Monthly Archives: January 2012
A Day off – so we went hiking
The beginners course was over and we had about a day and a half until the “advanced” course began – and seeing as we hadn’t been hiking enough… a few of us decided to hike up to the next town, Pangboche, to get some sweet views of Ama Dablam, Everest, Lhotse, Nuptse and Tawoche. It was absolutely spectacular.
LOSAR, Basic Student’s Exam and Graduation
Jan 24th was Losar. Not the famous ice route just outside of Namche that I had intended on climbing, but can’t because of my elbow – rather the celebration of the Nepalise New Year (I think). We had cake and drinks, and the lads put on quite the dance display…
Basic Class is Under Way
Still in women’s long underwear, I was up early for the first of many hikes down the hill from Phortse, across the river, then up the hill on the other side to the ice climbs. One thing about Nepal, there’s lots of up and downs. Just like when my dad walked up hill both ways to and from school when he was a kid – that’s what it was like based out of Phortse – a big up to get to the ice in the morning, and a big up to get back to the village at the end of the day. At least it was a good way to try to stay warm. It’s cold in the Himalayas in January – who knew?
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.
