For most of my life I have been strongly attracted to mountains. When I was nine years old my dad took me on my first climb of Mt. Thielsen in the Oregon Cascades. Since then I have spent a lot of time looking at them, reading about them, climbing them and photographing them. No mountains have captured my imagination more than the Himalayas where all of the highest peaks in the world are located. For years I have read about the geology, geography, people, culture and exploration of the high Himalayas, particularly the area around Mt. Everest, like I was reading of a fictional land in a fantasy novel. With vicarious anxiety I have experienced the feats of heroic survival and agonizing tragedy that have played out over the last 100 years on peaks reaching so high in to the atmosphere that humans can only survive there for short periods of time. In 1999 I took part in a trek through the Himalayas to Mt. Kailas in Tibet, but our route took us far west of the highest peaks in Nepal and monsoon clouds prevented me from seeing the big summits even from a distance.
           In April and May of this year I finally visited the mountain range of my imagination when I had the opportunity to go on a solo photography expedition in to the heart of the Khumbu region and right up to the base of Mt. Everest itself.
           It turned out that my trip precisely coincided with a particularly difficult time in Nepal’s recent history. I flew to Kathmandu, the capitol of Nepal, smack in the middle of several weeks of strikes and protests aimed at dethroning the King, who in the last few years had steadily been dismantling the democratic government, violating human rights, taking power of the military and generally making things difficult in an already struggling country. He responded to peaceful protests with tear gas, rubber bullets, police beatings and enforced curfews.
           After a couple of days of avoiding burning tires and flying rocks and sympathizing with the troubled citizens of Kathmandu I was able to catch my flight to the mountains to begin my trek. For two weeks I hiked six to twelve hours a day, soaking up the views, meeting the people and taking photographs. I dined with a reincarnate lama, joked with school kids, joined Buddhist nuns conducting their daily prayers, helped an elderly woman fix her rock wall and watched Buddhist monks lead a funeral procession into the mountains for a high altitude cremation.  Strikes and weather kept me from meeting up with my friend Laurie Bagley before she departed for her attempt to climb the north side of Mt. Everest.  But it was exciting to monitor her progress and subsequent success via the Internet knowing that she was just a few miles away on the other side of the hill.
           Significantly humbled by my experiences in the mountains I returned to Kathmandu to find a completely changed Nepal. The King had wisely relinquished most of his power and avoided exile or worse, opening the door for the restoration of the democratic government, a cause for widespread celebrating all over the country. It was great to see people looking happy and optimistic about the future. I hope to see great improvements in Nepalâs quality of life in the months ahead.
           The entire expedition was a mind-expanding journey, one that has even depended my connection with Nepal and the Himalayas. I hope that the photos I brought back capture a slight portion of the experience. You can view a collection of images from my trip HEREâ¦
