The MVPs, Process, Lessons Learnt

Oct 29, 2023

Back to the creature comforts at home, we fired up the Ooni pizza oven last night. The flavor of Sherpa Barista pizza (Namche) and Roadhouse pizza (Kathmandu) still fresh on my senses. Daisey asked if I’d recommend this trip to others and I said “Absolutely yes, with some advise”.

I am in my comfy fav Lazy Boy, a baby yak wool blankie over me, cup of chai giving me warmth, awake as a result of jetlag, as I rewind and reflect.

The MVPs: Most certainly the Ian Taylor Sherpa team (in no order): Kalden, Tenji, Jiktal, Llama, The Yaks and their handlers. Our cooks at EBC. On the ground at home base in Kathmandu: Kay, Sonam and Dawa Sherpa, Jimmy, Rupak, Alok. The staff at the Ramada Encore. The amount of behind-the -scenes coordination is immense and was executed immaculately. Any last minute evac situations and hotel reservations changes also seamlessly handled. Bravo! very well done. I'd be remiss if I did not call out the human-porters we saw along the way. While they were not carrying our bags, they were carrying other things that in one way or another impacted us.

While on the trail and in tea lodges, the Sherpa team doubled up as our breakfast/lunch/dinner servers. Everything happened on-time like precision clockwork. Super impressive !

Another super impressive human being on our trail was 72 yr old Japanese trekker nicknamed: Red Jacket. He was persistent, slow, just one step at a time. We saw him every single day as we passed him and then saw him again every evening. Here is Scott Pyatt with a pic with Red Jacket San. He was very inspiring to all of us.

Process: In the mountains, the general rule of thumb was Six- Seven-Eight. Wake up at 6am, Breakfast at 7am, Duffles packed by 7am, Duffles loaded on yaks by 7:30am, Depart at 8am. By day #2, everyone got the hang of 6-7-8. My personal bias stemming from my experiences in India especially around the importance of task and time, would need a (pleasant) reset. Let me rewind the simple “stacked” process that the Sherpas had for us: (1) 7am: Take the Lake Louise self health survey, Sherpas record O2 Sat, Heartrate, Breakfast served on the dot. Choose lunch selection (2) 12pm/1pm : Lunch served, check water, select dinner (3) 6pm: Dinner served, Lake Louise self health survey, O2 Sat, Heartrate, briefing for the day that passed, what to look forward for tomorrow. Dinner served, order tomorrow’s breakfast.6-7-8 reminder.

The Lake Louise survey measures on a 0-3 scale across 5 categories: Headache, Gastrointestinal, Fatigue/weakness, Dizziness, Difficulty Sleeping. A score over 3 indicates AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness)

Water Consumption: T minus 2 days, stop alcohol consumption, start drinking 4-5 liters of water. liquid IV/ Nuun /EmergenC helps. When in the mountains aim for 5L-6L: (a) Drink 1L overnight or by 7am (b) another 1L with breakfast, keep coffee at minimum (c) 2L in bladder (d) Drink 1 - 1.5 L on the trail by lunch, refill bladder for post lunch trek to destination (e) drink 1L post lunch (f) drink 1L in evening with dinner, fill bottle for overnight/next day

Diamox or not: I carried Diamox but did not take it simply because I have never taken Diamox and did not feel OK testing it in the mountains. A tip I got in Monjo was to drink a lot of Garlic soup. Plenty research shows benefits of garlic as a natural blood thinner and super food. Garlic soup/supplement with a lot of water may have reduces chances of AMS for me.

Other Lessons Learnt (short list): (i) My backpack Osprey Atmos 50 was heavy by itself. I should have gone with a smaller pack, maybe a 40L pack (ii) I could have gone with a lighter solar charger power bank. Most places had opportunities to charge devises for $3-$5 in emergency. Upto Namche there was power in the room. (iii) Merino Wool base layers, mid later and socks are ideal - wicks sweat, keeps warm/cool as needed, DOES NOT SMELL, is anti bacterial (iv) mid layer fleece with hoodie is great (v) My 650 down Gillet/vest was awesome (vi) Critial outer down jacked for Tyangboche evening. Gorakshep, Kala Patthar, EBC days. (vii) outer wind/rain jacket: This was of huge benefit after Gorakshep. (viii) Thermal layer post Gorakshep (ix) A pair of light shorts (x) Sandals /Crocs around tea houses also easier to slip on for night bathroom run. (xi) base ball hat, wool hat, sun hat (xii) Thin liner gloves, thick outer gloves, opt wool gloves (xiii) silicone ear plugs helped minimize noise disruption at night.

Prep and Training: Most definitely could have done more "step climbers", "Block climbs", "hills"......but how much more would have been more enough. Hard to tell.