Blessing at Base Camp

[Click on the pictures to see larger versions with captions.]

Yesterday, Tibetan Buddhism infused base camp when monks from Rongbuk Monastery gave us a "puja" blessing. It's a tradition for expeditions to Everest and other Himalayan peaks to bring this slice of ancient mysticism into the lives of climbers.

Three monks presided over the ceremony, in which we sat around a stupa — an altar of stones — while prayer flags were strung from a pole, juniper brush was burned, rice and flour were tossed to the air, and chants and prayers were offered to bring everyone home safely.

The climbers each placed an item of gear on the stupa — an ice ax, a crampon, a personal memento from home — to be blessed. It seems good insurance to carry a Tibetan monk's blessing onto the mountain, whatever your at-home faith.

These are mellow days at base camp. Call it the lull before the storm, so to speak, because when the climb begins, the days will be hard and painful. It's no waste of time, though. As team members take hikes up the valley flanks, everyone is getting fit and deepening their acclimatization. Already our adaptation is showing, with most of us sleeping better at night.

Our first few nights at base camp were restless because nearly everyone suffered Cheyne-Stokes breathing, an altitude nasty in which the sleeper literally stops breathing for several seconds, then starts up again with an unsettling series of gasps. Our energy levels are higher now that we're getting better sleep.

These days are also valuable for team bonding. This diverse group barely knew each other before Kathmandu and now we're forming alliances and learning one another's histories.

Trying to figure out the motivation that's led each team member to Everest is one of my objectives for this blog, but it's a harder task than you'd think. I've been climbing for about 37 years and since day one I've been asked why I climb. I've never given a very good answer, other than to say it's something that got into my blood as a kid and intensified with every year and every climb.

Sitting over a cup of tea today with Mogens Jensen, the 34-year-old Dane who wants to make a "pure" (i.e., sans supplemental oxygen) ascent of Everest, I wondered what I'd hear.

Many people make it up Everest using bottled oxygen, but few dare try without it. The risk factor and difficulty of climbing the mountain with no gas is probably tenfold. And Mogens (pronounced like "bones") suffers chronic asthma to the extent that he must take state-of-the-art medications twice daily. Even so, he's a triathlete who trains about 40 hours a week. He's also multilingual and a teacher by trade.

Everest turned him on several years ago as a "test of the self" and an ultimate athletic event. He started high-altitude climbing on a smaller 26,000-foot peak called Cho Oyu, guided by Russell's crew. He then hit Everest twice, each year having to abandon his gas-free bids at 26,000 feet. Last year he got slammed by the altitude, ataxia and vision problems. This year, he's trained harder and he's already spent weeks trekking at altitude in Nepal.

"I feel ready for her, and I think she's ready for me," he says.

"Do you think that under any circumstance you'd use oxygen?" I ask him. "I mean, wouldn't it be better to use gas and get the summit under your belt in the end?"

Mogens thinks a bit and then tells me he'll stick to his guns. He's certain he can summit while plugged into a bottle of oxygen, but he'd rather hit the his body's limit and turn back. Mogens is a perfectionist, physically and mentally strong, yet he's also certain this will be his last try at Everest.

It's now 5.30 p.m. on April 16, and it looks like a storm is blowing in. Russell has given a yell around camp that if anyone has wash on the line or a tent door open, they better get organized because the storm might bring rain.

Rain? It seems too cold for that, but a dark curtain of cloud is blowing up the valley from the warmer lowlands rather than from the icy heights.

Tomorrow, some of the guides are heading to Advance Base Camp (higher than the summit of Mt. McKinley in Alaska), with a caravan of yaks to start organizing camp for the next wave of climbers and film crew. In a few more days everyone will move up, and then the real action will begin.

Signing off,
Greg Child

Comments

[Kara]

I am excited to see that Discovery Channel is doing a follow up to the 2006 Everest expedition from last year. I watched the entire series and was fascinated by how much it really takes to climb to the summit of Everest. It gives non-climbers such as myself, a true sense of awe. I look forward to seeing what they have in store for us with this year's climbing season. Good luck to Tim and Mogens! Hopefully they will both make it to the top this year! Wishing you all the best and good weather and fortune!

[Mark Kuhn]

Greetings to all on the expedition. I have much enjoyed these posts and am looking forward to each and every one and just extremely pleased that Greg Child is sharing these moments and insight with us. The idea of climbing the great peaks, especially the 8000ers, is fascinating and thrilling and Discovery's ability to document these Himex expeditions on Everest is amazing. Wishing Big Tim the best, I know he can make it and accomplish a feat few believed possible and best of luck to Mogens, I am a Respiratory Therapist and I know how he struggles in an ordinary environment and too see him on the highest mountain in the world is extraordinary to say the least. Good luck to everyone!

[Daisho]

Russell is the man!!! This show was one of the best on and I look forward to watching it again. The human soul and body is an incredible machine to be able to do so much with the right mindset and training. And those Sherpas they are Iron Men and should be making 50 times what they make they are simply amazing.

[Anthony W]

I thought climbers referred to it as Denali, not McKinley.