Videos from the most recent visit to Basa, which came in the beginning of a Mera Peak trek.
Kathmandu and Phaphlu
Video shot in Kathmandu and landing in Phaphlu in October 2011. The first scene is the Monkey Temple, one of the highest points above the city of Kathmandu. The second scene is a Buddhist prayer wheel with a monk turning the wheel in the required clockwise direction. In the third scene, Joel shows off his expert expedition packing.The final scene is the flight to Phaphlu, the starting point for our trek to Basa and onward to Mera Peak. The video ends with a review of the map of our trek.
Basa Village
Video shot in Basa Village in October 2011. We were given an outstanding welcome into the village that included being ‘garlanded’ by each child’s hand-made wreath of local flowers and plants. Once in Basa, we were given silk scarves by village leaders and our senior trekking staff. Later that evening, ceremonial dances were performed until well after dark. The video also includes the initial setup of laptops donated by Nimbus and a demonstration of the hydroelectric plant that was installed in March 2011. The final scene is our departure from Basa and a visit to one of the village shrines.
Khare Rest Day
Video shot in Khare, the jumping off point for Mera Peak, in October 2011. It begins with a helicopter pickup of one of our team and an ill trekker from an Indian team. Helicopters are only source of emergency medical evacuation in an area where the nearest hospital is a few days walk away. The helicopter can make a round trip from Kathmandu in an hour and a half, often stopping in villages on the way to drop off supplies before picking up the sick or injured.
Khare – Decision Time
Video shot in Joel’s tent before the start of our climb of Mera Peak in October 2011. We had a surprise snowstorm the previous night and we awoke to conversations about how this would affect our trek. In the end, we decided to continue up toward Mera Peak as the forecast for the following days was good. Also, our porters climbed to High Camp the previous day and were waiting for us. Outside of cell phones there is no method to communicate with other parts of the team when plans change.
Mera Peak
Video shot during our ascent and descent of Mera Peak in October 2011. This video includes the discussion of the weather conditions at Mera Glacier as well as what we heard were the conditions at High Camp, our day’s destination.
