Thursday, November 30, 2006

Everest


The Himalayas are an incredibly beautiful and rugged mountain range. After a slow start (from waiting in the Kathmandu domestic airport for two and a half days for the weather to clear) for a trek that already was pushed for time somehow me and my Sherpa made it to the desired destination (thankfully and unbelievably without succumbing to altitude sickness). The view we received of Everest (and even more so the other mountains that surround) were worth every moment of the strenuous trek. Most people take in the area of 10-12 days to do the hike we did in less than 6. One of the main reasons for people taking longer is because of the major elevation change. Gokyo Ri is at an elevation of 5360m with means it has half the oxygen in the air as at sea level. Which when hiking can be tough on the body and most people become quite ill if they push too hard before they become acclimatized to these altitudes. Watching the sunset over Everest from Gokyo Ri was truly an incredible experience (then getting back to Gokyo in the dark was interesting also, however in a different way). I only wish I could have had more time to explore a few other trails that would be of interest.

6 comments:

barry-eh said...

Jonathan! This is incredible! God has truly blessed you to be able to see and do all this!

Bobby said...

That's awesome Jon. I wish I could have been there. I hope you have a safe trip home.

God bless

Anonymous said...

dude... defintitely not the LEAST bit surprised you didn't get altitude sickness... :) Those pics are amazing!! How jealous I am!! God's so amazing!! alrighty... peace out.

The Barretts said...

Awesome pics! I think I would be one of those sicky if I went too fast. I think your body is built for abuse :)

Anonymous said...

Wow!!! We love hearing about your journey, and the pictures are amazing! You are very lucky to be able to see and do so many wonderful places...the adventures you go on each day are fantastic.
Stay safe!

Anonymous said...

Impressive! (I Can't think of anything better to say.)