The Travelling Life of Silvan Colani
I hope the following day-by-day account of the Adventure Consultants Ama Dablam 2003 Expedition may offer you a glimpse of the answer...
After a brief family reunion in Bangkok (at the famous Honey Hotel) I flew by Thai Airways into Katmandu. The 3-½ hour flight itself is fairly spectacular, with the Indian plains slowly giving way to the Himalayan giants before the plane descends into the clouds. Immigration was hassle-free and within an hour after landing I found myself at the Hotel Tibet where all other team members had already arrived in the previous days - flying in from the US, NZ, Australia, the Netherlands and trying to shake off their jet lag.
We all met up for introductions on the roof. There we were, the member of the Ama Dablam Expedition: 2003
- Luis Benitez from Colorado USA, expedition leader, three time Everest summiteers and master spader.
- Steve Moffat, assistant guide from Wanaka, New Zealand whom I recognized as having met once before on Mt Aspiring.
- Joe Coughlin, from Colorado USA, who works for a secret government agency that tracks satellites and other extraterrestrial traffic.
- Lawrence Draper, medical student and aspiring fanny mechanic from Rochester, New York (that's in the United States, but Amercians always tell your their city and state, since there really is only one country in the world...)
- Matt Kitchin, newspaper editor, coffee addict and rugby fanatic from Melbourne, Australia.
- Ab van Poortvliet, chicken fetishist and train control systems engineer from the Netherlands
- Lindsay Peak, Salomon distributor (and wearer of anything with a Salomon logo on it) from Auckland, NZ
- Hamish Emerson, photographer and bungee operator from Queenstown, NZ who would produce, direct and edit the official Expedition Documentary (soon on sale for $99.99)
- The Silvanator (that's me!)
Early start. 0530 in the lobby, bags packed and bills settled, ready to head to the airport for our 7 am flight into the Khumbu valley. With various other expeditions, trekkers and tourists heading into the mountains, the domestic airport was in a flurry of activity at this early hour: tons of luggage, equipment, food and other items being screened, weighted, checked in - the task looked daunting given our own mountain of equipment. However, the invisible hand of Nepali efficiency (maybe it was just luck) saw us taking off eight minutes ahead of schedule. This must surely be a good omen for our expedition!
Less than 30 minutes later the pilot descended into Lukla, at 2804m the closest airport to our mountain (as well as Mt Everest, which shares the same approach route for most the way). The Lukla airstrip (also known as the Craziest Airport in the World - at least in my book!) runs uphill the mountainside in a fairly steep angle. As the plane descends, you think the suicidal pilot is about to smash the plane into the hill until you notice the runway heading straight up in front! At least its paved now; it used to be just dirt! Taking off looks even crazier, with planes running downhill until there's nowhere to go than off the ground or down the mountain - but we'll worry about that on the way home.
From Lukla we trekked an easy three hours to the unfortunately named Phakding (2623m) where we spent our first night in the hills.
From Phakding it's a 5-6 hour walk to Namche, the county seat of the Khumbu valley. For the first two hours it's mostly easy hiking along the milky waters of the Dudh Koshi River but once you cross the last - and most impressive - hanging bridge it's a long and grinding climb of almost 1000 meters in elevation. We took a slow and steady pace to aid the acclimatization process, speeding up occasionally to overtake the odd "yak train", carrying heavy loads up and down the valley.
Namche Bazaar (3440m) is a busy market place in a stunningly beautiful setting, nestled curved into the mountainside. Namche is also the last place to stock up on everything from climbing equipment to tasty doughnuts. Matt had the foresight to acquire a small football, which we intended to use at base camp for some high altitude rugby and soccer action. We spent the night at the Himalaya Hotel, which would be an excellent place if it wasn't for the 45-member strong Singaporean school group, which kept the lodge alive and chatting long into the night. Dinner consisted of potato and cheese momos (dumplings) and yak sizzler (steak) - yummie!
