Operation Sherpa Export

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For a great trekking guide, very service oriented, speaks English well, and much cheaper than the companies you'll find on-line email Kamal Khatri at mountainkamal@yahoo.com.

He'll customize the trip and route to your needs as well as offers tours of Katmandu. HIGHLY RECCOMENDED!!

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Nearing our final destination of 5545 meters above sea level the air is so thin that it gives you migraines and nausea. It represses appetite. And you can't sleep at night because once asleep your breathing slows to a normal resting pace providing just enough oxygen to wake you of asphyxiation.

Ten days of mountainous hiking was definitely more exercise than we were accustom to. So sleep deprived, O2 depraved, and caloriically-starved by the time we reached Mt. Everest base camp we were delirious; giddy and impatient, jubilant and cranky. Producing a state of mind that only enhanced the surrealness of the ice formations, glacier fields and towering Himalayan peaks.

I started my travel blog profile with a quote from George Mallory explaining what drew him to wanting to climb Mt. Everest, a poignant speech I thought that translates well to adventure travel of any means. It seemed only fitting that I at least attempt to reach Mt. Everest on this journey. It was one of the best last minute, ill-informed, poorly prepared decisions I have made yet. And I seem to be making more than my fair share of them these days.

After landing in the Katmandu International Airport late afternoon we found a hotel, booked a trekking guide, rented backpacks, sleeping bags, boots, winter jackets, bought hats and gloves, and secured a locker to hold our normal attire of boardshorts, t-shirts and sandals. The next morning at 7:30am we were off.

Occasionally, during the trek you get a glimpse of Mt. Everest but its only the peak that is ever visible. its not as if it juts out of a nice rolling field (i was some what naively expecting to get a great full mountain view and pic’s). In the beginning of the trip i was thinking that I’d like to reach the summit at some point in my life. But every day of trekking I realized more and more what a daunting and impressive feat that is. Everest is harbored among equally intimidating monstrosities that comprise the Himalayas. There’s a reason scores of people die here every season and the farther you get the more apparent and understandable that becomes. I’d still like to climb Everest, but ultimately, I’ll probably leave it at that.

The main concern before departing was running into a Maoist rebel guerrilla group in the remote hills outside of Katmandu. After departing we realized we should be much more concerned about, fatigue, climatic adaptation, and Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS or altitude sickness). We met a few people that did run into Maoists. Their tales usually involved being kindly asked for a 'donation to the cause' by AK47-toting rebels in order to pass. After which one would be presented with a reciept so that a donation would not have to be paid twice to brothers of the cause further down the trail. How hilarious is that? I almost wished we had run into them, I would frame that receipt and make it the centerpiece in my apartment.

After a couple days of traveling we paired up with a father and son from San Francisco. Within a days hike away from Everest base camp the son began to experience serious signs of AMS, massive unyielding migraines, coughing and lungs filling up with fluid. When you're already struggling for oxygen this is exceptionally bad. He was forced to descend down to lower altitudes. Pay a bribe to some 'revolutionaries' and receive a receipt or end up in a remote Nepalese hospital internally drowning?... We'd spent the previous two week diving in Thailand, in terms of altitude conditioning we couldn't be less physically prepared. Are concerns were clearly in the wrong place.

We had a amazingly beautiful trek, surrounded by some of the nicest people i've met yet, indigenous and foreign.

The sherpa people are awesome and most impressive. They'd carry 4x as much as me, and run past without breaking a sweat wearing nothing but flip-flops, if anything at all. They developed Sherpa tea to which I developed a raging addiction. Contrary to its name Sherpa stew does not contain sherpas, but is nearly as tasty as the tea. And yak steaks are really buffalo meat, but...so? Nepalese run out of their houses to greet you on the trail, the kids often asking for chocolate or pens to draw with but usually just wanting to wave and say hi. The only thing as or more impressive than the people was the landscape. The journey starts in thick lush forests with glacier rivers craving through the mountainous landscape. It ends above tree-line with snowcapped peaks and seemingly endless glacier fields. The only other country i've been to the remotely compares in overwhelming natural beauty is New Zealand, and that's a distant second.

It wasn't till we flew out of Katmandu that we even realized the political turmoil that had been brewing in the city's capital. As the wheels of our plane left the tarmac demonstrations in the streets began, resulting with the kings soldiers opening fire on their citizens. An weeks of demonstrations and violent protests. Our concerns were definitely poorly researched. But to a certain degree naivety is comfortable place to be.

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