On Top of the World

FROM ISSUE # 175 (July 2010) | IN THIS ISSUE
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I spent 12 years of my life bicycling around the planet and then I climbed its highest mountain.

ALL IMAGES: Sherry Cheong

It wasn't enough to pedal across 150 countries in the world, something was missing. It was while I was bicycling across deserts in Africa, the jungles of southeast Asia or the frigid expanses of North America, I kept thinking it would be a good way to top it all off by climbing the world's highest mountain, which happened to be in my own country. It would be, somewhat literally, the icing on the cake. And so it happened. After spending 12 years on wheels in May I found myself on top of the world.

I had no experience in climbing, just as I had to experience in long-distance bicycling when I started out from Nepal in 1998 for the cause of world peace. And like before, I had no sponsors. I just had a very strong desire to see my ambition through. 

But I felt I had my entire family, my community and my nation behind me. I had the support of all the peace-loving people around the world who helped and supported me in my bicycle tour. I was carrying the flags given to me by cyclists from 150 countries whose countries I had traversed. On 7 April, President Ram Baran Yadav handed me the Nepali chandra-surya double triangle to plant on the top of Sagarmatha. 

The idea was to bicycle up to Base Camp and start climbing to the top. The first day we reached Dolalghat and spent the night on the beach by the Sunkosi. The next day we reached Charikot, the place from where I had started my world journey in 1998. Then down to the Tama Kosi and on to Jiri, the traditional staging post for the Everest climb. 

Our team had 11 members, five flew to Lukla to set up the camps before our arrival and the remaining members trekked from Jiri while I was cycling, pushing, carrying…for seven days to Lukla. 

Our five climbing members, Bhim, Indra, Mingma, Dawa and I received our final mountaineering training at Base Camp while I acclimatised for a month. Finally, we were ready to set out, we negotiated the treacherous Khumbu Icefall and then on to Camp Four before returning to Base Camp to recoup and wait out the weather.

One day we found the frozen body of a dead climber, a white woman, near our camp. It occured to us how hazardous mountaineering could get. We set off at 9:30 at night from the South Col on 16 May and traversed the knife-edge of the Southeast Ridge of Everest to reach the top by 10:30 the next morning after 13 straight hours of climbing.

On top, I put out the flags of 192 countries on the summit including the flag of United Nations and said a short prayer for world peace.

Everest looked vibrantly colorful then, bright flags against the white snow. We spent 45 minutes there, admiring the 360 degree view of the planet and its curvature which was visible from this altitude. It started snowing, as the storms started building up and we headed down.

Climbing Everest is very difficult and risky. People have asked me which is more difficult, and I always say: "I can cycle around the world again, but I don't think I will risk climbing Mt Everest again."