Well I’m back in Kathmandu as my Himalayan adventure draws to an end. When I last wrote, our team had just arrived at a place called Gorek Shep on our way to Base Camp and I was preparing to celebrate my birthday! Now Gorek Shep isn’t the most attractive of places on first impressions – one of the team’s travel guides described it as a ‘medieval pestilential hell-hole.’
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Despite that harsh description, Gorek Shep will always exist in my memory as a very special place! The setting certainly helps
. At Gorek Shep it’s very apparent that you are sitting amongst the most amazing mountain range in the world and you get to experience the Himalayas at their majestic best. We were blessed with fabulous weather while we were there, however, the accommodation is very basic, the toilet facilities even more basic, a shower out of the question, and the food … well let’s just say the novelty had well and truly worn off by day seven. You can only eat so many deep fried mars bars, chicken legs, noodles and rice, all smothered in Yak cheese – and we had the prospect of a 3.30am rise the following morning to climb a peak called Kala Patthar in sub-zero conditions for the best view of Everest, before continuing on to Base Camp at the foot of the Kumbu Ice Fall.
But the team were determined to ensure my 50
th was a birthday to remember and we had an ‘R’ party with everyone dressed in an ‘R’ theme …. Rasta’s abounded, we had a Robot, a ‘Rocky’ (complete with boxing gloves and cape), a Rarotongan Madonna – a lot of creativity was on display. But the surprise of the evening was the Chocolate Birthday Cake, complete with ‘ROB’ candles on top, and the story that went with it.
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The reward was some of the most stunning views …..
And then it was several hours more walk on to Everest Base Camp. The elation of finally arriving at Base Camp for the night was a little over-shadowed by the realisation of how harsh this environment is, even before the climbers start their ascent through Camps 1 to 4 on the mountain and on to the summit. It is a huge tent village, built on rocky terrain at the base of Kumbu Ice Fall. The temperatures are well below zero, in fact when you wake in the morning the condensation from your breath has condensed to ice on the inside of your tent. To think that summiteers will spend six weeks here as they acclimatise and progress to their ascent leaves me in complete awe.
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There is a regular stream of helicopters that we have seen during our journey coming to Base camp to evacuate injured climbers or to bring home those who have lost their lives. We were aware of two climbers who lost their lives during our journey and there will be others before the two and a half month climbing season is over. It is a sobering reminder of how small the margins of error are in this harsh isolated environment.
From Base Camp, we commenced our descent. I won’t retrace our steps all the way back to the start of the journey, but the big surprise for me was that heading back down was far more challenging than I expected. The combination of the altitude and the energy reserves we had consumed to get to Base Camp began to take their toll, and I for one, had a couple of my most demanding days on the way back down the valley. But whenever I felt really exhausted, or sorry for myself, you only had to look up at the next porter who passed by … heading back up the hill, carrying his 80kg loads of stone, water, cooking oils, reinforcing steel, timber and many other products … and any thought of complaint or stopping for a breather quickly dissipated.
Now back in Kathmandu, there is a real sense of achievement amongst the team. We have all learnt a lot about ourselves, we have had a lot of time to think, we have pushed up to some physical and emotional boundaries and in some cases through those boundaries to discover what’s on the other side. We have explored an amazing part of this planet and met some amazing people, who cope with challenges, hardships and deprivations that are completely foreign to most of us in our daily lives.
I hope you have found these last three messages interesting, and that they have enabled you to share some of this experience with me. Next Friday I’ll be back in Auckland and back in the Hub, and will have my head deep back into the never ending challenges and excitement of Air New Zealand. Three weeks away has only served to remind me how strong my passion is.
Rob
Lobuche 4910m
I woke @ 5am to loud footsteps which appeared to be in my room but it was outside the cabin. Early risers setting out on another trek in the Himilayas. When I opened my eyes Liza my georgeous roomate was drinking her water and looked at me wondering if I was ok.....as I was seated in the upright position as this is alot more comfortable to breathe. We looked over at lovely Helen purring like a pussycat..... Otherwise I will have these coughing spasms so elevation while sleeping is highly reccommended. Off we went to Dughla 4620m after breakfast 2hrs easy downhill most of the wayand then onto Pheriche 4270m for lunch, took our own pace and absorbed the scenery by just stopping and taking it all in and others constantly take photos for longerlasting memories to share with our loved ones back home.
There is simply no words to describe these amazing views and experiences we all will take away from this on a personal level and as a group.
We are spending the night in Pangboche 3930m it was nice to wash my hair and do some laundry you know the basics sox and jocks.....I wasnt allowed to have a shower as I would be the only one smelling good and everyone wouldnt be they would be smelly. I didnt mind but everyone else did.
Mike what a great leader and a huge responsiblity to take on a bunch of people from all walks of life and prayed we would work out as an awesome team. I take my hat off to him. We have managed to be each others strength and courage to have the ability to carry on regardless of what challenges we may face....dig deep is the ultimate answer cos at the end of the day its not about physical fitness its about positive mental attitude the power of self talk is paramount. The three simple steps is Conceive Believe Achieve.
We came we saw we conquered....okay homeward bound..9hrs trek tomorrow so off to bed. Love to all my darlings@ home love you madly miss you terribly see you real soon Lucious Louise xxx
A week on and I feel a world away from Auckland, on nearly every level.
This is definitely the most disconnected I have been from Air New Zealand in the eight and a half years since I joined, especially when you consider I have been connected every day with Air New Zealand in one way or another since I became CEO five and a half years ago. Through email, text messaging, mobile phone, Facebook and internet communications I have tried to be as accessible as possible on a daily basis to Air New Zealanders, customers and the New Zealand public. So being in an environment with sporadic text messaging access, no reliable mobile phone voice coverage and limited internet access takes some getting used to! I have a satellite phone for emergencies but fortunately that hasn't rung yet and downloading this message will be its first use since I left home.
The people, the Sherpa villages and the hygiene conditions also remind you just how far away from home you are. The roads and pathways are all dirt and rocks and shared by trekkers like us, local village people, porters, live stock, yaks and pets. There is yak dung everywhere and when it rains it becomes a real mess! Walls and homes are all made from stone with most fireplaces burning dried yak dung for fuel and with no chimneys the smoke largely circulates inside the home. Few houses have a shower and you often see people washing in a basin outside their houses. As for toilets - most are outdoors, many are dry pits and some have a water race running below. If you’re lucky, an occasional few have seats and you’re even luckier to find one that flushes.
For most of us the conditions are close to what we would consider medieval, with the exception of electricity, albeit used very sparingly given how expensive it is. It’s easy to feel guilty staying in tea houses, which although basic, are generally clean, 50% have had flushing toilets and every three or four days you even come across a shower.
But despite the incredibly basic conditions and the hardship, the Sherpa people are warm, engaging, have the most wicked sense of humour and never seem short of a smile for foreigners passing through their place. I find it quite humbling as I walk along with a meagre 10kg pack on my back (the other 15kgs being on a yak) and pass a Jandals-wearing porter half my size carrying up to 80kgs on his back secured only by a head band, but still happy to engage with a smile and the local greeting of "Namaste". They are an amazing people with huge hearts!!
There have certainly been some memorable moments since I last wrote. The flight we boarded just after I sent my last update was spectacular up to Lukla, an incredibly short runway at 9,500 ft, with a steep uphill gradient to help bring you a stop. Our pilot landed a little too far along the runway and had to slam it down hard, the result of which the door wouldn't open to let us out, so we ended up crawling into the cargo hold and out through the cargo door. Not really a big deal for us, but the look on the passengers’ faces waiting to board the same aircraft for the return journey was priceless! Somehow the crew managed to coax them on board through the Cargo door for a close to on-time departure.
A major highlight was my first glimpse of Everest while in a village called Namche Bazar at an altitude of 11,500 ft. There was high cloud cover when we arrived in the afternoon, but we woke up to a glorious sunrise with only a few scattered clouds and so I hiked up to a lookout with Leeanne Langridge just as the cloud cleared the summit of Everest - it truly did take our breath away, a very special moment!
One of the goals of our team has been to ensure we leave a little more than we take from this trip. We can do this in many ways; Liza (a member of our Green Team) has been picking up rubbish along the way and while this may sound an easy task, when just putting one foot in front of the other can be a challenge in this thin air, bending over to pick something up uses up much of your precious oxygen. Many of the team have gifts for the local children - little toys, educational games, toothbrushes and toothpaste. We buy as much as possible in the local villages and try and support the local communities.
But the major project which our team leader Mike Allsop has worked on for many months is a gift to the local monastery in a village called Pangboche. The monastery had a skull and a hand purporting to be authentic yeti remains, which tourists would come to see and make a donation in support of the monastery. Unfortunately some years ago the hand and skull were stolen, depriving the monastery of this precious income stream. So Mike embarked on a worldwide campaign for the return of the yeti hand and has been interviewed by news organizations around the world and is following some leads. At the same time, and with the support of Sir Richard Taylor and Weta Workshops, we brought with us identical replicas of the yeti hand and skull to gift to the Pangboche monastery in the hope we could assist them to recreate this much needed revenue stream.
The ceremony where Mike presented the hand and skull to the Lama and committee at the Pangboche monastery was a special moment and the delight on the faces of the Monastery officials and assembled locals was priceless. It was clear we had truly touched their hearts and left an enduring and positive contribution in their community. That same morning the team visited Lama Goese at his home and were each individually blessed for our journey ahead. Lama Goese is one of those people who exudes an aura of spirituality, has a great presence and a voice that sounds amazing even though I didn't understand a word of Tibetan. To top it off he has the most infectious of laughs - one of those laughs that engulfs his whole face and body. At the end of our visit he asked me to stay behind as he wanted to teach me a personal mantra to ensure I lived a long life and to help ensure I left a positive footprint on the planet - I found the whole experience very moving!
Today is my birthday and I feel incredibly lucky to be celebrating it here at Gorek Shep almost 17,000 ft above sea level, alongside 15 fabulous Air New Zealanders and four amazing new Sherpa friends.
Tomorrow, fingers crossed, we'll be at Everest Base Camp.
As a team we’ve been keeping a blog about the trip, which you can seehttp://airnzeverestteam2011.blogspot.com/ if you’d like to read more.
