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Local yoga teacher joins trekking company for Everest Base Camp retreat

Kim Fuller
Special to the Daily

If you go ...

What: Yoga retreat and trek to Mount Everest Base Camp.

When: Oct. 7 through Oct. 21.

Where: The two-week guided journey will lead participants from Katmandu, Nepal, to the Everest Base Camp, located at 18,129 feet in elevation.

More information: For trip rates, email info@iantaylortrekking.com.

In 2015, Ian Taylor led a group to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. A Vail Valley yoga teacher, Christy Samuelson, was on the eight-day trip, and now two years later she and Taylor are offering a yoga retreat and trek to Mount Everest Base Camp from Saturday, Oct. 7, through Saturday, Oct. 21.

“I have led 19 treks to Everest and we have six spaces available for a very special Everest yoga retreat,” Taylor said. “Christy will be managing all the yoga and Ian Taylor Trekking will be managing the trek to Everest.”

Leading up to their 2015 trek on Kilimanjaro, Taylor organized local training hikes for Samuelson’s group so they felt fully prepared for their experience.



“In 2008, I stood on the top of Everest and since then Ian Taylor Trekking has lead over 1,000 people trekking into Everest Base Camp,” Taylor said. “We run about 16 treks per year to Everest, and this October 2017 yoga retreat will be our first.”

“Trekking to Everest Base Camp will change your life. Experiencing the Sherpa culture, region and these towering Himalayan peaks will leave you humbled.”Ian Taylor

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Ian Taylor Trekking has an office in Kathmandu with full-time staff, and Taylor said his company not only focuses on trips, but also supporting the area in which they are held.



“We needed to consider different and exciting new trips in Nepal to make sure we can fully support our staff and projects in the region,” Taylor said. “I was in Kathmandu when the earthquake hit in April 2015. We are now supporting the village of Goli in a remote region. The remote regions of Nepal are the ones that need the most support. We built our first school and now are on our second school. We have been placing stoves in homes and working hard to support the people of Goli where most of our staff come from.”

Two-Week journey

On their Kilimanjaro trip, Samuelson and fellow hiker and Vail Valley resident Kady Warble taught pop-up yoga classes for other hikers and guides at camp sights along the way.

“We were thanked numerous times that week for the yoga, stretching and breath work that helped many hikers have a successful summit,” Samuelson said.

The two-week guided journey will lead participants from Katmandu, Nepal, to the Everest Base Camp, located at 18,129 feet in elevation. The trip will include guided breath work, meditation and yoga at each stop along the way. All accommodations, food and yoga are included plus additional training materials.

“We have three nights in Namche Bazaar at 11,500 feet which will give excellent acclimatization,” Taylor said. “This will help people adapt better to the lack of oxygen.”

Ian Taylor Trekking staff will be available five days a week to help with training for the trek. They will send out a preparation manual and will be running some training hikes in the Vail area this summer.

“Trekking to Everest Base Camp will change your life,” he said. “Experiencing the Sherpa culture, region and these towering Himalayan peaks will leave you humbled.”

Samuelson said that all-level yogis and hikers are encouraged to participate and train for this experience.

“Ian has a 99-percent success rate and by adding the yoga work we are positive that all will come home having had an experience of a lifetime,” Samuelson said.

For more information and trip rates, contact info@iantaylortrekking.com, or visit http://www.iantaylortrekking.com/trek-asia/the-everest-region/ everest-base-camp-trek/ for videos from Everest Base Camp.


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