The Everest Politics Show

Tuesday, 15 April 2014 – Everest Base Camp, Nepal

I’ve had a few days of rest now, so today I decide to make my first journey out of Base Camp since arriving here. It’s a clear morning, and after breakfast I set out with Louis, Ian, Kevin and Caroline to trek up to Pumori Base Camp. Somewhere a couple of hundred metres above Everest Base Camp, I’ve been told there is a viewpoint where we can gaze right into the Western Cwm.

We begin by following the trail back to Gorak Shep until we reach the moraine ridge. Robert, who has been to Pumori Base Camp, told me to look for a path on the right at this point, underneath a giant boulder. I see nothing obvious, and end up guessing the route. I turn out to be wrong. Almost immediately we find ourselves scrambling up a steep bank of scree. By the time we reach the top we are all exhausted and have to stop for a few deep breaths.

Still we can see no obvious path, though there are several small cairns that lead us across boulder fields. Like Robert, Louis has been to Pumori Base Camp before, but he doesn’t seem to be any clearer about the route than I am.

We wander around for ten to fifteen minutes until we see an Adventure Consultants group – another expedition operator – amble past some distance to our right. They are being led by one of their Sherpas, who clearly knows the way.

We follow behind them for a while, and when they stop, Kevin and then Louis are able to take up the trail. There is some boulder-hopping, but also places where the terrain is firmer. After an hour and a half we reach a large bench-like rock on a flatter area of moraine matted with grass. Here Louis stops.

‘We are at Pumori Base Camp,’ he says.

I look back, and let out a whistle. Although we can’t quite see right into the Western Cwm as promised, it doesn’t matter. This is the closest I have come to the classic, picture-postcard view of Everest above the Khumbu Icefall, and I have to pinch myself.

Everest peeps up behind the West Shoulder as the tangled mass of crumbling ice that is the Khumbu Icefall spills into the valley beneath us. Lhotse appears distant at its top end, a strange mix of ice and black rock the shape of a cowboy hat. It stands at the end of the corridor, and attracts my fascination in a different way to Everest, which towers over it to the left. Lhotse is the peak we hope to climb, after all.

I’ve seen a similar view many times in photographs, but this is the first time I’ve looked at it for real. Louis is the only one of us to have climbed Everest from the south, so he explains the route up, and the position of camps on the Lhotse Face. It looks horribly steep, but we are viewing it head on, which always makes it look worse than it is.

To the left we can see Everest’s North Col, where we camped two years ago. The North Ridge, our old route of ascent, is still hidden behind the West Shoulder. The vast North Face slants away from us, appearing as just a narrow sliver of rock from this angle. We stay for about fifteen minutes contemplating this spacious amphitheatre of mountains, but it’s a little chilly, so at eleven o’clock we head down again.

Admiring Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse from Pumori Base Camp

Just before we rejoin the main trail we meet Margaret and Edita on their way up. They delayed their departure to assist with the evacuation of a Chinese climber. The sky has been alive with helicopters this morning. A surprising number of climbers are being evacuated after reaching Base Camp too quickly and ending up with altitude sickness.

As we look out over this tented village between steep mountain walls, Margaret makes a casual remark.

‘There are less than half as many tents as there were in 2011, when I was last here.’

This becomes the subject of discussion when we return to Base Camp for lunch. We already talked about the situation with Lukla flights when we were in Namche with Siling. The shortage of flights may have reduced the number of trekkers in the Khumbu region, but Everest climbers are different. If you are paying thousands of dollars for your expedition, the flights become a minor problem which you find a solution for, even if it means paying a little more. Flights aren’t the reason there are fewer climbers here this year.

Phil believes last year’s fight between Sherpas and western climbers, and the media storm that accompanied it, has put many people off. I believe the drip feed of absurd announcements by the Nepalese government has also had an adverse effect.

These silly announcements have included stationing police and army at Base Camp to keep the peace between Sherpas and westerners. This provision is supposed to be put in place this year, but we are all sceptical whether it will actually happen. It includes putting a liaison officer at Base Camp to ‘constrain bizarre records’ and ensure none of us engage in any madcap stunts. The liaison officer will have a challenging time of it this year. The Discovery Channel have already announced they will be sending a large film crew to Base Camp to make a documentary about the extreme sportsman Joby Ogwyn. Ogwyn intends to climb to the summit and jump off in a wingsuit, like a flying squirrel.

We have been told that helicopter flights will be restricted to medical emergencies only, and that we each have to carry eight kilograms of trash down from the high camps. There has been talk of installing a ladder on the Hillary Step to make it easier for everyone (or ‘ease congestion’).

Each announcement created its own shower of media vitriol, tarnishing Everest in the eyes of potential visitors. But Robert believes they won’t have had much impact.

‘Maybe you’re right, but I’m not so sure. These announcements were all pretty recent. People plan their Everest climb years ahead.’

It’s a good point. Robert is a wise man, and I respect his opinion on many things.

At least, I do until lunchtime.

As we are finishing our dessert we find ourselves having a strange conversation about guns. I say strange, but in America I guess these conversations are normal. Robert and Peter – two highly intelligent people, both of whom own a great many guns – explain to us the details of the Second Amendment and right to bear arms. Their explanation is a little esoteric, and those of us from countries where guns are difficult to get hold of find it quite baffling. We grill them enthusiastically.

Peter and Robert smile at us benignly, like primary school teachers patiently explaining the ‘ou’ vowel sound to a small child. They remain silent while we amuse ourselves. We come from different cultures, and there’s a gulf in understanding that we’re not going to bridge before the end of the cheesecake (which was delicious). Fortunately, despite their penchant for firearms, Robert and Peter are good-natured people. They take no offence at our jokes, and the conversation moves on.