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Sherpa Characters
Thame - Saturday, April 29, 2000

DISPATCHES

Berg

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Mountain Zone I'm calling you from Thame, we made the market this morning in Namche as we intended to do. Went down there eagerly, and as we often do, get quickly sort of lost and uncomfortable in that sea of humanity as people went about their business, buying their vegetables and meat and other goods.

We pretty quickly settled into Pudomas Tea Shop which is adjacent to the market and joins the market with a wood plank bridge that walks across a lower street in Namche. And you dive into Pudomas there, and drink tea and enjoy a peaceful getaway while the market's bustling outside.

By about 8:15 we were walking out of Namche, beautiful, clear sky and here we are out in Thame, still beautiful sky. Big mountain walls around us, we haven't yet walked up to the ridgetop where we'll see Cho Oyu tomorrow and, of course, we'll continue on up past the chortens and prayer flags and we'll end up at the monastery early tomorrow morning. It's always a great way to spend the early morning out here in Thame.

I sent you some images today of some of the Sherpa characters that are with us, great guys, and they are, as you know, they are mostly from the Thamo-Thame area. Many of their relatives, their brothers, their cousins, their neighbors are up on the mountain with the Alpine Ascents Climbers so it's great for us to visit the families here before we head on up to Base Camp.

Salia in particular I've given some recognition to, and I've sent his photo, because he's the fellow that ran, in a day-and-a-half, from Lukla to Namche with these One Sport boots that we got for Stacy Tanaguchi which he no doubt needs for the climb. Salia, very kind of calmly and in an unruffled manner, strolled into Namche at about 2 o'clock yesterday having done that entire trip to Base Camp, somehow or another, round trip, in about two days. And he didn't show any signs of wear, or being worn out, or anything today. He's fresh as ever and he helped us carry our loads out here and get things done.

So I'll call you after we visit the monastery tomorrow. The entire group is doing well, loving being out here. Health is good, spirits are even better, we're loving being out here on this trek as we get underway and get into the heart of matters.

— Wally Berg, Alpine Ascents Guide and MountainZone.com Correspondent

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