My First Glimpse of Everest

 Sonia for Sarah...BIG day for our girl...check this out!

"Tuesday, November 9th 7:02am

I saw Mt. Everest. I can easily say without a doubt that it was one of the most incredible moments of my life. We started an acclimatization hike I knew would take us up about 1400 ft. The hike itself was great. Good practice for steps, pace, breathing. We got to the top of the view point and Kyle, one of my teammates said "You guys, come over here and see these mountains." I started walking over and he said "You can see Everest." My reaction was "WHAT?! Seriously?!" and he confirmed along with our guide, Xiwan (pronounced G-won). I said "Get my ass over there!" and proceeded to run over there and there it was...EVEREST. Here's the first photo I took of it. What an incredible moment (Everest is the peak on the right of the 'dirt pile' that's just right of center).

As it turns out, our guide didn't know if we'd be able to see Everest and was concerned the peak may be covered in clouds. I stood there, able to see Everest. I looked up the hill that stood between me and a better view of it and asked our guide if I could go up the hill. These feet that don't stop wouldn't take no for an answer. He wasn't planning on taking the group up but within a matter of minutes we were on our way. 

I got to the top and tears of joy just started coming down. I was speechless. I stood there and just soaked it all up. Then we started having some fun with it all. Amanda came up with this idea and I loved it! How perfect to help everyone know which peak is Everest.

The other peaks from Left to Right are Everest, Lhotse, and Ama Dablam. 

And I had to get a close up of Ama Dablam. I know we'll get some better views of that in the next couple of days...it's just incredible to see so close.

One more with the prayer flags hung at the viewpoint.

Today we head to Tengboche, 5.14 miles, 3172 ft of ascent, 2087 ft. of descent and we'll end at 12,692 ft. Hoping this will take about 6 hours.

Update April 9, 2022:

I still don’t have the right words for how incredible this was. Standing there looking at the top of the world…still fresh on the trail and only a few days into the trek, I had no idea what was ahead. The hike ahead to Tengboche was a tough one and it took longer than 6 hours. Love this entire story and still relive it often.