Peter Habelar was the first man to summit Everest without oxygen. He did it with legendary climber, Reinhold Messner, and the night before our first attempt to fly home, we showed him how to play pool. He’s a much better mountaineer. The next morning, after everyone else flew out of Lukla, we sat in an [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Asia'
Popcorn at fourteen thousand feet
May 21st, 2008 by Jay Wright · No Comments · Asia, Nepal
Getting down is the hardest part and we were aggressive. So much so, we broke our Sherpa and had to pay him double that day. On the second descent day we nursed our ailments from the previous day’s twelve hour hike with dal baat and chang (the rice wine). We drank a lot of chang [...]
Ringing Everest’s Doorbell
May 17th, 2008 by Jay Wright · No Comments · Asia, Nepal
On May 10th, the twelfth anniversary of Jon Kraukauer’s Everest summit, we found ourselves in the airport heading to Lukla and the trek to Everest’s south side. Just before boarding we grabbed a copy of the book. Nine days later, visiting the lodges and familiar with the trails the books expeditions took, we marched into [...]
Prayer Wheels
May 15th, 2008 by Jay Wright · No Comments · Asia, Nepal
I first intended to go to India a few years ago, but instead fell hard for a remarkable woman and cut my trip short. But it wasn’t meant to be and two strong personalitie soon found themselves frustrating one another. One year later I was again dreaming of India. In the Khumbu Himalaya of Nepal, prayer flags, [...]
Hike, eat, sleep and repeat
May 14th, 2008 by Jay Wright · No Comments · Asia, Nepal
Yaks perform only above ten thousand feet; the cows below sixty five hundred. They cross bred them to fill in the gap and the mixed breed works inbetween. How is it I’m expected to function at all these elevations? I’m not even from around here. Acclimitization days we hike packless, generally climbing 1200 feet or [...]
