One of the chapters in my recently published book, An Englishman in Nepal, describes a number of my mountaineering experiences in the Himalaya. Some were exciting, some were funny, some were disasters, not all were successful. I could have just written about the successful ones but that wouldn’t have shown the pain and angst that had to be gone through in order to achieve success. Here’s a quote from the book that was a humiliating beginning:

“My first foray into the mountains of Nepal was an unmitigated disaster! We had just attended 7 days worth of a family wedding, one of my nieces, and I was going out of my mind cooped up in Kathmandu. My good (and famous) friend, Tirtha Man Maskey thought it would be a good idea to have a short trek, 5-7 days up to Namche Bazaar in the Solu Kumbhu region. The objective was to see Everest and get some experience of Sherpa life. It sounded like a good idea at the time! Except ………. it was mid January and bloody cold, I was unprepared regarding clothing etc, I was unfit, and fat! What could possibly go wrong?”

Lots of things did go wrong; body ache, headaches, sleepless nights, dehydration and seriously out of breath on some steep paths. But it paved the way for summiting snow and ice clad peaks above 20,000 ft in subsequent years. You can read about some of the tales in An Englishman in Nepal.

Categories: Our Book

Tags: An Englishman In Nepal, booklover, himalaya, Kathmandu, mountaineering, Mountains, Namche Bazaar, Nepal, trekking