And it’s a wrap!
We have just closed a very successful autumn season (given the circumstances) and the 3-month Adventure Guide Programme we were running on behalf of Pure Exploration, New Zealand. 13 students from 8 different countries spent 60 nights under canvas; trekked up through Helambu to the Langtang National Park, followed by the mighty Annapurna Circuit. They all gained their Advanced Wilderness First Aid and Whitewater Rescue Technician certifications and spent the best part of 30 days clinging to a rockface learning the technical and safety ins and outs of rock climbing, enabling some of them to give Alex Honnold a run for his money on a bolted route 😉.
Unlike our spring course which was foreshortened by a couple of weeks due to the Delta surge and subsequent lockdown, all 13 students made it to the end with no injuries, serious illnesses or dramas and most importantly, still smiling and loving life.
Four of them have stayed on for a few weeks more adventure and have just made it to Everest Base Camp and Kalapathar with one of their course instructors, Pasang. They are now hot footing it back to Kathmandu for a hot shower and some clean clothes, arriving just in time for a slap-up Christmas dinner. Good job Team Everest.
If any of you are interested in reading about some of their experiences from their own perspective, please check out their blogs at HQ Dairies.
With Christmas just a week away and 2022 not far behind, we are not only wrapping up the season, but also the year and hopefully some presents to go under the Christmas tree (hint! hint!).
To say the last two years have been challenging would be an understatement, but we are extremely grateful for the opportunities that our clients have given us and trust they have put in us over this time. Running any type of programme during a global pandemic with perpetually moving goal posts and the need to keep everyone safe, engaged and fulfilled is not for the faint hearted and we would like to say a Himalayan thank you to our amazing team – our guides, our cook team, our porter crew, our hotel and transport providers and everyone else involved with HQ, for all pulling together so effortlessly and selflessly to make what could have been a very empty year, a truly successful one.
With the emergence of the Omicron variant and its all-pervasive nature, we are once again not sure what next year will bring. We are of course hopeful that we will get the opportunity to effectively and safely run some programmes, if only to keep our team in work.
Amrit will be heading to the Khumbu in early January to run the annual Khumbu Climbing Center ice climbing training programme for high altitude workers ahead of the spring expedition season, supported by the Alex Lowe Charitable Foundation. We wish everyone involved a safe and successful training. May Covid and the weather be kind to you all.
So, on that note, all that is left, is for us to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous and healthy New Year and we look forward to welcoming as many of you as possible back to Nepal sometime very soon.
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