Calgary,June 2021
John was a young man dreaming of adventures. He dreaded the idea of spending his life sitting in an office, staring at the computer screen. His hero was his great-grandfather, who was a mountain photographer and who traveled to the mountain ranges of the world. The photo albums he left were spectacular. It showed large Himalayan expeditions, where young men with old equipment were attempting to reach summits which looked unreachable. The most interesting of those was the 1963 Mount Everest expedition, when two Americans, Tom Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld, reached the summit by the unclimbed West Ridge. John wanted to be like them, or at least a little bit like them. But life being what it is, the university studies and then the work with only two weeks of holiday, prevented it. Now there was also the upcoming wedding with Mary and the dream of adventures seemed to be disappearing, but John didn’t want to let go. He decided that it was now or never.
John studied his great-grandfather’s old albums in detail. It was obvious that he couldn’t participate in anything like that, but there was no need for big expeditions anymore. The tourist industry in Himalayas have been well developed with plenty of shelters (they call it Tea Houses), offering food and lodging. The only thing the tourist needed nowadays was a small backpack with warm clothing, a sleeping bag and money. The last item was the most important. But by studying the old photographs, John found out something else; there was never a picture of his great-grandfather. He was the photographer, and the time of selfies did not exist yet. That gave John an idea. He can follow in his great-grandfather’s footsteps to the Everest Base Camp, take pictures along the way and then, at the end, take a great selfie. The guidebook suggested that the trip should take about three weeks. Therefore, John asked his boss for one week of unpaid leave to add to his regular two weeks of holiday and told his plans to Mary. As expected, she was not very happy about it.
“What about our wedding?” she asked.
“We will have it as soon as I return.”
“You said the trip will take three weeks. That means I will be here alone for all that time!”
“Mary, please, you know that a trip like that always has been my dream. This is my last chance. After, we will get married, perhaps have family and any chance for an adventure will be gone.”
Mary was a reasonable woman and understood John’s need to get this adventure thing out of his system. She hoped that this trip will do it and that there wouldn’t be any need for repetitions.
“Ok but be careful. I will be worried about you.” Then she gave him a nice, big kiss.
John bought an airline ticket to Kathmandu and from there he flew to Lukla, a starting point to Everest base camp trekking. From there it was two days hike to Namche Bazar, a tourist center of the Everest region, and it was also John’s first experience with high altitude. Namche Bazar is at about 3,500 meters and the book recommended to spend a few days there to acclimatise. John now knew why; he had all the symptoms of high-altitude sickness like headache and being tired. But two days in Namche doing nothing was boring. John was killing time by going to various restaurants and in one of these he saw a group of four guys speaking in a clear New York accent he was so familiar with. It was nice to meet your countrymen in a faraway place, so he approached them.
“Hello guys, you must be from New York.”
“Yes, and you too, judging from the accent. Join us at the table.”
John found a chair, sat down and continued the conversation.
“Are you heading to Everest Base Camp like everybody else?”
“No, we are not. We want to climb one of those mountains here. What about you?”
”Everest Base Camp.”
“Well, the first part of both trips is the same. We will follow the Everest trek for two days until the village called Dingboche and then we turn right into Chhukung valley. The mountain we want to climb is called Island Peek. You can join us for the first two days.”
John gladly accepted the invitation. It promised to be more fun than to go alone.
The next day the five of them started the trek. They visited the monastery of Tengboche, stayed overnight in a close by village and the following afternoon arrived to Dingboche, where they decided to spend one more day to acclimatize.
“So, this is where we will part, correct? I will miss you guys,” said John. He became friendly with them, especially with one called Martin.
“You are welcome to join us to go to the Island Peek base camp if you want to. Tomorrow we will go up the valley to the upper shelter where we have our climbing gear, will stay there overnight and then go to the Island Peek base camp. You can come with us to the camp and then do some day trips in the valley. It is beautiful there. It would be way better trip than fighting crowds at the Everest Base Camp,” suggested Martin.
It was tempting. Martin was right, it sounded like better trip.
“OK, I will take you up on your offer, thanks.”
Next day they went up the valley and stayed in the upper shelter. When John saw the pile of the climbing equipment, he could not believe it.
“How on earth did you get all that stuff up here?”
“We hired porters to bring it. Tomorrow we will hire somebody to help us to bring it to the base camp. It is about 3 hours hike from here.”
“How long does it take to climb the mountain?”
“Two to three days, depending on the weather. But after the climb we will stay for another two weeks to do some more trekking. We are in Nepal altogether for five weeks.”
“Five weeks! How come you have so much holiday?”
“I work as a freelance computer programmer, writing software for customers. I can take as much time off as I want to. The other guys are also self-employed.” said Martin.
“Well, I am in the same business as you. I am also computer programmer, but I work for a large company. Two weeks is all I have. For this trip I had to take one week without pay.”
“Doesn’t sound too good,” was Martin’s reply.
Next day they all went to the base camp. John took a lot of pictures of his new friends and then said goodbye to them. As a parting gift, Martin gave him his business card.
“Call me when I am back in New York. And the next time you come you have to stay longer.”
John returned to the shelter and for next two days was wandering through the upper parts of the valley. He climbed a little peek called Chhukung Ri, took a lot of pictures and a lot of selfies. One selfie was particularly spectacular, it showed him with the incredible East Face of Lhotse in the background. John was thinking about his great-grandfather and had a feeling that he would be proud of him. Then he walked down back to Namche. There wasn’t enough time to continue to the Everest Base Camp.
Back in New York, Mary was waiting for him at the airport.
“So, how did it go? How was the trip?” she asked.
“It was great, and I met a new friend.”
“What kind of friend?”
“He is a computer programmer like me but is self-employed and spends a lot of time in the mountains.”
“I hope you are not going to follow his example. This trip was supposed to get that adventure thing out of your system. Anyway, we must plan for our wedding. That is, if you still want to marry me.”
“Yes, I still want to marry you.”
The wedding took place two weeks after John’s return. It went well, everybody had a good time, and the wedding night was even better. Then, in the morning, when Mary left to return her borrowed wedding dress, John looked at that selfie with the of Lhotse Face in the background. He remembered the words of his friend Martin: “Next time you come you have to stay longer,” but he also remembered Mary’s words: “This trip was supposed to get that adventure thing out of your system.” Will there be a next time? John doesn’t know and I don’t know either. But I do know two things: Mary will strongly disapprove of John’s new friend Martin, and this trip did not get the adventure thing out of John’s system. John is heading for a rocky marriage.