"It is way physically harder than climbing Mt Everest". This was what I was told by a colleague who finished most of the upper crossing and had summited Everest. This is my 44th season in the Himalaya and the first time I felt a tinge of doubt on a project. Can I and my team do this? What Im finding as I sit in my hotel room looking over my gear and food for the next 120 days, is that the logistics are outlandishly challenging. There is gear strewn from one side of the 30 foot room the the other. If I look at just one aspect of logistics, such as resupplies my mind whirls with questions. We will have 9 food drops for 5 people. It is looking like we will have 45, 90 liter duffle bags flown to trail heads. 45!!! My mind moves to stress, I jot things on my list adding to the 43 reminders of things to do. This is just one logistic of hundreds we have been working through. The physical aspect seem trifle compared to the logistical web I seem to be tangled in. Now it is 5am in Kathmandu and the smell of incense wafts through my open window. A monkey screeches in the distance, and pigeons coo. I can imagine that the monastery is bustling with saffron robed monks beginning their morning meditation and prayer. This thought settles my mind, Doubt fades with the truth that everything is going to be OK. Although I'm challenged now, at some point we all arrive at grace.
