Lowe

Conrad Jet Lag

I lie quietly until I hear Conrad rustling and twisting. I softly venture a query; "You awake Conrad?" "I'm awake", Conrad replies, relieved to discover that I'm just as ready to rise as he is. Watches glow green in the darkness as we check to see how much precious sleep we've managed to accumulate before flipping on the lights and firing up the first pot of dangerously stout PEETS coffee. We write postcards, tinker with gear and enjoy each others company as dawn inexorably creeps onto the horizon and scruffy rooster's crow in the street below our open window.

My motivation to climb has become increasingly rooted in relationships, to the point where WHO I'm with has more to do with my decision to commit to a project than the project itself. I'm with the best here. Conrad exudes enthusiasm, genuine love for the mountains and honest adventure lust. He's the perfect partner. We're so in synch, words become superfluous - I'm awake - Rad's awake, my still, small voice speaks to me and echoes it's words to Conrad. Partners are golden and Conrad's the motherload. This trip's a winner.

Kodari - filthy, funky, drizzly and real. We're under way at last. We lurched our way up the Sun Kosi river gorge to the no man's land called the Friendship Bridge - a decidedly inappropriate moniker for the concrete barrier between free-rolling Nepal and autocratic Chinese occupied Tibet. Rolling along through the desperate poverty of rural Nepal I struggled with the inequities between their world and ours. What we are here to do seems hopelessly frivolous beside the basic struggle to put food in mouth, evident everywhere. But these people seem intrinsically happy, accepting of their state and I have to question the complexity of our means of seeking happiness.

Late in the afternoon I called a halt at a cable spanning the 500-foot deep gorge where industrious Rai's were transferring loads of bricks to the far side. Winging across the cable was an obvious thing to do, so I convinced the amused Nepalese to give us the ride. Andrew jumped in, raged across the cable and I reeled him back across, sweat pouring in the sultry heat. What fun. The film crew took the last available ride before we moved on to our present location where Tuborg beers are going down with frightening ease and anticipation for entry into Tibet runs high.

— Alex Lowe, MountainZone.com Correspondent

EXPEDITION DISPATCHES