Well, a couple days ago we all went down to 3950 metre high Pangboche village to breathe some thicker air and had 1 full rest day. Then, we hiked back up to Base camp and arrived last evening.
On the way back up to Base camp, I was in Pheriche village yesterday morning, trying to find the doctor to get some more stomach pills for one of our members when I heard an awful racket and saw a parachute circling overhead.
I recognized it as one of those motorized parachute things I saw circling over the Summit of Everest in 2004. However this one was circling over the Pheriche Plateau. Then, another one of these extremely loud parachutes went up and was twirling around like a lawn garden tractor that had lost its silencer.
When we found the doctor, he showed us a paddock with a mare that had just foaled that morning. We wondered at the beauty of creation and the spindly legs of the new born foal, while these obnoxious parachute garden tractor things were twirling around in the sky. There were a few eye brow raised comments exchanged about a new competition to see who could make the most noise and that Everest was a non selective magnet attracting anyone to do anything.
While the yaks munched on grass, and the doctor prescribed some pills, the
parachuting lawn tractor things went high above the plateau and their buzzing noise pollution grew less and we were able to take our fingers out of our ears to go about our business. I went into the teahouse where we had stayed the evening before and had a nice 30 minute or so conversation with Todd Greene from
www.everestspeakersbureau.com .
Then, I put on my rucksack and started walking up to Base camp. As I walked along the trail traversing the edge of the Pheriche plateau, I saw a parachute coming down out of the corner of my eye, and a person sitting in a chair hanging from it. I noticed the motor was switched off and I said to myself "thank heavens, that racket is over", and continued along my way.
As kept walking, before I knew it, this parachute was coming directly at me, and then
Suddenly it hit me. Luckily the chair thing missed me by 15 feet or so, but the strings and canopy of the chute partially enveloped me. I figured this was unusual enough to take a picture. So I did.
Here are two photos. The first shows the fellow when he just landed, struggling to take off his kit.
He shouted in English: "I did it, I did it!”
I replied to him: "What did you do?"
He said "I flew as high as Everest".
I thought to myself at the time, I am not sure how high you flew, but, you didn't fly over Everest, because you never left the area above the Pheriche Plateau, as
Far as I could tell. Anyway, I already saw someone do that, very loudly, in 2004. Then, the pilot asked me if I would please get out from under his parachute.
In retrospect, now that I think about it, he looked like he had a lot of fun, and was very excited, so it must have been quite an adrenaline rush.
Also, in retrospect, it took him quite a while to pull a massive wad of cotton or something out of his ears, so I don’t think its a very good idea today this sport more than once, as you have this giant motor strapped to your back and its kind of like being hog-tied to a lawn-garden tractor that has lost its muffler-silencer.
I am not sure this sport is really good for your physical body, especially your knees, because you are strapped into chair and you can see that upon landing he skidded onto his knees, maybe hitting a few rocks, maybe splitting some kneecaps.
In the first photo you can see the parachute strings going around me, while I am holding the camera. In the second photo, you can see the chair and fan blade motor
contraption, with the parachute lawn-garden-tractor pilot (I found out later his name was Mr. Baregrill. He came from a group of 45 trekkers camped on a ridge above Pheriche) dancing around behind it, shouting: "I did it, I did it!"
In the third photo I have attached, a little further up the trail the someday, just before 5200 metre Gorak Shep, an injured Sherpa swaddled in plastic rubbish sacks, sits in a basket, carried by a porter.
The injured Sherpa is moaning a continuous refrain of pain with each step take by
the porter carrying him: "Umm Ummm Ughhh, Ughhh, Ummm, Agghh, Ughhh, Aghhhh".
I was awestruck and afraid as I saw these people coming toward me. I could tell the Sherpa was in a lot of pain and asked if I could help, and they said no, that they were rushing to get the injured Sherpa down to the hospital at Pheriche as soon as possible.
Every twenty or steps, the porter would put the basket containing the moaning Sherpa down on a boulder, and ask in Nepali if he was ok. The injured Sherpa would stop moaning for a second and mumble something, then the porter would pick up the basket
again and continue carrying it. I asked what was wrong with the Sherpa and
the porter said "altitude sickness".
I thought I should go down with these two guys and try to help, but then a group of trekkers came along and assured me that they were helping get the Sherpa down. So, I thought better of it and decided the Sherpa was being well looked after and my duties were with my team of Everest and Lhotse climbers, up in Gorak Shep and base camp. I prayed for God to help that porter and do now. I hope he is ok.
So, what a journey back to basecamp it was yesterday. First getting hit
by a lawn garden tractor parachute driven by Mr. Baregrill over the Pheriche Plateau shouting: "I did it, I did it!" and blowing everyone's ears out, including his own.
Then, secondly, seeing this injured Sherpa being carried in a basket by a porter, moaning in pain: "Umm Ummm Ughhh, Ughhh,Ummm, Agghh, Ughhh, Aghhhh". Its hard for me to put these two visions of people I met on the way up to Everest base camp into perspective.
Thanks for listening.
Yours,
Dan
