The Benefits of Picking Big Challenges

Posted on August 25, 2009
Packing for the challenge ahead

Packing for the challenge ahead

Planet Earth has fourteen peaks higher than 8,000 meters (about 26,000 feet). Being the tallest at 8,848m (29,035 ft), Everest is the most well known of the bunch.

In twelve hours, I, my six teammates, our leader, Greg, and our team of five strong Sherpas will set off from Kathmandu to climb the sixth highest peak in the world, Cho Oyu at 8,201 m (26,906 ft). I have been dreaming of climbing the world’s highest peaks since about age 14 when I began reading mountaineering expedition books back in 1976 (I’ll spare you the math, I am 46 years old right now).

After so many years of living, dreaming, and training, I am about to attempt an 8,000 meter peak. So what does it take to get ready for something like this? It is different for everyone I think, but here are some quick glimpses of what it took me to get here:

  • 27 years of climbing experience;
  • thousands of field days, hundreds of mountains, about eighteen other high altitude peaks;
  • a decade of dreaming, a year of planning, six months of training, weeks of packing;
  • and one scary day to say out loud “I am going on this trip.”

Training included rock climbing in summer, ice climbing in winter, and snow climbing to 14,000 feet in every kind of nasty weather. I lifted weights, ran hills, and carried heavy packs up more trails than I can count. My climbing buddies and I practiced first aid, rescue techniques and avalanche skills.

I am fortunate to have received precious gifts in the forms of support from my wife, patience from my kids, and shared knowledge from my dedicated partners. Though I sometimes struggled, I worked on my strength, my skills, and my self. The last one is key.

I strongly believe that the biggest benefit of taking on a challenging task, is not necessarily completing that task, but rather it is that the challenge will make you into a better version of yourself. To reach your goal you must sacrifice, study and train. You must fight lethargy, sloth and stagnation.

As I stand in here in Kathmandu, re-packing an explosion of climbing gear, and holding an oxygen bottle like the ones that will help us hang on when we reach the very limits of our capabilities, I ponder what I can say to encourage you upward on your chosen track.

Sorry, but I cannot wish you an easy journey. An easy trip might be pleasant, but I suspect it would not teach you much.

Instead I hope that you pick a mountain of a goal that is so steep, it forces you to become more. I hope the goal is high enough to make you nervous. And I hope that you work long enough to make the top.

Climb on.

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Krazy Kathmandu

Posted on August 24, 2009
Walking to the Women's Festival, Kathmandu, Nepal

Walking to the Women's Festival, Kathmandu, Nepal

I should have known better. Having been to Kathmandu on two previous trips, I should have recalled just how crazy the streets of Kathmandu could be. Then why do I feel so overwhelmed and exhausted after going out for a mere two hours?

The task seemed simple enough – go pick up half a dozen items I need for our 40-day trip north into Tibet. But two hours wandering the maze of alleys and unnamed streets in the Thamel District will shock your system. In the first 15 minutes I must have dodged, and been dodged by, more than a hundred motorcycles and mopeds. A few daredevils scared me by zipping past just a few inches from my elbow. Most beeped first to put me on notice, but their warnings were drowned out by an even louder armada of honking taxis, tiny cars, and the occasional three-wheeled vehicle that looked like a man-sized tricycle outfitted with an unmuffled motor. Add in bicycles, rickshaws, and the occasional wandering cow, and the stage is set for madness.

I suppose my non-native experience betrayed me. Sometimes self-preservation made me hesitate as I pondered how to cross an exceptionally busy street. Yet local people walked straight across, seemingly unfazed by the crossfire of vehicles they waded through. The bewildered look on my newbie face must have given the experienced drivers the go ahead signal to surge right past me.

All this activity swirls around you as you try navigating unfamiliar streets whose uneven surfaces range from dirt, to rock, to cobblestones and pavement, all within just a few yards. The gods test you further by trying to distract you with unfamiliar sights, sounds, foods and smells. As a final test of your multitasking abilities, you will also be repeatedly offered the chance to buy one tourist item after another. Carpets and necklaces. Tiger balm and wooden flutes. How many times, and in how many different languages, must I say “No” before they finally believe that I really do not want to buy a fiddle? Besides, it wouldn’t fit in my pack anyways.

Among this frenzy though are glimpses of serenity and joy. Like seeing a cluster of married women, all dressed in red for the festival honor them, walking together. Or the incense and flowers at a street-side shrine, sending prayers up to a beloved Hindu god. In two jam-packed hours, Kathmandu once again showed me how hidden in the crowding and craziness of a busy urban center, lies the basic joys that we all seek: friendship and peace.

I have come to Asia to climb a mountain. Perhaps the rewards and the memories will happen not on the summit though, but in the unexpected moments, both maddening and magical, along the way.

Namaste.

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One Day and Half a World Away

Posted on August 22, 2009
Departure Board (in Thai) , Bangkok Airport, Thailand

Departure Board (in Thai) , Bangkok Airport, Thailand

It’s been 24 hours since I left Colorado and already everything is different.

With each airport along the way, less English is spoken, and other languages surround me.  At Denver International I heard a little Spanish.  At the LAX international terminal, I heard Thai, Mandarin, and a few I could not name.  Here in the Bangkok airport, English has faded even further and I can’t begin to name dozen languages that float around me here in the busy food court.

I have been to Bangkok airport a few times before; it is an interesting place.  At 6 AM today, I picked out a cold coconut from the food court display case, and watched the young man slice the top off with one authoritative *thwack* of his knife.  He stuck a red plastic straw through the raw opening and I had my morning coconut juice.

My favorite part of the Bangkok airport is the Flight Departure board. As a crossroad in Asia, there are always flights going to unusual locales.  Before 9AM there are flights to Singapore and Abu Dabi.  Around noon a plane departs for Kolkata and Kunming.  As the day wears on, the destinations seem to get stranger – the 1PM departure is to Ashkhabad, followed immediately by a plane bound for Savannakhet. Better be ready for new experiences when you jump on one of those flights.

Those exotic places beckon me.  I wish I had the time, and enough Bhat – Thai money – to visit them all.  I know I will never see them all, but maybe I’ll be lucky enough in this life to visit a few.  For now though, Nepal is enough. More than enough. My flight leaves soon.

When I step off the plane in Kathmandu, Nepal in about 6 hours, I will smile when I hear those first words of friendly Nepali: “Namaste!”  There are various interpretations of this oft used word. It is a standard Hello and Goodbye greeting, but it has much deeper meanings.  My favorite interpretation of Namaste is “The God within me, salutes the God within you”.

One more stroll through the food court and a final wistful glance at the tempting Departure Board. No more daydreaming now. I’m off to climb a very big mountain – I need to focus. As my expedition partner, Rodney, says: “Time to get your game face on”.

There’s my flight: Thai Airways flight 319 to Kathmandu.  It leaves at 10:35 Am – I had better get to the gate.

Kathmandu is calling.

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On My Way!

Posted on August 22, 2009

Waiting at the Airport

Packing was difficult, but saying goodbye was much harder.  That is how most adventures begin for me, this one was no different.

I made it to LA airport in good order, my two giant duffel bags of gear are checked through to Kathmandu, and in just a few minutes, my flight leaves for Bangkok.

World traveling trips are tough, but they do make for grand adventures!

May all your adventures be as grand as mine!

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Chase Your Dream

Posted on August 13, 2009

Cho Oyu

Chasing your dreams is exhilarating. And hard work.

Its been said that nothing easy is worth having. Perhaps. But achieving your dreams is certainly worth it, so you must be ready to work.

My dream has always been to climb high mountains around the world, and in one week I will get a shot at my dream.

I will soon be leaving for Nepal, and ultimately Tibet.  I will be joining seven other climbers as we attempt to summit the sixth highest peak in the world, at 26,906 feet high.  The mountain is called Cho Oyu – you may never have heard of it.

Jim Davidson climbing in Rocky Mountian National Park while training for Cho Oyu (26,906')Trying to climb Cho Oyu (pronounced “Choy-U”) has been my dream for many years.  After a lot of work, saving and sacrifice, I have positioned myself to try and grasp that dream.  The effort and sacrifice have come not just from me, but from my wife and my children as well - life may be a bit harder and busier for them while I’m on the mountain.  My colleagues have helped wrap up piles of work as I rush out of town and then will forge ahead without me as I become very hard to reach for the next seven weeks.  My long time friends and valued climbing partners have cheered me on and assisted in getting me ready.

Its an honor and a privilege to be the lucky front person for such an enthusiastic and supportive team.  I will try my hardest on the mountain to be worthy of their generous help, and to make my dreams of climbing Cho Oyu come true.  It certainly has been hard work getting ready.  I hope to summit under a sapphire blue sky, with the brown Tibetan plateau beneath me, and the white-topped Himalayas reaching into the distance.  But summit or not, I will always be a fortunate and grateful man for this magical chance to chase my dream.

As you work toward chasing your dream, I wish you a determined mind, a strong back, and a resilient spirit.

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