The Trekking Spine Doc Blog

Bodhnath – A Little Tibet in Kathmandu July 9, 2009

A Buddhist Monk at His Monastery in Bodhnath

At noon on Thursday, May 21st our enthusiastic group of “veteran” trekking photographers journeyed off to Bodhnath for lunch and to visit one of the largest Buddhist Stupas in the world. This community is the primary home for exiled Tibetans in Nepal. It has been said that this is one of the only places in the world that Tibetan culture is “accessible, vibrant and unfettered”. In addition to the Stupa, there are many shops and restaurants, a Buddhist Monastery and an art school in which students and masters paint the beautiful thankas. Marooned robed Buddhist monks are ubiquitous. The faithful (as well as tourist) circle the Stupa in a clockwise direction, many chanting the Buddhist mantra “om mani padme hum”. This place is truly a sight to behold!

The Great Stupa of Bodhnath

That evening, we had our last group dinner, this time at the Rum Doodle rooftop restaurant near our hotel. After dinner, Jon handed out our monogrammed “Everest Trek 2009” tee shirts and complemented the group for our accomplishments. Chris also said a few words. We left an autographed Yeti foot cutout on the wall (a tradition of this establishment) as a memento our visit. Finally, it was time to go back to the hotel and begin packing and then off to bed for the last time in Nepal as most of us were scheduled to fly out late the following evening to begin the first leg of our journey home.

An Artist Painting a “Thanka” at Tsering Art School

Our Autographed “Yeti Foot” at Rum Doodle

Grand Rounds at B & B Hospital July 4, 2009

Prof. Banskota and Me at B & B Hospital

Late in the afternoon on the 20th (the day of our return to Kathmandu), I established contact with Binod and confirmed that I would be able to give my lecture early on Thursday, May 21st. Binod picked me up at early Thursday morning and about 30 minutes later we arrived at the B & B hospital (http://www.bandbhospital.com/) in the Lalitpur neighborhood of Kathmandu. This hospital is a teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Kathmandu.

Grand Round Attendees at B & B Hospital

I was greeted by Prof. Banskota upon my arrival at the Hospital. Prof. Banskota is the Chair of the Orthopaedic Surgery Department and was one of the founders of B & B hospital (in fact, one of the “B’s” in “B & B”!) Before my lecture, he took me to consult with him on a young man who had tuberculosis involving his spine. Surgery, unfortunately, did not relieve his paralysis. It appeared to me after reviewing his CT scan and radiographs that the surgery had been done correctly and that there was nothing more that could be done. This case was a brutal reminder how rare certain diseases are in the U.S. compared to that part of the world! I was able to give my lecture to an enthusiastic group of Medical Students from Kathmandu University, Interns, Orthopaedic Surgery Residents and Orthopaedic Surgery Attending Physicians. They asked many insightful questions at the conclusion of my talk.

Day 15 – Return to Kathmandu June 9, 2009

The Lukla Airstrip

May 20th was the day of our return to the “civilization” of Kathmandu. We were awakened at 5 a.m, had a light breakfast and then at 6 a.m. “trekked” from our hotel to the other side of the airport to check for Yeti Airlines Flight 1 from Lukla to Kathmandu at around 7 a.m.. Only three flights were able to get out of Lukla that day, due to storms along the flight path. Some of our Sherpa staff did not make it back to KTM until a day or two later. The video and still cameras were rolling / clicking away! This may be one of the most documented takeoffs from Lukla ever! After arrival back in KTM, most of us were able to get into our rooms early. There were no planned activities so most of us simply relaxed and/or updated blogs / “tweets”. Lunch and dinner was back at the Café New Orleans. For my part, however, I still had a lousy appetite but managed to eat. Nevertheless, it was great to get back to even some level of normalcy.

Chris and Jon Contemplate Departure

Last View of Himalayas From the Plane

Day 14 – Return to Lukla June 1, 2009

Monjo River Waterfall

Day 14 (May 19) began with some excitement on my part.  Just outside of Monjo, on the Monjo river, was a waterfall that I had wanted to do a time exposure with my tripod.  It meant carrying my tripod that day (ultimately uphill to Lukla), but I did not care.  I started early but because of the time setting up and getting my shots, I fell behind.  As it turns out, my “test shot” was my best shot of the waterfall!

As this was the last day, I did not initially care about how fast I was going or how soon we would arrive.  We took a long lunch in the same small town that we had our first lunch on our first day of the trek, now a full two weeks ago.  After lunch, a group of us were determined to get to Lukla as soon as possible.  We had been informed that we would not be staying in tents, but rather in a hotel with hot showers!  This was strong motivation to keep moving.   While resting briefly, our kitchen crew caught up with us with their loads of cooking and dining gear!  It was quite impressive.  Most of the time the Sherpa’s would blow right by us and beat us to each destination even after leaving hours after we had left.  This time, our determination to finally get a chance to clean up allowed us to keep up with them and even pass them as we proceeded on to Lukla.

We also learned that one of our Sherpas (Canchha – the same fellow that accompanied me on my “Sherpa Shortcut” to Kala Patar) had one of this teeth pulled in Namche Bazar.  This dude was tough!  He did not miss a beat escorting us along the trail! 

After arriving in Lukla, we all showered , had dinner and slept in a real bed!  Ironically, I was unable to sleep well perhaps excited about our return to Kathmandu the next day. 

Rooster Along the Trail

Day 13 – Leushyasa to Monjo June 1, 2009

Final View of Mt. Everest

This was the second to last day of our trek.  It was  day that we dreaded somewhat, since we had to descend down that same steep trail to the river from Namche Bazar that we had ascended over a week ago.  Ultimately it did not prove to be that difficult.  We had all, by now, acclimatized somewhat to the altitude (Jon Miller estimated that we were acclimatized to 14,000 feet) and the air was much thicker than it had been while at Gorek Shep and EBC.  Nevertheless, the wear and tear of nearly two weeks of trekking was starting to show on us many of us had sore feet, knees and other body parts having had little opportunity for true “training” for this sort of adventure. 

Nevertheless, spirits were high and the weather was beginning to be

Jon Miller & John Coleman Asleep After Lunch in Namche

consistently good.  We had descended below the tree line (about 13,600 feet) and we were enjoying the vistas (including the last view of Mt. Everest on the trail to Namche Bazar) and greeting the trekkers that were ascending towards EBC and Kala Patar.  We stopped and shopped for souvenirs and had lunch in Namche Bazar before beginning our “dreaded” descent towards the river. 

After crossing the river three times on suspension bridges, we camped in Monjo, a small but busy town near the river,  and spend our last night in tents.  I had the opportunity to use Jon Miller’s professional video camera and videoed both him and Chris commenting on the trek. 

Namche Bazar

Day 12 – Dingboche to Leushyasa June 1, 2009

Brona, Herman & Paul in Tengboche

Day 12 (Sunday, May 17^th), was another long day in which we descended rapidly (with some ascents) to the very small Sherpa village of Leushyasa.  We had actually intended to make Kyanguma, but the pace of the group was too slow and lunch at near the monastery at Tengboche was very late.  Along the way, Chris M. met a fellow German trekker from Munich.  He was actually very senior to us (10 years older than me), having made this trek on several occasions, most recently 16 years prior. He noted that there were many changes along the route with many more hotels, restaurants and shops.  He did not think that all of these changes were for the better. 

At lunch, Jon Miller and I struck up a conversation with him and a young Irish couple who were attempting to climb several of the lesser Himalayan peaks, having succeeded in summiting one already.  As we finished our lunch, I learned that she was a emergency room physician from western Ireland!  Her name was Brona and her companion’s name was Paul.  Our German friend was named Herman.  He was a retired researcher of Greek architecture, having spent most of his professional life in Greece! 

In the afternoon, a very long descent was followed by a long ascent.  This was typical of our trek as we had to cross the river several times (often 2-3 times per day) as we descended towards Lukla.   All of us were now showing the fatigue of our adventure as it drew to a close.  Despite this, Chris did give us a photography lesson on “Street Photography” and showed us three videos from three different photographers with different styles, but all shooting in New York City. 

Andi & Steve, Exhausted in Leushyasa

Day 11 – Return to Dingboche June 1, 2009

A Fully-Loaded Sherpa

After a good night’s sleep in Gorek Shep, it was time to begin our return to journey down the valley. We would cover twice the distance per day as we had going up the valley. Nevertheless, it would not be easy as there were many ups and downs. It was particularly difficult for me since I still had not fully recovered from the brutal day before when I had attempted to get to Kala Patar via a “Sherpa Shortcut”. It was even more difficult for John Fera, one of our German colleagues, who had a particularly difficult time descending because of his knees. John had always been a trooper, not being the fastest trekker in our group, but being one of the most persistent. It was the distance and the downhill that was challenging for him on our way back down the valley. For me, this day was not one to take a lot of photos. I also had lost my appetite and literally had to force myself to eat. I also had caught a cold from one of our group and developed a persistent cough. The day started sunny, but typical to the pattern that we had experienced since being snowed in at Dingboche, as the day progressed the clouds moved in. We finally arrived at Dingboche, camping across the trail from where we had stayed for three nights on our trek up the valley.

Resting Yaks

Day 10 – Never, Ever ask a Sherpa for a Shortcut! June 1, 2009

Summit of Everest (Back Center)

On Day 10 of our trek (Friday May 15^th) I left EBC with Canchha Sherpa as my guide with the goal of getting to the top of Kala Patar to be able to see the spectacular vista of Mt. Everest  from that summit.  The rest of the group (those who had not trekked to EBC) was leaving around 8:00 a.m. to get to Kala Patar, so leaving EBC at 9:00 a.m. and having to go most of the way back to Gorek Shep in order to go to Kala Patar (KP) was going to put me at least 3-4 hours behind the group.  With the intention of bypassing Gorek Shep (GS) and not stopping for lunch I made an inquiry as to whether or not this was possible.  I expected maybe to save 30 minutes or so from my trek simply by not going all the way back, but rather cutting across the dry lakebed to the Kala Patar trail.  The Sherpas spoke amongst themselves in their language and, with the sun sill shining on EBC from a cloudless sky, Canchha and I took off for KP initially along the trail to GS.  About one hour into the trek, Canchha pointed to a narrow trail straight up the side of the hill to our right (west) and said that we should go this way. 

While not what I expected, I thought that since he was the Sherpa, he knew what he was doing and where we should go:  Big mistake.  At first, it was simply an arduous climb with increasingly spectacular views of Mt. Everest.   Fortunately, I did take the time to stop and take several photos of Mt.  Everest as well as the Khumba glacier and icefall.  After several hours, we came to a ridge at 18,100 feet (according to my GPS)  and could finally see the Kala Patar summit, across a glacial valley from where we were.  The “shortcut” would have us traversing the ice and the crevasses of this glacier that was coming down the side of the 23,500 foot mountain, Pumo Ri.  Canchha apparently had thought that there was a better trail to Kala Patar, but even he admitted that it would not be a good idea to proceed in this route.  It was already past noon, so we opted to go down back towards the trail leading from EBC to GS and found another trail that took us on across the glacial moraine towards KP.  This “trail” had boulders the size of Volkswagens and took several hours to traverse until finally we could see the trail to KP summit.  By the time we had reached that trail, I was absolutely spent.  Also, it was pushing 3:00 p.m. and clouds had moved in.  Summiting Kala Patar was not going to happen today.  I stumbled down the trail to Gorek Shep exhausted and disappointed that I was unable to reach KP.  I was, however, able to take satisfaction that I had indeed taken several amazing photos of the summit of Mt. Everest from elevations of 18,000 feet, nearly at the altitude of KP.  This day, however, was the first day that I lost my appetite, which I did not regain again until after our return to Kathmandu.  I did force myself to eat and was able to get a decent night’s sleep before the return leg of our trek began. 

Everest and the Khumbu Glacier

Navigating Through the Glacial Moraine

More From Base Camp May 23, 2009

The Half-Dome Dining Tent for the Mountain Tribes Expedition

Sleeping that night was one of the coldest nights that I had experienced.  I slept very little, not having acclimatized to this altitude, which I expected.  It took until about 3:00 a.m. for my feet to warm up, even in a -40 degree rated sleeping bag.  At about 4:00 a.m., I noted what sounded like an army marching by both sides of my tent!  It was apparent that the climbers were on their way up the icefall.

After getting up a few hours later, we could see the climbers on the icefall.  With binoculars, we were able to see the ladders across the crevices that would allow the climbers to get to Camp 1 and Camp 2 (aka Advanced Base Camp or ABC), and then on to Camps 3 & 4 for their summit attempts. 

It was surprisingly warm that morning and very clear.  Unfortunately, it is impossible to see the true summit of Everest from EBC.  Nevertheless, the views are spectacular.  After breakfast and being interviewed by Jon Miller with the icefall in the background, I decided to leave EBC early, attempt climb Kala Patar.  This, by itself, is quite a story!  More later .  .  .  .

Everest Base Camp Bakery

Khumbu Ice Fall (Climbers Are Too Distant and Small To Be Seen)