Streaming Video Namche Bazaar
Modem speed:
(28k) (56k) (T1)
Requires free RealPlayer
(video: Burleson)
 
Expedition Dispatches
Satellite phone updates from the 1998 American Everest Expedition



Wally Berg
Catching Up and Saying Goodbyes
Friday, April 3, 1998 — Namche (11,300')
Hear Wally Berg's call from Namche
Click for [RealAudio] or [NetShow]
Satellite phones for Everest cybercasts provided by MVS/USA


Namche bowl
[click to zoom]
(photo: Corfield)
Good Morning Mountain Zone, this is Wally Berg calling you from Namche Bazaar, market day. Saturday is always market day in Namche. One of the pleasures of passing through here is to be around on market day; you can go down and watch the bazaar, watch the throng of locals buying produce that has been brought up from lower in the valleys as well as goods that have been brought over Nup La [on yaks] with Tibetan traders.

Very colorful, bustling scenes. It begins very early in the morning. If you go down there at 7am, things are always well underway. By late morning, you'll see people beginning to start back up the trails, and in some cases,

Namche, 11,300'
[click to zoom]
down the trails with empty baskets if they brought goods to sell or with a week's supply of stores (foods, fuel and other goods) as they are walking back up to their homes.

One of the great things about doing an Everest expedition on the south side is that Namche is our supply base. We'll certainly have people back at market day, everyday, every Saturday, so that we can get fresh vegetables and other supplies. We'll have supplies pushed to base camp out of this market. As we will be leaving Namche today, we are leaving what is very much our base of operations in the Khumbu for Everest basecamp. We will have staff back here very frequently throughout the trip.


Greg Wilson receiving a khata, sacred scarf
[click to zoom]
(photo: Corfield)
It's kind of a bitter sweet moment for us because we have a lot of good friends here that support us on the expedition and have on expeditions in the past. We won't see them for two months. So part what we do today is we go around to various spots and visit friends and we take Khata. We are given Khatas, or blessing scarves, from friends, drink some tea and say our good-byes before we set off for Everest basecamp.

— Wally Berg, Expedition Leader

DISPATCHES