From the Yak and Yeti to …

Well, it’s been a long adventure so far and it’s just got going!

From leaving SFO on Sunday night … delayed to LA, and delayed to Bangkok – and a short 17 1/2 hour flight (with a crying baby – poor guy, two rows behind) to landing in Kathmandu and … it’s been exhausting (but good).   Woke up 1 1/2 hours earlier than expected (screwed up the time change to here) and arrived for gear check way too early.  We got to meet Dan and fellow guide “the Big Man” Gavin and all the climbers.  So there are four separate groups all going the same way to start, Everest Nepal climbers (us), Everest Tibet climbers, Base Camp trekkers and Lhotse Face climber.

It’s a great group of people that a lot of time will be spent over the next two months with.  It’s also a logistical nightmare to sort through personal gear and try to keep everything together.  We all have so many questions during the briefing, but we do learn a few things: “TIN” (This Is Nepal), you need a ton of patience here. As they said, things eventually get done, just not how you think they will at the time.

I’m writing this at about 345am after waking up wide awake in anticipation of the 500am wake-up call and 600am flight hopefully to Lukla.  It was a really long day yesterday and if you’ve ever done some climbing you know that messing with your stuff can take hours.  On some climbs it’s not so important, but here it is a matter of life and death.  So we ended up having to buy a spare headlamp, a warmer (-30) sleeping bag for base-camp to supplement the (-40) for high camps, and generally trying to consolidate gear in the giant duffels and trying to picture everything working together.

Internet is dodgy at best here and there are frequent power rolling blackouts and the connection is so slow, I’m trying to figure out how to get some pictures uploaded (resizing).

The city is – well – fast-paced is one word that comes to mind.  It reminds me of Delhi or Jakarta or Dhaka, but there is a certain spirituality in the air and you don’t see a lot of beggars.  The people are amazingly friendly and everywhere you go one is greeted with “Namaste!” and the hands being brought together.  It’s interesting because there are so many climbing stores and just normal life stores – and as in some of the other mega Asia cities, the traffic, noise, dust, and the general cacophony of sounds is like a Vegas on steroids.

So what’s it like to be a few hours away from getting on the final plane ride to about 9200′ (here it is about 4800′ so fighting headaches off with lots of water has been the norm for the day and a half here)?

Mostly it is staying healthy – a lot of hand washing, and eating foods from the hotel that are hot and look well cooked.  It’s a lot of worry about stuff (because that is something in your control) and getting there and knowing what the next few days are going to be like – and putting aside what will start happening on the mountain.  Nervous stomachs, deep breaths and some general excitement about the venture ahead!

I gave the jackets and shirts with the C&R&C and Juniper logos to Dan and Gavin and the Sherpas who will be with us and we have the 65lb massive suitcase with the Junos and Juniper hats, shirts, and tote-bags getting ready to be on our flight today and on to the poor backs of the yaks and for some kids and villagers along the way.

I will try to load up some more low-res (and more interesting!) pictures before the connection fades away!