Science.
Name: Wesley Lefferts
Age: 34
Hometown: Portland, OR
Area of study: Cardiovascular exercise physiology
Position: Assistant Professor, Iowa State University
I joined the Everest Base Camp Expedition because... I was a part of the 2018 Syracuse University and Mt Royal University expedition and it was a truly surreal experience. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. Field research was such an exotic experience compared to the highly controlled lab setting (which has both its ups and downs haha). I was really moved by helping others experience the mountains and high altitude research and sharing our passion for human physiology. As such, after the 2018 trek I told myself that eventually, once I was a professor, I would look into trying to lead my own research/abroad course expeditions for undergraduates. I started thinking about it and looking into the process and at that moment Tom happened to mention he was taking another crew in 2023 and was looking for someone to come help teach the course material. After chatting with my wife and struggling with the decision a bit to leave my wonderful wife and amazing daughter for 3 weeks (still struggling with the decision, FYI), I decided I would join the trek in order to get more experience with these expeditions so that I can lead my own from Iowa State University in the next few years.
I'm involved with the SU collaborative research studies by... I am leading a cardiovascular sub-study from our Iowa State University group, that includes myself, Carolyn Steffen, and Abby Burkhart. Carolyn and Abby are rockstar undergrads from my lab that have worked with me for the past 2-3 years and have worked hard to gain the expertise necessary to conduct ultrasound imaging of the heart, carotid arteries, and cerebral arteries, and tonometry derived metrics of large artery stiffness. Our sub-study is examining how high altitude exposure impacts the heart and, in turn, how those changes within the heart alter the transmission of blood flow to the brain. This project is part of a fantastic collaboration with Skidmore College and Denise Smith (who was MY exercise physiology professor back in my junior year of undergrad), and Steve Ives, who were kind enough to lend us their portable ultrasound for our cardiac and cerebrovascular blood flow measures.
I'm most looking forward to... Unfortunately I have a few answers to this.
1) Seeing the students’ faces when we are on top of Kala Patthar (although it is always great seeing the awe and wonder in their faces when we are graced by any clear views of the big mountains).
2) Sitting here in Pheriche and consuming ALL the views possible. This morning (which is technically 5/25 since I’m a day late) I snuck out for a sunrise view of Ama Dablam (the most gorgeous mountain on this entire trek… sorry Everest, you’re just not that photogenic) and it was one of the most beautiful sights I have seen. The sun lit up the rocky, sharp face of Ama Dablam and a wall of thick, soupy, clouds drifted in from the valley below until the entire Pheriche valley was consumed. I caught it all on a time lapse and it was amazing to experience with Anne and Yanne who came up to join the sunrise late.
3) Although this may not be what you expect, I am most looking forward to going home. I love the mountains, it has been amazing and will continue to be a fantastic experience, but I miss my daughter, Emma and my wife, Elizabeth. I’ve never spent this much time away from them, especially Emma. She knows “Daddy is on a trip” but words cannot describe how much I am looking forward to holding her in my arms again and getting to see the world through her eyes again. Also, I bought her some amazing souvenirs and I can’t wait to give them to her.
My favorite part of the trip so far has been... Three things come to mind…
1) Seeing Everest on our first hike out of Namche to Debouche. I had never seen Everest from that view, with wind blowing snow off the peak and such a beautiful day.
2) The sunrise hike to view Ama Dablam this morning.
3) Finishing our research study in one swoop yesterday. After 2 days of full day data collection in Kathmandu, Carolyn, Abby and myself worked from 5AM to 4:30PM yesterday collecting cardiovascular measures on 17 people, including ourselves. It is a great accomplishment for our team to have knocked all our data collection out in one go.
The worst part of the trip so far... Being away from Emma, Elizabeth, and my siberian husky, Aloka. That probably isn’t surprising, but that’s by far the worst. As far as worst thing ON the trek, I had some stomach issues in Namche that weren’t particularly enjoyable.
One thing most people don't know about me... I was president of a sketch comedy club in undergrad and did a lot of sketch and stand-up comedy. Although some folks may not have known this, if they know me they’ll certainly say that this makes sense.
Daily Recap
I elected to write today’s blog and boot the next student to 5/25 because I was in the lab all day collecting data with Carolyn and Abby. Like I mentioned above, we knocked out 17 participants between 5AM-4:30PM, with a short break for breakfast and lunch. As such, since I don’t have many pictures, I figured I’d just give my little recap with the limited iPhone pictures I had.
I woke up at 4:30 to prep the lab, with Carolyn and Abby arriving at 4:50AM. We started by testing Abby and Carolyn, before moving through our first wave of participants. We established our routine, who goes where, what happens first, who says what. Even though you don’t necessarily intend to, you start to establish a pattern. “How are you feeling today? Did you sleep ok? I noticed some Cheyne-Stokes breathing last night (a pattern of repeating sleep apnea’s that occur naturally at high altitude). What other studies are you scheduled for today?” Click B, put gel on the probe, click Dopp, move Doppler, knob 3 to adjust sample volume, knob 4 to adjust beam steer, collect 20 seconds, freeze, store, repeat. The pattern helps move things along, including time. During data collection we were constantly serenaded by the sights and sounds of helicopters landing and taking off outside our window, baby yaks wandering by, and large flies bouncing around our window (don’t ask Abby about flies).
The day didn’t feel long to us despite the early morning. We had an amazing lunch at Nima and Aang’s café across the street. Momo’s were on the menu. I. Love. Momo’s. They also had these fried vegetable balls… kinda like a little crab cake ball, but it was veggies and amazing. After lunch, Anne gave a talk on wilderness medicine and survival techniques that was a nice reminder of some important things when out in the woods/mountains.
Once we finished data collection, Abby, Carolyn, and myself popped over to the café for a celebratory Rum Punch cocktail and some cookies for finishing our data collection. It was essentially hot tea with some spice and rum in it. They did not skimp the pour. It was delicious and exactly what was called for considering our accomplishment. We then played some 500, which I had been trying to get folks on the trek to buy into. I now have a solid core of Carolyn (card shark, good at 500), Abby (very well intentioned and extremely cautious with her bids), Pontus (eager, very eager, but makes many error’s the Schroeder’s [my wife’s family] would eat him alive for), and Jess (aggressive player who isn’t afraid to make enemies). Tom gave a great evening lecture on his work with high altitude genetics that included a picture of Tom from grad school with shoulder length flow.
After dinner we cleaned up the lab and then played 500 with Abby, Carolyn, and Pontus. Pontus and I won the first game, with me winning a “Nally” hand, where you take your partner’s worst card and try to lose every single trick. The second game… was a massacre. Pontus started us off with a botched 7 bid driving us into the hole. Then Carolyn and Abby went in the hole, then they got out, we went deeper, they came back into the hole, and we decided to go to bed when the score was still -320 to -180… the Schroeder’s would not be impressed haha. In our defense, they are still learning the game.
PS. Emma, Daddy loves you and cannot wait to see you after his trip. Elizabeth, I love you and cannot thank you enough for holding the fort down and taking care of Emma and Aloka while I'm away. I owe you 1000 massages and 1001 glasses of fine wine. A Happy Birthday to my sister Rebecca, love you!
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