Everest, Tibet and Beyond

* Note, this was supposed to be posted last night, but my computer at home froze up and I couldn't get it out until today.

The fog is hovering over the Bay, the air at a cool 50-degrees and the City is well on its way to a slumber as the beginning of the workweek approaches: a normal Sunday night in San Francisco. A few weeks ago, I was sitting in a tent shivering my self to sleep (if one can call dozing in and out of consciousness and being forced to wake up to deliberately breathe in order to avoid suffocating "sleep") and I longed for this typical night where I could crawl into my bed, read a book and breathe involuntarily.

Full disclosure: I tried to avoid the "it was a dark and stormy night intro," but this was a longing I had so many times while in Tibet and it was way too strong to avoid.

My apartment is covered in stuff I didn't do today. After being a way for a month, entropy is well on its way in just about everything. Half my electronics are on the fritz after months of dormancy (my computer and my Line6 amplifier among the more costly casualties), dust is everywhere and, regardless of how clean I thought I got everything in Kathmandu after coming back from Everest, everything I took with me is still covered in sand. Despite all of these things demanding my attention, I decided it would be best to give myself a holiday knowing that I'll have another mountain of responsibilities to conquer at work tomorrow that will put to test my newly found fortitude, strength and endurance. Either that, or I am suffering from inflated sense of genitalia that isn't really there. Regardless, a large Peet's Coffee isn't going to provide the proper fuel to deal with 7,000 unread emails and 1,400 waxing condensed "how was your trip" stories, where around version 1,128, it'll be reduced to a series of mumbles and hand gestures about how the big pile of rocks is really big in person.

Normal life will settle back in, and in many ways it already has, however, there has been a profound change with your's truly that I hope will endure. This trip ended up confirming that adventure and exploration are deeply embedded within my DNA. At its core, it does not have much to do with taking outlandish and bold trips to the far ends of the world; it has more to do with living a deliberate and intentional life that causes one to constantly overcome personal fears and avoid the dreaded path of least resistance where one can find safety, which goes hand-in-hand with mediocrity.

There will be many, many stories written here over the next few months about my trip, but what you won't see, will be endless posts where I say, "and then I did this, and went here, and saw this and it was cool and then I went over there and it was stinky, which caused us to do this while holding our noses." It isn't going to be an account about facts (although there will be lots of them to provide you with context) since anyone can Google anything they need to know about Mt. Everest and read facts from people far more daring and bold than I.

The subject matter will, at its very core, be me and the unique feelings, visions, actions and interactions I had (and am still having) as a result of going on this trip. To me, most travel books are unreadable because instead of giving you a glimpse into the mind of the author they are loaded with chronological facts that end up being a rehashed, first person versions of the travel brochure. This isn't to say it won't be informative or sometimes deliberately chronological (this isn't Pulp Fiction, you know), but what it will be is a clear and unabashed look into my head and heart, which was considerably warbled over 20,000 feet. So maybe you should click the "Back" button on your browser and get the hell out now before it is too late.

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Here are a couple quick notes of thanks for various blogging/online writers for their attention to this venture.

To my good friend Ian Wood, who continues to astonish and is back writing full-time at his place. Check him out because he is as insane as ever (which is a good thing).

To my other good friend the Colossus for bringing Caddyshack into the context of this adventure. For this, my friend, I will never forget you.

Also, a great thanks to Thomas Nicols at JACK ARMY for following along as well. Pop on over and say hello to the man as he is currently serving in Iraq. Wish him the best and say a prayer or deliver some good vibes for his safe return.

Lastly, a huge thanks to Alastair Humphreys who dwarfed my piddly "adventure" a billion-fold. Alastair rode his bike around the entire world for charity and I had the pleasure of hanging out with him for a couple of days when he passed through San Francisco a few years back. Alastair wrote a book about the first part of his trip called Moods of Future Joys and it has served as an inspiration as to approaching adventure writing. Chances are if I write something remotely interesting, Alastair did it first and I just ripped it off.

Did I mention that he rode his freaking bike AROUND-THE-ENTIRE-WORLD?

Posted by 10 fingers 6 strings at June 4, 2007 03:22 PM