There are days when I say "Thank you God, for getting me this far and letting me see this." October 15 was one of those days, standing --- again! --- in front of the world's tallest mountain. How lucky, lucky, lucky I am. (I think I've said this before, but oh well, the lack of oxygen does have effects!)
I remember last year, staring up at the perfect and majestic rock and snow-clad glory of Mount Everest. The elevation there at base camp is 17,200 feet, and as I looked at it, I thought if we could add the full height of Mount Whitney (which I've climbed) at 14,495 feet, it STILL would not equal the height I was looking at: 29,035 feet.
So there I was again and grateful I had been there before because the mountain was nearly completed occluded by clouds, only intermittenly revealing the summit for those who knew where to look. I felt sorry for the rest of the group who would not be able to see it as I had, a brilliantly blue sky behind it with snow blowing off the top as the peak interrupts the jet stream.
Some of our group did stay the night at the marginal Everest Hotel, but that spot is not a pleasant place for humans, and I chose to return the few miles to our hotel in Shegar. Even then, the temperature in the morning was 20 degrees Fahrenheit. My REI clip-on thermometer indicated 45 degrees at Everest, but mere temperature is not the issue there: it's the blasting wind that is! The farmer in our tour group figured a 40 MPH wind at Everest, so my windchill conversion chart brings the temperature to something like 25 degrees to exposed skin. (Yeah, it certainly felt like it. I had on my lined leather pants, silk long-johns top and bottom, plus layers of more wool, cashmere and silk. I cranked down the hood retainer on my North Face jacket (standing in front of the original North Face!) just to keep my head scarf and hair from blowing around!
But temperature really didn't matter to me, except that my smile might be frozen on my face. The intense cold merely inspired me to quickly tie my string of prayer flags to the ones that had been placed before me and unravel the ones I meant to take home with the memory that I had flown them at Everest.
P.S For you Google Earth fans, here are the coordinates of where I was:
N 28 degrees 8' 478"
E 86 degrees 51' 054"
I remember last year, staring up at the perfect and majestic rock and snow-clad glory of Mount Everest. The elevation there at base camp is 17,200 feet, and as I looked at it, I thought if we could add the full height of Mount Whitney (which I've climbed) at 14,495 feet, it STILL would not equal the height I was looking at: 29,035 feet.
So there I was again and grateful I had been there before because the mountain was nearly completed occluded by clouds, only intermittenly revealing the summit for those who knew where to look. I felt sorry for the rest of the group who would not be able to see it as I had, a brilliantly blue sky behind it with snow blowing off the top as the peak interrupts the jet stream.
Some of our group did stay the night at the marginal Everest Hotel, but that spot is not a pleasant place for humans, and I chose to return the few miles to our hotel in Shegar. Even then, the temperature in the morning was 20 degrees Fahrenheit. My REI clip-on thermometer indicated 45 degrees at Everest, but mere temperature is not the issue there: it's the blasting wind that is! The farmer in our tour group figured a 40 MPH wind at Everest, so my windchill conversion chart brings the temperature to something like 25 degrees to exposed skin. (Yeah, it certainly felt like it. I had on my lined leather pants, silk long-johns top and bottom, plus layers of more wool, cashmere and silk. I cranked down the hood retainer on my North Face jacket (standing in front of the original North Face!) just to keep my head scarf and hair from blowing around!
But temperature really didn't matter to me, except that my smile might be frozen on my face. The intense cold merely inspired me to quickly tie my string of prayer flags to the ones that had been placed before me and unravel the ones I meant to take home with the memory that I had flown them at Everest.
P.S For you Google Earth fans, here are the coordinates of where I was:
N 28 degrees 8' 478"
E 86 degrees 51' 054"
3 comments:
Ok, ok, I know to whom you are speaking with the Google Earth comments! It is I, your stay-at-home (Wyoming) brother who is tremendously proud of your travels and appreciation of such historic cultures! I've just read the last two days blog and shall have to do more.
Looking at the snow on ME reminds me to say that we just got our first dusting last night of the winter which is to come. I continue to appreciate living in a location that has four seasons and understand more the comments of many who have observed the seasons and have likened them to human phases of life. It seems much more personal now.
On closing, I'll mention the NBC newscast that was just on and in which they were talking about the opening up of Tibet via the Lhasa Express, a rail line from China up to the Tibetan plateau. Is that anywhere near where you have been?
Hi BC ~
To the rest of you readers, this is the man I call "My Brother the Rocket Scientist": he *is* my brother and he *is* a retired rocket scientist.
The Lhasa Express actually opened last year but is being heavily promoted for possible Olympic-goer patronage. One of my fellow travelers took it from Beijing, a two-day experience --- staff did not restock toilet paper after Day One, and it was a slow train. It is pressurized because of the high altitude and has classes of travel from four people in a "soft sleeper" compartment to upright seats that the Tibetans could afford. Two of his compartment companions were a married couple, engineer and physician, who were given the trip by the Chinese government as some sort of honeymoon reward.
After viewing Google Earth with my Geocaching Premium membership which shows cache locations I see that you were only about 1 mile away from the Roof of The World cache (GC9A9E, just in case you want to look it up). Placed in Oct 2002 it has had only ten successful finds and three DNF's.
Post a Comment