Ueli Steck is in Nepal top open a route in the Khumbu valley, on the Kang Tengpoche summit. Here are some news from him :

Namche Bazar, March 30, 2008

Yesterday we arrived in Namche Bazar. Finally. The flight to Lukla was planned for today. But Simon and I didn’t feel like staying in Kathmandu for another three days. “No possible” was the answer from Sherpa Dendi, when we asked him, if he could change the flight. In the end it worked out, somehow. As usual, you have to be at Kathmandu airport very early, 6 am, even if the flight is scheduled only at 9 pm. I told Simon to prepare himself to a long time of waiting. But suddenly an unusual hectic came up and we found ourselves in the plane to Lukla at 7.45 pm. Not even one hour has passed, since we woke up...

The equipment had been flown to Lukla a few days ago and most of the porters are on the way to the basecamp, without us. Four porters are waiting for us with the equipment we need for the trek. We stow away our sleeping bags and necessary items in our backbacks and we start our way up to Namche Bazar. We try to use these treks, to get as well acclimatized as possible. After 5 hours of walking we reach Namche Bazar. Perferctly on time for lunch at the “German Bakery”. The village is situated at 3440 meter. We will stay here also today, to get used to the altitude. Tomorrow we plan to go straight up to the basecamp at 4250 meters. The basecamp is located about an hour behind the village Tengbo.

If everything is going on so smoothly as up to now, nothing can go wrong in this expedition. We look at it as a good omen.

See you soon,
Ueli