Your Next Vacation… Summit of Mt. Everest?
May 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment
At least reporter Lauren Sherman from Forbes.com thinks so. But hey, here’s a thought… your lungs slowly fill up with fluid, you begin coughing up blood, and then gently slip into a coma and die, or better yet fluid leaks into your brain causing swelling, hallucinations, psychotic behavior, and then of course the coma and die part. These are the symptoms of high altitude pulmonary and cerebral edema, which is what would likely happen to someone following Sherman’s instructions for the “four day trip to the top”.
In her article on the Hardest to Reach Vacation Spots, she reports the following:
“Whether you’re traveling just six or eight days to the base camp of the highest mountain in the world, or all 29,000 feet to the top, this trip is anything but easy. First, climbers must travel to Lukla and acquire a permit from the Nepalese government, which can cost up to $25,000. Then, to reach Everest’s base camp, you must climb to Namche Bazaar and across Kwangde River, eventually ending up in Khumjung, Nepal. Two days later, you arrive in the Imja Tse Valley and travel to Kala Pattar, which offers a stunning view of Mount Everest. A day later, you’ll reach the base camp. After two weeks in the base camp acclimating to the altitude, a trip to the top takes about four days. Most climbers spend between $1,000 and $2,000 on expenses.”
I enjoy reading the top 10 lists on all subjects that the folks at Forbes.com come up with, but this one gave me a good laugh. Why, well the author’s recipe for death is certainly entertaining and honestly, the words “vacation” and “Mt. Everest” don’t belong together in the same sentence. The trek to Mt. Everest base camp is one thing (and I encourage everyone to give it a shot), but her suggestion that a “trip to the top takes about 4 days”, while technically accurate (assuming perfect weather and snow conditions), completely misses the mark and is serves as a reminder of the many misconceptions about Everest.
For one thing, the 4-day trip to the top on the by the most common south side route is no picnic and is only possible after 4-7 weeks of an expedition style siege on the mountain by essentially climbing it multiple times (at least to Camp 3 at 23,500) feet while ferrying gear and stocking the intermediary camps (1,2,3 and 4) with food and supplies. Secondly, in condensing the information into requisite 150-word bite, the reporter mixes up critical differences between trekking to base camp and climb to the summit and in-effect trivializing the whole process and providing a recipe for near certain death (unless you are a genetic aberration).
Being in the broadcast media industry myself I certainly understand the reporters dilemma in trying to condense what may be a somewhat complex subject into a short, easy to digest, sound bite. If you really are interested in the Everest experience whether 2-3 week trek to base camp (which anyone can do) or dream of climbing Everest some day, here are some good resources to check out.
Adventure Consultants – Base Camp Trek: This commercial outfitter has a nice overview of the trek
www.mteverest.net – For Climbers: Some of the best Everest climbing info on the web
On Assignment to the World’s Highest Internet Cafe
March 10, 2008 | 1 Comment
In the Spring of 2003, the worlds highest internet cafe opened at Mt. Everest base camp at 17,500 feet. It was also the 50th anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary’s historic ascent of Everest. I went to base camp to check it out. With the help of my brother who had recently learned php programming language we built a live reporting tool (aka: blog) that enabled me to send photo and text dispatches by satellite phone from the Himalayas. I’ve re-published the 5 text+image posts that I sent out while on the trail.
4/26/03 : Intro Hi-Tech Everest
First – the assignment — In search of technology in this region of the world my plan is to trek to Everest base camp and hopefully indulge myself in a latte while surfing the net at the world’s highest internet cafe at 17,400 feet. A little background — From the New York Times to NPR reports of the construction of the world’s highest internet cafe have been surfacing over the last six months. A young, technically inclined Sherpa, named Tsering Gyaltsen is planning to create an internet cafe at the base of Mt. Everest. Servicing the thousands of trekkers and hundreds of climbers that pass through base camp, the cafe will raise money for the Sagamartha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC). The SPCC is the local environmental agency and is charged with keeping the natural environmental clean and healthy. It will take me about 10 days to get to base camp and I’ll be passing many, many villages along the way. I’ll see what other technological advancements are occurring in the area and report on them here. It’s also the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of Mt. Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa. Everest base camp is reportedly packed with expeditions and it will be interesting to see the developments over the course of the season.
I plan on arriving in Everest base camp around May 6th and will stay for about five days. I’ll interview Tsering and hear the story on how this ambitious project came to life. As I’m equipped with a sat phone I’ll try and upload a few images each day.
The images from this story are available for editorial license. For more information please contact April Jenkins at the New York office of Corbis-Sygma.
4/27/03 : Khumbu Arrival
Watching the flies land on my arm to lick the sweat and realizing that had I had not the energy to shoo them away was a just a tad disconcerting.
On all my previous trips to the Himalayas I was part of a climbing expedition and had trained vigorously for that purpose. Since climbing was not a part of this trip, I had neglected any form of exercise. My ego had gotten the best of me and now I am paying for it by feeding these hungry flies. The morning started with a twin engine Otter flight into the border like town of Lukla where I was greeted by hundreds of Nepali porters looking for work. As the plane made a quick u-turn after dumping the passenger luggage at the end of the landing strip, I stared at my four bags and was forced to quickly make a decision as to which porters to pick. From 9,000 feet at Lukla my porters and I trekked to the town of Monjo, about 5 hours away.
To be quite honest I’m simply exhausted and I’m going to bed. Didn’t see much in terms of tech today. Mostly barefoot or flip flop clad porters carrying items to villages higher up the Khumbu. Beer, whiskey, a television, wood logs, rocks, and the backpacks and bags of the few trekkers on the trail.
# 030427_025 — From the safety of their home, two children entertain themselves by watching the foreigners trek by.
# 030427_001 — Porters with full loads round the corner with the Dudh Kosi river far below.
# 030427_031 — A porter with an empty load returns to the Lukla airstrip to hustle his next load.
4/28/03 : Rumor of the World’s Second Highest Internet Cafe
With the flies still hovering on each bead of sweat dripping from my forhead I plodded up the legendary, thigh busting Namche hill on my way to the Namche Bazzar.
Namche Bazzar is the largest village in the Khumbu and sits in a horseshoe shapped cirque cut into a mountainside. The sacred snow capped peak Kumbila looms above. In 1998 an enterprising Sherpa set up a computer with a 24kpbs dialup connection to Kathmandu. The computer was located in a small room next to the town bakery and thus the “World’s Highest Internet Cafe” was born. Since the local telephone exchange was notoriously unreliable and also blown up by the Maoists in 2001, no one really took the internet cafe seriously.
I figured the internet cafe would still be there, but in what condition, I did not know. I was surprised to find four desktop computers networked together serving up a “high-speed” connection at 94kpbs down and 64kbps up. However, at the time of my visit the place was empty.
There was a little more traffic on the trail today. Loads of porters carry anything that could be lashed down with a tump line around their forehead, and American, British, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish and German trekkers. My search for tech on the trail did not yield much. A pair of trekkers operating a GPS unit was about it.
#030428_046 — Tenzing is the manager of the former world’s highest internet cafe. Business is slow right now and on this rainy day there’s not much to do except drink milk tea and watch the rainfall.
#030428_039 — Pasang is the mother in law of my Sherpa guide. Although she lives in another villae, she rents a small apartment in Namche Bazzar where she stays during the trekking seasons.
#030428_039 — A busy morning at the internet cafe. Three tourists emailing and one computer blasting music.
4/29/03 : Lighting Storm Wreaks Havoc
Wreaks havoc on the internet connection that is….. After repairing the recently crowned “World’s Highest Internet Cafe” at Everest base camp, Tsering Gyaltsen ran down to Namche Bazzar yesterday arriving late in the evening.
While enjoying a cup of fresh coffee at the bakery this morning, Sunosh informed that Tsering was in town. I was expecting to meet him at base camp so I wondered what was up. We sat down in the living room/office of his company, Namche Technical Services, and he explained the situation. Speaking in almost perfect English, although so fast I hard a hard time understanding him, he told me of the lightening storm that blew up one of the Cisco radio transmitters postitioned on the side of a small mountain called Kala Patthar. It had been a scramble to reestablish the internet connection on a different route, but it was accomplished. Immediately after he ran 30 kilometers from Everest base camp to Namche Bazzar.
The good news is that I can now report that indeed the internet cafe is up and running at Everest base camp. I will meet Tsering there around May 6 to see the entire operation.
#030428_018 — Relaxing in his office, Tsering Gyaltsen recounts the lightening storm which knocked out the internet cafe at Everest Base Camp.
#030428_039 — A busy morning at the internet cafe. Three tourists emailing and one computer blasting music.
#030428_045 — The Cyber Cafe advertisement in Namche Bazzar.
4/30/03 : Ethernet Cable Severed
Up here the dog ate my homework doesn’t quite work, but maybe the yak stepped on my modem will.
Seriously though, my ethernet cable was severed this afternoon by a well meaning trekker playing with a sharp knife (note to self: Benchmade knives and ethernet cabling don’t mix) that I had loaned him. The ethernet cable connects my computer to the sat phone and allows me to send data (images, etc.) back to the states. Now I am uploading this dispatch from the cyber cafe in Namche Bazar. Depending on my skills in splicing tiny colored wires back together again, or finding a spare cable, I may send more images tomorrow. Otherwise my next dispatches will be May 6 to 10 from Everest base camp.
5/09/03 : First Morning in Basecamp
Arrived in base camp yesterday afternoon to thousands of prayer flags flapping in the wind.
After getting settled, I made my way over to the Cyber Cafe which was packed with trekkers sending email and surfing the web at a buck a minute. The temperature last night was a chilly 8 degrees fareinheit, however, with the door of my tent shut and the sun beaming in at ten am this morning, the high could reach amost 70. FYI-This dispatch is being uploaded directly from the cyber cafe. Photos to come momentarily.
5/10/03 : Images of the Cyber Cafe
This internet cafe or cyber cafe as Tsering and assistant Dinesh like to call it is fully operational.
With three laptops and a desktop trekkers and climbers drop in on a regular basis. Tsering’s wife Yangji serves up fresh coffee, tea, steamed momo’s and noodles (all complimentary), while Dorje the cook takes the orders.
Everest and Lhotse are lit up as the sun sets over Everest base camp
Bob Hoffman, expedition leader of the American Commenmorative Everest Expedition, pays a visit to the cyber cafe.
From noon to 2pm the cafe is usually busy with trekkers making the day trip from nearby Gorak Shep. Dinesh oversees the acitivity.
Three climbers huddle over the computers checking their hotmail accounts and downloading the weather reports.
Climbers outside the internet cafe.
Climbing Everest with Blind Climber Erik Weihenmayer
December 10, 2007 | Leave a Comment
On May 25, 2001 I stood on the summit of Mt. Everest with Erik Weihenmayer and 9 other of my good friends. As everyone was high-fiving all I could think about was my job. I had a seemingly simple job; shoot some publicity photos of Erik and the team on top with the sponsor banners. There was one problem. I had arrived on the summit later than everyone else and as I was gearing up for the fastest shoot of my life my climbing partners were ready to head back to Camp 4. Generally speaking, the top of Mt. Everest is not a place where you chill out and have a tea party (although I’m sure it’s been done by now). You get up, check out the view, shed a few tears if you can muster up the emotion through the altitude induced narcosis, and then get the f$@k down.
For the full report check out the near daily dispatches with photos from the expedition at http://www.2001everest.com/
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