Dave Hahn

Amazing lightning storms last night in Nepal on the other side of the mountains. Everest was backlit nearly continuously as we sipped our beer and talked of future plans and projects. This is it for this particular International Mountain Guides trip.

IMG will do a Cho Oyu trip in several months, and so as we pack and sort gear today for the trucks, we are by no means closing the door on Himalayan climbing. All of us know how we'd like to find the equipment for whatever next trip we go on. So a little care is called for today, despite the fact that we'd each like to be mentally free of expeditioning for a few days.

The Tibetan Yak-men are still here this morning, still wanting us to buy a Yak bell or a necklace or knife. We are poor customers though, and they are beginning to figure that out. They'll head down-valley this morning. We'll get it packed and sorted before our trucks come this afternoon, and then we'll load up for an early morning start.

All the way to Zangmu tomorrow. The next day we will cross the border and ride to Kathmandu where beer, showers, shaves and haircuts will make us human again. Then, of course, there are some endless jet flights to be endured before "home." Home for several of us will still involve a pack and tent as it is now the prime guiding season back in the USA. Richard will have to eat fast, for instance to put back a little weight before getting on Mt. McKinley with me and a guided group just a week after our return home.

A few of our team will have to begin plotting, scheming and begging for ways to get back to Mount Everest. Myself, I know for sure I'll return, and I know I'll be on top again some day. It has just become enough a part of me now. We didn't guide the top this time, but that is OK. We tried and expect to make it home safe. Even on a mountain like Rainier that we guides have been up hundreds of times, we never know on a given day, with a given climber, what "success" will be and where it will occur. That keeps it interesting... we all like it interesting.

— Dave Hahn, International Mountain Guides' Expedition Leader

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