Return of My Expedition Bags! July 23, 2012.  Its almost August and two months ago I was standing on the top of the world. After the climb of Everest, I returned to Basecamp on May 27th and packed up my gear. By May 28th Yaks arrived to carry the gear back down the 40 miles of trekking to Lukla so that it could eventually be flown out to Kathmandu. Well, By May 30th, the yaks had delivered to Lukla, but the Monsoon Rains had arrived. Planes did not fly out of Lukla for three weeks. I had to be back to the U.S. by June 1st to start my Summer Basketball Camps, and so I chartered a Helicopter and let my expedition logistic company SummitClimb take care of arranging to ship my bags back to me in Edwards near Vail. But why did it take so long to get the bags back? #1 Bags finally made it to our offices in Kathmandu by June 25th or so, then they had to be packaged up and sent via air cargo, which took another 10 days for Murari to organize and do since there were lots of our team's bags that had to go all over the world. Then, Cathay Pacific shipped my bags to LAX where they were held there due to a paperwork error. Finally, they made it to DIA and my Parents just happened to be in Denver over the weekend and flew back in to DIA from a weekend trip where they picked them up and brought them up to the mountains.!  So finally, after almost 60 days, I had my gear back....woo hoo! Let the Laundary begin and the cleaning and organization of gear. But the big question is, how much did those three bags weigh? I will have the answer at my upcoming Sleeping on the Summits Presentation at REI Flagship Denver at 6pm on July 30th. Hope to see everyone there! If you have a guess (In Kilos), please email me at dr.jonked@gmail.com. First correct answer gets a copy of Sleeping on the Summits!  In other news, I am always out on Peaks, especially this summer with the promotion of my book and the opportunity to take people out that are doing Fourteeners for the first time, or who just love to climb the peaks. On Sunday I hiked Missouri Mtn (14,067') with a crew of 6 from Eagle and Denver. Jimmy, Sherice, Tracy, Kelly, Loren, and Katie all made the summit, and the day was spectacular! Storms held off in the distance as we enjoyed the high ridges of Missouri! This next weekend I'm headed to the Maroon Bells, so stay tuned for my Next update. See you at REI-Denver Flagship next week!  |
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Categories2012 Travels and Book Events2013 14ers and Everest 2013 Skiing off Summits 14ers/13ers Colorado 14ers: High Bivys Project 2011 Everest 2012 |
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