Shaw, Bradstreet visit Nepal
By Tomi Henderson
Special to the Star-Herald
The Mars Hill Rotary Club met at 6:30 on Tuesday morning, March 22, at the Aroostook Health Center.
The special speaker was Stacy Shaw, who spoke about the trip he took with Shawn Bradstreet in May of 2010 to the Mount Everest base camp. They left Newark for a 14.5 hour nonstop flight to New Delhi, India. They then flew 1.5 hours to Kathmandu, Nepal, before flying to Lukla for the start to base camp. They spent some time visiting local shrines and temples in Kathmandu before taking the final flight to Lukla.
The airport in Lukla was an “interesting” experience as the runway ran from a 2,000 foot drop to the base of a mountain. It is debatable whether the landing, when headed for a mountain side, was scarier than the take-off, when the plane “dropped off” the end of the runway before starting to climb!! At Lukla, they started their hike to Namche Bazaar, elevation 11,300 feet, which was the official start of their climb to base camp.
They spent day three climbing to Khumjung and back in order to begin to acclimate themselves to the region. Day four they climbed to Tengboche, elevation 12,800; and on day five to Pheriche, elevation 13,900. At Pheriche, there was a sign-in book for climbers. There were hikers from many different countries that had signed the book. On day six they climbed to Dughla, elevation 15,150. Dughla is higher than any mountain in the continental U.S. Day seven they climbed to Lobuche, elevation 16,200.
On day eight, they climbed to Gorak Shep, elevation 16,900; and on to Kala Patthar, elevation 18,500. At Kala Patthar, there was a beautiful 360-degree panoramic view, and they could finally see Mount Everest — called “Chomolungma” locally — elevation 29,029. The next day, they climbed to base camp, elevation 17,600. This is where the “ice fall” is that is the true start for anyone going on to the summit. This is the edge of a glacier, which moves around 4 feet each day. This was the official end to the hike that Stacy and Shawn had planned. They would have needed to get additional permits and paid a lot more fees if they had planned to climb all the way to the top.
On day 10 they descended back to Pheriche and by day 12 they were back at Lukla. What had taken nine days to climb, they descended in two!
They crossed around 10 suspension bridges on the way to base camp, always making sure that there weren’t any yaks ready to start across the bridge from the other side. A loaded yak always had the right of way! They stayed in tents at each stop and avoided touching any of the animals to keep from catching or giving any germs or infections.
Since 1953, when Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tensing reached the summit, there have been 5,070 more that reached the top. Many have done it more than once; as of the 5,070, the total number of people listed is 3,431. In 2010, 513 summits were listed — 268 of them for the first time. Another milestone in 2010 was that a 13-year-old climber made it to the top. This feat will not be repeated as they have now set a minimum age limit for those wanting to make the climb.
Stacy’s dad is hopeful that the look Stacy had of Mt. Everest at Gorak Shep was enough to satisfy him and he doesn’t want to go back to try for the summit!
