{"id":29334,"date":"2018-03-30T05:51:55","date_gmt":"2018-03-30T11:51:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/?p=29334"},"modified":"2018-03-30T10:50:24","modified_gmt":"2018-03-30T16:50:24","slug":"everest-2018-zos-yaks-porters-and-helicopters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/30\/everest-2018-zos-yaks-porters-and-helicopters\/","title":{"rendered":"Everest 2018: Zos, Yaks, Porters and Helicopters"},"content":{"rendered":"

When planes, trains and automobiles are not available to move your stuff, you do what you have to, to move your stuff. And that’s what we are seeing right now from Kathmandu to Everest Base Camp.<\/p>\n

Pause for a moment and think about how much gear it takes to support a team, it can be overwhelming. Even a small team of a handful of climbers will have a couple of cooks, separate tents for dining, cooking and sleeping. Then the large teams add another few tents for storage and toilets. The high-end guides will have communications tent and even a “relaxation” tent.<\/p>\n

All of this is at base camp where you live, eat and sleep for the better part of six weeks. Speaking of food, it also must be stored somewhere and there has to be fuel for the stoves, and sometimes heaters. Then there are generators, solar panels and on and on. Oh and don’t forget a few thousand oxygen bottles.<\/p>\n

As you go higher, climbers share tents and often eat in the cooking tent. \u00a0Then there are the fixed ropes with snow bars, pitons, carabiners, ladders and everything else you need to actually move up the Hill. Regardless, the problem remains of how to get that gear up there.<\/p>\n

So how does all the stuff get to base camp? On the Tibet side, it’s straightforward. Huge trucks haul it in on paved roads. However, it’s a different story on the Nepal side. Since Everest is within the Sagarmatha National Park where motorized vehicles are not allowed on the trails, everything is transported on the backs of people or animals or in a heavy duty helicopter.\u00a0Lets first look at how the expeditions move their group gear to base camp and then how the personal gear is handled.<\/p>\n