Finally arrived in Kathmandu this morning (Saturday). Spent the last two days waiting to fly out of Lukla, Flights kept getting cancelled because of high winds. The airport is quite treacherous even without winds, so we were OK with their safety precautions. First thing on my agenda when I got to my hotel was a shower which I hadn’t had in over two weeks. Next was lunch, then a haircut and shave by a barber. He did a great job. Finished off with a foot massage. I’m planning to leave here on Wednesday or Thursday putting me back in Sacramento on Friday or Saturday. More details when I get my reservations changed.
On a more serious note, I have been involved in a lot of discussions the last few days about what the future holds now that the climbing season on Everest’s south side is over for this year. The only certainty that we have is that no one knows what will happen next year. Are the companies coming back to the south side or are they going to move to the north side? If they move to the north side will China allow them in? We don’t know right now. If companies come back to the south side are they going to avoid the icefall by shuttling climbers by helicopter directly to camp 1? This scenario would probably triple or quadruple the cost of the climb and price many clients out of the game. In addition, if helicopters are used to ferry clients and gear to camp 1 how will that affect the lively hood of the Climbing Sherpa? If the companies move to the north side how does that affect the economy in the Kumbu? As you can see there is a lot at stake here and no one has the answers to any of the questions right now. There is also a lot of speculation and rumors/ I’m not going there. These are all valid questions that the climbing companies will have to deal with during the off season. There are no simple and inexpensive solutions here. Each new strategy will have some major consequences. Stay tuned.
Jim Geiger from Kathmandu