Back to Base Camp - Sent July 23

Dear Adventurers,
I am finally sending the stories of the second half of my biggest adventure in the Himalayas, six messages each four or less pages. These are the words from my journal that I religiously kept as the facilitator/tour director of Sean Searner's Mt. Everest Expedition. This might keep you COOL on these HOT summer days! The long delay in sending this was due to reentry culture shock and several projects accumulating at once. Perhaps I was waiting for the planets to align just right. :)

First:
Check out the August issues of both Outside Magazine and National Geographic Adventure Magazine for articles on this year's Everest drama. Sean Swarner is mentioned in both. Also, I am trying to bring Sean to speak at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor this October.

My next talk will be at 7PM on Friday, August 23 at my house, 120 Eighth Street in Ann Arbor, MI. The show is about an hour and a half and includes slides, video and stories about trekking in Nepal and being part of an Everest Expedition. Learn how to arrange the vacation of a lifetime or just listen to stories about Nepal. Children are welcome.

Mt. Everest Expedition Adventure Journal Part II

As you may recall, my last Adventure Journal ended back in April before Sean summited Mt. Everest. My two and a half month trip began in March. First I trekked with Sean and his brother, Seth, to Everest base camp. Then I returned to Kathmandu to pick up Robin Potthoff at the airport. She was our Base Camp Support Team. She and I then trekked back to base camp to be with Seth during Sean's seven day journey to the summit of Mt. Everest and back. Part 2 of my Adventure Journal begins when Robin arrived in Kathmandu. Enjoy!

Adventure Journal Part 2: (1 of 6) BACK TO BASE CAMP

May 1, 2002
For many years it was a dream of Robin's to come to Nepal. This trip was her 55th birthday present to herself. The world circumstances did not detour her from flying half way around the planet to cheer on Sean Swarner as he attempted to become the first cancer survivor to climb the world's tallest peak. Robin was the official Base Camp Support Team. Mountain Madness, a big commercial company formerly owned by Scott Fisher, only had two people on its support team. I didn't feel so bad. Robin was great!

We stayed in lodges as we trekked toward Everest. We entered Sagarmatha (Everest) National Park and headed up the MOUNTAIN to Namche Bazaar, the biggest village on the trail at 11,355 feet. We spent the standard two days in Namche in order to acclimatize and were feeling good. On our rest day we hiked up to Kumjung to see the Yeti (abominable snowman) scalp -- always a thrill -- maybe it really once belonged to a gorilla.

In Kumjung we bumped into Chris Tate, a photographer for National Geographic. I had met him in Kathmandu with Sean and Seth a month ago. We talked a while, and he told us about working for National Geographic and having to get the logo on people's jackets, T-shirts and hats in every shot -- forget the scenery. Then he mentioned, if the climbers did not summit, Peter Hillary especially, National Geographic wouldn't have a movie. The pressure was on Pete Athens, their western climbing guide. Would he risk lives just to make a movie? We hoped not. Would National Geographic ask him to? For a multi million dollar movie . . . maybe.

The weather hadn't been good. Pemba, my business partner, said when he came down to Lukla to meet us at the airport, there was snow for one full day of his hike. The snow was up to his knees at base camp, he said. He couldn't find the trail -- very unusual for a Sherpa.

The morning we left Namche was Saturday, May 4 so we visited the Bazaar. The locals were busy selling and buying everything under the sun, soap, clothes, meat, oranges, wool, pots, blankets. Then we headed to Tengboche. It was a very beautiful day. There were no clouds so we had good views of Everest for most of the journey. I tried to imagine Sean standing at the top, but a big plume of snow steadily blew from the summit all day.

In Tengboche, we visited the monastery and watched the monks chanting and meditating during the Buddhist ceremony. It was very crowded, and soon a 75(!) year old Canadian trekker came in. He was part of a group we had met in Namche. I gave him my seat on the carpet. It was cold in there especially in socks on the hardwood floor.

The next morning we headed to Debuche where we met a couple from Ireland who was on their way back to Kathmandu. They had met Sean in Pheriche the night before. Sean was now spending his rest days, four days away from base camp, down at lower altitudes before his final summit push. We were excited to learn Sean was doing well. Apparently the Irish woman was very sick the night before. She said she was impressed because Sean and his friend Randy offered to carry her down the mountain even in the middle of the night if necessary. She felt better that next morning, and at Debuche when we met her she was fine.

With a black marker someone had written a poem in Japanese on one of the walls in the dinning room in the lodge in Debuche. An American man who spoke Japanese translated it:

Man has made a mess of his world.
Here we are among 10,000 rocks.
The world has come to the Himalayas.
We come here to escape the mess we have made.
Here among rocks and mountains we live in peace,
All nations together.
After hiking these mountains,
We must take the serenity home,
And with hope,
Man's world won't be such a mess.

The next morning we trekked to Dingboche. The lodge there was owned by Jimmy Carter's Sherpa who guided him when he trekked to Everest Base Camp in the 1980s. Robin and I kept loosing things. First I lost Robin's small lock as I didn't close it properly. Oops. Then I lost my watch in Monjo. Then Robin left her headlamp in one of the lodges where I left my favorite purple socks. Robin's favorite trekking socks were then stolen off the roof of the trekkers lodge in Namche where they were drying. Oh well.

A few days later, by 10:30 AM we were at the lodge in Gorak Shep (17,350 feet). We decided to spend one acclimatization night here before going on to base camp (17,600 feet). While sitting in the sun-room of the lodge eating soup and popcorn, Pemba appeared with Sean! Sean looked great. His skin was full of sun, having been at base camp and beyond for so many days. I was so happy to see him and to see that he was healthy and eager to climb Mt. Everest. He said he was ready to summit and very ready to go home after that.

We talked about Peter Legate, a climber from England who was also attempting to climb Everest this year. I had met him in Chukkung with Sean and Seth on the way up. Peter died on April 30 near camp 3. He was reaching to clip into the rope when his foot slipped. Unprotected, he fell 300 feet to the bottom of a crevasse. His body was found and his back pack was recovered, however, his body was not in good condition. The Sherpas left him where he fell. It was sad. The event cast a gray shadow over base camp for several days.

Sean also talked about how he was the first to sleep at camp 3 this year. It was so windy everyone else turned around and went back to camp 2. He was very proud; besides he is missing half a lung! He is amazing. Part of his lung was surgically removed when his second cancer, an Askin's tumor, was discovered. On the way to base camp the next morning, Robin and I stopped at various rocks and gazed up at Everest for a long while. It was a sunny day, but a few clouds obstructed the view. Then occasionally the clouds would frame Everest, and I'd have to take another picture. We were at base camp by lunch time.

That afternoon Sean, Seth, Robin and I met the Hungarian team. These five men were climbing Everest without oxygen. They were very nice and were happy to hear an American speaking Hungarian. I rarely get to practice. Later we went over to the Twinkie tent, Seth's name for the yellow tent in the shape of a Twinkie at Patagonia Brother's camp near ours. Their team was still at lower altitudes resting before the summit push so we borrowed their tent to watch a movie. Seth had a stack of DVD's. We watched Fight Club that night, a great diversion from the rocky ice quarry. With popcorn, cashews, candy, cheese puffs and somewhat comfortable seats, it was a nice way to relax. Seth's laptop was powered by a motorcycle battery that had been charged via solar power all day.

The big white table in the Twinkie tent was surrounded by 10 of the world's top climbers. I felt honored and amazed to be there among them. I scanned the room, the climbers, the Sherpas, Sean. On the surface they were watching the movie, but inside they must have been visualizing the summit. Who would make it? About 50% of all Everest climbers turn around without reaching the top and every year a few die. These people were a different breed, and the Sherpas were even more amazing as they would soon be blazing the trail and setting the ropes. The people surrounding me were more impressive than with the movie. Soon the popcorn stopped being passed around and stayed on the big white table between Robin and I. Soon we finished it. Yum!

Back at our camp we added more layers to the layers we already wore. Now it was snowing and COLD. Just before dinner, Martine, a French woman living in Dubai, came to our dining tent for a visit. She was the first woman climber I had met at base camp, so I shook her hand. She was one of only ten women who would climb this year with about 100 men. She was nervous about leaving base camp the next morning. Sean still wasn't sure when he would leave. His climbing Sherpas were discussing the plan. He wasn't nervous yet anyway.

Just after dinner, Gombu, Sean's climbing guide, came to announce that he too would leave the next morning. Sean immediately was busy fussing with his gear in his tent. Then he was back in the dinning tent, then back in his tent, wearing his climbing boots, packing his down summit suit. The weather report was looking good for May 15 and 16. Sean had to leave the next morning, May 11, to be lined up for the summit and good weather. Sincerely,
Heather O'Neal
Of Global Interest LLC Adventure Travel
Ann Arbor, Michigan
(734) 369-3107
www.ofglobalinterest.com

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