Effects of Oxygen Deprivation
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 »
