Promised Pictures

This first picture is of myself and Sanjay Kulun, whom my last entry was about.  We are standing next to one of the sacred lakes of Gokyo, the tribute to which is just behind us on the right.

I took this picture from the summit of Gokyo Ri.  Gokyo is barely visible just below the center of the picture.  The glacier I crossed which I recounted in my last post is also fully visible, extending down the valley where I made my jump.  Two of Gokyo's sacred lakes are also visible.

Here I am with the giant bolder that signals Everest Base Camp.  Many people say that there isn't much to see at Everest Base Camp, however, a friend and I kept walking past this touristy boulder and eventually found a makeshift kitchen encampment (made out of stone) left over from the last season of Everest attempts.  The site also provided a nice view of the Khumbu Icefall where the real climb up Everest begins.



Atop Kala Patter, I'm standing with Mount Everest behind me (Everest is the darker pyramid shaped mountain closer to the middle of the photo.  Not the taller one off to the right, Nupste, which appears taller because of perspective.)  I was extremely fortunate while on the summit here because shortly after I finished the climb, the dozens of tourists already there headed down and I was completely alone with the view.  I spent about an hour drawing the mountain scape into my journal.