10 days in Nepal
I wrote this blurb for the BD Journal – so thought i’d post here as well…
I’ve been in Nepal for over 10 days now, too bad I can’t say the same for my four fifty pound duffels. I’m here volunteering at the Khumbu Climbing Center – part of the Alex Lowe Charitable Foundation (http://www.alexlowe.org/). The goal of the Climbing School is to teach the locals who work or want to work in the mountains, how to work safely in the mountains. This is the ninth year of the Khumbu Climbing Center and I’m truly honored to be included as one of the six Western Instruction Staff.
In the Himalaya
still no bags – but had to head into the Khumbu anyways. Stunning views to say the least. Limited email and internet here – but wanted to post that i”m alive. The photo above is Everest, Lhotse and Ama Dablam – pretty sick. Pray for the bags to show – it would make my life a lot nicer (and less smelly).
Women’s long underwear??
Day 3 – still no bags – and they have no idea where they are. I’m losing hope. I Went into town today and bought some clothes – they had no mens long underwear so I had to go with women’s. Perfect. I’m still sick and getting sicker wearing women’s long underwear – but at least i’ll be in the mountains tomorrow. Not sure when I’ll be able to update again – but stay tuned – it’s bound to get better…
Still no Bags
Well I’ve been in Kathmandu for 3 days, and my bags are still lost. As in LOST – they have no idea where they are – Crazy thing is they found one out of four – which is weird. Regardless, it’s not super sweet. On the bright side, I’m starting to feel a bit better, I guess 3 days of laying in bed is helping…
If the bags don’t show up in the next few hours, i’m headed into town to buy some clothes – and headed into the Khumbu tomorrow regardless. Most of the other guys headed in yesterday already. We’ll see what happens.
in Kathmandu
Well after 45 hours of travel, we ended up in Kathmandu and are staying a great little place called the Mountain House Fund. The bummer is that the night before I left SLC, i could feel myself getting sick with a cold, and I’ve gone down hill HARD. That didn’t make the 2 days of travel any easier – that’s for sure. And also, unfortunately, they lost all of my bags – so I’m here with just my carry on. Luckily the rest of the boys here are loaning me jackets, drugs to battle my cold, hats, gloves, etc.
We were supposed to fly to Lukla today (jan 9th) but because i don’t have any of my stuff, we can’t go so the boys headed out to sight see around Kathmandu while i have stayed in bed for the last 36 hours. We were hoping that my bags would show up today, and they sort of did – well ONE did. Just one out of 4 – and not the one i really needed. Bummer.
So the rest of the crew is headed to Lukla tomorrow – and I’ll have to wait until my bags arrive, then make my way with a few of the other local Sherpas to help get me there. Everyone here has been incredibly help and nice which has been great – especially considering i’m feeling so terrible. More to come.
note: there was a bit of clouds flying into Kathmandu so couldn’t really see the Himalayas too much – but the photo was taken coming in for landing…
Kolin is off to Nepal
I blast off at 7am tomorrow, January 6th for a month in Nepal. I’m burning all of my vacation time and paying my own way to volunteer at the Khumbu Climbing School to teach climbing to the local Nepalese people who want to work as porters and guides in the Himalaya. There will six Western instructors teaching a total of over 130 students over a month. So after 45 hours of travel to Khatmandu, a short flight to Lukla, then a 3 day walk to the town of Phortse (see photo) – we’ll begin teaching. It should be quite an adventure. I’m not sure whether I’ll be able to update remotely but stay tuned… chances are I’ll be taking some photos.
Denied on the S. Ridge of Superior
Late in the day on January 1st I called Alex and Magali to see if they were interested in trying the S. Ridge of Superior, an easy scramble in the summer, but who knows what in the winter. We started WAY late, leaving the car at 3:30pm, post-holed for about 90minutes (which would have taken 25 in the summer) – and then were forced to turn around due to a big nasty wind-loaded slope that looked like it could cause us big big problems if it ripped. All-in-all still a fun day in the hills.
No Snow
it’s been a crazy no-snow year here in SLC. The skiing is horrendous – not even worth going. Here are a few photos – from last year and this year – taken on the same day – Jan 1st.
ridiculous.
Hanging with the Headstones
a few shots of my buddy Taylor and I meeting all the boys in the Headstones. Pretty rad.
The Headstones
The Headstones are an awesome Canadian Band that I’ve listened to for years. They split up about 8 years ago – but did a 4 show reunion tour back in February. I flew out to Toronto with my buddy Taylor and caught 2 shows. Well they did another quick tour over Christmas this year. I didn’t think I was going to be able to make it, and then when I could, we couldn’t find tickets – long story short, Hugh Dillon (the lead singer) ended up getting us on the guest list. So I flew up to Calgary for 18 hours, caught the show, met the band and flew back to SLC. It was off the hook. Thanks to Hugh for making it happen – a total class act, and an amazing performer putting on a ridiculous rock show.
We could not have been any closer unless we were up on stage jamming with the band
