New film invites us to spend 40 Days at Base Camp

by Kraig Becker on

For decades Mt. Everest has held sway over the imagination of adventurers everywhere. Standing 29,029 feet in height, it is the tallest mountain on the planet and the focus of countless books, television shows, and movies. But a new documentary entitled 40 Days at Base Camp looks to offer new insights into what it takes to climb the mountain and spend more than a month living in its shadow.

As the name implies, filmmaker Dianne Whelan spent 40 days living in Everest Base Camp on Nepal’s South Side of the mountain. During the spring climbing season, Base Camp becomes a tent city, filled with hundreds of climbers from around the globe, along with their all-important Sherpa guides. The film follows a number of those climbers as they pursue their dream of climbing the mountain, no matter the risks and the costs.

Whelan’s film is unique in that it deftly mixes the drama of the challenging climb along with the daily routine of living in Base Camp, where climbers spend much of their time resting, acclimatizing, and physically preparing for their ascent. She also examines the effects of climate change on Everest and the implications for the future of the ecology of the mountain. As you’d expect, all of this is set with the stunning backdrop of the Himalaya Mountains – one of the most beautiful landscapes on Earth.

The film is in limited release, so it may not be arriving in theaters everywhere. But if you have an interest in mountaineering or Everest itself, it looks like a fantastic documentary worth tracking down.


Ultrarunner sets new Everest to Kathmandu speed record

by Kraig Becker on

Last week, British ultrarunner Lizzie Hawker set a new speed record for running from base camp on Mt. Everest to Kathmandu, Nepal, besting her own previous record in the process. The 35-year old endurance athlete covered the 200 mile distance in just 2 days, 23 hours, and 25 minutes.

Hawker, who is considered one of the top long distance runners in the world, first made this run back in 2007, when she completed the course in 3 days, 2 hours, and 39 minutes. She had high hopes of shattering that record by a significant margin this time out, but heavy rains and cool temperatures forced her to take shelter in the village of Bupsa. That delay cost her 8 hours of time, which put her chances at the record in serious jeopardy, but she was able to find her rhythm and still managed to beat the previous time.

Covering 200 miles nearly non-stop is an impressive feat in and of itself, but when you consider the conditions that Hawker was running through, you gain a whole new appreciation for her accomplishment. The trail from Everest to Kathmandu is not a paved road, but is instead a rough, uneven path that wanders up and down the Himalayas. In addition to the rigors of the trail, Hawker had to deal with altitude as well, as base camp sits at 17,600 feet. The record run also came after Hawker participated in the 125 mile, nine-day Everest Sky Race, during which she also contracted a respiratory infection.

I’m going to try to keep all of those challenges in mind when I whine about my 3 mile run later today. It’ll help keep things in perspective.

Trekkers stranded in Lukla, Nepal again

by Kraig Becker on

Bad weather in the Himalayas has left many travelers stranded in a remote village in Nepal this past weekend, stretching supplies and accommodations to the limit. Fortunately, improving conditions allowed for many of them to be evacuated yesterday, with those remaining are expected to return to Kathmandu today.

Last week, heavy fog and rain descended on Lukla, a small village located at 9383 feet in the Himalayas. The village has one of the few airports in the region and serves as the main gateway for adventure travelers and climbers headed to Mt. Everest and other major peaks. That airport is considered to be amongst the most dangerous in the world during the best of conditions, and the heavy fog grounded all incoming and outgoing traffic starting on October 31st. With no planes getting in or out, trekkers completing their hikes were left stranded, and by the weekend, nearly 2000 people were stuck in the mountain town.

The fog and rain finally lifted yesterday, allowing aircraft to start shuttling trekkers out of the mountains at last, but the final groups weren’t expected to be airlifted until today. Other travelers elected to continue their hike on to the village of Jiri, a four day journey that would allow them to return to Kathmandu via bus and thereby avoid any further weather delays.

This is the second year in a row that the weather has left travelers stranded in Lukla. In November of last year thick fog prevented planes from getting in and out of the town as well, forcing the Nepali army to eventually use helicopters to facilitate the evacuation process. Fall in the Himalaya is a popular time for trekking, but the weather can be a bit unpredictable as the region transitions from the summer monsoons to the clear, cold of winter.

Having visited Lukla in the spring of 2010, it boggles my mind to think that there were more than 2000 people stranded there. The town is meant to be a brief stop over for those coming and going from Everest, and really isn’t set-up to accommodate that many visitors at one time. Judging from the reports, it seems everyone made it through just fine, but I’m sure there were some cramped quarters and cozy accommodations for a few days.

Nepal to install toilets on Everest?

by Kraig Becker on

Mountaineers heading to the summit of Everest might have an unexpected luxury in the future, if the environmental activist group Eco Himal gets their way. The organization has made a recommendation to the government of Nepal that they install toilets on the mountain as a way of helping keep the environment clean and limiting the impact that humans have on the Himalayan peak.

The recommendation, which will be part of a much larger plan to save the natural environment around Everest, is in its earliest planning stages, and would have some technical hurdles to overcome. For example, critics of the idea have said that due to shifting ice and snow, it would be difficult to build permanent structures to house public toilets on the mountain. Proponents of the plan say that they are trying to undo nearly 60 years of damage to Everest, and that the toilets would go a long way in succeeding in that effort.

At 29,029 feet in height, Everest is the highest mountain in the world. It was first climbed in 1953 by Sir Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay, and since that time, the mountain has continued to hold sway over the public’s attention. Over the past 10 or 15 years, commercial climbs have increased greatly in popularity, and the summit, which once seemed well out of reach for the common man, now sees in excess of 500 visitors a year. Those visitors bring a lot of trash along with them, and until recently most of it was left behind after the climbing season ends. Changes to permits that grant access to the Khumbu Region now require teams to remove all items that they bring with them, including trash and human waste, when they depart the mountain.

Environmental concerns aside, I know a few climbers who would certainly appreciate a more formal toilet while on Everest. While some of the larger commercial operations do bring a toilet tent with them, smaller – less expensive – guides may simply tell you to do your business behind the rocks. Considering the average Everest climb takes in the neighborhood of 2 months to complete, you can imagine how bad that situation could become.

Scientists install webcam to spy on Mt. Everest

by Kraig Becker on

Research scientists focused on the impact of climate change on the Himalaya have installed a new webcam to keep an eye on Mt. Everest. The high-definition camera is part of a larger initiative called SHARE, or “Stations at High Altitude for Research on the Environment,” which hopes to track the retreating glaciers on the world’s tallest peak – something that is already having a profound effect on the region.

The webcam is actually installed on nearby Kala Patthar, which offers some of the best views of Everest’s South Side. The camera is powered by solar energy, which means it is only active from 6AM to 6PM local Nepal time. But when it is transmitting images, it auto-updates every five minutes, providing some spectacular images of the mountain. You can examine those images for yourself simply by clicking here.

The SHARE team also installed a sophisticated set of meteorological monitors on Kala Patthar as well. Those sensors are feeding back data on temperature, wind speed, barometric pressure, and the like. The data will be used in the long term by the scientists studying climate change, but it can also offer us a glimpse of what conditions are like in the High Himalaya as well. Weather buffs can view that data feed by clicking here.

With the famed Khumbu Glacier in full retreat, the impact of its shrinking size is already leaving an indelible mark on the local people. As small streams and rivers begin to dry up, many of the villages lose their fresh water supply, and are now forced to walk extra miles just to find the water they need. If that continues, the Himalaya could have a severe water crisis on its hand in the very near fture.