Glad to be home – learning’s from Everest Summiteers

For a non-romanticized post of an overview what it takes to summit Everest read this. The following is an emotional account of my trip J

I knew it even before he opened his mouth and excitedly told me that he had summited Everest. I knew he had been up there, not just by the chapped black face, lips and cheeks covered by frost bite but by the way he was proudly flying the Pakistani flag and rushing with renewed energy down the mountain. He was the first Everest Summiteer I met and the most excited one. He wanted to talk, he wanted to tell everyone about his experience. He was happy to talk. I would have been as excited if I had done it. Climbed to the top of the world.

The next night we saw a bottle of wine being opened, sizzlers came to the table for two. Celebrations for a husband and wife couple that were returning after their summit. Skinny but smiling. Wine and steak are expensive here but they deserved it. As much as they deserved the smiles and admiring looks at their table. People controlling their desire to walk over and talk as they ate their dinner.

A sad chapped nose -little exaggerated ;)
 Wonder what the summit would do to
me. 

We met many more summiteers, part of the first father son group from the UK to summit, women going up for their third time, youngest Indian to climb Everest and a man who had just scaled the eight thousanders.

I know that I will not summit Everest – I cannot bear to see my face covered with frost bite ;) -  but I wanted to go meet these people. Be inspired and soak in some of the excitement. In the twelve days up there some of it did brush off on me. I want to do bigger things in life, push limits and live to the fullest but I also realized that I do not need to climb Everest. I instead have a need to be with people I love. I will find my limits and summit them with people that love and adore me.

The summiteers - they talked to us, inspired us and made us feel so little at the same time. As one of my wise fellow trekkers put it – it is a matter of perspective, here we are nothing, people walking up a mountain. Back home we will be the people that walked up the mountain.

I am glad to be home now, one of the people that walked up the mountain.

What does it take to summit Everest

By Pradeep Prakash - Click for high resolution and more pics .
Gorakshep - the last settlement enroute to Everest. Then comes the Base Camp and the High Base Camp - Camp-I, Camp-II, Camp-III and Camp-IV. Kalapattar[5550mtrs above MSL] is also seen here [ mountain devoid of any snow and so the name].

What does it take to summit Everest - A good pair of legs, time and oh yes, $45,000.

I guess you could do away with the legs but you do need time – at least six weeks for the final stretch – and money. If you did away with the legs then I’d say you need considerably more than $45,000.

Jokes asides, I had a friend ask me why it is so expensive and time consuming, why can you not just go up and climb, will they jail you if you do not buy the $10,000 permit.  Having just returned from the Everest Base Camp I initially giggled at the questions, told him that he really needs to read up but then I thought about the scores of summiteers that we saw coming down, one of them even commented of a traffic jam up there – too many people trying to summit. So, I decided to do some research on what are the basics required to climb Everest.

FACTS

• Approximately 400 people on average climb Everest every year – 512 summited in 2010.
• There were just four deaths in 2010. Since 1990, the deaths have dropped to 4.1% due to better gear, weather forecasting and more people climbing with commercial operations. Annapurna is a much more deadly mountain than Everest with a summit to death ratio of 2:1 deaths for every summit (109:55).
•  It is harder to set records now, youngest, oldest, women, men, number of summits are all taken… so people are doing back to back and even funkier stuff now. If you want to climb it is unlikely to set any records.
• It is twice as hard to climb from the China side – more technical and cheaper but your chances of summiting is halved and chances of dying is doubled.

·        

BASIC CLIMBING DATA

Cost:         $45000 and up
Deposit:  $15000 upfront
Length:   70+ days
Type:        Mountaineering

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE

You need a climbing resume – experience with HMI, mountaineering experience is all required.
Sample ask  - Participants on our Mt. Everest Expedition must have a solid understanding of mountaineering skills. We require that each team member have previous high altitude experience, such as McKinley, Aconcagua, Cho Oyu or other 7,000 - 8,000 meter peaks. Screening and final selection will be done on an individual basis after we have reviewed your climbing resume and our veteran Everest Guides have spoken with you directly

Just to show how commercial it can get there was an ad that cracked me up - Want to Climb Everest? $50,000 + 2 Weeks Training (no experience necessary)

At the same time a heartbreaking article on the death of someone who took a cheaper route and wanted to do it on his own made me rethink the journey up http://climb.mountainzone.com/2006/david_sharp/index.html

It is expensive for a reason - the money goes for a permit, guides, sherpas, oxygen, to fund the five camps that you have to stay in for over six weeks. You stay to acclimatize and slowly get strong enough to take the mother of all heights on. There are stories about the ice falls, the balcony, the Hilary steps and if you really want to climb then you need to give yourself a minimum of a year to prepare (and a minimum of a month to read up about all this)

I know it is something I am not going to do. They say a bug gets into you when you first see Everest- even just a photo of it. It devours you from inside and makes you crawls up to the top. I saw Everest when I was twelve and I saw it again last week. I admire it. I admire those that climb on it but I am happy looking up at it. I don’t have the need to look down from it.

The irrational walk to the Everest Base Camp

Everest taken by Pradeep
the amazing
photographer in our team.

People die climbing Everest. Some are accidents but a few are caused by ‘irrationality” - by people not heeding to common sense, people trudging on when they should not, against bad weather conditions, against warnings from their guides and friends. There is “a point” after which the misguided are often dragged down by well-wishers and sedated so they don’t keep climbing to their death.

It had been a long trek to Gorekshep. I had not walked fast so I was not physically exhausted. However my ability to sweat profusely had caused me to have a bad cold. During the first few days I had taken my jacket off frequently and sudden cold on my sweat soaked shirt had caused a cough to set in. I slowly realized the gravity of it as we lost altitude and oxygen. A cough that caused a moment of inconvenience at sea level was causing me to sit down and regain my breath at 5100m.

Little yellow tents. Still a good hours walk away.

It was with this cough that I started my walk towards the Everest Base Camp. The interesting thing about this two hour trek is that within minutes of the trek you can see the destination. The terrain wound up hills and down valleys but at no point you lost sight of the camp. A city of bright yellow and blue tents. You saw it as you walked up a steep slope or watched your step downhill. I saw it every time I coughed and had to sit down.

The weather was not co-operating with us and little flurries started to fall less than half way into the walk there. I was bundled in a down jacket and had thick gloves and hats on. The air was cold and dry. It made the cough bad. Others in the group – without a cough – walked on and I took my time sitting on rocks to recover from the persistent oxygen stealing exhale. It hurt. It physically hurt every time I coughed. The cough came from deep inside, not from the chest from the bottom of the abdomen and shook my whole body. Twice, my guide passed me and asked if I wanted to go back. Reflecting back I know I should have said yes and gone back. I passed two older, saner gentlemen and almost like a warning they spoke of going back – we have achieved our personal summit – were the wise words they spoke. Then I passed two men assisting a girl with a nervous breakdown. She had acute mountain sickness and had been abandoned on the way to the camp by her faster fitter friends. It was like walking in a movie where messages were being sent to you through people fallen on the road you walked on.

I made it to the base camp. I did not enjoy the base camp as I thought I would. I was sick. My hands were swollen to double their normal size. I reached and I tripped on rocks and I fell. I stood up, smiled and took a picture. Then I turned around and slowly and steadily made my way back to the tea house. I drank lots of warm water and threw up. I was coddled by two very caring team mates and put in bed. I lay there with an empty stomach and a full mind. I had been very stupid earlier in the day. It was insane to walk on. I would have advised anyone not to do it. It was dumb. But I could see the base camp. I had walked days to get there. I had left my family and walked all this way. I had wanted it so bad. I had reached “a point” and luckily/unluckily there had been no one to drag me down.

All Set for Everest (Base Camp)

“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” – Edmund Hillary

Very very excited right now. I have signed up for my much longed for Everest Base Camp trek. The other really nice part is that it is through Childreach International - a charity that helps children in developing countries. I am lucky to have a supportive spouse who constantly indulges me and family members that fly in to help with the children when needed.


 
When – 13^th May to 27^th May

The trek is 11 days long. We spend a day in Kathmandu getting ready and then going to a few of Childreach's Projects on our return.


 
Why

Why I want to do this is the question I am asked the most. If it is just for a Himalayan trek then the Everest Base Camp trek is supposedly overhyped. There are treks that are way less commercial, less crowded and more beautiful. I do want to trek in the Himalayas but what I really want from this trek is to meet some people just before they take off on their quest to climb Everest. I am a people person. I love energy and being around passionate people (one reason I loved working at Microsoft). I don't think I will ever climb Everest but I want to feel that the excitement and the fear. I want to feel all the emotions.

And I must say I need a nice long walk in a cooler place than Bangalore. Darjeeling and then Seattle have ingrained a cold fondness in me.


 
WhooHooo

That is what I am feeling right now J (excited and scared – time to go run in the gym and shed off all the laziness accumulated sitting on the beach all of last week)

 

 

 

Leaving Microsoft and climbing other mountains

After almost 10 years of being at Microsoft I am quitting. Quitting sounds harsh so I will say leaving. I am leaving Microsoft today. It has been quite a journey. Most of it rather wonderful. It is the only place I have worked so I have nothing to compare it with but with all the fun I had there I guess I lucked out.

I remember being the "I am sorry” girl. I walked into offices apologizing, sorry that I was there, a newbie, not knowing anything, intimidated by everyone and everything. Then I met people who mentored me and taught by example. I learnt from the best and the worst. Learnt what to be and not to be. I grew up there.

There are days I felt extremely stupid and days I wondered how some people had made their way into this great company. I cried at work a few times but laughed at work way many more times.

Microsoft is an amazing company, it does not just build software, it builds people too - you get educated there, you learn you can change disciplines and be anything you want to be as long as you work hard and are passionate about it. It hires the most diverse set of people and teaches you to respect and value diversity.

Over time I will have more posts of my time spent there but today I am overwhelmed by all the mails coming in from people I worked with. I am proud to have worked there.

In the coming months I will trek up to Everest Base Camp and get a plan going to climb Kilimanjaro. I will volunteer and then work on a startup and try to gain an identity that is not all about me working at Microsoft but I know I will be forever happy that I did work there.