Signing off from Kathmandu.
I am currently sitting in the beautiful breakfast area of the Kathmandu Guest house, listening to Tom and Janne talk about everything from Belgian athletes to saucy grandparents in retirement homes and ancient revolvers from World War I. Today's morning tragedies included suffering through a self-imposed circuit workout, and spilling a drip of Masala tea on my shorts... a far stretch from the pounding headache at +5000m or picking yak dung out of my Nike free's in Namche (as you can imagine, there are many nooks and crannies for yak dung to cling to a shoe like that).
The days after summitting Kala Patthar have flown by. 1 Night in Pheriche, 1 night in Namche, 1 night in Lukla. Although each day had spectacular views and long days of trekking, the last stat is truly the largest accomplishment. 1 Night in Lukla. As soon as the tired bodies started stumbling into the Lukla guest house, dark amber red ales were ordered and enjoyed by many. A cold beer after a long trek is one of the greater parts of life. We survived. Survived AMS, sleep apnea, finger-stick blood draws, VO2max tests, upset stomachs, headaches, restless nights of sleep, smelly socks, and dodging yaks and zoes (zo's, I have no idea how to spell it exactly, but they are basically lower altitude cows that replace yaks which don't do well in the warmer temperature). After an exquisit dinner and some celebratory drinks, the majority of the crew stopped by the Lukla Irish bar, where I took it personally upon myself to get the dance floor running. Despite occasional interruptions in the wireless signal, and thus the jams that were powering our superb dance moves, we had ourselves a grand old time either dancing, or playing/spectating pool. I headed to bed about 10PM, knowing very well that the next morning could be very stress inducing owing to the importance and critical role of Lukla in our journey home.
Lukla houses the mountain airport that you have undoubtedly heard stories about. The problem with Lukla is that the weather is rather temperamental (particularly around the June Monsoon season), with visibility changing in a flash. As you can imagine, low visibility means no airplanes can attempt to land on the runway. No planes in, no planes out. We shifted our entire itinerary by one day just to give us more buffer room in Lukla because at this time of year, it is not unsual to get stuck in "Lukla Prison" by the weather. In fact, some of the researchers on this trip have many horror stories of being stuck for 3-4 extra days in Lukla due to weather, before finally hiking out and spending nearly 48 hrs on foot, in truck/van driving the long, twisted roads back to Kathmandu, or before throwing down piles of cash to hop on a lone helicopter, only to get stuck in the clouds and be forced to land in a grassy field to wait for enough clearing to fly again.
With this in mind, I'll repeat myself. 1 Night in Lukla. We woke up to clear views and a hurried breakfast. The sounds of the first prop engines revving to slow the plane on the runway brought giddy grins to many of the grizzled research veterans of Lukla-prison's past (Kim and Tom, specifically). The flights started running and we had groups on flights 2, 3, and 4. The first groups made it out 10 minutes apart from one another. Our flight was on a tiny prop plane, 1 seat on each side of the "aisle," no door to the cockpit. You needed no imagination to think about what it was to look out the front of the plane as we took off the cliff... simply look down the aisle. Like a rollercoaster, everyone's nerves tensed as the props screamed, the wheel brakes were released, and we rolled over the flat portion of the runway onto the steep downhill portion. Everyone watched eagerly out the window... watching the shrubs fly by, the blue and red roofed houses become blurry, and a sheer drop off arrive right as the plane's wheels left the ground. Airborne, Kathmandu bound.
Once everyone arrived in Kathmandu there was a note of joy and relief, knowing no one would endure Lukla prison and that we were once again surrounded by easy, warm showers, flushable toilets, and some welcomed variety in food options. Some napped the day away in large, comfortable beds, while others enjoyed a few beers while playing cards at a rooftop bar with a fabulous view (confession, I was in this group, and it was lovely). We got to gawk at and briefly meet Reinhold Messner (a climbing LEGEND; first to summit Everest without O2, first to summit Everest solo, first to summit all 14 peaks >8000m without oxygen, super human). Although he wasn't that interested in Trevor fan-boying at him, we introduced Kanchha (one of our guides). It turns out, Kanchha's father, Purba, was his guide on his Everest summit climb without oxygen. Reinhold remembered Purba and asked Kanchha how he was doing and if he was still living at the farm in Thame. Since then, many of the researchers/physiologists have been trying to wow the students over Messner although I'm not sure our enthusiasm was fully contagious.
We got dinner at a pizza and ice cream place, that Tom and Pontus believe is far superior to the closer pizza establishment. My opinion is that they are simply different, with Fire & Ice having thinner, crispier woodfired pizza's, while the closer Roadhouse has fluffier, softer woodfired pizzas. Fire & Ice, however does have soft serve ice cream. This was a transformational experience. As Tom noted, it was like having ice cream for the very first time. The table was nearly silent as Carolyn, Abby, Trevor, Tom, Rodion, myself and Pontus dug into our cones/bowls of ice cream, with the occasional groan of delight from myself that drew quite mixed reviews as I licked my ice cream cone. Most folks took it easy the rest of the night, unwinding, and for some of us, showering and going to bed early.
The plan today is mixed. We're meeting one last time to debrief with the students. A group of the Candian researchers have gone off for a 36 hour rafting and canyoneering adventure, I plan to do my last bit of souvenir shopping, and perhaps wander to the monkey temple. Oh, and I have to help a student who got pink eye overnight. Luckily the pharmacy just outside the guesthouse sells the drops necessary to treat it, as Tom found out the hard way a few years ago. Many of the students, and myself, leave Monday at the crack of dawn (2AM) or mid morning. We're enjoying our last bit of Kathmandu time, but I know I personally am itching to get home. I have tremendous resepect for the researchers whose project extends beyond this trip by another 2 weeks. Those fearless SU/MRU/UCLA researchers will stay another 2 weeks, attempting to collect data on another 40-60 participants. By the time they leave they will have been here for nearly 1.5 months. With that amount of time, you are no longer a guest but an inhabitant of this area. I know for myself, I cannot wait to get home and see my daughter, wife, and dog, to return to my bed, to cook with fresh vegetables and consume only slightly less starchy foods.
This will serve as the final blog post from this expedition. Thank you all for joining us emotionally on this journey. I apologize for the lack of photos in the last bit of this blog, my last camera battery died on the walk down from Namche after taking >2.1K photos, and the blog is limited to 500 mb of storage, and I'm pretty much full by this point. I was going to try and add a few iphone pictures but the internet is extremely finicky right now. Good news, whoever you know on this trek is going to get access to all my photos once I get through editing them so you can still enjoy the views. The researchers here were not only standout in their field, but were stellar and caring humans. The students here were hallmark citizens and participants, curious and open-minded, resilient and passionate. To all of those who helped raise the individuals on this trip, I applaud you. I would call this expedition a tremendous success, filled with wonderful memories, funny stories, and epic adventures. Don't believe me? Well you'll need to chat with your human who was on this trek, and you'll be able to do that soon.
Thanks again for joining us. This blog will remain up in perpetuity, unless they force me to start paying money, which we'll hope doesn't ever happen haha.
From Kathmandu,
Wes
PS. Emma and Elizabeth, I love you and I'll see you soon.