Cybercasts

Hello Everyone,

Another great day here in China (Tibet). After breakfast we walked down the road and up some hills above Tingri gaining about 1,000ft to help acclimatize. It was a beautiful day, and pretty hot in the sun. Tingri is basically a one road town, dusty with lots of trucks passing through either to the Nepal border or towards Shigatse and Lhasa. Tomorrow we will head to Chinese Basecamp where our Sherpa and Nepal staff are setting up camp for our arrival. It will be good to see them and to feel like we are beginning the expedition as we will be in tents and eating food cooked by our amazing cook Gopal, for the next month. Everyone is acclimatizing very well and doing well but ready to get closer to the mountain. Climbing the high peaks in the Himalaya requires time and a lot of patience to make sure the body is acclimatizing to the high altitudes. We take it slow, rest, and move up in altitude incrementally. We have just two camps before we will arrive at our main Basecamp (ABC, advanced base camp) where will will start the climb on Cho Oyu.

Thanks for following along on our journey!

Ben Jones

Tingri street

Tingri street

Acclimatization hike above Tingri

Group above Tingri with Everest and Cho Oyu in the clouds

Hello Everyone,

It was about an 8 hour drive today but we made it to Tingri! Along the drive we went over two high passes and reach an altitude just over 17,000ft by just sitting in a vehicle. It was a beautiful day but we are glad to be at our last town before heading to the mountain. Tingri is much smaller than Lhasa and Shigatse but we will be able to see Everest and Cho Oyu from the town and on our acclimatization hike tomorrow. We just finished up dinner and are heading off to bed now. Our Sherpa team and cook are already at Chinese Basecamp getting camp ready for our arrival the day after tomorrow. Hopefully I will have some photos to share of the high peaks tomorrow! Thanks for following along.

Ben Jones

Hello Everyone,

We finally got out of the vehicles for a day to stretch our legs and lungs in the thin air above Shigatse. We climbed about a 1,000ft to a new high elevation of 13,600ft. Tomorrow we are heading down the road to Tingri for two more nights. We are all doing great! Thanks for following!

Ben Jones

Hello Everyone,

We had a nice drive to Shigatse today. It took about 6 hours because of check points and slow speed limits, but it was a beautiful drive in the countryside between the two cities. We are now at 12,600ft and doing well. After a good dinner at the hotel we are heading off to bed. Tomorrow after breakfast we will go on a few hour hike to gain some elevation and further acclimatize. The weather has been pretty nice so far and everyone is anxious to get closer to the mountain but doing very well. After two nights here in Shigatse we will continue on down the road to Tingri for a couple nights.

Below is a photo of the team in front of the Potala Palace in Lhasa. Thanks for following along!

Ben Jones

Hello Everyone,

We had a great day touring Lhasa today! After breakfast we went on a walk to an older part of Lhasa and monestary before being caught in the rain. After the rain cleared we visited the famous Potala Palace. The palace was built in the 7th century all the way through the 17th century. Amazing history and culture to experience here in Lhasa. After the Potala, we went to another very old monestary just north of the city where they were unveiling a giant Thanka for a few hours. We made it just in time with a few hundred other people before heading back down to the city and our hotel. We walked a lot and saw some great sights, which is helping us acclimatize to flying into 12,000ft yesterday. Everyone is doing well and excited to move to our next city, Shigatse tomorrow at 12,500ft.

Thanks for following along!

Ben Jones