The Importance of Mt Kailash

An elderly woman approached me in the alley way on the side of the hotel where I stay.  She had graying hair neatly combed with a red vail covering her head.  The vail was shredded in places and golden sequins hung loosely, many had already fallen off probably years ago.  The wrinkles on her face showed age and a life spent in the rice and potato fields.  Wisdom emanated.  She was a bit hunched and as she came close straighten the years out of her spine.  She extended her hand and grabbed mine looking at me through hazy eyes, the beginnings of cataracts.

She somehow had heard I was going to Mt Kailash.  I wondered how in this city of 1 million people she had found me.  The urgency in her gaze tore through me, I could feel she was about to share something very important.  She squeezed my hand and in broken english "You go Kailash?" A slow smile spreading across her face.  Yes I answered excitedly.  "Please.......Please put at Dolma La" The Dolma La is the 18,000 foot pass where every devout Hindu and Buddhist hope to cross in their life time. Offerings of money, clothing, pieces of hair, and photos are left here.  It is believed that stepping through the pass enables one to have a good journey in the next life.

She put a wrinkled 5 rupee (the equivalent of 5 cents) note in my hand and squeezed.  Holding on to my hand with both of hers now she repeated "Please............... Please"  The pause between please are long.  She gently began to squeeze harder and shake my hand up and down in a gesture of great peace and thankfulness, slowly lowers my hand, turns and walks into the fray.

Mt Everest March 2017

We possibly have 3 spaces for our Mt Everest expedition in March of 2017.  The cost will be $32,000 to join us on the amazing north side in Tibet.  Climb the uncrowded side.  Email me at fourwindsexpeditions@gmail.com     Matt Fioretti  fourwindsexpeditions.com

Tibet's Mt Kailash

In the far west of Tibet there is a place so magical it is said that any prayer is granted.  Getting there takes a bit of sweat, cold nights in a tent, and preparedness.  This last one, preparedness, is often the crux.  People ask me "how do you prepare for this" knowing they are asking about mostly logistics.  Yes there are this VISA issues, organizing land rovers and a gear truck,  yaks that will carry our gear, altitude acclimatizing, fuel transport, food logistics, etc,  Daunting but doable.

Then there is the preparedness of a different nature.   Lore says that if you have a pure heart your prayers will be answered by standing beneath the North Face of  Mt Kailash.  Not only do you have to drive across most of Tibet to arrive at the base of Kailash, but then you have to hike to 17,200 feet (5200 m), get all your gear there to overnight in a tent.  At this point it begins to get tricky.  To get to the North Face one must hike to the pass which is poised like a kneeling child at the feet of God to deliver your prayer.  There is no trail, only a long boulder field that rises for 1200 feet.

I was sharing this with my client.  With a dejected smile on his face he questioned or wondered how many prayers really get answered.  The preparedness of a pure heart is daunting and not so doable.  If I look at myself for example my intention are clear but I have the other stuff of daily life,  Getting upset with my wife, unhappy with an employee, the driver who cuts me off on the freeway who makes me draw my middle finger, the judgement of others.  The list goes on.

 Laughter increased as we discussed further lore.  It is said that circumambulating Kailash 108 times induces enlightenment, a pure heart.  On this journey we are starting in Lhasa Tibet. After 19 days on the trail and long days at altitude we will only finish 1 ambulation of the mountain.  To finish 108 ambulations would take 2052 days or roughly 5 years.  This is if you were able to do it  every year back to back.   My client humbly says over increased laughter,  "Well I guess our prayers will not be answered this time" Noting that we humans have good hearts but pure?

We fly to Lhasa on September 22nd, cross Tibet by Landcover,  Circle the mountain by foot over 4 days, take a baptism dip in holy lake Manasorovar, cross a 18,000 foot pass by foot and exit through the rarely traveled Limi Valley for 9 days by foot.  I am sure all of our hearts will be a bit more pure than when we started but man it is a long journey of work and toil.

Matt Fioretti     fourwindsexpeditions.com

Four Winds Nepal Relief Part 6

Rice or money?  I called Urkin in the afternoon of July 12th and finally came to the conclusion that money would help them in this situation better than more rice.  Urkin Sherpa and Tsedam Sherpa had explained that getting the rice from the bazaar in Namche and portering it would be costly and less efficient.  The families could make money go farther than we could and that made sense.  We would walk to the village of Khumjung about 2 hours away to meet Urkin in the morning and work over logistics on how the money would be distributed and how much would be given.

Early in the morning sometime around 2am rain created a rhythmical patter on the tin roof of the tea house.  I was awake with jet lag and within a few minutes the rhythm of the rain had me sleeping.  

In the morning as light filtered into the room I could just make out the mountains across the valley.  The gentle giant Thamserku and its south west aspect went from steel gray to light lavender with the slow rise of the sun,  22,000 foot wall of snow and ice casting a brilliant light show.  The rain had stopped sometime in the night and the contrast of pattering to empty silence coupled with the Himalaya outlined in my window made my soul happy.  Delivering the donated money to families in need made me even happier and I sent out a brief thought of thankfulness and gratitude to all who had donated.

We started out around 8:30 and had planned to meet Urkin Sherpa around 11.  If you love walking this is one walk you may want to do in your life time.  The section between Namche and Khumjung is short but contains multi faceted worlds.  A typical thought pattern while on this walk might go like this:

“Oh look there the south face of Lhotse, the 4th highest peak in the world”

“Oh look there is a 300 year old Himalayan Birch grove”

“Oh look there an 800 year old monastery on the hillside of Khunde”

“Oh look there a 60 foot tall Rhododendron forest”

“Oh look there, it’s Mt Everest”

These are just a few of the hundreds of experiences on the short walk at 12,400 feet to Khumjung.   On this day we would encounter something unexpected and inspirational as if the experiences above were not enough.  The trail connects right into the center of the village which also serves as the school play ground.  Unlike our play grounds it is worn tundra with rocks, sticks and an uneven, rolling pitch.  There were groups of young adults taking down tents and volley ball nets.  It was like they were disassembling after a fair.  A familiar voice called out to me and there standing up from rolling a tarp was my friend Pemba Sherpa.  He is from the village of Gokyo one days walk away for Sherpas or 3 days walk for us lowlanders.  We greeted each other and I asked what was going on.  He said they had just finished a 3 day volley ball tournament.  Volley ball at 12,400 feet and the mountainous setting filtered through my mind.  As we continued the conversation it came to light that they had planned the tournament months before and decided it was in everyone’s best interest to continue with the tournament even though the earthquake had just ravished the country.  He said it was very helpful in relieving the current stress.  All I could think was what an amazingly resilient people.  

We continued on to Urkin’s house where we could see him waving from the front of his home way up on the terraced hillside. 

The meeting went well and within an hour and the well thought out list that Urkin had created, we came up with a good plan.  Urkin’s list contained 40 families and individuals who were the poorest of the poor,  including elderly who had no family and handicapped.  We chose to pick 20 of the families and individuals who needed help the most.  For example one of the women on the list was living in a structure donated by the village.  She had nothing and was probably in her sixties.  The house she was in collapsed.  Although she survived she had nothing but a hot plate, a cot pieced together out of scrap wood, a few containers holding food, and a dirt floor. The structure’s roof was open to the elements because the roof now lay strewn on the floor. I remember looking up into puffy clouds and a black crow crossing the site line as I stood inside the middle of the shelter.  She put her bed against the wall where there was a section of the roof teetering over head giving her some coverage from the elements.  The dirt floor was mushy from rain.  This was one of the 20 emotional visits we made in the village of Khumjung. 

Others included visiting the village healer who was blind and had no family,  a deaf mom with 2 kids who’s husband had died guiding on Mt Everest, and an elderly couple in their nineties who were now living in a group of circled rocks with a plastic tarp spread over the top and sides.  The husband lay inside the make shift shanty.  Urkin explained to us that after the earth quake the husband had gone into a state of shock  and had not moved from the bed since, almost 2 months prior.  This was one of the stories that had me shattered inside.  I plan to go back to them to make another donation.

We went to what was left of each house and visited 20 in need.  We ended up giving $100 to 20 families.  In April I hope to go through the other 20 families on the list with Urkin and see what we can do.  

At the end of the day your donations touched so many deeply.  When we handed the money over to each recipient the smiles creased every face from ear to ear and immense gratitude was shown in body movement and through eye contact. I noticed that even though the hardship, loss, pain and suffering was great, most of the people could truly smile and go about their lives and move beyond.  

On this day the moral to the story that stuck with me was “When an earthquake or something tears your world apart, go and play volley ball”

That is were we were at on July 13th.  

Four Winds Nepal Relief Part 5

Imagine 65 children between the ages of 4 and 9 chanting a prayer before drinking a cup of tea. This is what we woke to in the early morning light at Nacmche Bazaar on July12th. Mugs of hot black tea breathed steam in front of each child. The prayer was Tibetan and carried the sound of a thousand years. Some children held their hands

together in serious prayer and contemplation, some drifted off in day dreams, while others scrunched their 4 year old faces trying to remember the 10 minute prayer. These

are the 65 children that attend the “Home Away from Home” boarding school set up 4 years ago by our friend Tsedam Sherpa and his daughter Kami Sherpa.

During the earthquake the building that housed the children was damaged and became too dangerous to continue inhabitance. Tsedam had rented the building with his own money and the land lord did not have the means for repair after the earthquake. Although most of the

children pay tuition, Tsedam and Kami run the school as a non profit, with much of the funding from Tsedam's pocket and foreigners who sponsor a child.

The school created because children were walking from as far as 2 hours (one way) to go to school 6 days a week, often meaning irregular attendance. Can you imagine a child walking to school every day 4 hours round trip in American society today?

This morning the children were gathered around their cups of tea in prayer in Tsedam's tea house. They had no where to stay and Tsedam offered the rooms in his hotel to

house the children. After seeing the situation we knew very quickly that some of the money you had donated should go to the school. We originally had thought supplies but after speaking with Tsedam and Kami we came up with a better idea.

Tsedam was going to use some of the land next to his tea house to build a boarding house that would house 65 to 70 children. He had borrowed $30,000 from the bank, was using his own money to build the school, in addition to offering up his own land. We decided that $2000 dollars would go to Home Away From Home with another $1000 to be donated April of 2016.

As I said in an earlier report, this school on a micro level is run as well as schools with budgets of millions of dollars. The curriculum is made up of foreign language studies,

folk music studies, dance, math, sciences, and social studies. The amazing Sherpa values are instilled in children at a young age and upheld in the school. There was no fighting over toys, no crying, no entitlement, no such thing as bullying. Each child helped one another, shared, respected each other, and were joyous happy little beings.  Discipline is taught at a young age and it was amazing to see 65 children behave and have an exceptional grasp of respect and responsibility. We felt good putting a percentage of your donations toward

this entity and these children.

As the 10 minute prayer came to an end I expected ruckus and mayhem. The abrupt end to the prayer cast a silence and imbued place with a sense of peace. Each child

calmly picked up their cup of tea and sat quietly sipping and day dreaming.

Thats where we were at on July 12th

Imagine 65 children between the ages of 4 and 9 chanting a prayer before drinking a cup of tea. This is what we woke to in the early morning light at Nacmche Bazaar on July12th. Mugs of hot black tea breathed steam in front of each child. The prayer was Tibetan and carried the sound of a thousand years. Some children held their hands

together in serious prayer and contemplation, some drifted off in day dreams, while others scrunched their 4 year old faces trying to remember the 10 minute prayer. These

are the 65 children that attend the “Home Away from Home” boarding school set up 4 years ago by our friend Tsedam Sherpa and his daughter Kami Sherpa.

During the earthquake the building that housed the children was damaged and became too dangerous to continue inhabitance. Tsedam had rented the building with his own money and the land lord did not have the means for repair after the earthquake. Although most of the

children pay tuition, Tsedam and Kami run the school as a non profit, with much of the funding from Tsedam's pocket and foreigners who sponsor a child.

The school created because children were walking from as far as 2 hours (one way) to go to school 6 days a week, often meaning irregular attendance. Can you imagine a child walking to school every day 4 hours round trip in American society today?

This morning the children were gathered around their cups of tea in prayer in Tsedam's tea house. They had no where to stay and Tsedam offered the rooms in his hotel to

house the children. After seeing the situation we knew very quickly that some of the money you had donated should go to the school. We originally had thought supplies but after speaking with Tsedam and Kami we came up with a better idea.

Tsedam was going to use some of the land next to his tea house to build a boarding house that would house 65 to 70 children. He had borrowed $30,000 from the bank, was using his own money to build the school, in addition to offering up his own land. We decided that $2000 dollars would go to Home Away From Home with another $1000 to be donated April of 2016.

As I said in an earlier report, this school on a micro level is run as well as schools with budgets of millions of dollars. The curriculum is made up of foreign language studies,

folk music studies, dance, math, sciences, and social studies. The amazing Sherpa values are instilled in children at a young age and upheld in the school. There was no fighting over toys, no crying, no entitlement, no such thing as bullying. Each child helped one another, shared, respected each other, and were joyous happy little beings.  Discipline is taught at a young age and it was amazing to see 65 children behave and have an exceptional grasp of respect and responsibility. We felt good putting a percentage of your donations toward

this entity and these children.

As the 10 minute prayer came to an end I expected ruckus and mayhem. The abrupt end to the prayer cast a silence and imbued place with a sense of peace. Each child

calmly picked up their cup of tea and sat quietly sipping and day dreaming.

Thats where we were at on July 12th

    

Four Winds Nepal Relief Part 4

Four Winds Nepal Relief Part 4

Namche Bazaar sits at 11,286 feet.  Hiking to it is not the easiest day one spends in the mountains.  The trail gains 2600 feet from the valley floor.  It can be the most difficult day on a 14 day adventure walking amongst the giant Himalaya.  Going from 8500 feet to the elevation of Namche the blood loses 6 to 10% of its oxygen carrying capabilities as the air begins to thin.

Grueling yes!  Worth it yes!  Now as we begin to hike into the high country we are treated with a world of waterfalls.  Because it is the rainy season we are seeing waterfalls that do not run during the regular trekking season.  White ribbons of water dot vertical gorges every few hundred yards, the water tumbling to the valley floor on an extreme whitewater journey to the ocean.  Seeing these in the off season absent of hundreds of other foreigners is quite a treat, however I have other things on my mind.  

As we move higher and higher I am thinking about logistics for the following day.  We had originally thought that bringing rice to the village of Khumjung was the best course of action.  Plans were about to change again.  After speaking with my close friends Urkin Sherpa and Tsedam Sherpa they advised otherwise.  They both felt that everyone had enough food and that giving them money would provide a better footing in their tenuous situation.  At the end of the conversation I had mixed feeling about this as I felt a huge responsibility to all of you who donated to this project to make sure that the donations were allocated in the best possible way.  

On the trail my wife and I are experiencing the locals sans tourists.  We have seen only 2 other foreigners.  We notice the spark that usually accompanies a jovial “Namaste” is subdued, there is a preoccupation in their voice.  The usual spring in their step is dulled.  The earth quake is weighing heavy on the population.  We see, hear, and feel pain in their spirits as we pass them on the trail.  Because it is the rainy season and there are no tourist the available work is scarce adding to the hardship.  

We take slow steps higher into thinning air.  My thoughts are simple “Rice or Money?”  “What is the best way to help?”

We pass a porter taking a break from carrying his load of 6 sheets of ply wood.  He carries it on his back up the 2600 feet of gain.  He has a control line tied to the top to keep his load from blowing him over if a wind rises.  Imagine carrying 6 (4’x 6’) sheets of ply wood on your next day hike, roughly about 140 pounds.    We see many porters carrying rebuilding supplies with loads up to 180 pounds. This day that I thought so difficult is Disney Land compared to what these porters are is doing.  I hope that we can help their situation.  I meet with Tsedam today in Namche and will talk to Urkin who is in Khumjung to work out logistics and the best way to help.

Thats where we were at on July 11th.

navigating leaches Part 3

We are in the thick of Nepal’s monsoon season.  It really hit home when I was petting one of my favorite dogs in the village of Ghat.  I scratched his head, rubbed his back, and pulled on his ears.  He reacted with a shake of his thick black Tibetan mastiff mane.  A shake that shuddered through from his head to his back paws, throwing a spray of dust and something big and black that whizzed past my head in a gentle arc. 

I saw the object in flight out of the corner of my eye.  At first I thought a bird had dropped a good luck present from the sky. In Nepal it is a common belief that if you get hit by bird droppings it’s good luck.  I took a curious look toward the black blob only to realize that a leach had gorged itself to the size of a 3 inch slug, and as the dog shook, the leach heavy with blood, was to weighty to hang on. Welcome to the monsoon.

We flew in to the Mt Everest trail head and had started our walk toward Namche Bazaar.  Since it was going to take 4 days for the resilient structures to arrive in the porter’s village of Bung, 3 days by trail below us, we wanted to use the time to head North by foot. Our goal was to allocate a small percentage of the donations to a hard hit village called Khumjung and to Home Away from Home boarding school.  I had been coordinating with Urkin Sherpa who was creating a list of the people who needed aid the most. After completion of our round of aid in the area we would hop on a chartered helicopter to fly us to Bung because it would be impossible to cover the distance from Namche to Bung with the amount of time we had.  

I had never been to Nepal during the monsoon.  So far we have seen a total of three tourists.  I can understand why tourists do not come during this season.  I myself have heard a legion of leach stories and sheets of rain that continue for weeks and weeks.  The legendary horror stories of people waking up with a leach wiggling off their forehead like a small antenna, or the story of the guy waking up with a leach attached to his private part (true story told by my wife) screaming “oh my god, oh my god,”  play on my psyche.  We walk all day in the clouds.  

We are happy to be heading north toward Tibet and into the high country.  Here leaches do not dwell.  There is light rain and the gentle giant Himalaya dwell hidden above the cloud.  It is as if the great mountains have taken a vacation from putting on their show for the thousands of tourists who walk these trails in the spring and autumn season.  Maybe after some rejuevination they will lift their vail to share their grandeur and reopen their show.    

 Thats where we were at on July 10th.  

Four Winds Nepal Relief Part 2

We started our relief effort with a meeting in Kathmandu.  My head porter, head Sherpa, and 2 representatives from “Resilient Homes” met my wife and I in our hotel lobby at the popular Tibet Guest House.  

Jacob, the gentlemen who helped create “Resilient Homes” is from Holland, speaks Dutch, Nepali, and English.  Timothy is from Nepal and is Sherpa who converted to Christianity, spoke Nepali, Sherpa, and English, and was a rep for Resilient Homes.   My head Sherpa Gombu who speaks English, Nepali, and Sherpa was in attendance to translate and help with logistics and would be receiving aid.  Finally Asmit and Prakash who are of the Rai tribe, who spoke Nepali and Rai and were there to represent my team of porters, help with logistics, and actually carry the structures  (over 850 pounds) we were gathering to discuss, to their village 2 days from the roads end.  A group representing 4 different religions, 4 different languages, and 3 different countries, all gathered to give, help, and receive.

When I had planned the relief effort I had a vivid, beautiful picture of how the relief would be distributed, complete with a common sense progression, ending with happy smiling villagers, thankful for the help from compassionate Americans.  I was set on 10 structures which would provide shelter for 10 families, purchasing almost 2 tons of rice for the village of Khumjung, and supplying a years worth of school supplies to the “Home Away from Home” boarding school.  Seemed simple enough.  One of the beautiful aspects of life is its unpredictability.  Although I knew at the end of this project I would have photos of happy villagers full of gratitude I did not expect things to change with the first question posed by Jacob.

“Are you getting the most bang for your buck with the structures?”

Although I understood the American slang in the soft Dutch accent I was immediately confused.  I had just flown 24 hours to the other side of the earth to purchase the said structures that I had ordered 6 weeks ago.  I sat with $15000 in my pocket to pay for the structures.  I replied to Jacob “I don’t understand?????”  Gombu was translating to the porters and the porters scooted to the front of their chairs in anticipation of Jacob’s explanation.  I to scooted closer as if the answer to the great mystery was going to be divulged.

He then went on to explain the cost of the structures versus the cost of the actual damage and a huge discussion ensued.   We went back and forth with the porters and Gombu, Timothy and I, Jacob and Timothy, the porters and I, Dee and Jacob, exhausting every aspect of cost of structure, transport of structures, and damage of homes.  Basically Jacob was wondering if some of the homes would be cheaper to repair than to buy a structure to replace the home.  The depth of the damage I always assumed was total, homes flattened to the ground, villagers digging through rubble to find remains of the past.  

  Now we were a group of buzzing confused but focused bees.

As the discussion continued it became clear that yes, homes were damaged but some of them may be cheaper to repair versus buying the resilient structure.  My beautiful plan complete with a common sense progression was in shreds.  We hammered out different solutions for over 3 hours.  Magnifying and adding pressure to the situation was the tight flight schedule.  We had landed on the evening of the 8th, planned the meeting on the 9th, and would be flying to Lukla on the morning of the 10th.  It was now 3pm on the 9th and we had no clear plan.  

We finally narrowed in on one question for the porters and Gombu, “What would be best for you, a structure or the money to repair your current home?”  Throughout the meeting Asmit was calling the other porters in their remote village trying to figure out cost of damage and if they wanted a structure.  He was back and forth throughout the meeting with the porters. The answers were surprising.  Only 2 of the porters and Gombu felt that the structure would be best while 5 of the porters felt they could repair their current home with the money that would have gone toward a structure.  

We finally ended up purchasing 4 structures and agreed to meet all the porters in their village of Bung to see the situation and allocate funds.

That’s where we were at on July 9th...  

Four Winds Nepal Relief 1

I have been feeling a bit trepidatious about journeying back into the earthquake zone of Nepal.  I can remember the first moments of the early tremors and the split second decision to have everyone evacuate the dining room.  We were having a relaxed afternoon, playing cards, snacking on cheese and Salami we had carried from the states. Gentle laughter and jovial conversation drifted from the different trekking teams and tea house staff.  The first indication that something ominous was about to happen was a gentle vibration that gave pause for a few seconds and then began again.  At the pause I remember hearing several nervous laughs.  It was as if some silent invisible hand was playing a joke, we were responding with a nervous laugh not really knowing what we were responding to.  As the next vibration began I yelled “outside.”  First there was pause and curiousness on the face of my trekking team but as the vibrations turned to violent movement we all were on the move.  Our world was changing rapidly.

As we moved to the door, 20 feet away, the tremors turned into mass earth convulsions, the ground shaking violently accompanied by the feeling of ocean waves or sloshing of great expanses of earth.  Violence so fierce that I remember thinking this is it, the earth is going to split in half.  It surely felt as the end of the place we call earth.  Along with the movement was a deep wild audible that vibrated through ear drum and every bone.  

Within 10 seconds every building around us began to crumble, corners sloughing, rooflines plunging, a concrete wall easily powdered.  If we were 6 or 10 seconds later some of us would have been crushed.  The wall we were sitting next to had collapsed. 

My head Sherpa who usually naps at this time of day had chose to join us for cards.  If he had chosen to nap on this day he would be dead as his room was reduced to a pile of granite rubble. 

I and 5 clients huddled out side holding each other tight as the quake continued on.  Locals soon joined our huddle, shrieks, tears, and panic.  As a guide I tried to keep everyone huddled and calm but inside I realized any control we had was gone in the early tremors.  

Machermo sits below the East Face of a peak called Kanjo Ri.  I could hear huge avalanches ripping down the face and emptying into the valley.  The mountain is a good 2 miles up valley, at the time I thought no way could those avalanches reach the village.  How wrong I was.  Huge avalanches in the Lang Tang region and at Everest Base Camp had buried over three hundred people.  Lang Tang and Base Camp were situated very similar to Machermo with snowy faces of mountains miles away.  The avalanches easily covering the distances in seconds.  I shudder thinking back to those loud slides coming off of Kyajo Ri and how very possible it was that we could have been buried.

The relief effort was born out of need.  I and my trekking team had created this idea to help a group of porters, their village, and a school called “Home away from Home” in the village of Namche.  We created a website while in the mountains with the help of Paul Roy and Michael Petralia and the rest of the team pitching in ideas.  

Now as I head back on an aid and relief project thinking back to these moments forces caution.  The earthquake is still very real in my bones and the audible very loud to memory.

I am happy my wife chose to come along to assist. She has a love for these mountain people as her early travels had brought her through the area.

We checked in to Emirate Airlines on July 6th, I still with feelings of trepidation.  We asked at the counter if there could be any discount for the seven 100 liter expedition duffles were carrying explaining they were aid relief for Nepal.  RAB the climbing equipment company had donated 100 water proof jackets and we added a duffle bag worth of plastic tarps.  The woman at the counter explained that it was very difficult to give discounts at the counter.  She then whispered something in the ear of the  gentleman who was checking us in.  We moved on to the gate.

We went through the usual check in process, stood in line to board, passports checked and boarding pass checked.  As we neared the final check point the woman who could not grant us a discount on the overweight baggage was standing next to the person gathering boarding passes. We approached and she gathered our boarding passes and took them to a desk as we waited at the front of the line, not fully understanding what was going on.  She returned quickly with 2 new boarding passes and non chalantly said she had moved us to a better seat.  We thanked her and began to move down the ramp to the door of the plane.  As I glanced at the new boarding pass my breath was taken.  The woman had upgraded us to business class.  Both my wife and I ran back up the ramp and thanked the woman profusely.

Now as I sit it the Dubai airport I still have some trepidation. We are going back into the earthquake zone, back to unstable ground being pelted with monsoon rains.  However thinking back through the kindness that has brought me here is magnified and helps pale the trepidation.  

Thank You to all who have donated we have raised $27,200 with donations still flowing. Thank You to the YOBE community (my wife,s yoga studio) who had donated roughly $1300.  There are countless individuals who have donated of all ages.  A 5 year old girl had donated her birthday money given to her by her grandmother.  An amazing couple that had trekked with me a few years back and were slated for a Tibet trip that was canceled donated $5000 of their trip money.  People who had very little money would come into the store and donate $5, a huge amount when you have little.

As I head into the arena of providing help these acts of kindness carry me.  Also the comfiness, full horizontal seat capabilities, with down comforters on Emirate air was icing on the cake.

Thank You for your donations and all you have done.  Stay tuned for updates.  

Hello Friends,

Thank You for your care and compassion in your hundreds of emails.  We are all safe and doing well and we are in a good safe position. I am currently trying to work out how we will get back to Kathmandu possibly with a heli from Namche.   Many of you have been on a trip with me to Nepal and know of the wonderful staff of porters, tea house owners, and friends that have been part of the Four Winds family.  Everyone is well and healthy.  

My porter staff, 6 in total have lost their homes.  They have been the back bone of our trips, without them treks in the Himalaya would not happen.  

I and the current clients have created a website which is live now.  The site is to raise funds for the rebuilding of their homes.  This is a great way to create an impact with 100% of the proceeds going to the porters, and the Home Away from Home boarding school for children.

With limited capabilities here in the mountains we are not sure if the Paypal option is working.  Follow other directions on the site for donation options

To Make donations go to www.fourwindsnepalrelief.com

Matt Fioretti and Ama Dablam

A few years back my clients took an acclimatization hike toward a village called Dingboche.  I captured this photo on their return  and could not help but feel the immenseness of the mountains of the Himalayan range.  The mountain in the background is the Northern aspect of Ama Dablam.  To give you an idea of the size of these mammoth spirits………..   It would take about 4 hours to reach the base of the mountain from where they stand.  The summit is roughly another 3800 feet above the top of the photo or over a vertical mile from where the clients stand.  It takes an average of 22 days to climb to the summit from its base on the South West Ridge route the body working with 25% less oxygen.

  I have spent 105 days climbing this mountain over 3 different expeditions.  Thats 105 days in a tent, 105 days above 16,000 feet,  105 days without a shower?  HMMMMMM………………..

North Face of Ama Dablam.  Clients are standing at 16,000 feet.  click on photo to enlarge

Alive or Living

The definition of "alive".   We woke at 3am in the still, quiet, air of 15,600 feet. The thermometer sank to 21 degrees during the night, and a sliver moon back lit the night shyly.  You would think one would be inclined to burrow deep into the down sleeping bag and slumber back to a deep warm sleep.  Nope.  I was excited and very excited for my clients.  We were getting ready to hike to 17,800 feet to the summit of Gokyo Ri.  Yes a hike to 17,600 feet.  Clients stepped out into the night, none had been this high, none had attempted a hike of this magnitude, none had been out in the 3am dark donning high altitude down coats.  Our head lamps cut through the thin Himalayan air.  It was as if we were the only being on the planet as we walked between 20,000 foot peaks.  At the head of the valley stood Cho Oyu the 6th highest peak in the world.  The stream we crossed held the melt water of Cho Oyu. I could not help but think of the water flowing under me, how far has it traveled.  How far will it go.  A mystery for sure.

I thought about my life.  Am i alive?  As I walk to the base to start the 2400 foot vertical ascent with clients in tow, I felt 100% alive.  I could feel my breath, I could feel my heart beat.  I noticed the stars and the light reflecting off of snow,  thousands of winking crystals.  I was cognizant of every step, making sure to use my energy wisely.  The awareness of my thighs flexing every step up, made me mindful of the interlocking muscle groups, working together a kind of dance.  The moisture on my exhale visible, my body exuding water and mixing with the universe.  I could feel in these moments in this journey of thousands of mindful steps, that I was alive.

At home I live.  I go to work, pay bills, drive through the city numb.  I live but am not always fully alive. I rush.  I have appointments, the clock ruling me.  There are definitely times when I am alive but one has to pay attention or they pass.  

Alive or Living.  When alive we are fully experiencing our bodies, our breath, our movement.  When we are alive we feel the connection between our movements and our home, mother nature.  We are aware that we are apart of nature and that within this we, the grass, the snow crystal, the water flowing under foot all make up one.  The dried flower and dew drop, we are not separate.  

Bavarian Meats Seattle

I wanted to Thank "Bavarian Meats" in Seattle.  When your body is at altitude your heart rate is ramped up to accommodate the lack of oxygen.  For example your resting heart rate at sea level may be 60.  Above 15,000 feet your resting heart rate may be 75 or higher.  It is like you are on a long walk or jog 24 hours a day everyday you are at altitude.  For example this trek we jogged for 15 days straight 24 hours a day.  It is not uncommon to loose 5 to 12 pounds.  This trip I lost 6 pounds in 14 days.  Last trip eight.

 It is often not easy to keep up the calories because of this quickened metabolism.  I found that the Landjaeger Sticks that Seattle Bavarian meats supplied me made it easy to keep up my strength and calorie intake.  The meat is tasty.  I will use them on long runs, hikes, and alpine climbs.  They pack easy,  last, and are super yummy.  Definitely try the Landjaeger on your next outing.  I look forward to trying other meat specialties I spied when at the store in Pike Place Market.  Thank You Bavarian Meats.

Seeing

“You’ve seen one mountain you’ve seen them all.”   This was iterated to me a few years back while viewing the sun set on a peak called Cholatse in the Himalaya of Nepal. It stands at 21,130 feet.  The North Ridge rises 5000 feet straight out of the ground, a kind of knife reaching to the heavens, splitting the jet stream like butter. 

The Alpenglow on the summit became a brilliant red as the sun dipped to sleep.  High winds were blowing spindrift creating a fire in the sky, an effect no cinema could produce.  The energy that surrounded these moments in this mountain drama were as if on a roller coaster ride with mother nature.  

I remember replying to the gentleman, as the reds turned to violet then lavender, “You’ve seen one flower, bird, or symphony, you have seen them all.”  I did not mean to start an argument but realize it was an edgy comment.  He began with “Yeah but.........…”  

The sun dipping to sleep, I thought, was a miracle in itself an occurrence which I often take for granted.  It reminded me that seeing has very little to do with the eyes.

                 
Alpenglow, Mt Everest and Nuptse, with the jet stream hammering the heavens

Real Face Time

Do you ever think about the quality of connection you have with your friends through facebook or technology?  It is something I think about often as it is such a presence in our life.  We spend hours a day on Technology and it is something I hope we are all critically assessing.  

I believe technology is an outstanding “TOOL”.  Here I am ticking away a blog entry that hundreds will be able to read in minutes, Beautiful!  I often wonder however if the tool is becoming a substitute for real interpersonal, intimate connection with the ones close to us.  My thoughts and questions on this topic were magnified a thousand fold when I witnessed two older Nepali Gentleman boarding the flight from Korea to Kathmandu Nepal.

The plane was on hold for a single passenger who was running late.  Ten minutes after we were supposed to take off an older Nepali gentleman enters the plane calmly, where most of us would have been rushing with embarrassment.  I watched as he calmly walked down my isle.  I see a hand reach out to his elbow from someone sitting in the isle seat 3 rows in front of me.  The late Nepali man stops with a startle and looks down.  A big smile creases every space on his 70 year old face.  A warm Namaste flows from his heart!  I can see they are now clasping hands, old friends who may have not seen each other in years.  They begin a conversation.

Now remember everyone in the plane is probably eager to take off, we are ten minutes behind schedule, 300 people waiting.

The old friends talk as if they were sitting in their home perched in a terraced rice field in the foothill of the Himalaya.  The flight attendant comes and waives him on but he does not budge, he smiles gently acknowledging the flight attendant,  the conversation continues.

I look around the plane.  People on there games, phones, computers.  One looks from screen to the engaged old friends with a scorn.  Like a drug being administered he forgets as he melts into his computer game.

The old friends laugh as if they were telling old fishing stories, or talking about the last crop of potatoes, often grown in the terraced hills of Nepal.  The steward prods the gentleman again.  They smile, still are shaking hands, laugh and connect.  They must have talked for 5 more minutes.  Another flight attendant comes down the isle.  She says something polite.  The friend standing smiles at her and turns back to his sitting friend.  They continue with, Hows family?  How is your brother?  Did you finish your roof?  Their friendship true, in no hurry, face to face.

At first I was upset.  Here we are 300 people waiting for 10 minutes and now another 5 while this conversation happens.  Then something hit me, a sudden transformation or realization.  As I looked back to the man buried in his game I realized I was witnessing something that may be fading in the human race.  These 2 Nepali’s were exhibiting that which is inherent in remaining a kind and awakened species.  Something that we as humans should never lose.  The ability to sit face to face, talk, connect, look eye to eye.  It is real face time and there is no substitute.  Like a drug being administered, technology may be dulling our abilities to sit face to face or even recognize that this beautiful gift may be fading.  Pay attention, the world is not in your computer.  

Suggested reading.  If you are a parent a book called "Last Child in the Woods".  Adults,  "The Shallows".  

Thank You SteriPen

I have been guiding the Himalaya for 20 years.  I am now preparing for my 35th season at altitude in the mountains of Nepal.  With this many years at altitude you become specialized.  One of the keys to acclimatization is water intake, hydration.  I want my water processing for my clients and I to be efficient, light, and 100%.  For this combination I have been counting on Steripen.  No pumping, no squeezing, Light, compact, no cleaning.  Steripen has passed the rigors of expedition life, trail life, heavy use, and no water born illness since I started using the Steripen in 2006.  

Matt Fioretti    20 Expeditions, 34 seasons in Nepal, Bone Marrow Transplant survivor.    himalayahigh.blogspot.com

perception

Where your mind is at is where you are at.  If you are thinking in your mind that your situation is horrible then the situation cannot be anything but horrible.   However you have a choice.  Someone else in the same situation understands the possible horrible nature of the situation but experiences it in an entirely different way, perhaps more positive, by exercising choice of perception.

Our situation is only as our mind makes it.  Reading accounts of Prisoners of War who survived you will find they spent their days in the mind to find peace. They could find the positive in the retched. They could not be broken because of the mind, spirit connection.  Survivors understood that the retched captor could not capture the mind/spirit. It is only our mind that can truly jail us.

This mind spirit connection can be summed up by something I believe in.  "Where ever your mind is, thats where you are".  Further explanation comes from a quote by Pema Chodron.

"Whether we regard our situation as heaven or as hell depends on our perception"

The View from Renjo Pass

This photo was taken at 17,600 feet.  The central high peak is Mt Everest.  Notice the 3rd holy lake in the foreground.  If you look closely the village of Gokyo is upper left of the lake shore.  

Tibetan Yak Train

We crossed the Renjo La at 17,600 feet.  As we crested the pass heading West I could feel 600 years of Tibetan Yak trains.  Tibetans would load their yaks with bags of salt from Tibet, cross the Nangpa La into Nepal to pick up Rice.  This is no easy feat.  Imagine crossing, glacier with gaping crevasses and ice bridges with 800 pound animals.

Once on the Nepal side the tension subsides and Tibetan Folk songs ring through the valley.  Tibetans often whistle a tune that lulls Yak and herder into a meditation.  The occasional,  Ang Tashi, Ang Nima (yak names) echoing off the walls as the animals are persuaded to move faster.

On this trip I could hear the yak bells in the distance.  A kind of soft sound making one forget the miles under feet.