Quite unexpectedly (but pretty wonderfully), our 2018 expedition had the good fortune to run into Rob Smith and Anthea Fisher from the mountain-guiding company Adventure Consultants (AC) just before our dinner at The Edelweiss Lodge in Pheriche. Rob, a top guide for AC, had just summited Everest for the fourth time and Anthea had served as Base Camp Manager for the past two months. Together, they gave our group a first-hand look at the challenges of guiding clients up the world’s tallest mountain. Less than 10 days ago, Rob had safely brought seven clients to the top, with a 100% client completion rate. He warmly talked about the route, ascent profile used, weather, acclimatization and problem solving skills necessary to climb Everest before taking numerous questions from the group.
We quickly set up a photo shot with Rob and Anthea and wished them all the best in their future projects for the New Zealand-based Adventure Consultants. Rob is off to climb K2 next while Anthea plans future projects (she has managed AC efforts in Antartica and Africa). The group photo pretty much says it all and it’s way cool that Nima (who has also summited Everest) and his team were a part of the photo.
On that note, we head off to Lobuche.