rd of April, and then from Katmandu to Lukla 2,860m from there it will be a 10-12 day trek to Everest base camp. I will then have 3 acclimatization runs up and down the mountain (may take 30 days) before having a good weather window so I can summit.

As you all know I am the brand Ambassador for Reach Out To Asia a Qatari non-profit charity foundation that works to ensure that people affected by crisis across Asia and around the world have continuous access to relevant and high-quality primary and secondary education. I am also climbing to raise funds for Reach Out To Asia’s education-focused projects in Nepal. Here is a link to the fundraising portal any donation is very much appreciated. https://www.ammado.com/community/132166

Finally, I would like to thank all of you for your continues support over the years, this made me very persistent in focusing on my end goal. I also appreciate all what you have done, and hope to return from the Himalayas victoriously.

Moe Al Thani

Less than 48hrs to go!!!

In less than 48hrs, Raed, Masoud, and myself will be heading out to climb the highest mountain in the world Mount Everest! I still don’t know why I am doing this. Must be a bug I caught in 2009 while trekking to Everest Base camp.

I had my last training session today with Walter (my trainer), as we were leaving the gym he mentioned to me “can you believe it, we are done!” in my head I said I didn’t even start. All the training I did is just preparation foe the long 60day expedition.

The time has come now, this is becoming real. I have been dreaming of this for 4 years and now we are just 48hrs away.

I will have a facelift done to my website (moealthani.com) that will make tracking our progress easier and more fun. This should be up before I leave to Katmandu.