Image courtesy of Tonya Riggs

From: Tonya Riggs
Boulder, Colorado , September 4, 2008

Packing for the Expedition

It is the night before we leave for Kathmandu, Nepal. Can you believe we will leave Denver, Colorado on Friday and land in Kathmandu on Sunday? It takes a long time to fly there, but also we will be crossing the International Dateline somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, which means that we lose a day. We will gain a day on the return trip.

As you can see by all the piles of stuff around me in this picture, we will be taking lots of gear - six large duffle bags. All this gear is needed to get us safely to, and up, the mountain. We will be living on very little for two months. The gear includes four sleeping bags (rated to -20 degrees), six tents, five stoves, warm down suits, heavy boots, headlamps, walkie talkies, ropes, harnesses, ice axes, crampons and and more. The best things we have in the duffle bags is chocolate and pop tarts. We bring tasty foods from home that can't be found in the high Himalayan villages.

We are very excited to get our trip underway and we look forward to sharing all of our adventures through future postcards. In the meantime, if you want to learn more about the mountain we are climbing, please visit our website.

Brad and Tonya

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Postcards from the Field: Annapurna

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