Hello again! I know it is surprising for me to post again so soon after my last post, but I want to post about the incredible people I met as they make their summit attempts. Yes, that’s correct, Everest summit attempts are occurring even as we speak. I am so excited to witness from afar how my friends manage this incredible time in their lives!
As I mentioned before, I was able to spend a week in Kathmandu before heading up to begin the trek. There were two other incredible women who arrived as early as I did, so I spent the week with them. The first is Mia from Finland. Mia has been climbing for the last few years and she originally started in the Glacier School that I attended. Mia is climbing Lhotse, which at 8,549 is the 4th tallest mountain in the world. It shares a route with Everest past Camp III, but Lhotse is a more technical and a more difficult climb than Everest. She is attempting to be the first Finnish woman ever to climb Lhotse, which I am sure she will complete successfully. She took a year off from work and has been climbing and enjoying herself – sound familiar? lol. Mia is one of the sweetest, kindest women I have met in a long time and I was so happy and proud to know her.
The other women I spent quite a bit of time with before heading up the mountain was Sandra from Canada. Sandra is a lawyer who has travelled extensively for work. She spent the last two years in Afghanistan and will spend the next two years in Israel – I am so in awe of her! She went to Everest Base Camp 12 years ago and has been dreaming of climbing Everest ever since. She has spent years training and planning for the climb and I am so excited to hear all the details from her when she returns!
Since the three of us were the first to arrive, we were able to spend quite a bit of time with the leaders of the climb, Arnold Coster who would climb with us and Dan Mazur who would climb on the Tibet side. They were kind enough to take us with them when did their official climb meeting with Elizabeth Hawley. For those of you who have never heard of Miss Hawley, she is the queen of Everest. She was an American journalist who was in Nepal during the first summits of Everest and started keeping track. Now she is responsible for keeping all of the records of who has summited any of the peaks that are 7,000 meters or higher. She is currently 88 years old and feisty as ever! She has a nephew who lives in Evergreen, CO, so I felt I had a bit of a connection with her. She somehow knows the minute the leaders of each climb arrive in Kathmandu and she immediately calls them for a meeting. Dan did his best to provoke her and tease her and she just kept straight to the point. She was extremely close friends with Sir Edmund Hilary and she told stories about him, his apartment downstairs, and other climbers she had met over the years. She even told me my chair was the same chair Jon Krakauer had sat in weeks before when he was there chatting with her. She is an Everest legend and it was an incredible honor to meet her.
Above is the view from my tent window. I thought it was incredible and was so inspired to wake up to that every morning. As the week rolled on, we met more of the climbers who would be going up with us. Since I am completely intrigued by many of the Everest/Lhotse climbers, here is a short description of some of those I got to know well.
Grace: A lawyer from Canada (I know, those Canadian lawyers sure do love to climb!), she is climbing Lhotse. She and Mia make up the 2 person, all woman team who will be climbing Lhotse. Grace discovered her love of climbing 3ish short years ago and has been participating in one or two climbs per year. Grace is about the same height as I am, but she has to be the fastest climber I’ve ever seen!
Eric: One of the many in our crew from Denmark, Eric is another one of the group who has been planning this climb for ages. I don’t know much about his climbing history, I do know that Eric spent about 2 years looking for sponsors for his climb. He is very dedicated in reporting his status back home and giving the details about how he is doing. He was lucky enough to have his brother accompany him in the trek up to Base Camp, which I’m sure gives him plenty of motivation as he climbs to the top.
Jon: A Colorado boy! I am so honored to say Jon is from Colorado, because he is so impressive. He has a PhD, slept on all the 14eers in Colorado last summer and has a book coming out this year about his experience. He is working on his next book and he was working on a study this year to improve the conditions in the Khumbu/ Everest region. Jon spent the first few climbing rounds at the front with the Sherpas, so I’m sure he’s going to just fly up the mountain!
Richie: One of the most hilariously inappropriate people I’ve ever met! He is from the UK and spent the last 5 years working in Iraq, which should tell you quite a bit about him. If you were feeling down about anything, Richie would be more than happy to tell you a story or a joke to pick you right back up again - definitely a great person to have around! Richie has taken a year off and spent pretty much the whole thing climbing. He is insanely prepared for Everest.
There are, of course, others who I didn’t get to know as well. There is Steve, the Australian who now lives in Iowa. He is a motivational speaker, so I’m sure his experiences on Everest will give him lots to talk about! Joost from Denmark, who reminds me a little bit of your friend’s dad – you know the one. He’s hip and funny and you really wish your dad could be that cool! Marlise from Denmark, who works in a school. She seems so prim and proper, not like this badass who goes off in her free time to climb Everest. From what I’ve heard, she had frostbite from a previous climb and had to abandon her attempt to summit this year, which is quite unfortunate. Finally, there is Dave. He has already achieved the summit from the North side (Tibet) and is here to claim it from the South side as well. He has this wild mane of curly blond hair and the longest climber legs I’ve ever seen, so I feel like he could swoop up to the peak in about 10 steps.
I’m sure the motley crew I’ve described above will have an amazing time in their journey to the summit. There are, of course, others like me who were along only for a portion of the trip. As I look back now, I am so in awe of the people doing this climb. As they reach their final stage of preparation and climbing, I wish them all the best. Prayers and motivation, luck and strength. Hopefully my next blog post will include information about their successful summits. Until then, please join me in sending positive thoughts their way. Good luck on Everest/Lhotse!
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