(l-r): Phrua, Dan Solinski, John
Lama, in Namche Bazaar| (click to enlarge) |
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(l-r): Phrua, Dan Solinski, John |
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Lama, in Namche Bazaar |
Dinner was in a large dining room, at a table near another group. Al talked about the 1982 Canadian Everest expedition, which he played a major part in, and even wrote a book about, but in which he never summitted, due to a bad oxygen regulator. We were told by some folks from another group that some Sherpas were lost on the Amphu Laptsa during the snowstorm. No one had any details, however. A week later, on my way back to the U.S., I spoke with a woman who was trekking in the Kanchenjunga region, and she told me she'd heard the same thing. Someone told her that a half-dozen Sherpas had been lost.
I decided to rent a room for the night, and sleep in an actual bed for the first time in nearly a month. The rooms were luxurious. Three cots with comforters, a flush toilet, running cold water. I slept like a log, and actually did a fair job of cleaning up the following morning.
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Joe Giammarco, unshaven, unshowered. |
Lhakpa brought hot washwater right to my door. I washed up, put on my fleece pants (the only clean piece of clothing I had left), and we headed out. I walked with Bob and Pema after breakfast. We hustled. We stopped for a coke half-way, and still made it to Lukla in two and a half hours. We stopped at the Paradise tea house and sat outside, watching the planes and helicopters land, while people began to show up. We went to our campsite in front of the same tea house we'd been at when we arrived almost four weeks ago. Taz left that afternoon for Phakding to meet a friend of hers. I sat in Danphe's drinking chang with Bob and Al. We'd heard from Pema that he'd run into Dan Bergin and Mil a few days before, and that they'd be arriving in Lukla tonight, so we kept an eye out for them. While we sat in the bar, Mil walked by outside, but we weren't sure it was her. About ten minutes later, Dan walked by, and we went outside and hauled him into the bar. They'd had quite an adventure themselves. Their trek back up the Hinku, then across the Zatrwa La pass, was a bit of an ordeal, due to his injury, Mil's illness, and the weather. They spent the rest of the month trekking the Khumbu, staying in tea houses, and meeting other trekkers and Nepalis. We went back to the camp by the tea house, and saw Mil. I wished her a happy birthday, and I found out Al had suffered a relapse (maybe it was the chang), and was sick again. That night was our farewell dinner. Kedar killed and cooked some chickens, and baked a birthday cake for Mil. Al managed to drag himself out of bed for the dinner. After dinner, we gave out tips and gifts to the porters and Sherpa staff. Al asked me to make a little speech to the porters, expressing our gratitude for their efforts. I told them how impressed we all were in their strength and dedication, and how we all realized that we could not have had a successful trip without them. John Lama translated. That night, for the only time during the trip, I had a tent all to myself when I turned it. The dogs of Lukla serenaded us with non-stop barking well past midnight.
The Sherpas thought my tent was empty (I forgot to tell them that I wasn't staying in the lodge with most of the rest of the group), so I didn't get my morning tea, which made me pretty grumpy. I got dressed and packed, then we hung around waiting to see if our helicopter would make it in, given the iffy weather (rain and fog). We went up the hill to the air terminal and waited. When the helicopter finally came in and landed, we loaded our gear on, then took off for our forty-five minute flight back to Kathmandu, and the end of the trip.
We checked back into the Mustang Holiday Inn, got our clean clothes out of storage, and took our first showers in nearly a month. Dan Bergin broke open a bottle of champagne, and we drank a toast to a great trip. Most of us had to stick around for a few days while we waited for our flights, so we enjoyed the Deepawali holiday (lights and fireworks in the streets), and we frequented the Maya, Gokhra Palace, and the rest of the Thamel hot spots. Chris and I did some sightseeing with Kathy and Jim (the Los Angeles cops who'd just finished another Camp 5 trek to Manaslu).
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Al Burgess and Bob Knapp, in the |
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streets of Kathmandu, celebrate |
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Deepwali and the trip's end |
Chris, Bob and I said our goodbyes, caught a ride to the airport, and boarded a Thai Air A300 Airbus for Bangkok. They continued on to the U.S., while I hung around Phuket for three days, lying on the beach and doing nothing. Then it was time to return home, back to the world of Silicon Valley, to try to explain to people why anyone in their right mind would want to do what we just did.
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