In the Throne Room of the Mountain gods

The names and stories may be unfamiliar to many, but during my formative years they were the stuff of dreams. The mystery of Mallory and Irving lost on Everest, and Norgay and Hillary on the summit. Pete Schoening’s amazing ‘miracle belay’ during an avalanche high on K2 saving five other climbers from being swept off the mountain. Willi Unsoeld famously cutting off his own frostbitten and dead toes (and keeping them in a jar to show visitors). Jim Wickwire spending the night 450 feet below the summit of K2 – and surviving – after becoming the 1st American to summit! Just the names of the mountains evoke images of mystical and magical places. Chomolungma. Dhaulagiri. Nanga Parbat. Ama Dablam. Nanda Devi. Shishapangma. The Himalaya always seemed irresistably beautiful and appealing, forbidding and unattainable all at the same time.

 

In 2011, longtime friend and climbing partner Dan threw out the idea of spending a month in Nepal…in the Himalaya! He didn’t really expect any response, and rightly so! A month away from work? No way! Airfare to fly half way around the world? Commercial guides? I don’t think so. The Himalaya was…unattainable. Regular folks like us don’t take trips like that. But then one by one, the perceived obstacles disappeared. Turns out regular folks really can take a trip like this. By the time we boarded our flight in San Francisco in November 2012, our merry little band numbered eight. Sharon and I, Andrew, Cailie, Rob – friends from Flagstaff, Joel and Allison, and Dan Boss – our fearless leader.

Thank you Singapore Airlines for making twenty total hours in the air, if not enjoyable, at least tolerable. When we finally stepped out of the relative calm of Tribhuvan airport terminal into the chaos of Kathmandu, culture shock reached out and smacked us in the face. When absolutely everything you consider ‘normal’ goes away and the ground is figuratively shifting beneath your feet, it is hard to get your bearings.

Dan had made arrangements through Mountain Monarch. Anyone interested in trekking in Nepal has plenty of options. Many western companies feature highly paid western guides who contract with local companies to do all the leg work. It is possible, through these same companies, to have a somewhat sanitized trip – staying in tents and having western food throughout the trip. We opted to go directly with a local company and have a slightly more ‘immersive’ experience staying at the local tea houses. I’ll say right up front, we couldn’t have been happier with Mountain Monarch.

Our agenda had us spending two days in Kathmandu, and then flying to Lukla on our third day to start our trek. We spent our time seeing the sites, enjoying the food (momos), touring both buddhist and hindu sites, and prepping for three weeks on the trail.

Kathmandu was overwhelming, and choatic, and fascinating. Often we just found ourselves laughing as we tried to process the different things we were seeing. After two days, we were ready for the butt clenching ride through town back to the airport to begin the ‘real’ trip.

The flight to Lukla was everything everyone says it is. We caught our first views of the Himalaya. We survived the flight, met up with our porters and began our trek, but more on that in the next post.