First Note: GOOD NEWS! Thanks to Dr.Gobet and Dr. Gonzales Noé’s operation was a
success!…many thanks also to our parents and specially to Rosi and Ernst, who gave Sabine and the kids a second home and a lot of love during this difficult time.
Please note that we will be out of email during or Everest Clean up Expedition. Our satellite phone numbers are: +88 16 316 444 11 and +88 21689 85 1070
Clean up event in Jiri Primary School
I was amazed about the effort of the students in Jiri cleaning their school ground. In the following workshop they found new solutions for the environment.
Studying solutions collected on the expedition
Great results in the TOPtoTOP solution contest

Student in Lukla
Matteo, Francesco and Vittoriano ask me to guide them to the first snow and to a spot where you see the high mountains. Like this I had the possibility to get in contact with the schools in the upper Khumbu Valley, the hospitals for Sabine and with SPCC for our Clean up.
From Lukla we hiked the first day to the Namaste Lodge in Phakding and the next day to Namche, Kunde and Khumjug where we stayed the night in the Eco Lodge. The next day we made it back to the Himalayan Lodge of Dawa Tshiring Sherpa in Lukla, because they had to catch a flight back home to Italy the next day. Dawa introduced me to the High School and also to the school connected to the monastery.
The next day I started to hike down to Jiri and up again to cover this distance also “without using a motor”. Like this I had the opportunity to meet the principals again in Jiri, visit some schools on the way and have some physical training. I needed 3 days to go down and 3 days to come back to Lukla; means long days of more than 12 hours of fast hiking.

Back in Lukla coming from Jiri I was just in time to meet Nicole Niquille. She was the first female mountain guide in Switzerland. Eight years later she lost part of her mobility in an accident and had to find a new direction for her future: She started with the “Foundation Nicole Niquille – Hospital Lukla“. The official inauguration of the hospital took place on the 24th of October 2005. Physicians, who are interested to volunteer in the hospital for a certain time please contact the foundation by email (lukla@niquille.ch).
Here some expressions on the hike between Jiri – Kunde – Jiri:

Invitation to overnight in the Guest house of the Technical School

Lamjura la pass 3540 m at 3 p.m. and 2000 m downhill ahead to Kinja on 1600 m. On the way up I stopped in a lodge in Goyam on 3200 m, where I was able to help a 5 year old boy with a sever ear infection with some antibiotics:

“Stampa” and Numbur Mountain in the back and another “Stampa” in Junbesi.
ANother pass: Taksindu la pass 3071 m, where the high mountains are coming closer and closer.

The basic food is rice and the kitchen is normally just an open fire place.
The most amazing thing is how much the porters can carry. The guy above has 120 kg; below they carry tubes for a hydropower station and have to go sideways. They need about 6 to 10 days from Jiri to Lukla and climb passes over 3000 m with this load. Here some other “Goliats”. They have to go sideways because the iron hydro power tubes are to long:

In Namche Bazar I have a meeting with Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC) to coordinate the TOPtoTOP Clean up event in the Everest region. It would be perfect to find a University in Switzerland which would work out a concept for a sustainable recycling facility. An option could be a fee on the trekking permit so that the porters who transport all the goods up into the mountains can be played to bring the trash down to Jiri where it can be transported to a recycling facility.

In Kunde I went to the Kunde Hospital on 3800 m and had the opportunity to meet Doctor Kami Tempa Sherpa, who invited Sabine to give him a hand when she is up there.
Matteo, Francesco, Vittoriano and I slept in the Eco Lodge in Khumjung with a wonderful view on Ama Dablam. On the next day we went back to Lukla, where they flew back to KTM and further to Italy… and finally Everest was visible for a short moment behind the clouts.