Ed Kowalski climbed to the top of his world.
By Brenda Junkin
Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
Copyright 2007 Plain Dealer Publishing Co.
And tonight, he’ll share the experiences from that uphill battle in a Cleveland Metroparks presentation in North Olmsted.
Kowalski, a paramedic, trekked up Shishapangma, a 26,400-foot mountain in the Himalayas. Shishapangma is in Tibet, not far from Nepal and about 200 miles from Mount Everest.
“Once on the peak, you feel relief, in knowing you made it,” says Kowalski. “You’re looking down into the clouds. You can see Mount Everest a few peaks away. Then you start to get unnerved thinking about how you’ll get down off the mountain. It’s the fear of the unknown that gets to you.”
Q: What time of year did you go?
A: We went in September of 2005. In the summer months, there’s too much rain; in the winter months, you get high winds and extreme cold. So it’s best to go September through October or April through May.
Q: When did you start making arrangements for the expedition?
A: Six months in advance. Jamie McGuinness headed the expedition. He got all the permits and made most of the arrangements.
Q: Did this cost a lot?
A: $12,000. An expedition like this doesn’t come cheap.
Q: How did you get acclimated to the altitude?
A: We spent a few days in Nepal getting our supplies together. Then we slowly traveled from town to town. Spending a few days in each town, getting used to the increased altitude. It took about 12 days in all.
Q: How many camps did you have to make to reach the peak?
A: From base camp, we went to advance base camp. From there, we had five camps to the peak. After reaching the peak, I was able to climb down to advance base camp in one day.
Q: How many people were in your expedition?
A: There were nine climbers, five Sherpas and two Tibetan cooks.
Q: What’s a Sherpa?
A: They’re professional climbers from the area that assist the climbers on expedition. They may carry some equipment like ropes and tents, but once we hit advance base camp, their main purpose was to go ahead of us and fix the ropes. They clip a clamp, or jumar, on the slopes for the ropes. We then followed the fixed lines up the mountain. I became friends with two of the Sherpas, Dawa and Dayula.
Q: Did you eat Tibetan cuisine?
A: No, it was American food. We had everything from pizza to pasta, eggs and yak meat with rice. Yak is similar to steak; it tastes pretty good. You eat about 6,000 calories a day. Once we were at high altitude, we ate vacuum-packed food.
Q: Is it hard to breathe in high altitude?
A: Once you hit about 16,000 feet, it gets a little rough. It’s hard to move at high elevation. You take one step, and you’re sucking in air. It’s amazing; you feel like you’re just gasping for breath. We carried oxygen but didn’t need it.
Q: How many pounds of gear did you carry?
A: I carried from 30 to 50 pounds, depending on the day.
Q: Did it get really cold?
A: At base camp, it was about 30 degrees. On the mountain, it went from zero to 20 degrees.
Q: What did you wear?
A: On summit day, I wore a down pant and jacket. Underneath that, I had on Patagonia expedition weight underwear and a chinchilla jacket as well.
Q: What was the most precious piece of gear you took with you?
A: My La Sportiva boots. I bought the best boots I could find. When I go to these mountains, I want to come back with all my fingers and toes. The boots cost $800 and were worth every penny.