Failure in the Himalayas

In life failure is a reality. When I travel I never suspected that I would fail at something I really wanted to do but here was the first time I really did fail and I was okay with it.

So for all of you just reading about my trek for the first time you can read my earlier posts that I took all the way at the bottom. So I started this section of the trek just below Jorsalle, Nepal on the Everest Base Camp Trek. The first night was a bit miserable because we didn’t have any blankets and we were basically staying in a ply-wood box. So by the next morning I was happy that the sun was coming up and we had a chance to eat (and honestly the food wasn’t that good either but it was food).

And so off we set on the hardest day to come. We walked to Jorsalle and the mood was pretty, adventurous! We were going to make it to Namche Bazaar today, which is much high in elevation than Jorsalle. We crossed Jorsalle and got stunning views of the mountains. At this point the mountains were becoming bigger and today it was better to observe them (by entering Jorsalle you are finally in the Sagamartha Park, the same park that Mt. Everest is in).

Jorsalle is the last city before the steep climb ahead. They check your documents at a post (after you pay a steep fee to get into the park) and off you go across a scary suspension bridge. After the suspension bridge you have a decision. Since we didn’t have a guide (and this was a failure on our part), we choose to go up the mountain rather then staying near the river. Honestly I thought it was the right path to go on but little did we know that both paths meet up again and that the mountain path was way harder than going beside the river.

That was failure number 1. We took the mountain path and got beautiful views of mountains but we were very tired as we also realized that nobody else was on the path we were on (everybody was on the lower path). When we finally reached were the paths meet (which is at another suspension bridge), we realized that we are still pretty far from Namche Bazaar.

On a good day and if you’re really fit you can make Namche Bazaar from Jorsalle in 2-3 hours. But the trek is very, very intense and for two guys who just walked up another mountain, carrying our own backpacks, and already dehydrated this seemed like a very hard task to achieve.

And another minor detail in June the mountains were becoming covered with clouds due to the monsoon. So in effect it’s harder to see mountains and Mount Everest (that was really our failure number 2). Pretty much don’t come in June. It is better to come in the months of April or May or even in the winter if you’re looking for a view of Mount Everest.

So we made it on the suspension bridge, covered with prayer flags, and look up to see very high mountains. These are apparently the mountains around Mount Everest and we believed that one of the mountains we were viewing was Mount Everest (it’s hard to say since the area was covered with mountains and you can only see the tips). We decided to carry on.

After we crossed the suspension bridge we met a very tough, steep climb. The path had become almost all uneven rocks and the path is very steep with no railing.

As we pushed up we started to ask people if it’s possible to view Mount Everest from here or where the next viewing would be. Nobody seemed to really know. And so I asked how far Namche Bazaar was. I always got the same answer over and over again. It’s about an hour away.

So we continued to push upwards but we are already feeling the effects of Altitude Sickness. For one thing we are exhausted already. Every-time we push up our lungs and legs are killing us. It’s hard to breathe. And Matt was especially dying. (when I say steep I mean steep. You wouldn’t believe what you have to do to get up this mountain).

So we still continued, hoping to get to see Mount Everest. Switchback after switchback… it feels like we are walking forever upwards and getting no where. We must have gone up like 20 switchbacks before it was too much for Matt to take. So Matt decided that he just simply couldn’t carry on or he would risk sweating too much and fainting (One of the first signs of altitude sickness). I was even starting to sweat too much and we had drank all of our water. So Matt decided to take a break while I continued up to see if I could get any view of the mountain.

Well it must have been like 30 minutes later and endless switchbacks and I was, at some points, running up the mountain but I quickly became tired. And the path just kept getting steeper. The Sherpas were even taking it slow and as I kept on asking how much further is it… they would say the same thing… one hour away. It can’t be an hour away when they said it was an hour away from down there! Very frustrating.

So I continued up and was exhausted and realized that we can’t get stuck here. If we get injured or if one of us faints… how are we getting back down the mountain? I didn’t have insurance or the money to get myself off by helicopter. I finally reached a man we had seen on the trek many times. He was out of breath and stopped on the path. I then looked ahead and realized that it’s simply too far and too much. I had really wanted to see Mount Everest fully but it’s too steep to climb (and me and Matt aren’t really the climbing type), and was becoming too cloudy again.

So I made a decision to turn around and go back down…. I will have to see Mount Everest on another trip (I would like to see Mount Everest from Tibet). It’s tough idea to swallow after I reached that far. I had to swallow my pride and admit that I failed at this part. Normally I’m the type to continue and try my very hardest to the point where it could be harmful but I realized what was at stake here. If I injured myself on that mountain alone… how was I going to alert Matt… it was time to admit to myself that this just wasn’t to be.

I turned back around and headed down the mountain to meet up with Matt. I had been gone for about an hour now and saw him where he had stopped. He had cooled down and was looking a little better from resting. I simply told him that it’s too much for us to continue (plus Matty’s knee was hurting him the whole day) and that we have to turn back. And so we did…

We turned back and headed for Monjo. Going back down is way easier but not when you’re with someone who is scared of heights. Matty is actually scared of falling on the mountain so we moved slowly for most of the day (some of the paths are very narrow along the edge). We finally reached the suspension bridge again and we take one last view of the fading peaks! (and this time we go the right way… along the river).

What I can say about not making it to Namche Bazaar is… that we had reached our limit for that day and failure was always going to be the outcome. We had too much on our plate and we were already in a time crunch. In reality we needed more time to be able to do all of this hiking. Going to the Himalayas is a time investment. If we had more time and money we would have paid for a Sherpa to carry our stuff up (what most people do actually). Plus this wasn’t our original plan. Climbing from the Nepal side was not our original plan! We had wanted to drive from the Tibet side and see Mount Everest.

By the time we had reached Jorsalle again we were completely worn out. Our feet are hurting, bodies aching and we are completely dehydrated. We get our water and carried on over another suspension bridge until we finally reach Monzo… which is the start of the Sagarmatha Park.

And this is how our day went. We felt completely worn out but satisfied with our decision to not kill our selves to try to get to Namche Bazaar (although I heard was an awesome city to go to). And I don’t think I will be returning anytime soon. The amount of danger that is involved with this type of travel is very real and apparent. Lukla airport is a very dangerous airport to fly into and is very time-consuming. So we didn’t make it to where we wanted to go but we did see the Himalayas and just maybe a tip of Everest… and now it was time to turn back. And the story continues…

*I have later confirmed that the mountain that we saw the tip of was Mount Everest!