Wednesday, October 09, 2002

"Trek to Everest Base Camp, Khumbu Region"
Kathmandu, Nepal
Thursday, October 17th, 2002

Second trip to Nepal: Letter Two

Greetings and salutations from Kathmandu-

Mom and I are alive and well...the Maoists haven't gotten us yet! We've returned safely to Kathmandu and feel rather pumped from our 13-day trek to 18,000 feet, the base of Everest Base Camp.

We've taken our first real showers after two weeks, our legs are feeling fully pumped, and our lungs are super-bionic with oxygen-enriched blood from being at high-altitude for an extended period.

After taking a twin-otter plane to a small Sherpa town in the foothills of the Himalayas, we hired two porters to help with our equipment load (I'm carrying two cameras, a tripod, several filters, lenses, and 40 rolls of film) which included full winter gear (down jackets, gortex, boots, long underwear) and our personal items.

We'd been told that although there's a Maoist problem, no trekkers have been targeted yet. (though it seems inevitable some will be in the wrong place at the wrong time sooner or later). The Maoists are renegade rural Nepalis who are fed up with a corrupt govt. that denies them basic services like clean water, education, and other democratic stuff like that. They bomb police stations and are rather rude to the army as well. There are also "Fake-Maoists" which only adds to the confusion. These "Fakes" are really thugs that sometimes hit up trekkers for money under the guise of being Maoists. They're not. They're just looking for a cheap way towards more "chang" (the Nepali home brew) and an unlimited supply of "Dahl Baht" (the Nepali dish of lentils, rice, and curry).

So Maoists aside, there aren't too many problems with the Everest trek which we were attempting, except altitude sickness and the occasional gastro-intestinal irritations...always an inevitability in the third world. Inescapable.

The Everest trek covers the most breathtaking scenery you could ever imagine. Steep pine forests plummeting dramatically into raging, glacial fed rivers. Tiny villages etched along mountainsides like swiss villages. High suspension bridges spanning lonely, wind-swept canyons, tattered prayer flags blowing in the wind...sending Buddhist prayers into the skies above. Highland pastures of lush grasses and grazing yaks. Tiny farms with fairy-tale like heads of cabbages, spinach, potatoes right out of Hobbit-ville. Handsome Tibetan-looking men and woman dressed in vivid waist wraps wearing turquoise and coral jewelry.

We spent our days learning the uphill mantra: Nepal has 6 directions instead of 4: North, South, East, West, UP and DOWN. We'd pop ibuprofen at night and down litres of tang-flavored iodine water (disinfected to keep off the bugs) in order to tackle the next day.

As we marched further into the Himalayas, we'd encounter yak trains decorated in red Tibetan sashes and chiming bells as they walked by with loads of rice, sugar, and kerosene. At a highland monastery perched rather inconveniently at the very top of a mountain (around 12,000 feet) we sat cross-legged on hardwood floors listening to young Buddhist monks chanting centuries old songs. Giant cymbals and gongs were rung, echoing for miles through the surrounding valley.

While trekking in Nepal everything has a smell. Mostly its yak dung and the wind. If you're lucky you might get a good whiff of incense in the morning (if you're at a nice lodge). You're amazed by the graciousness of Nepalis. Barefoot men carry loads of 80 plus pounds up mountainsides for as little as a couple dollars a day. Every villager you pass is ready with a warm smile and a "Namaste" and a few words perhaps in English.

Mom and I have decided it takes several trips to Nepal to really understand it. Nepal has layers, many layers. It's complex and mysterious and wonderful.

On one of the most euphoric points of our trip, we made it to the glacial valley and cluster of buildings called "Gorak Shep," located near the base of Everest and Llotse at around 17,000 feet. We saw a woman from Hong Kong get so sick from the altitude that she couldn't walk or talk, she barely remembered her name. Altitude can kill people rapidly if they're dehydrated and exposed or simply, if they ascend to rapidly. You can develop cerebral or pulmonary edema and die within hours. This particular woman was carried out on her guide's back across jagged glacial moraine for lower ground. He hoped she'd remain conscious until they could descend a couple thousand feet.

From Gorak Shep, mom and I hiked for several very slow excruciating hours to the Everest Base Camp at 17,500 feet. Our bodies were in the process of creating more red blood cells enriched with oxygen to make up for the paucity of it at altitude. Every step you take is an effort. Dehydration is a danger in the icy wind. You develop peculiar ailments. I couldn't stop sneezing for three days. Mom couldn't stop talking about chocolate and she refused to take off her "Oscar the Grouch" Sesame Street earmuffs, even when we were inside from the cold.

We reached the Everest Base Camp and were welcomed by the Brazilian Climbing Expedition which will attempt to Summit the highest mountain on earth in a matter of mere days. Base camp is skeletal at best. A cluster of tents scrapped together on top of a glacier in an alpine desert of rock and snow. Every now and then you hear some small explosions and and see rockslides plummeting into small glacial lakes. The glacier is alive and always moving. The base camp is a place where humans can visit but they can't stay. It's a graveyard of ice and snow and geologic forces.

At sunrise we climbed to 18,000 feet to watch the sunrise over the Himalayas and to catch a glimpse of Everest. Everest is elusive, always hidden behind clouds or Llotse or strange weather patterns which only add to its omniscious presence. The sky turned an electric blue and the clouds were a cotton candy pink. Our fingers and toes were mind-numbing cold in this subzero temperature. A giant avalanched erupted on the face of Llotse right beside incredibly beautiful display of such awesome explosion which wiped out a good section of its south face and which we were thankful we were far from.

One by one, each mountain was illuminated in the morning's amber light. Except one spot were a prism occured. A triangle of rainbow light just to the left of Llotse that grew and shifted and warped and hinted at something majestic and ethereal. The clouds melted away until only the rainbow crescent edged the mountain below. The summit of Everest appeared and the porters began jumping up and down. "you very lucky! you very lucky women! people come for many days and never see! they never see!"

Even the dogs with us were excited, leaping and snarling and rolling in the snow. We just stood there in awe until the pain in our toes and fingers was unbearable and I began weighing the choice: hot chocolate and all my digits or more Everest views and frostbite.
I chose the former.

We made our way down to 17,000 feet and warmed ourselves by the yak dung fire.

Only a week later, we're back in the "civilization" of Kathmandu surrounded by the endless chaos of rickshaws, minivans, beggars, trekkers, internet cafes, and carpet dealers.

I hope when we return that some of the slides come out and we can do this experience some justice and share just a little of what we've experienced with you all!

We're blown over with the graciousness of the Nepalis here, their absolute material poverty compared with ours but their absolute determination to live good lives, to love each other fully, and to do the best for themselves as they possibly can.

there are no words.


This morning our porter, Pasang, presented us with white scarves, or 'pujas,' as a tribute to our friendship and the end of the trek. It was an honor coming from a Nepali and the perfect finale to a trek that actually topped the trek last year.