Psst! We Love our Job!

As we walk the lonely trails of the Khumbu today we are among only a very small number of

trekkers and next to no climbers during what is normally the busiest tourism season for Himalayan routes. Some lodge and homeowners qualified for government loans ranging from $20,000US to $40,000US to rebuild after the earth quake are now left in a situation of considerable loss paying 15%

Will Goodon photo: Dry peaks, empty lodges. 

interest on these loans.

Budgets were extended to bring in enough food and fuel to accommodate what they had hoped would be a healthy come back of tourists. Sadly this is not the case. I've never seen it so quiet and everyone is starting to get very concerned what will become of their businesses and livelihood.

Many Sherpa families educate their children in private schools in Kathmandu or abroad,  and some are fortunate to afford sending them to universities.  Many men in the city and remote villages are leaving the country to work in place like Dubai and may never have the means to return again as they have to pay back their airfare,  or worse yet, die.

Excerpt: Asianews.it

Many Nepali migrant workers dying in Saudi Arabia, but Riyadh blames "natural causes"
by Christopher Sharma 
Since 2000, more than 7,500 Nepalis working in Arab countries have died under suspicious circumstances: 3,500 in Saudi Arabia alone, 65 since October 2013. Kathmandu launches an investigation to shed light on the deaths. Doctors and human rights groups blame torture and violence against foreign workers.

In Qatar-One Nepalese migrant worker dies every two days.  http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/23/qatar-nepal-workers-world-cup-2022-death-toll-doha

As a guide myself working the mountains alongside my Sherpa staff,  I get really miffed at the press who portray outfitters as "forcing" our staff to work in their beautiful homeland sharing it with the world while being at arms length to their families allowing them to go home for rest days and play with their children, hug their wives and go back to work in a day or two. They are working with their brothers and friends. Each season the excitement builds for them as they prepare for the season, just like guides at home. They love it! I love it! all guides love this work. The rewards are incredible and yes there is risk but not as much as industrial hazards. There! I said it!  I don't know any guide that doesn't love his job. My wife doesn't like me being at risk climbing just like my friends wives don't like it, but it's what I do, it's what they do, and we all love it. We share the beauty- the experience and  offer safe approaches to the sport and teach respect of the environment while doing it.

Mountaineering and heli-skiing have preserved mountains for sometime.  In Canada there was an

Will Goodon receiving Lama Geshe's blessing for safe passage.
Lama Geshe is second to the Dali Lama. 

area I guided in that was slated to be logged. Those forest stands were spared because our operator was able to prove that more tax dollars could be created for the Canadian government in tourism dollars than if if they logged it and cashed out the idilic skiable terrain.

I see the same situation here whereas the Khumbu's mountains could easily be ripped open and mined

in the future because of the thirst of the two super powers on each of it's borders. Or perhaps power plants being built alongside streams of what was once famed trekking routes. I fear this, I fear this a lot.  It will be a very sad day not hearing the yak bells strolling, or the Sherpa men and woman singing as they work the trails. Sad, sad day!

Ok, that's my rant!  We are all doing good up here. Visited Lama Geshi today in Pangboche and everyone is now peacefully sleeping in Pheriche. Pangboche took a beating from the earth quake, many of the homes here are very very old and not built very well. Lots of reconstruction has gone on here.

We're all together and looking forward to our outing tomorrow to acclimatize before moving up to camp and in a few days make a summit bid on Lobuche East at 6145m.

On ward and upward!

Tim

Recognizance of the Khumbu Post Quake

Flights are operating as normal Kathmandu to Lukla and the weather is good but definitely quiet.  

Day 1: Trek to Phakding/Monjo: There is an area here that has always been prone to landslides. Anyone who has

Phakding slide area reconstructed

been here previously would remember the sand slide area after crossing the river in Phakding. This area slid during the earthquake and has been rebuilt by a team of locals. The new trail is actually much improved now, better than the previous one.

Another area affected near the same location is the largely photographed waterfall, boulders came down changing this area and altered the trail.

HOMES:  The ones built with rounded rocks didn’t stand up too well to the earth quake, but houses that were built with chipped and sculpted stone did well, and ones using mortar faired really well. 

FOOD: There is a lot of food in the Khumbu, all the lodges stocked up for the autumn trek season well before the fuel crisis began. Kathmandu and outlying areas however are suffering with lack of supplies and cooking fuel. 

Day 2: In Namche Bazaar, it's so good to see the village in good shape. I spent the afternoon walking around the village with Tsedam, he showed me the houses that were affected and what they did to rebuild them. The school had been destroyed but is now rebuilt. Tsedam's Home-Away-Home was destroyed. Luckily a lodge in the village fixed it up for housing the children and make a classroom and rented it to Tsedam for his children till he is able to get enough money together to rebuild the one next to his home. It makes it difficult to take care of their day to day needs being further away.

I passed off a thoughtful gift from bluegrass musician Karen Jungnitsch from the Pine Pass, B.C. A couple of the

Fiddle supplies

girls at the Home-Away-Home are learning to play the fiddle. Karen made them fiddle covers and set them up with CD's, instructional books and other useful fiddle components. 

Yes please! If you want to donate to help with this, get in touch. peakfreaks@me.com  As promised we've been passing off the few personal donations designated to individuals. If you haven't heard back from them yet; it's

Enjoying a nice meal at Tsedam's home.

because they are working and this is a good thing.

As I walked with Tsedam we talked about the day it happened. Apparently there were huge boulders plummeting down from Kwande Ri adjacent to Namche Bazaar that was frightening for them as they watched. Our concern was the boulders above the village. Tsedam said they sent a team up there to evaluate their stability and reported everything was anchored quite well. This made sleeping at night a lot easier for everyone considering the aftershocks were significant and went on for a for weeks.

TOURISM:  Not as bad as it feels. It feels really quiet but the locals are saying it's down about 50%. The sad part of this story is the governments ongoing mismanagement of the mountaineering industry. Their silly announcement that all climbers must prove climbing to 6600m in order to climb Everest has pushed everyone  over on Ama Dablam. Ama Dablam is already ridiculously overcrowded as it is, and a toilet bowl at that, with a hazard of the hanging glacier that is expected to come off at some point. With what we've been watching around the globe recently, you won't find Peak Freaks up there.  This was a foolish statement on their part. Climbers- don't buy into it! It's a setup for something else we'll discuss another time. 

Tomorrow we'll head off to Khunde and Khumjung to have a walk around. I expect it will be in good shape. Everyone was quick to do repairs and be ready for the tourist season. 

Tim & Becky Rippel

www.peakfreaks.com