Reader Report: Trip to Everest becomes more than Newport Beach trekkers planned

First of three parts. KATHMANDU, Nepal, May 5, just before sunrise. -- The rooster crows as if it’s going to be just another day. Far from it.

My trekking partner, April Thompson Egbert, is sleeping in, jet-lagged, no doubt, from having just flown half way around the world.

We’re staying at the Thamel Eco Resort, but the name of our hotel is a bit of a misnomer. There is nothing here that comes close to resembling a “resort,” at least by American standards. Perhaps the “eco” part refers to the lack of hot water and electricity, and it’s a five-story walk-up with no elevator.

We didn’t know it at the time, but this hotel was at least 10 times better than our other lodging for the next two weeks in Nepal on the Everest Base Camp Trail.

The hotel is popular with trekkers. This being the peak climbing season, it is normally full of guests from around the world, either headed from Kathmandu up to Everest Base Camp, or having just returned from there and waiting a day or two for their flight home.

DEVASTATING QUAKE

However, we found only a handful of guests, and each of them were headed home, quite anxiously. Because of the deadly 7.9 earthquake on April 25 that shook Nepal, nearly everyone went home early or canceled their trips altogether.

As you know from the news reports, the quake took well over 8,000 lives and injured many more. By some estimates, more than 200,000 people were instantly made homeless, their homes badly damaged or destroyed, with about half of those in Kathmandu and the remaining widely spread across the already impoverished country of Nepal.

Our trip to Nepal started out as being just a trek to Everest Base Camp. But with the quake, our mission suddenly became much more.

I say, “Just a trek to Everest Base Camp,” as if this was going to be just another climbing adventure. But the logistics involved to see the highest mountain in the world is a big deal, any way you measure it. It starts with a 40-minute flight from Kathmandu to Lukla Airport, high in the Himalayas, followed by 38 miles (one-way) of high-altitude trekking.

It usually takes 13 to 14 days, round-trip. The trailhead at Lukla is at an elevation of 9,200 feet, and Everest Base Camp is at about 17,500. We also hoped to summit Kala Pattar, one of the peaks above Base Camp, at 18,500.

If you Google “The World’s Top 10 Most Dangerous Airports” you’ll find that Lukla is ranked No. 4. It’s also the highest active commercial airport on the planet, often with bad weather. If you search “Lukla” on YouTube, you’ll find several harrowing videos and see what I mean.

I trained for the better part of a year, getting in shape by hitting the stair-climber at the Shape-Up Newport gym, running around Balboa Island, and hiking at El Moro Canyon, Mt. San Jacinto and Saddleback. I also bought trekking poles and braces to help support my 61-year-old, worn-out knees, which I injured many years ago.

The early news reports from Nepal were not good. On top of the widespread damage in Kathmandu, the quake triggered a massive avalanche that struck the Base Camp at Mt. Everest, killing 18, with as many as 1,200 climbers at or above Base Camp when the avalanche hit, and many climbers still unaccounted for.

When I told this to my wife, Barbara, she wisely and matter-of-factly replied, “I guess your trip to Everest is off, or at least postponed until the fall climbing season.”

But as I watched, in shock, CNN and the other news channels and saw the devastation that the quake caused to the people of Nepal, their homes, their businesses, their schools and the centuries-old World Heritage temples, I wanted to do what I could to help them.

But, realistically, what could I do?

I learned that the Himalayan Rescue Assn., which runs the Everest Base Camp Clinic, treated 79 injured climbers and recovered all 18 dead bodies. Surely their supplies would be exhausted. Maybe I could help, in some small way, by resupplying their first aid and medical supplies?

I called a friend, James McCall, who recently retired as a volunteer for the American Red Cross. Over the years, he helped with many disasters around the world. He was also a ski patrolman at Snow Summit for 20 years. I got from him a detailed list of first aid and medical supplies that likely would be needed at the Everest Base Camp Clinic.

I next called my lifelong best friend, Keith Lumpkin, of Newport Beach, who owns a small chain of pharmacies. When we were 19, we climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro together, and he knew I had been planning this trip to Everest Base Camp for the past year.

I asked Keith if he would be willing to donate these much-needed supplies, and he quickly said yes, whatever he could do to help. But he was shocked to hear that I was still planning on going to Nepal.

TRIP PLANNING

Allow me to back up a bit to explain how this trip to Everest Base Camp came together.

I am an estate planning attorney in Newport Beach. About a year ago I met April, the girlfriend of an old friend who told me she had been planning a trip to Everest Base Camp for many months.

Trekking to Everest Base Camp had been on my bucket list since I was a sophomore at Newport Harbor High School and first climbed Mt. Whitney. I asked April if I could join her, and she said yes. She had some other friends from First American Title, where she is a sales executive, already planning on joining her.

April had researched the various Everest Base Camp outfitters and found one she liked, Earthbound Expeditions.

In the days following the big quake, April and I wondered if the trip was still on. Was Earthbound Expeditions still in business? What about the condition of the trail itself, and the several bridges and the lodges on the Everest Base Camp Trail? Was our hotel in Kathmandu still open for business or damaged? I tried calling the hotel, but only got a rapid busy signal. I sent three emails over the next two days, and received no reply.

Hmmm…

April sent an email to our contact at Earthbound Expeditions, and he recommended in a reply email that we not go to Nepal as planned, but instead postpone the trip until the fall climbing season.

He said something about the government closing the mountain to climbers and a landslide wiping out the Everest Base Camp Trail.

Hmmm….

I decided to call Rajan Simkhada, the president of Earthbound Expeditions, to get his recommendation. He said the Everest Base Camp Trail had already been repaired from the landslide, and the mountain was closed only above Base Camp, and it was open from Lukla to Base Camp. He said everyone else in our group of 16 had canceled but we can still come, if we wanted to.

Hmmm…

I next called the hotel and the manager answered. He said they had only minor earthquake damage and were open for business. He added that almost everyone else had canceled their room reservations, and he would appreciate our business.

Hmmm…

MERCY MISSION

I discussed this with April, and in spite of all the new challenges, together we decided to go, turning our trip, in part, into a humanitarian mission to bring much-needed first aid and medical supplies to the people of Nepal.

We also bought some hammers, nails, tents and water-purification systems. April brought along 1,500 pens from First American to give away to Nepali school kids.

I next received a call from Jerry Thompson, April’s father, who said that he and his wife, Kathy, were concerned for their daughter’s safety.

He had about 50 questions, and I think I had good answers for him. Good enough, anyway.

Reluctantly, he gave his approval for April to go.

My wife is a seventh-grade English teacher. She spent a month in Nepal traveling by herself many years ago, and would have enjoyed this trip but she could not get that much time off work. April’s friends from work all canceled, so it was just April and me going.

At her school, Zamboni Middle School in Paramount, Barbara organized a fundraising drive called “Nickels For Nepal,” and encouraged her students and fellow teachers to donate any spare change they had.

She raised nearly $1,000 in just three days, and we used that to buy even more water purification systems.

I was concerned about the weight and volume of all these supplies. I purchased two large duffle bags, and Barbara helped me pack it all together. These duffle bags weighed about 50 pounds each. How we were going to get them up the mountain? We could hire an extra porter or two. Would the airline charge us hefty fees for the extra bags and weight? If so, that’s no big deal.

The Thursday before our departure, I spoke at the Newport-Balboa Rotary Club. Some of the members donated $700 in checks made out to the Kathmandu Rotary Club for me to deliver to them.

Scott and Barbara drove us to LAX on Saturday night, May 2. We managed to get all the baggage checked with no extra fees and boarded our plane. With a change of planes in China, and after crossing the International Dateline, it was about noon on May 4 when we arrived at Kathmandu.

April and I had a day and a half in the capital to see some sights and adjust to the 12-hour time change. We walked the neighborhood around our hotel, wearing dust masks, and saw many buildings damaged or destroyed, with two active rescue (or sadly, recovery) efforts underway.

We also saw thousands of people camped out in tents in the many parks all around the city. April and I delivered to the Kathmandu Rotary Club the checks and one of our two duffle bags of supplies for them to decide how best to distribute it. The remaining duffle bag was for the Everest Base Camp Clinic.

After an early carbo-load dinner at an Italian restaurant in the Thamel district of Kathmandu, we turned in at 7 p.m. local time and set our alarm clock for 4:30 a.m. We were to be picked up by our guide at the hotel at 5 a.m. sharp for our early morning flight to Lukla.

Part II will be published Sunday.

MICHAEL LAWLER is a Newport Beach attorney.