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Chukking Ri Summit

Two mountaineers navigating a glacier on a Gasherbrum II Expedition

Well our trek is almost over and it is time to get to Ama Dablam BC! Today’s ascent of 18,200 Chukkung Ri was our first push up high, and a highlight for all of our group. Our four hour, 4,000 foot ascent made for a challenging morning, but it was rewarded withy incredible views. Today was entirely cloudless, so our views included Makalu, Cho Oyu, Lhotse, Lhotse Shar, PumoRi, and of course Ama Dablam directly in front of us. It was a stunning panoramic and has us all totally fired up to begin moving even higher in the moutains.

Meanwhile, our sherpa along with 35 yaks (almost 2000 pounds of equipment and food) arrived in basecamp today and began establishing what will be our home for the next 3 weeks. We do our final day’s trek tomorrow, cutting cross country from the main Everest trail into our basecamp at 15,000 feet, passing through high meadows and yak settlements along the way. We are looking forward to getting to basecamp and beginning to focus on our ascent, as well as enjoying Lacchu’s cooking and all the other luxuries (showers, heated dining tent, and dvd’s to name a few) our basecamp has.

Look for our next update from Ama Dablam Basecamp!
-Adrian Ballinger, Alpenglow Expeditions