Another amazing climber I met this year (May, 2011)  is Sharon Cohrs from Australia.  She is a breast cancer survivor and she reached the summit of Mt Everest (8848m)!! She became the 1st Breast Cancer survivor in the world to achieve this.

This is very impressive.  I did not even know when I first met her at the base camp that she had such a hard time.  She looks just a normal person and so as Laval and James.  They are very approachable. But after I heard about her, I admire her more.  Going up there is already tough enough but she achieved more than that.  In Japan, we have saying that ” Illness starts in the mind “. I always belive that positive energy brings positive results. So I can see that she must to be very strong mentally and physically to do this.  Her achievement will inspire many people.  She dedicates to a breast Cancer research and she raise money  through her campaign;

Climbing for a Cause

All the amazing climbers I met are laid back people but I can see their determination once they are up there. You are facing death or alive, it is easy that things go wrong.  No mistakes allowed.  You need to train hard and learn survival skills.  I used to play Tennis competitively in school and my coach used to say that ” Make lots of mistakes!  You will learn from mistakes. ” I guess this is not that case for climbing.  I like trekking and I am curious to step up next level to see their challenge.  But it won’t be that high.

I also met a young ambitious climber from England. Everybody wants to be ” the first…. “ .  So last year in May after he climbed Cho Oyu without oxygen, he wanted to go for Everest next but other climbers adviced him to try other mountains first.   He needs more experience.  Usually people around 40 years old ( also financial issue, too ) is the average age to climb Everest.

He came back to Nepal this year and climbed Lhotse. Last year, he was very ambitious and it looked like he was not listening to senior climbers but I think he grow up a bit.  He is still eager to learn and asking questions to other climbers including a photographer who climbed Lhotse very long time ago, like 10-20 years ago, he does not even remember the details.  I think he will be a great climber.

It is very interesting to see them and .hearing their conversation. Thank you to my boyfriend and his boss ( Dan Mazur – He is also a very funny and laid back climber and he has a lot of great experiences) who gave me this opportunity.

Usually when you go for Everest Base Camp trekking, you do not stay at the base camp. You will stay at Gorak Shep. It’s about 1.5-2 hours away from the base camp.  Some expedition companies may arrange an overnight trip to the base camp as a part of trekking package.  Or you can just walk around the camp.  Nepalese base camp allows to do that not like Tibetan ( Chinese ) base camp. From mid May to the end of May, many expedition will finish, so if you hang around the Western restaurants in Tamel, Kathmandu, there will be many climbers there.  They seem to like to go to ” Everest Steakhouse”, ” Fire and Ice “, ” Roadhouse Cafe “, ” Rum Doodle “, ” Sam’s Bar “, and ” Tom & Jerry Pub”. They are craving for meat, good coffee , Pizza and bakery or anything western food, I guess.  They will eat the same food for 2 months in the mountains.  So if you go there, you may have a chance to talk to them.

Everest Steakhouse