Trekking and Climbing in Nepal, New Zealand and Laos

Climbing in the Southern Alps:

The key to a successful climbing trip in New Zealand is to be in the right place and wait for the right time. If you are unfortunate the right time never comes, and you sit in a hut for days on end waiting for a break in the dreary weather. Mandy and I were fortunate and the right time was only a day later than planned, which is a good thing since waiting isn’t exactly Mandy’s forté. Continued...

New Zealand- land of invasive species:

“May I see your customs card, sir?” asked the customs agent in Christchurch. “Sure,” I replied, handing him the form. Having seen the warnings on the form and posted in the airport, I had diligently filled it out- declaring that yes, I had been tramping through pastures in Nepal and Laos, and yes, I did have kayaking equipment. He looked over the form and then looked up at me- “Right. Mark Robbins. We’ve been expecting you- come this way.” Continued...

Kathmandu:

Scenes from the capitol city of Nepal. Continued...

Our trekking team:

The trekking Coyotes and our fantastic team of Sherpas. Continued...

Coyote Mera Peak Expedition, 2007:

“Can you see the runway yet?” asks Pam. “No, but it’s got to be close- we aren’t too far off the ground” I replied. The twin otter plane with it’s two crew, eighteen passengers and one irrelevant stewardess had just dropped below the cloud level and we were all anxiously scanning the rolling hills for anything akin to flat ground. Suddenly a cliff wall loomed straight ahead and the pilot executed a steep and falling 180 degree turn to reveal a small dirt runway on a small plot of flat ground immediately in front of us. “Holy Shit!” Pam exclaimed- voicing the thoughts of all of us including the white-knuckled Buddhist pilgrim across the aisle from me. The pilot, however, had obviously done this before and made a perfect landing, rolling to a stop in a cloud of dust below the town of Phaphlu in the hills of the Solokhumbu district of Nepal. Continued...

Prelude:

Gads- over 32,000 miles of airline travel- what was I thinking?! It’s just starting to sink in, and I haven’t even left the US yet. Of course, I picked window seats out of habit- again, what was I thinking?? Well, assuming that myself and my bags make it to Bangkok in on piece, the rest of the adventure should be a piece of cake. Trekking through jungles in Laos fending off leaches and malarial mosquitoes- no problem. Climbing a 21,000ft peak in Nepal- no problem. Kayaking the rivers of New Zealand- no problem. More than three days of flight time in coach- now that’s an accomplishment! Hopefully I won’t have to shimmy around a rotund turban clad Sikh and his wife on trips to the toilet, as my mother did on her last trans-pacific flight. Continued...

Lao Time:

At 9:00am Tuesday morning I ran headlong into Lao time. Until then everything had gone like clockwork; no missed flights, no lost luggage, no forgotten reservations; everything smooth as silk. Planes, trains and automobiles- all on schedule. Continued...

Boat Racing:

As it turned out, the van ride was not too painful. The once long and dusty road had been paved, and the trip only took four hours, which must have been why the guest house owner in Chiang Khong, Thailand, had encouraged me to take the bus rather than follow my original plan of a two day boat trip up the Nam Tha river. Continued...

The many faces of Laos:

By some estimates there are over 170 different ethnic groups in Laos, many of which live in northern Laos. Some of the different people that I saw around Luang Namtha were from the Khmu, Lanten, Akha, Yao, Tai Dam and Tai Daeng tribes. Many of these ethnic groups still live a traditional lifestyle, although that is changing quite rapidly with the advance of civilization. Continued...