Nepal

A while back I posted a preview. One frame, color graded on a phone in a freezing lodge, with a promise that the real versions were coming once we got …

We had one last day in Kathmandu, and we had missions. Mission one: Manoj needed shoes. The man had spent three weeks walking slowly behind Pokin over …

We woke up very early at Surke and braced for the worst, because the weather report had promised the worst. Then we looked outside. It was not the …

The trek was officially behind us. We’d said the goodbyes, handed out the red envelopes, eaten the farewell dinner under the golden dragon …

Our last full day in Lukla. On the way in, Nicholas and Pokin never actually saw the town. They were sick, we took a helicopter straight to Phakding, …

Time to say goodbye to the Gurkha Inn. The plan was simple. Hike from Phakding back up to Lukla, get there early, and have a buffer day before Steve …

Remember this? A speck of a monastery floating in the mist on a far ridge above the village, a whole valley away. Back when we first spotted it, it …

A few more nights in Phakding. The plan: let Pokin and Po On finish recovering before we head down to Lukla, meet back up with Steve and Alice, and …

People have been asking about the astrophotography. Fair enough. We’ve spent the last several posts talking about Nicholas destroying his body …

Rest day in Phakding. Pokin and Po On are recovering. Nicholas is about 40% better but still coughing. Everyone’s supposed to be taking it easy. …

Nicholas spent the evening listening to Pokin cough. Tengboche is at 3,860 meters (12,664 feet). Lower than where they’d been, and the heated …

Nicholas came straight off the mountain to breakfast. No shower. No change of clothes. Sleeping bag rolled up, camera packed, ready to go. The plan …

Three for three. That was the goal. The Sherpa Memorial timelapse had worked. The Kala Patthar Milky Way over Everest had worked. One more clear …

You’d think after summiting Kala Patthar at 1 AM, shooting the Milky Way over Everest, trail running back down at dawn, and getting maybe two …

12:30 AM. The alarm went off. Nicholas had skipped dinner again, gone straight to bed after speed-running the entire length of Everest Base Camp, and …

One hour of sleep. That’s what Nicholas got between returning from the Sherpa Memorial astrophotography session and the alarm going off again. …

There are no photos in this post. It was pitch black, well below freezing, and Nicholas wasn’t about to pull out his phone to stage a portrait …

While Pokin headed down to Tengboche, we headed up. Nicholas, Po On, Kerman, and me. Destination: Lobuche, about 4,940 meters (16,207 feet). Higher …

Nicholas didn’t sleep. By the time he got back from the stupa, explained the disaster to Pokin, and started packing away his gear, the alarm was …

Nicholas had been planning this shot for months. Long before we left Vegas, before the trek even started, he’d mapped out a narrow window where …

The group split up this morning. Steve, Alice, and DB headed out early for Chukhung, continuing the Three Passes route as planned. Nicholas, Pokin, Po …

Rest day in Dingboche. And by “rest day” I mean “hike straight up a mountain to 5,000 meters (16,404 feet) for fun.” The logic …

We woke up in Tengboche to the kind of morning that makes you briefly forget you’ve been coughing for three days. Blue skies, mountains …

The plan was to hike from Namche to Deboche today. That didn’t happen. But what did happen was arguably better, at least for a bear who …

This was acclimatization day. Two nights in Namche, one day to let your body catch up with the altitude. The plan was to use it for a day trip to the …

We arrived in Namche in fog so thick we could barely see the building across the street. The town could have been three houses or three hundred. We …

The advice at lunch was simple: fill your water bottles. At least two liters. Because from here on, there wouldn’t be many places to stop. We …

The drink stop at the cafe was exactly what we needed. Sit down, breathe, pretend the last few hours of stairs didn’t happen. The crew at the …

7 AM in Phakding. Today’s mission: hike to Namche Bazaar. Seven hours of uphill. While sick. Contemplating the hike ahead. Or possibly going …

The mechanics finished. The door closed. The rotors spun up. And we lifted off from Lukla with no guide, no group, and a maintenance guy riding along …

They walked us across the lot to a helicopter. A Kailash helicopter. Tail number 9N-AJJ. The real deal. Whatever that guy at the counter had tried to …

Remember how the last post ended with “hope for the best”? Yeah. About that. Nicholas and Pokin woke up with full-on fevers. Not …

Two years of planning. Months of stairmaster training. Masks on every flight. Hand sanitizer applied with the frequency and enthusiasm of a nervous …

Three flights. Two continents. One very comfortable bear. And a cursed set of airline tickets. We’re headed to Nepal for the Everest Base Camp …