We climbed ten thousand feet in less than forty eight hours, camping twice along the way. Five minutes before sunrise, Darlene and I gained the summit and Marco joined us as the sun rose over Mount Kilimanjaro in the distance. We were the first to summit that day just ahead of a massive group of […]
Entries Tagged as 'Trek'
The High Atlas
October 12th, 2009 by Darlene Nastansky · No Comments · Africa, Morocco
Tipping back the last of their red wine, eyes gazing from the window on Portland’s drizzle, she whispered, “Would you climb the highest peak in Northern Africa with me?” The apartment already barren, furnishings gone, their belongings bursting from two backpacks, “Should we sacrifice a goat first?” he smiled. Months later, her bag filled with […]
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, […]