Thirsty Hurst

The Smartest Things Ever Said About… Quitting It's not in my best interest to say this Frank, but quitting while you're ahead, is not the same as quitting. - Chinese General in American Gangster You gotta know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em Know when to walk away and know when to run. - Kenny Rogers He who fights and runs away may live to fight another day. - Inspired by Demosthenes Rule number one: Throw in your cards the moment you know they can't win. Fold the hand. - Jo in Rounders If at first you don’t succeed, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it. - WC Fields Quit while you're ahead. All the best gamblers do. - Baltasar Gracian Each month, Men’s Health opens up its ... read more

3:24 am: “This is a terrible night.” Dave proclaimed as he shuffled into our bathroom. Again. Apparently for the second time tonight. I had slept through his first episode of diarrhea and forced vomiting. With his mention of this, I noticed a bit of a disturbance in my stomach. As he got settled down again, we heard a disturbance in the bathroom. He sat up, put on his headlamp and said “Stay here. I think there‘s a rat in the bathroom.” He carefully went in, looked around but fortunately discovered nothing. Maybe it was something upstairs. What a way to end our trek. And I had actually gotten some sleep before this, with really strange dreams and even dreams explaining to Dave the strange dreams I just had. We got up on schedule - of course ... read more

Phakding, Nepal Altitude at start of day: 3,440 meters / 11,284 feet “Good sleep?” This is the way every morning's first conversation with Ram goes. Dave will agree. I'll usually say good enough but not much sleep. Last night was more of the same - another night of quantity over quality. Before that, Hari will appear at our door, often times while we're still in bed or have just gotten up and started packing. “Good morning sirs! You have bags for me?” “Not yet, Hari. Ten minutes.” “Okay.” In five minutes he'll come back to check on us. Of course we're still not ready. We need the ten minutes to get everything packed away from the night before. Today, we finally had everything together in time for him. He was so excited. I went into the ... read more

Pangboche, Nepal Altitude at start of day: 5,200 meters / 17,056 feet The day started early, as we were up at 4:45 so we could leave between 5:00 and 5:15 to go to Kalapattar in time for the sunrise. We were ready but couldn't find Ram or Hari. At 5:25 we witnessed something emerge from Ram's room. It looked like a much more horrible version of Ram. He obviously wasn't feeling well. Despite his state, a few minutes later, the four of us departed for Kalapattar. This is the coldest weather we have experienced, aided by the wind in our faces the entire way up. Let me clarify this just a bit: the water in Dave's Nalgene bottle turned to ice within 45 minutes of departing the lodge. This is also a very tough hike, even ... read more

Lobuche, Nepal Altitude at start of day: 4,270 meters / 14,006 feet Dave is feeling better today. With the addition of Diamox to his daily routine, the symptoms of AMS have subsided. Unfortunately he has been less able to kick a nagging stomach bug and, as such, Ram put us on strict food and water restrictions for the rest of the way up - no more eggs and cheese, limited cooking oil, only boiled and iodine tabbed water. This is going to be tough. I need some form of protein. This pretty much leaves potatoes, noodles and rice. Starch city. We set out on our trek this morning to try again for Lobuche. In the first few minutes of our day we learned that the sick guide passed away last night. It's really crazy to think ... read more