Climbing Mount Everest…

...adjacent mountains.

The title is "Climbing Mount Everest Adjacent Mountains". It was clickbait. I lied.

Say what you will but I think Mt. Everest is immensely overrated. You pay thousands of dollars to hike up a busy mountain, take some pictures, and pick up some trash. Now, what if you did the same thing only on a mountain untarnished by trash, filled with diverse wildlife, and beautiful views? Sounds fantastic!

I give you: "Climbing really f*cking slow up the side of a mountain until I can't go any higher due to physics" or simply "My Himalayan Ascent".

A few scattered houses, livestock, and a roaring river came into view as we approached the village that would be our home for the next month. We were greeted by one of the larger families in the village who showed us around the village and brought us to their house. There was a brief moment of awkward silence as we lingered outside the main house that was like "ok, hope you enjoyed it, you guys can go now". Adding to my own confusion, I thought we were just going to be camping the entire month. We were not.

The details of our accommodations were lost in the back-and-forth between Hindi to English. The actual need for us to rent multiple rooms was not communicated well and became dependent on one of the family members that was moving to another house. I sat and ate some snacks waiting for "the adults" to settle on availability and pricing for the next few weeks.

The mountains towered hundreds of feet overhead. If you were to climb straight up the side you'd go through rocky gravel, dense forest, and grassy patches, eventually reaching the barren snow caps and being given a view like no other. I came unprepared. With a 30°F sleeping bag for negative weather, wet clothes, and one set of shoes for the month- no one could be less equipped to climb a mountain. Nevertheless, one morning I decided today was the day. The day to summit the mountain. More realistically it was let's just see how high up you can get before it becomes 90° and physically impossible. I began at the village: packing my daypack with a camera and an empty water bottle(moron) before setting off across the bridge spanning the river.

to my PI reading this: I did my research duty for the day. Pictures were taken, and measurements were made. I had to go for it.

I hiked up the gravel path to the flower fields where I sat for a while trying to outline my best path. Do I attempt a sprint up the side? Will XYZ path take me high enough up to get to a place I can stand? I was going off the beaten path so I needed a solid plan to not get stuck(again).

Flowers!

My final route ended up being a combination of both. I would rest a while on the paths thinking about how cool it would have been to have filled up my water bottle and admired the view. After a grueling 30 minutes of this, I finally broke the tree line. Paradise. Nothing but grass and snow to the top.

High above the trees

I built a few rock towers, made some family dinner scenes with flowers, and like a real explorer carved my initials into the biggest rock I could find. I continued up the mountain. 5 minutes became 10. And 10 minutes turned into an hour.

Rock Art

Before I knew it, it was lunchtime and the village had become a small speck in the distance. I was no longer on a path just roughing it up the side of the mountain. Eventually, I found myself at an impasse- I was standing on a grade of 80°, my body flat against the Earth, and the side of my boots digging into the dirt.

This position was quite compromising with my belly facing the mountain and my limbs splayed out like a Thanksgiving turkey to keep from falling. I would slowly slide down in the substrate, scramble up a bit, and repeat. It didn't help that I was shaking violently because I got stuck doing this before and almost had to be rescued by my travel buddy.

My proposed route(blue)

I continued this worm-like behavior until the ground leveled out and a massive boulder came into view. This thing was HUGE- nearly the size of a school bus and to either side 90° slopes of loose dirt and gravel. With no water, already late to lunch, and weary legs I decided to call it a day.

Though I didn't make it to the summit of Everest or even the summit of this mini mountain, standing at the top of the world was a liberating feeling.

And then the descent.