Mt Everest, Base Camp
Only 3 of us made it to the summit, the others had descended back down due to altitude complications…..dizziness, vomitting, extreme lethargia, hyperventilation, disorientation, etc…..
We reached an elevation just above Base Camp…..18,898 feet:)
Today we started our descent ….I will be among civilization – and at normal oxygen levels- by saturday
Words in an email or pictures from my camera wouldnt do justice to the extraordinary journey ive been through on Everest, and the people from across the globe, whom ive met here on these remote mountains…..
snapshot moments:
*4:30am trek over endless expanse of glaciers as far as the eye can see…moonlight and headlamp providing sole source of light on our path
* subfreezing temperatures…..sleeping in fleece, thermals and gortex…..inside a sleeping bag WITH a fleece lining
* Bouldering over Cho La pass (17, 779 ft elevation! – No classes at presidio gym could have prepared me for climbing at that altitude…if i wasnt religious before, i certainly became religious that morning)
* Witnessing an avalanche…. (should i finish my porridge or run for my life….ummmm, run!)
* 80yr old monk taking hold of my hand in front of the monestary, and in total silence for 2 hrs, sitting watching the clouds sweep in, and scoop up the tiny villlage of Thame below
* Trekking Base camp, Kala Pattar, and now Debouche with 19 british marines who have just returned from Afghanistan, and are all wounded in some way (gun shot injuries, partial paralysis, mental disturbances, etc…) trekking everest is part of theyre reassimilation and rehabilitation ….they’ve been incredibly inspirational
* Getting pulled under a boulder on Renjo La Pass (an 800ft cliffside we were climbing over) by my French savior, seconds before the thundering noise of a rock slide comes crashing down around us…. (my dad & rest of our grp witnessed whole thing from bottom of cliff…. they were horrified….apparently all you could see was rubble and boulders flying down the mountain at death defying speed towards us)
——————————————————————————–
Tags: Nepal, Uncategorized
Leave a Reply