Burleson

Click to hear Todd Burleson's audio dispatch recorded over sat-phone.
While the rest of the team, which flew out two days ago, treks up to Namche ("it's a great hike in, beautiful rivers, there's a big hill to climb at the end, kind of dusty. The biggest challenge is to not get a respiratory infection walking up the hill because there's so much dust up there."), Burleson is forced to wait in Kathmandu. He needs his expedition checked-off by the signature of a ministry official who left town unexpectedly and isn't expected back for days. Other expeditions are also frustrated by the delay which has trapped them in Kathmandu and costs them crucial days that could be spent acclimatizing at higher altitudes. They will be forced to rush the trek-in and may be at greater risk for altitude illness.

From Burleson's Audio Dispatch:
I'm still in Kathmandu. I did not get my briefing as I had hoped. Basically what transpired was we added a couple of bio-datas, which are information about climbers, to our permit -- David Breashears will be going up to do some filming work, so we put him on our permit so he'd be able to climb the mountain. Changing the bio-data forms is required to get some signatures... While it was on [the minister's] desk, my agent walked in and showed him the papers, all he had to do was scratch off, check it, and he said 'well, I have no time, and I'm leaving for four days on vacation, so come back in four days.' The disrespect that climbers receive from the Ministry of Tourism... I've never seen anything like it.

I'm not very happy with the situation, but I'll spend the next four days here, basically sitting in a hotel. At least the hotel where I live has a gym, so I can work out while I'm here. It's a sad aspect of Nepal.

On another note, the weather is completely clouded in -- a lot of haze in the sky right now. I still have to go out and do my puja this morning. I will go off and save my fish. Just a quick update for those who didn't follow the first [dispatch]... the rinpoche (lama), because it's my 37th birthday, has told me that I need to save a life before I go to Mount Everest. 37 is a very auspicious age for a man in Nepal. So, I will go to market just before a fish is butchered, and I will buy him and take him to the Bagmati River to be released. And supposedly that will keep me alive this year, so the lama says. The lama told me it would be a rough year, but I hope it will go smoothly, so we will see."

-- Todd Burleson, Expedition Leader