FBF: Everest Trek

In my Flashback Friday series I’m going to sift through my memory for some wins. Who knows what I’ll find in there?!

If there’s one thing the Big Cheese in my old organization was always able to remember about me, it was that I had been to Mount Everest (a detail volunteered by my supervisor when the Ultra-Mega Cheese was trying to make small talk after handing out an award in the presence of a bunch of awkward engineers). I mean, c’mon, who really gives a damn about actual contributions to the mission, right? So if you’re here reading this blog thinking about hiring me and dreading interviewing me because, “God, does this guy talk about anything other than self-driving cars?” then this is your out.

And no, I did not summit Everest. What do I look like? A plastic surgeon? I might have a few G’s and weeks to spend on a trek to Everest Base Camp, but I certainly do not have the cash nor time to spend on a summit. No thank you!

My wife captured the whole trip, quite beautifully, on her blog.

Go ahead… I’ll wait.

It was 2010, and after burning through the part-documentary, part-reality-TV-show Everest: Beyond the Limit, she was obsessed. I was waiting to get my grad school acceptance letter, but with the deadline to apply for my employer’s send-your-lucky-ass-to-grad-school-for-free program looming, I decided the whole thing could wait until for next year. “Baby, we’re going to Nepal!” (Of course, after we bought the tickets they decided to extend the call for applicants because they needed more. D’oh!) This was better than grad school, anyway.

Fun facts!

• This was the first time either one of us had been overseas.
• This would have been the first time either one of us had been at (unpressurized) elevation any higher than the DEN airport, so we made a (dumb) quick weekend trip to climb Pike’s Peak just to make sure we’d be able to handle it.
• I don’t know… I feel like everything else is covered by the wife’s blog - you should go there.

This was probably the greatest experience of my life so far. If you have any inclination to do an Everest Base Camp trek or something like it, for god’s sake do it! It really wasn’t as physically demanding as I was expecting, and the cost was honestly really cheap, considering all that you get for the money. And if you’re not into the idea of the more-and-more-touristy-every-day Base Camp trek, there are several other Himalayan treks that I’m sure are every bit as beautiful and life-changing.