Some Details of my Christmas Trip

This is a note that my travel buddy wrote to his friends about our upcoming trip to Nepal. He knows the details, so I just borrow what he wrote. I don't know anything I just give him the money.



"Hey,

So I wanted to let ya'll know what my next adventure will be. This Christmas, me and 2 other guys will be going to Nepal to hike to Everest Base, Gokyo Lakes, and try to summit Island Peak. It will be an amazing trip, where we will see another 4 8,000m peaks. We will be able to see Everest (world's highest), Cho Oyu, Lhotse, and Makalu!

It will take us about 18 days to complete the whole trek and we will be staying in tea houses along the way instead of camping. In Nepal they have a lot of little towns along the way that you can stay at. In these tea houses, you sleep on beds and get your food made for you from the person who owns the tea house. It's quite nice!

We will start by flying into a town called Lukla. From there we will hike up to Gokyo lakes which are some really high altitude lakes near Everest. From there, we will cross the Cho La pass (over 5,000m), and go to Everest Base Camp. From Everest Base Camp, we will hike up a hill nearby called Kala Pataar. From that vantage point you can see Everest really well. That again is over 5,400m.

Finally, as we hike back down the valley, we will sidetrack to go to Island Peak. Island Peak is a Himalayan Peak at over 6,145m and is what it is. It's a mountain that is an island among the greatest mountains in the world. This will be our first ever attempt at mountaineering and luckily it's one of the easiest mountaineering peaks out there. Basically, we trek up the mountain until we reach a headwall. We then latch into ropes with harnesses and climb up a steep (50% or more) section of about 100m. Then we climb a narrow ridge to the summit! From the summit we will be able to see Makalu very well, along with a beautiful mountain called Ama Dablam.

Anyway, I'm super stoked for the trip. I'm hoping the weather will hold up for us. As you know, December/January is the heart of winter and it will be cold there. Especially when we try to summit the peak, it will be really cold. Some estimates that it could be -15 to -20F. So we'll see if it will be possible. I'm just praying for no snow. That could halt our attempt at the summit.

Just wanted to write this note to let ya'll know what was up. 

As for safety, Nepal is safe for hikers and tourists."

Exciting!