"Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir men's blood and will not be realized"
Monday, October 4th, 2010
Ok, this might be the coolest thing I have ever found on the Internet.
Old school video (photography by George Lowe!) of the 1953 expedition to Everest. I’ll watch it tonight, but couldn’t wait to post the link.
Tags: Conquest of Everest, everest | Posted in everest | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
I don’t know him personally, but have been following his twitter page (@ELExplore..) Anyway, Eric Larsen is climbing Everest for his “Save the Poles” campaign – raising awareness and funds for global warming He has done the North and South Poles already. Check out his page here.
Tags: everest, global warming, nepal | Posted in everest, wanderlust | No Comments »
Friday, September 3rd, 2010
“Jambo”, “Namaste” and lots of other local greetings often welcome travelers to new and distant countries. A key reason that I like the idea of the “Seven Summits” is because it forces me to travel to all sorts of different countries and regions. I have no idea whether I would have ever gone to Tanzania if Kilimanjaro were not there, but I somewhat doubt it.
I read a book years ago, “Worldwalk” which has always stuck with me. The nonfiction book details a traveler who decides to literally walk around the world, taking transportation only to cross oceans as necessary. One constant the author finds throughout the entire book is the generosity and kindness of the human spirit. This lone traveler was consistently taken in, housed, and fed by strangers – many whom didn’t speak English.
The further off the beaten path you get, the more likely you are to experience these types of things. For this reason, I’m a strong believer in engaging with the guides, porters, and other locals you can encounter on a trip. Our guide in Nepal, Lolit, remains a friend years later. Although we weren’t as close with our porters, we did share a couple beers with them and made conversation as much as our language barriers would allow.
Sherpas in particular are some of the friendliest people I have ever encountered. They are also unbelievable athletes, and their legendary mountaineering prowess is incredible. It’s not uncommon to see them carrying loads of over 100lbs up steep slopes at high altitudes. Truly a sight to behold. These sherpas are pulling incredibly heavy loads uphill from Namche Bazaar.
In Tanzania, they are restricted to much smaller loads – 40lbs max I believe. I was a bit embarrassed to behold the small army of cooks, porters and guides that accompanied us on Kilimanjaro. This “siege” style attempt on a very accessible mountain is something I don’t hope to ever repeat. Nevertheless, it was great getting to know a number of the support staff who came with us. They were friendly, helpful, and worked hard the entire trip making our climb more comfortable. The highlight was at the end, when they sing a traditional song celebrating the safe and successful ascent. Below is the recording one of the members of our group took.
Just a reminder that much of the joy in travel is meeting the people, not simply seeing the sights.
Tags: everest, kilimanjaro, nepal, porters, sherpas, travel | Posted in everest, kili, travel, wanderlust | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 18th, 2010
In response to a buddy’s question on where to stay in Kathmandu, thought I would post this in case anyone is interested.
We stayed in Hotel Marshyangdi (http://www.thamelhotel.com/.) Not luxury by western standards, but it was reasonably inexpensive (don’t recall the exact price) and really pretty nice. I would certainly recommend it.
If you’re going to be in Kathmandu, make sure to check out the Monkey Temple and Durbar Square. You can walk there if you want, or take a tuk-tuk.
Cool places to eat include Rum Doodle (if you go there, make sure to find the Tar Heel Trek “foot” with Aaron, Charlie, Dillard and my name on it.) Thamel Guest House is traditional Nepali food and was fantastic. There is also a rooftop hookah bar a few blocks from there where we had a *ton* of fun – highly recommend it.
Let me know if you have any questions
Tags: everest, kathmandu | Posted in everest, wanderlust | No Comments »
Friday, August 6th, 2010
Speaking of the base camp trek, here is an avalanche we saw on the way up. It was pretty, and certainly makes you think about climbing the damn thing. No one was hurt during this one, however a similar one killed a sherpa a couple days later.
Tags: avalanche, everest | Posted in everest | No Comments »
Friday, August 6th, 2010
What started this whole mountain climbing kick was a trip put together by my good friend Aaron to climb to Mt. Everest base camp. I’ll post lots more about that trip on this blog, but one of the more memorable aspects was actually getting stuck on the way out.
We went finished climbing at the end of May, right at the end of the summit window for 2008, and the beginning of the rainy season. It was an awesome time to be there, not only for pretty good weather but because we got to meet lots of folks who had gone up to the top (to be henceforth known as “Erik’s Heroes.”
Well, the rainy season hit and combined with a typhoon that was in the Bay of Bengal. This led to multiple feet of snow at high elevations (and a very interesting Mt. Everest Marathon) and a ton of rain down in Lukla, the town where we were to catch our flight back to Kathmandu. The trick to Lukla is that, as this video shows, the runways is about 500 yards (at most) and the end is sheer cliff face.
Since the airport is so dangerous, you can only take off and land during pretty much perfect weather conditions. Needless to say, wind and rain from a typhoon don’t qualify as perfect conditions. So, exhausted from the trek, we resigned ourselves to being marooned in Lukla until further notice. Lukla is a tiny village with a bunch of guest houses, a “starbucks”, and a couple bars/restaurants.
We found one with ESPN and a pool table, and made ourselves right at home. We commandeered the stereo, tv, and pool table and watched as the climbers came back in the rain. to say that this is a motley and interesting crew would be dramatically understating the facts. The craziest, by far, was a crew of about 15 Finnish climbers, only a couple of which had done any climbing, but all of whom had cajones of steel. They decided to attempt Everest completely alpine style, without sherpa support or bottled oxygen. Everyone had stories of the guys smoking and drinking up and down the mountain with 80lbs packs.
As everyone would gather in this bar, the result was a party that made Mos Eisley look tame. Here, you can see one of the leaders of the Finnish crew rocking out to AC/DC. Make sure to note the cigarette he picks off the floor towards the end.
Unfortunately, such insanity is contagious, and Charlie quickly decided he didn’t want to be left out of the fun. He showed the Finns how we party, Redneck Style, from the south.
Moral of the story – be careful of extended periods at high altitude!
Tags: everest, lukla, nepal | Posted in everest | 2 Comments »
