Anatomy of an Expedition

How does a modern Everest expedition work? There’s quite a bit of travel and adjustment coming in the next nine weeks. Here’s a mock up of what I'll be doing this spring:

A graphical representation of the travel, trek, acclimatization, and summit attempt. 100% guaranteed to change…plans all depend on weather, health and a million other factors.

Travel: A few days of flying and a few days running errands and getting my bearings in KathmanduTrek (Early to Mid April): The trek to base camp begins in Lukla at about 9000 ft. Over the following week and a half, we’ll trek to base camp at 17,600 ft on the Khumbu Glacier.Acclimatization (Mid April to Mid May): About a month of hard training climbs, caching gear at progressively higher camps and recovery in base camp. I’m planning on making 3-4 rotations up and down the mountain.Recovery and summit (Mid to Late May): I may return to a 13-14,000 ft village to recover and “touch grass” before the summit bid. After that, we’ll target a narrow window of good weather in mid to late May. There are many extra days built in to the schedule so we can target the best opportunity.Descent (Late May to Early June): Turning the whole train back around and returning to civilization always takes a bit of figuring out. We’re likely going to try to hike down valley a bit and charter a helicopter back to Kathmandu as the monsoon will be beginning.