View of Mt Everest, Lhotse, and Ama Dablam enroute to Everest Base Camp

2013 marks the 60th anniversary of the first ascent on Mount Everest by Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary. It was a momentous event in history when they took their triumphant steps onto the top of the world on the 29th May 1953. Since then many climbers have followed in their footsteps, including climbers from Singapore – a little red dot on the world map with no mountainous landscape.

Four years ago, together with a team of Singaporean women, I followed the path of many aspiring mountaineers to scale Mount Everest. The life at the base camp is still very vivid to me. At the base camp, we could hear the ice tumbling down to the glacier floor, and the noise of avalanches was blasted out like a home surround sound system.  It was scary yet the environment emitted a surreal sensation that everything was under control. The glacier moved little by little, change was constant. The sleeping tent that I slept in was  sinking into the shape of my back.  I had to adjust my tent to avoid sleeping on hollows.  Despite all these, Everest Base Camp remained to be an attractive place. The camp was filled with the voice of prayers, sherpas’ chirpy chats, and best of all, a common goal that all individuals shared – the summit, and a safe return.

I climbed up an ice wall to have a broader view of the Everest Base Camp

To commemorate  the 60^th Anniversary of the memorable moment of the 1^st ascent of Mt Everest, I am reaching out to you to form a team with me to embark on a 20 days expedition to the Everest Base Camp (EBC). This expedition hopes to expand the story about ordinary people achieving extraordinary results by tracing the footsteps of the Everest climbers to the Base Camp.

The 20 days expedition will also give the team a rare chance to spend a night at the Everest Base Camp (approx 5300m a.s.l.) to experience life at the Base Camp where every Everest ascent expedition teams stay for 4 – 8 weeks to acclimatize to the altitude and prepare for their summit attempts.

Expedition Dates: Sun, 7 April to Fri, 26 April 2013

Everest Base Camp trek is one of the best adventure trekking destinations in Nepal. The experience on the trek is everything an adventure traveler could asked for. The breath taking views of the snow-capped mountain ranges are simply undeniably attractive, and the experience of the daily routine of high altitude living offers individual an opportunity to discover the inner strength hidden within. The unique one night stay at the Everest base camp will allow us to witness the life of an Everest climber, the support crew, and the climbing sherpas – the unsung heros of the world’s tallest mountain. We are expecting to arrive at the base camp on the 18th of April, it is exactly at the hype of Everest expeditions acclimatization phase . You get to witness climbers leaving the camp for their acclimatization climbs (or we called it the rotation climbs), and some would have returned to the camp to rest. By the early month of May, almost all climbers will be getting ready for the summit push. Guess what, this will also be the first time for me to return to the base camp after having spent a good 6 weeks of my Everest expedition there 4 years ago.

Brief Itinerary

The expedition is also supported by some of the original local Nepalese crew of the Singapore Women’s Everest Team

The base camp came alive with the puja (prayers) ceremony. Climbers also brought out climbing gear for blessings.

Contact me at joannesclimb@gmail.com for details of the trek. Or, simply leave a message here.