!!!Everest 1

by Dmitry Moiseenko and Ivan Roslyakov,
members of the [AirPano Team|Geography/About/Consortium/AirPano,_Team] that is a member of the [global-geography Consortium|Geography/About/Consortium]. \\

01.03.2012

with kind permission of [AirPano|http://www.AirPano.com]

From editor

Every time Dima goes on a photo trip to shoot mountains, our entire team
impatiently awaits for the news from the front lines. That's right, from
the front lines, because Dima traditionally finds all sorts of
adventures in the mountains. It may be a suddenly malfunctioning camera,
or unexpected weather changes. Or a volcano, just recently shooting a
20km-tall column of ashes, would suddenly go to sleep... Dima's personal
view on such events is rather philosophical: he believes that one's
entire life is governed by karma, the law of cause and effect. In order
to get a deeper understanding of this mysterious phenomenon, he joined a
yoga tour to India and Nepal. Obviously, when Dima suddenly called and
told us that he was going to shoot Mount Everest in a couple of hours,
all of us — to the best of everyone's individual skills — sent positive
vibrations his way in hope to change his karma. Alas, our skills had
their limits. At the end of the day we got another phone call: Dima
happily informed us that he had a
fantastic flight, and that there were so many beautiful mountains
around. He even saw Mount Everest and tried to shoot it, but... he had
to go back due to the hard crosswind that stopped their helicopter few
kilometers before Everest. After that, one by one, two of his three
cameras broke down. Our colleague Ivan Roslyakov dragged us out of our
depression by saying: "The tour needs a spherical panorama of Mount
Everest? No problem! About six months ago I went on a trekking
expedition to Nepal. We took the same route, as Dima's helicopter did.
We even managed to get a bit higher than Dima, so I photographed Mount
Everest". The idea of combining aerial shots from the helicopter and
ground photography seemed very good. Let's take a moment and listen to
Dmitriy Moiseyenko's exciting story of his flight to Mount Everest
before viewing our new virtual tour.

The trip to Mount Everest

It was my fifth trip from India to Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal.
Tired of walking the streets, I decided to stop at one of the
restaurants with a fabulous view of Boudhanath stupa for a cup of tea
with honey.

[{Image src='01_Boudhanath stupa.jpg' caption='Boudhanath stupa' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='600'}]

Boudhanath stupa in Kathmandu

Here I was, sitting by the window, when suddenly my tranquility was
interrupted by a couple of helicopters cutting through the evening
sky... My mind immediately concentrated: if there were helicopters,
there was so much to do! That same evening I visited a travel agency,
where they told me, "Yes, helicopters were available. But, no, flights
over Kathmandu were prohibited. However, yes, there were plenty of
alternative routes" The list of alternative routs' names sent my head
spinning, and my mind clung to one familiar word — Mount Everest!

Note: The border of China and Nepal goes right through the peak of the
highest mountain in the world (8 848 meters). Or, the border of Tibet
and Nepal. The definition entirely depends on reader's political views.
Mt. Everest is a part of the Himalayas, a rather narrow mountain range
that separates the Indian and the Asian tectonic plates (the Tibetan
Plateau) Ten out of fourteen 8K Peaks are located in the Himalayas, and
the rest of them in the nearby Karakoram Range.

I must say that I have seen Mount Everest more than once. I remember my
first time, looking out from a Tibetan toilet, which was built on the
elevated ground, without a door, and with waist-high walls — so that the
"occupant" could enjoy a magnificent view of Mt. Everest being visible
to others during the process... The second time I saw it from the plane
going from Kathmandu to Lhasa. The third time was from the Tibetan side
again, but much closer, from the base camp on 5300m altitude. Recalling
this wall of snow, rising over the "not so low" Tibetan plateau, I tried
to imagine how would The Mountain look from the Nepalese side...

Note: It is known that 90% of Mount Everest ascensions begin in Tibet,
and only 10% in Nepal. The ratio of climbers who make it to the base
camp is just about the same. The base camp hosts all expeditions. This
is where climbers go through altitude acclimatization, prepare their
gear, and test their equipment before the summit...

I sent out requests to three helicopter companies, and only one replied
on the next day: we can fly to Everest!

The helicopter could get up to 20 000 feet (about 6 300 meters), the
wind was acceptable — 50 km/h, the temperature at the highest altitude
was -35C degrees. Well, it was winter after all. January of 2012...

Since I always shoot through the open door, it was time for some
shopping. After an hour of bargaining at the local shop, the entire set
of gear: North Face two-layered fleece jacket, North Face down parka, K2
gloves, High Tech boots and a Nepalese knitted hat — was purchased for
just 94 USD.

[{Image src='02_It is -35C outside, and the door must remain open.jpg' caption='It is -35C outside, and the door must remain open' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='600'}]

Next morning I learned something very interesting in the office of the
helicopter company: there was a weather station in the base camp area,
but it's been silent for a month. They expected it to be fixed in the
summer. Weather updates could be received over the phone from the
nearest village. Or from Google. So far the day was clear, not a single
cloud. However, yesterday, all flights were canceled due to the strong
wind.

A map was spread over the table. "Well, — said the Nepalese, — where do
you want to go?" "Oh, no! This is my first time here, so please take me
to where I can have the best view on Mount Everest, flying next to the
face of the mountain". They said, "Well, it could be complicated, since
there is a couple of 7K peaks right in front of it, but don't worry,
you'll get the best Everest view. Now, let's hurry up, before the wind
gets stronger." Then the pilot spoke up, "I'm not flying with this
madman alone. He wants to open the door! What if the wind blows harder,
and the helicopter gets knocked off? Or what if we loose all oxygen, and
I faint, and he falls out? That's it, I need an assistant. And several
oxygen masks!"

[{Image src='03_Oxygen tanks.jpg' caption='Oxygen tanks' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='580'}]

Finally, we were in the airport. A perfect morning haze covered
Kathmandu village as we took off, flying over the suburbs, brick plants,
smokestacks, fields, and hills... Since the greater part of Nepal lies
on the foothills of the Himalaya, local people spent last couple of
thousand years converting most of the hills into agricultural terraces
to maintain food supply. These terraces stretch over 200 kilometers from
Kathmandu to Everest.

After 40 minutes flight we stopped in Lukla, the Sherpa village. This
was the last village with an airfield before the base camp. One end of
its runway went right into the mountains, and the other ran over a
cliff. Thank God, we had a helicopter. We dropped the fuel that we'd use
on our way back, had a cigarette and took off! Our helicopter was flying
between the mountains, not above them... The pilot pointed out
"Everest!" From my previous trips to Tibet I leaned how to tell Mount
Everest from others — there is always a little cloud at the side of its
peak. Actually, it must be one of Nature's special tricks to show little
humans who's the boss. It was Everest alright, but only that its peak
was barely visible between other peaks. However down below we could see
the monastery, the last one before the base camp, right on the mountain
pass, surrounded by cliffs. Here it was, the first point! I was taking
pictures, than doing a second take... Checking... Hm, the focus was
off... No problem, I will shoot it
again on the way back.

We kept on flying, the altitude was over 4 km, snowy plateaus and frozen
lakes just started to appear in front of me... Suddenly, we went down.
Why? The pilot replied, "We have to let go of two people, we are going
to fly really high, we must have enough power"... I asked him, "How are
you going to fly without a second pilot?" The pilot didn't answer,
unloaded my friend and his co-pilot, handed me the oxygen mask and
showed how to put it on.

We took off and in 10 minutes we were going around a huge mountain. The
pilot pointed at the glacier covered with shining blue cracks, a rather
young glacier, and said "the base camp". I pointed at it "Let's go
there!" We approached the turn of the ice river flowing from the highest
mountain. Almost there! Little bit longer, and we would see Mount
Everest in all its glory... And suddenly... It felt like someone's hit
the breaks... We stopped and started slowly moving backwards. In
surprise I looked at the pilot, pointing my finger, as if to say
"forward!" But for some reason he looked frightened, shaking his had
"no". "The wind! He said, "I can't go there, the wind is too strong".
There was not a single cloud in the sky; the ice lake was shining in
reflections of the sunlight... Nothing spoke of the wind, only the pilot
quickly turned around the helicopter, starting to pick up speed, going
into the opposite direction. "Hey!" I shouted not into the microphone,
but directly into his back. "We still have to
shoot"... "No way, I'm not going there," he said... And suddenly I
realized the horror of the situation: I was only several kilometers away
from Everest, even though its face was hidden behind a couple of other
7K Peaks, but nevertheless, its peak was visible... We were at the
altitude of 6 000 meters, breathing oxygen, it took us 1.5 hours to get
here, it cost a lot of money, and just because the "driver" was
panicking I was supposed to go back empty-handed? No way! I counted to
10, and started praising my pilot: he was a high professional, an ace
with a total control over his iron bird, I didn't even notice any wind,
and "I'm sure you know how to fly even in storm"... Besides, if we would
go back and fly a little higher, we wouldn't have to go that far, we
could stay here, a bit closer. Something clicked in the pilot's mind,
"Well, I'll try going up and closer, but just once, and not too high..."

[{Image src='04_Mount Everest view.jpg' caption='Mount Everest view' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='599'}]

... Well, I must say that the helicopter was indeed shaking at that
altitude ;) Only the thought of disappointed colleagues (if I don't
bring decent pictures of Mt. Everest) made me push the pilot, over and
over again, to go back to where we could see just a glimpse of the
highest mountain in the world... He complained that the wind was crazy,
tried to run away, and didn't want to fly higher, hiding by the glacier.
Finally I realized that we've reached the limit of his courage, and that
it was no chance to get any more of Everest out of him. So I said,
"Let's go back" and immediately heard a long sigh of relief.

[{Image src='05_Two cameras will be dead soon.jpg' caption='Two cameras will be dead soon' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='600'}]

We quickly picked up our friends that were freezing at 4 200 meters
altitude. Here was the monastery again... I remembered about my plan to
shoot it on the way back. I asked the pilot to slow down. He grumbled
once again, this time about the fuel. I started shooting and noticed
that my camera acted very odd — no signs of life, whatsoever. First of
all I changed the battery — same result. The pilot kept on grumbling in
my headphones, and I almost snapped at him to shut up, but then
remembered that I was on a yoga tour, and that anger was not a good
thing. I took out my second camera, changed the lens right there on my
lap, by the open door, attached cords and adjusted settings. The moment
I started shooting, I got this funny feeling again, that something was
going wrong. And indeed it was. All settings zeroed out, the screen read
"0 hours 0 minutes 01.01.2001. Set up the time to begin"... This was
suspicious... I grabbed my friend's camera, which he used to film our
flight, changed all settings once again (the
pilot was boiling with anger)... This time, the camera worked great, and
we were off to Lulka airport to fuel up. A short break... On our way
back I shot the terraces with my last working camera...

[{Image src='06_Terraces about kilometer high.jpg' caption='Terraces about kilometer high' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='578'}]

After the flight I inspected all my cameras: the first one was
completely dead; settings on the second one had to be reset from
scratch; and — oh, mystery — the third surviving camera was not mine! I
borrowed it from my yoga instructor, who guided our group in India and
Nepal. It was obvious: I had to work much more on my karma.

You can watch the short video about our flight to Everest:

\\ \\
[18 Panoramas of Everest 1|Geography/Asia/Nepal/Pictures/Panoramas_of_Everest_1]










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