 Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Wednesday Sports Updates - Where is the FIGJAM Expedition?
Wow it's
been an exciting few days in sports. PermaGuest Outlaw Jack here. I apologize for not updating the site but
work has gotten more hectic than normal and I haven't yet received any updates
from the FIGJAM expedition.
On to some
sports highlights. . .
While
watching the early NFL games on Sunday, they break in with news and replays
showing the Patriots Tom Brady going down with what would become a season
ending injury. I think Kansas City safety Bernard Pollard, who put
the hit on Giselle's Boy Toy (another reason to hate Brady) in the first
quarter, summed it up the best by saying "He
was in a lot of pain. When you hear a scream, you know that,"
The Jets'
new super star QB Brett Farve had a good game. The final score of 20-14 wasn't
really indicative of the entire game. Yes recently cut Jet QB Chad Pennington
final 3 minute drive into the Red Zone made it a bit of a nail biter, but the
Jets pretty much controlled the field from start to finish. Mr. Green’s first
TD Pass as a Jet was a 56 yard wobbler to Jerricho Cotchery who reeled it in at
the 10 and crossed the line two seconds later. After our kicker Mike Nugent
hurt himself on the ensuing kickoff, Coach Mangini had them go for it on 4th
and 13 from the 20. Farve under blitz conditions was classic Farve throwing a Hail
Mary that seemed like it would only come down when it knew it would hit a jet
and it did! Chansi Stuckey anyone? Who is this kid?! Again due to Nugent's condition Coach had
them go for 2, but it was incomplete. Things got interesting then when Jets
Punter, Ben Graham had an ugly kick off and they had back up QB Kellen Clemens
kicking off a tee into a net on the sidelines. Seems he may have had some
experience back in high school a decade ago. . . . oh boy. But with Brady out,
I think the Jets have a legit chance at the wild card.
Mets
Closer, Billy Wagner is done for the season and possibly all of 2009 let
alone maybe his career. It was announced on Monday that he would need to go in
for Tommy John surgery. With luck and some confidence of what they've done
since early August the Mets pen need to hold the line down the stretch to show
that they are not the same collapsing team as last year. Though if they did,
that may be good for Willie Randolph's legacy as you could say "Look! It
wasn't Willie!". Time will tell.
My Yankees.
. . Yeah they bounced back Tuesday night after a crushing 12-1 loss on Monday,
riding Rookie Alfredo Aceves, Jr's first Major League start giving up 5 hits
and 1 run over 7 strong innings to a 7-1 win. But unless the Rays and the Red
Sox start playing .300 ball this will be the first time in 13 seasons we go
home after 162 games. Just think, in his entire Major League career to date,
Derek Jeter, who passed Babe Ruth on the Yanks' all-time hit list last night,
has always played October Ball.
Finally
36-year-old Lance Armstrong said he will come out of retirement to go for a
record eighth Tour de France win in 2009. Team to be decided.
Now
I
Monday, September 08, 2008
Mt. Everest Report (Day 9): Gautam's Blog - The first Satellite Phone feed!
Sept 8th - We set out
from Nam Che Bazaar at 8:30am. For some reason the first half hour or
so of every day hike seems to be the worst. We got over it and hiked
on side of the mountain along the Doodh River. This river had been
along with us since Lukla.
All of a sudden we came
across a memorial in the middle of the trail. It a was a memorial
celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first summit of Mt Everest in
1953. It was in honor of Penzig Norgay and the Sherpas of Everest as
"true tigers of the snows". The memorial as shortened had been paid
for by the descendents of Penzig Norgay as well as Rolex Geneva. Go
Swiss. Penzig Norgay was the Sherpa who accompanied Edmund Hillary to
the top of Mount Everest in 1953.
After Mr. Hillary become
famous for his summit, he spent many years building schools in Nepal.
He loved Nepal so much that he turned down an offer by a Hollywood
movie company to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his climb with big
movie productions and promotions. Instead he came to Nepal to
celebrate with the Sherpas without whom he could have never climbed Mt.
Everest. Mr. Hillary died last year, I believe, but is revered by the
Sherpas for the good work he has done for Nepal. Lest we forget.
We again had great views
of all the peaks surrounding us including Mount Everest and Ama
Dablam. The sun was shining and we were hot hiking up and down the
sides of mountains. So we were mostly in shorts, t-shirts, hats and
tons of SPF 55+ moisturizing lotion. A little further down the trail
we came across a man, Mr. Pasang Lama Sherpa who from afar looked like
he was manning a lemonade stand. A bit old to be manning a lemonade
stand. And for once I was right. It turns out he's been maintaining
the trails that lead up to Mount Everest Base Camp out of a sense of
social duty. I confirmed this with our Sherpas and I was happy to
leave a donation. I think I'll leave a bigger donation on the way back
because he's doing tremendous work. By the way, I did ask our Sherpas
why the government did not maintain the trails. Their answer verbatim,
"Government has no power. Only man has power". That's a sobering
thought.
As we were enjoying our
down hill hike, disaster struck. Remy, our checker from Amsterdam,
Holland, was experiencing boot failure. The soul of his brand new
Dutch hiking boot had separated from the body of the shoe. Super
Sherpa came to the rescue. He took the shoe to the tiny village we
just passed, had the soul sewn back on for $1 and was back in 20 mins.
Good for Remy. Because the next hour or so was a severe hill climb to
the town of Tengboche.
We had stopped for
lunch. There for the third time on this trip, we ran into Random
Trekker 2 (or RT2 for short). But more about RT1 and RT2 on a later
date. Now lunch was interesting because even though we arrived last,
we got served first. Why was that? Was it because as RT2 said, even
our people knew people? No. It was because we figured out how the tea
houses work. Tea houses don't start harvesting, cleaning, chopping and
cooking the food until the order is placed. So rather than wait to
order until we were seated, we would send one of our Sherpas ahead of
us who would arrive there an hour before we did. We knew what to order
because all the tea houses basically served the same food. So when we
get to a tea house for lunch our food is ready, our water boiled and
everyone else is just wondering how this rather boisterous group gets
their food so quickly. The answer, never underestimate the power of
11 Type A+ personalities on a trek.
At Tengboche we visited
the local monastery, which was beautiful. I must explain that in
addition to learning about Buddhism the monks are taught sciences,
history, geography and other things about the world. Since many of the
monks in training are in school and are college aged boys and young
men, this approach makes sense to me.
No rest for the weary.
After the monastery we trekked for a few more hours through the town of
Pengboche. We walked through Rhodadendrum Force and along Kashi River,
since we had turned away from the Doodh River at it's source.
Linda, Remy and Nima
stopped by the medical center run by a local nurse trained in India and
dropped off the over the counter medical supplies Linda had brought
along from New York City. We arrived at our tea house in Peng Peoche
at about 5:30. We had dinner and were in bed by 8:30. Long Day!
Authored by Gautam Gujral, called in by Tom Djurdjevich via Satellite phone from Pheriche Resort, Nepal
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Mt. Everest Report (Day 8): Rest Day in Namche Bizarre
Today we are resting from our trek up the hill yesterday to build red blood cells to deal with the altitude. Some of our team are feeling a little slow due to the altitude, but in general we are all fine.
Today we got up as the Sherpas brought us tea in bed (score!) and after breakfast hiked up the hill for our first views of Mt. Everest and the valley. We spent a lot of time hanging out there, taking a few gigs of photos between us and joking with the Sherpas. We also spent time talking to other trekkers from Belgum (who made fun of Remi from the Netherlands.) Gautam and the Tank were talking to a Nepal Army commander about life in the Nepal Army.
We went down to Namche for lunch.The afternoon was spent walking around town and buying trinkets.
Tomorrow we will be going to visit a Buddhist Monestary in Tengboche, the largest in Nepal, the same one where Sir. Ed. Hillary was blessed before he went on to the summit. Then we trek on to Pangboche (12,700’). A long day but last of the long hikes, from here on in the mileage is shorter but we go slow due to the altitude gains.
Posted by Steve in Namche Bizarre.
Mt. Everest Report (Day 7): Phaking to Namche Bizarre
Saturday, September 6, was when I relearned to become a mountain goat. I first learned in the side path to reclimb to the Great Wall at Mile 20 of the Great Wall Marathon in May 2005. Let's just say that I hurt just as much in climbing five to six miles from Phakding (9,500') to Namche Bizarre (11,500') yesterday as I did in the entire Great Wall Marathon which was the hardest of the 12 marathons I have thankfully completed, touch wood.
We started out dressed in gaiters to keep the water out of our boots. But it dried out and we removed them to keep our feet from getting to warm. I normally have an issue with cold feet in a figurative and literal sense as some of you may know. A slight drizzle came down to cool us down and made a hard day somewhat easier.
We crossed swaying metal suspension bridges which were just above the foaming white water rushing just below. We saw some of the most beautiful water falls that you will ever see. (It would give Victoria Falls a run for its money.) A slight drizzle came down to near one, I was able to keep my head below water longer than Steve and Joel. Some of you know that I have practice keeping my head below water as I almost drowning twice when I was 10 and 18 years old. Steve is a great swimmer but I had a brief moment in sun (water). 
After a contentious political debate at lunch, Steve pushed us as punishment and to beat the two British climbers just ahead of us. The two British climbers were led a female sherpa ("sherpa getty") who had climbed Everest a while back. Steve wanted to trade one of our sherpas for the female sherpa. Ngima wouldn't have any of it.
Steve pushed us up hill after hill. "Are we almost there Papa Smurf?" lost its meaning by the tenth hill where we thought we were getting closer. Gautam and I were going to translate "Una Paloma Blanca" into a German as our hiking song. By the end, I would have lived with Rammstein's "Du Hast". We arrived at the same time that the porters did. Wow! We were cruising.
I had the best shower of my life after getting to the tea house. We had a good relaxing dinner and I slept like a baby.
Posted by The Tank in Namache Bazaar, Nepal.
Mt. Everest Report (Day 6): Kathmandu to Lukla
I apologize for not updating the blog over the past couple of days. Besides Internet access issues, I woke up extremely depressed on Friday morning for personal and business reasons. However, Team Figjam tried to lift my spirits as we left the hotel for the Kathmandu Airport for the flight to Lukla. I tried to cheer myself up by being thankful for not a job in the 78th and 79th floors of the World Trade Center after Bay Ridge Bob got me the interview in August 1999. (The second plane went through the 80th floor just above on September 11 and my persumptive boss Jonathan escaped with jet fuel on his shirt. Four people in that company died. I grateful that Bay Ridge Bob and I weren't the fifth and sixth.)
Steve was very pessimistic because he didn't think we would leave on time. Instead of the in flight meal and movie, the stewardess gave us cotton balls so our ears wouldn't pop. Our seats were bleacher seats with cardboard on top. Just like with my fellow Bleacher Creatures at Yankee Stadium.
We loaded up for an incredible flight over the mountain into Lukla. If you have ever skateboarded, our runaway was like a 50+ degree skateboard ramp where you touch down low and then taxi up to stop the momentum and brake. The pilot banked around the mountain and then dipped to nail the landing. Take that Tony Hawk.
We couldn't pose for X Games Victory photos and medals because there were people waiting for up to 12 days to get out of Lukla. The pilots hustled people in and out as we stay in the local lodge for a couple of hours. You would have thought we were at JFK.
We went to the local lodge for some yak (mountain goat milk) tea. Delicious! Just like back on parents' dairy farm. We adjusted our poles and Steve introduced us to Ngima Sherpa and the rest of the sherpas.
As we started hiking from Lukla (9,000') to Phakding (9,500'), the depression slowly started to wane. I don't have full closure yet but it's not often that I have full closure? Keep the Faith and keep your eyes glued for emotional and trekking updates.
Posted by The Tank in Namache Bazaar, Nepal.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Mt. Everest Report: Sept 4th (Day 5); (2) NFL Picks
Wow! What a day! We visited some of the holiest places in Buddhism and Hinduism today. Incredible views of Kathmandu. I know Bob Seger is smiling somewhere now that I have made it here.
Seriously, we witnessed a Hindu burial today. It was one of the most moving experiences in my life. We have a pretty slow Internet connection here so posting photos will come later. I offered to troubleshoot the issue but it was in a far away place which I could not troubleshoot remotely. Hey, I'm a geek and that's why I'm on this trip.
We will hopefully fly to Lukla in the morning. Exciting stuff.
(2) NFL Picks: The NFL Season is about to kickoff in later today. Wow! I haven't studied the season much but I have to keep my promise to Buffalo Steve to exchange picks before the season starts. Here goes nothing:
AFC
Division Winners:
AFC East: New England
AFC North: Pittsburgh
AFC South: Indianapolis
AFC West: San Diego
Wild Card: Jacksonville, NY Jets
Dark Horse: Buffalo, Cleveland, Tennessee
AFC Champion: San Diego
NFC
Division Winners:
NFC East: Dallas
NFC North: Minnesota
NFC South: New Orleans
NFC West: Seattle
Wild Card: NY Giants, Tampa
Dark Horse: Green Bay, Philadelphia, Arizona
NFC Champion: Dallas
Super Bowl Champion: San Diego
Posted by an excited Tank in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Mt. Everest Report: Sept 3rd (Day 4): You are bringing this to the mountain?
The team all arrived in Kathmandu alive and well and all the bags made it from home safe and sound. There are already rumors that the flights to Lukla have not flown in 9 days, but we have plan B: hire a military helicopter. The team gathered for a group photo (I took the photo so am not in it): 
This was when everyone was still talking to me. We then did a gear check where I asked everyone to dump their bags and show me their day packs and their duffel. We had some strange things that people wanted to take up the mountain ranging from exercise dumb-bells to EMS emergency kits. Richard ordered beers and I gave the talk about high altitude and our planned route and options in case of bad weather or altitude sickness.  We then went to a sporting goods store for some last minute items that the gear check showed some of us did not have and then off to Fire and Ice for pizza where we allowed Linda to order way too much beer and started to debate politics. Off to bed then for a day of touring in Kathmandu tomororw. Posted by Steve in Kathmandu
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Mt. Everest Report Report: Wednesday Sept 3rd (Day 4): Where is Everyone?
Hey this is Steve reporting from Delhi, India on where everyone is located at this moment (7:30am IST). Here is the list: Tom and Mychal: Already in Kathmandu Steve, Gautam, Linda, Joel, and Rod: Delhi, India Vassil: Arrived in Delhi, but has no visa so has to hang at the airport and wait for us The Tank: Bangkok, Thailand Richard and Remi: in route to Bangkok to pick up the Tank and head to Kathmandu Update later on when we are all in Kathmandu Posted by Steve in Delhi, India
Mt. Everest Report: Tuesday, Sept 2 (Day 3): "If I ever get to Katmandu"
The above lyric is from Bob Seger's classic hit "Katmandu". When Gautam e-mailed the YouTube link on Friday, I knew I had a fellow classic rock traveler. (BTW, Kal is my long lost classic rock brother, Steve for New Wave, and Editor-In-Chief PermaGuest Outlaw Jack for Country and Roots music.
Well, it's almost time to go to Kathmandu. I'm psyched but also concerned. You see, I am flying from Hong Kong to Kathmandu through BANGKOK where a state of emergency was just declared. Remi, Richard, and I will hopefully only be on the ground for about an hour in Bangkok. My bigger concern is returning through Bangkok on September 19 where I am scheduled to overnight there. I hope I can "fly like a bird in sky and no one can take my freedom away." (From "Una Paloma Blanca")
Being the seasoned global traveler, let's hope our trip is more like Antarctica where I met Steve and Linda in 2005 than my trip to Georgia in 1992. Keep the Faith and please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
Posted by a concerned Tank in Hong Kong. Not gambling in Macau but hoping to get to Kathmandu.
Monday, September 01, 2008
Mt. Everest Report: Monday Sept 1 (Day 2)
Linda is visiting the Taj Mahal while waiting for me in India and the Tank is in Hong Kong planning on heading to Macau. I hope he does not gamble away all of the money he was bringing for the trip! I leave for India today. Several other trek members are already in transit as we speak. This trek is helping out a charity! We raised about $20,000 for Comp2Kids, a charity helping to bridge the digital divide in low-income communities. Gautam donated almost all of the money in a charity auction earlier this year. We are raising additional money for the schools, you can donate here. Posted by Steve in New York.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Mt. Everest Report: Sunday August 31st (Day 1)
Tom (The Tank) has already landed in Hong Kong and I finished up packing my gear and stuff for the trek to Mt. Everest Base Camp. I leave tomorrow and travel to India and the entire team meets in Kathmandu on Wednesday. This is the first time I am the leader of an international trek of this kind. It was hard work but a lot of fun. Let me give you some behind the scenes information.
Our team is made up of some of my closest friends and I designed this trip almost a year ago. Actually I have been planning this trip since the last time I was at Everest. Here is the team:
- Richard Campbell (Canada)
- Tom Howe (USA)
- Mychal Howe (USA)
- Gautam Gujral (USA)
- Remi Caron (Netherlands)
- Joel Semeniuk (Canada)
- Rod Giesbrecht (Canada)
- Vasseto Terziev (Bulgaria)
- Linda Varoli (USA)
- Tom (the Tank) Djurdjevich (USA)
Some old Sherpa buddies helped me out on the Nepal side, but I planned out a great trip based on my previous visits to Nepal. I wanted to start the trek with a flight to Lukla on Friday (Sept 5th) so I wanted everyone to arrive in Asia on Tuesday (Sept 2) and Kathmandu on Wednesday (Sept 3). This is really for two reasons, one is to get everyone here on time with some extra wiggle room due to the crazy airlines canceling flights (which did happen to 5 of us!) and second is that I can do a gear check on Wednesday so we can buy any missing supplies in Kathmandu on Thursday before we fly.
Here is the trek schedule that we have posted on this blog before. It is different than most Everest Base Camp treks insofar as I have planned a lot of extra time in the schedule to accommodate flight delays (in and out of Kathmandu) and bad weather, which there is a lot of.
Sept 5: Fly to Lukla. Lukla (9,000’) to Phakding (9,500’) Overnight at Phakding
For starters we fly to Lukla on Friday, this can be a problem since there are no lights in Lukla and it gets fogged in a lot. There is a 50% chance that we won't fly on Friday and have to fly on Saturday, or worse on Sunday! So if all goes well we will stay in Phakding and acclimate, if our flights are late we will head straight to Namche Bizarre from Lukla.
Sept 6: Phakding (9,500’) to Namche Bizarre (11,500’) Overnight in Namche
Sept 7: Acclimation day in Namche Bizarre (11,500’) Overnight in Namche
It is very important to rest in Namche and see how we are doing with the altitude. At this point altitude is usually not a problem with anyone. That is why it is very safe to build up the red blood cells here.
Sept 8: Namche (11,500’) to Pangboche (12,700’) Overnight at Pangboche
First spot where altitude can start to be a problem. Hopefully the extra night at Namche worked.
Sept 9: Pangboche (12,700’) to Pheriche (14,000’) Overnight in Pheriche
Sept 10: Acclimation day in Pheriche (14,000’) Overnight in Pheriche
Pheriche is higher than any point in the lower 48 states of the USA and all of Western Europe. We spend an extra day here
Sept 11: Pheriche (14,000’) to Loboche (16,000’) Overnight in Loboche
Sept 12: Loboche (16,000’) to Gorak Shep (16,800’) Overnight in Gorak Shep
This is when people will start to feel bad. That is why the next two days are very different than most treks to Everest.
Sept 13: Visit Everest Base Camp (17,400’). Overnight in Gorak Shep
Sept 14: Summit Kala Pattar (18,700’) Gorak Shep (16,800’) to Loboche (16,000’) Overnight in Loboche
The 13th or 14th (or 14th and 15th if we are day behind) we visit base camp as well as climb a nice high mountain Kala Pattar. Most treks do both in the same day, get up early, climb Kala Pattar and then come down and go to base camp. We will split this into two days since if there is bad weather we will go to base camp (since there is not much to see) and use the good weather day for the views from on top of Kala Pattar. If we are two days behind schedule we will do both in one day. This gives us tons of flexibility.
Sept 15: Loboche (16,000’) to Kumjum (12,500’) Overnight in Kumjum
If we are stuck behind again, we can go straight to Namche.
Sept 16: Kumjum (12,500’) to Namche (11,500’) Overnight in Namche
Sept 17: Namche (11,500’) to Lukla (9,000’) overnight in Lukla
Sept 18: Fly to Katmandu (weather permitting) Overnight at Katmandu
What is critical to me is that we put in extra days in Phakding and Gorak Shep for acclimation and rest as well as to give us wiggle room if someone gets sick or if there is bad weather.
What happens if someone gets altitude sickness (or if the Tank has blackberry withdrawal and we decide to leave him in Namche?) No problem, Namche is our hub, so if someone gets sick or tired, or does not want to continue, we'll take them to Namche and a sherpa will wait with them until we return. At absolute worst they will have to wait a week for us. Most likely what will happen is that if someone gets sick it will be at Loboche or Gorak Shep. So we will send them down to Pheriche to wait for us to come pick them up in a few days.
This is our trek. We will try to blog every day from now until September 21st when we come home. Most days on the trek we will not have coverage or Internet, so if we can get the sat phone to work perma-guest Jack will post for us via our messages on the sat phone.
Posted by Steve in New York
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