When planning for my second annual trip to Mt. Everest, the preparation and effort required to fulfill the mission of our nonprofit organization far exceeds that required for my personal mission to survive the adventure. Regardless, surviving the trip to Mt. Everest Base camp and living in a tent placed on the rocks and ice of a glacier that moves 1 meter each day at 17,600 feet of elevation is no laughing matter.
The mission of the Himalayan Rescue Association – USA (Everest ER) is to provide altitude-experienced compassionate quality health care and preventative education to the climbing community, their support staff and trekking-through public in Mt. Everest base camp, using proceeds from this care to subsidize free/low cost health care for the sherpa people of the khumbu region of Nepal.
Raising money, acquiring the medical equipment and supplies, and coordinating the volunteer physicians to staff the clinic requires considerable effort throughout the year.
Now the easy part.
Flying from Bozeman to Kathmandu, Nepal can take anywhere between 30 and 50 hours depending upon airline schedules, layovers and connections. Landing in Kathmandu, it takes no time to realize that Nepal has one of the poorest economies in the world, with … READ MORE >
