Mera Peak Mountaineering Expedition, Nepal (6,476m). Handling adversity and resilience when things don’t go according to plan.
They say don’t sweat the small stuff – well, I should have reminded myself of that!
Sometimes we forget that being mentally prepared for an expedition is just as important as the physical. We thought we had prepared ourselves physically. Gym, trails, hills – lots of hills, back in the gym, weights. Even spending time training in an altitude room – well you get the drift. As it turned out, we weren’t as nearly mentally prepared as we thought we were. Regardless of whether you are running a marathon or undertaking an expedition, there’s one thing to keep in mind. 80% of it is mental and 20% is physical (metaphorically speaking). When the going gets tough, your mind will start playing tricks with you. You will want you to give up before your body does. More on that later.
Kathmandu
On Day 1, we landed in Kathmandu (1,400m) from Sydney via Singapore, ready for our expedition to summit Mera Peak (6,476m). The next day we set off early from our hotel for the 30 minute, hair-raising flight to Lukla (2,840m) with our UK-based expedition leader, an accomplished mountaineer and now Everest summiteer. The members of the expedition team, aside from the sherpa, cooks and porters, consisted of four people from the UK, a Swede, Kiwi and an Aussie. Naturally rugby came up as a topic of conversation. Coming from Australia, I kept very quiet on this front!
Now, I’m not overly superstitious. On the previous day in Kathmandu while shopping around for some extra gear, my partner tripped and fell into one of the numerous gutters around Thamel – the first sign of things to come. Then on the trail, we accidentally walked around some of the mani stones the wrong way (Buddhists walk around in a clock wise direction which non-Buddhists also do for both respect and good luck). I also broke one of my boot laces (yes, I carried spares in case you wondered) and with no blessing from the local Lama as it was too early in the expedition for that. With all that happening, things were bound to go a tad awry, and they did – that mental thing again!
Leaving Lukla
Once we arrived into Lukla, sorted our kit and met our porters, we set off up through the Hinku Valley. Taking the long way around to aid in acclimatisation, we slowly tackled the ‘Nepali flats’. A very happy bunch we were.
The days were great for trekking – clear skies, warm and humid – and the views of the surrounding peaks were glorious. After a few nights camping under the stars, playing ‘Shit Head’ (a card game), and singing out of tune, it all then turned pear-shaped for us. My partner started to develop symptoms of AMS (acute mountain sickness) and I injured my quad muscle, causing my leg to swell up like a balloon just above the knee. With the Sherpa’s now carrying our day packs, despite our constant assurances that we were still capable, coupled with tent-living, leeches and having to resort to ablutions in the tent (due to some inclement weather) – well all those ‘small’ things finally got to us ‘mentally’. By this time and after five more days, we had managed to make our way up to Khula Kharka (4,120m).
Evacuation
The following day the plan was to trek to Khote, which was a 640m descent in total (including the ups and downs). As it would have been a few more days to reach another suitable site for possible helicopter medical evacuation, a mutual decision was made to evacuate. Dreams were shattered, tears were shed (coping with failure is never easy), some gear including our snacks redistributed to the remaining team (read, grab all you can if it’s free!)
Now at Khola Kharka, we were evacuated by helicopter back to a hospital to be checked out in Kathmandu. Or so we thought.
The helicopter pilot eventually found the landing zone that was ably cleared by our Sherpas, and after several attempts to find us – the pilot was Swiss and very new to Nepal – the helicopter landed. We literally jumped in with our bags, gave the thumbs up (talking here of no more than 20 seconds) and off we went. What had taken us five days to get to this point took us approximately 10 minutes to land back at Lukla. We had a quick refuelling stop to enable the helicopter to evacuate some other mountain climbers and following a quick snack at Paradise Lodge, the plan was then to head back to Kathmandu (stay with me on this).
Cyclone
We didn’t know it at the time, but all this was happening around the same time other med-evacs were taking place due to an unseasonal, and severe tropical cyclone that hit the Bay of Bengal (Cyclone Hudhud). This tragically impacted on trekkers undertaking the Annapurna Circuit and climbers on other surrounding mountains around Nepal (snow, ice and an avalanche on Mt Dhaulagiri), leading to a significant loss of lives of over 43 trekkers and guides.
Hudhud has been the only cyclone whose remnant ever reached as far north as the Himalayas. We were lucky given the area we were in as we only caught the tail end of the storm, but compared to those people it was nothing.
Heading back to Kathmandu
Upon returning to Lukla with the rescued and dishevelled climbers, our Swiss pilot summoned us from the lodge and along with the others, we lifted off for the 50 minute trip back to Kathmandu. I’ve landed and taken off from Lukla seven times now and have only once managed to land by plane due to weather – perhaps there is a theme running here! The cloud had been building up all day as is typical for this time of the year so with light fading, we lifted off. We had only been in the air for around 15 minutes and with the sun setting in our eyes and cloud fast closing in, the pilot began to circle around and continue to stare down at his GPS to obtain a fix.
Now, I wouldn’t naturally worry at this point. I’ve clocked up many air miles and encountered my fair share of turbulence, go around’s with near zero visibility and some hairy landings. However, this is the first time that my heart began to beat more than usual, especially when I caught site of a snowy mountain cliff around 30 metres away. I knew this was not looking good. So when the pilot turned around, apart from feeling very relieved, I knew we were going to spend the night back in Lukla. Even more importantly though, live to fly another day.
After landing, the pilot turned off the rotor blades and the engine stopped whirling. With the Swiss pilot taking off his helmet, he turned around. In the strongest Swiss accent, he said (I kid you not), “hope you understand why I decided to turn around. Safety for my passengers is paramount”! No argument from me on that front Sir!!
Next morning at first daylight, we took the helicopter back to Kathmandu with the same pilot. After the customary handshakes and a nod to our fellow passengers, it was off to the local medical clinic to get checked out and return to the hotel where our journey began a week earlier. For now, climbing Mera Peak will have to wait!
Footnote: We didn’t know it at the time. Given the extra days up our sleeve due to an early end to our planned trip, enabled us to have a spare three-four days to explore the Kathmandu valley in its entirety and thus see many UNESCO sites. Of course, we now know an earthquake struck Nepal on the 25th April, 2015. This badly damaged infrastructure and tragically led to a high loss of life – both in Kathmandu and outlying areas. The Everest climbing season that year was also cancelled as a result.
Insights
- Take the time to mentally prepare as well as physically.
- Hope for the best, plan for the worst.
- There are several international and local Nepalese based trekking and expedition companies that I would recommend. We did this trip with a company based out of the UK.
- Ensure you have the appropriate level of travel or rescue insurance (check out the exclusions). For example, if you’re trekking above a certain altitude, roped up or mountaineering.
- Remember, ‘Caveat Emptor’ – buyer beware! You get what you pay for, especially when something goes wrong. Make sure you thoroughly check out your expedition or trekking company as well as the leader.
- Ask questions, such as – Do you carry a satellite phone for communications? How can I avoid AMS? If you are planning on going to altitude, do they carry a Gamow bag? What is their success rate? When is the best time to go? Has the leader led this expedition or trek before? Are they trained in Wilderness Medicine? How many people are on the trip? What is the average age of your group? Do they have a suggested kit list? Will they help you source any extra gear that you require for the trip? What do I need to carry in my daypack? Is there a baggage weight limit? How do I best prepare/train for this trip? How fit do I have to be? What is the skill level required? If climbing, climber to guide ratio? Tent based or lodge based trip? Do you need to share (most pricing is based on twin share)? Is water for drinking included in the price or do I need to buy my own? What is the standard of meals on the expedition? What are the visa requirements?
- Read how to get to Kathmandu
Would I do this expedition again?
Absolutely, but with a lot more mental toughness to boot (no pun intended). Adversity builds resilience – how you handle adversity and what you learn from that. Stay focused and don’t sweat the small things. The ‘summit’ and the interesting people you meet along the way is an added bonus. Trekking with a future Everest mountaineer and gaining amazing Facebook friends for life is not to bad either. Oh, and I nearly forgot – find a Lama for a blessing!
Onwards and upwards!
Trevor