Of course I can. But Jim is clearly not interested in an honest discussion given everything he says on here. He will just tell me that I'm wrong cause I'm a pedophile.
So why should I even bother answering a question he asks?
The Lhotse expedition we had was quite the highlight of my decades of mountaineering. From the Lukla airport it was a 4 day to trek to the base of Ama Dablam for an acclimatization climb, probably the most technical and rugged mountain I've ever summited (view of peak in photo 1) which we had a relatively quick 6 days to summit (summit view is pic 2) and 2 days to decend, and then we made it to Everest Basecamp for a few days to acclimatize and wait for better weather. Most of the route up Lhotse is the same as the route up everest until they split off at about 25000' at the lhotse high camp, which it took us 6 days from Everest Basecamp to reach the Lhotse High camp, which we stayed at for 3 days to acclimatize and wait for a summit push window, and on our 25th day we reached the summit of the world's 4th tallest peak, from there it was a 7 day decent back to the airport. Overall not having a sherpa didn't negatively affect us much, there are fixed lines all the way up Lhotse and Everest which makes for extremely easy route finding even in a whiteout, only appeals I could see of having a sherpa/guide is their help with logistics and carrying some of your stuff, and they'll help drag you down in an emergency. Personally not worth the 20k+ price.
The himalayas are drop dead beautiful, if you ever have the opportunity to visit, mountaineering or not, visit Nepal!
Another torrential downpour underway here in snoqualmie. Just amazing how much more rainfall they get up here compared to places like Seattle and Tacoma. Worked 11 hours up here yesterday, 13 so far today and will probably do another 12 hour shift tomorrow.