Three great peaks

In the far distance, directly over my head is Everest. A little to the right of that (center of photo) is Lhotse, another of the 8000+ meter peaks. And on the far right is the awesome Ama Dablam. For all of you mountain buffs out there - this is quite a trio, especially to see all at once.
The trek to Everest BC looks far but the scenery is great. Things are going good here and the weather is perfect. At this rate we should be in BC in one week.

Scenes from our trek to Namche today

We made it to Namche today after a beautiful day full of great scenes. Check out some of my favorites above.

Landed safely in Lukla

Yea!  Jon made it to Lukla today.  They started hiking soon after landing.

We can track his location in Nepal with the following link:

Jon's SPOT location

You can zoom in on Nepal and see the path they took out of Lukla.

-- Susan

Kathmandu

Marcus and I are on the streets of Kathmandu taking care of last minute details. We stopped by the Ministry of Interior today to sign for our E permits. Tomorrow we're up at 3:30 am to catch the first flight out to Lukla where we'll start hiking in. We'll be on a small prop plane flying into a village in the foothills. Some say that landing in Lukla is one of the scariest parts of the climb. Check out the History Channel's video of The Worlds Top Ten Most Dangerous Airports... guess what made #1... Should be an exciting morning.
(Here's the link:  History Channel - Lukla Airport)

We feel good - we're as ready as we'll ever get. The mountain looks good, attitudes are high and all gear has finally arrived. Now, if I had only taken the time to get into better shape we'd have it made ;-)

All of your comments on this blog are very much appreciated. This is definitely a place where a guy can start feeling disconnected. That can be a good thing or leaving you feeling distant. As the trip moves on notes from the home front are a cherished gift so keep em coming.

I'll send a picture and update once we hit the open trail.

We're off.. - Jon

Here we go again

It's that time and I feel quite a bit different this year. I'm going to climb this time with my buddy from Australia, Marcus Bridle. Marcus is a pilot for Virgin and he climbed Antarctica's Vinson with me. We'll be climbing with a couple of Sherpa and we'll have a support team from IMG which will provide all base camp duties such as cooking, setting up tents, etc.

I don't know that I'll make it to the summit this year but I do know that I'm as ready as I'll ever be. I've trained as much as I'll ever train and I've gone through the mental calisthenics of dealing with the icefall. All I have to do now is start walking uphill from Lukla and see where life takes me. No matter what happens I plan to have a great time, laugh a lot with Marcus, get in a lot of cardio workout time, and then come home safely to my friends and family.

For those of you that have time to follow the adventure - I'll look forward to seeing your comments on the blog. I'll miss you all but know that I'll be having the time of my life!

Time to go get done whatever it is I'm supposed to get done.... Jon

Training at altitude at home

Jon on a Hypoxico mask that simulates the body's reduced ability to
take in oxygen at altitude. Here he's training at home on the
treadmill at "18K feet". The tent next to it is for sleeping at
altitude.