Concord resident reflects on Everest adventure

The man looked sick. That was Scott Campbell’s first thought when he entered the primitive village of Lobuche, which didn’t even have a sewer system or running water.

Campbell would spend the night here during his trip, knowing it’d drop to 15 degrees below zero. It was the 12th day of his trek to the Mount Everest base camp. He had battled snow and more than a 100 mile an hour winds that whipped through the valley Lobuche was nestled in.

A Concord resident who is a courier for Federal Express, Campbell took off from work to make the trek earlier this year. He climbed to the Mount Everest base camp, which stands more than 17,000 feet above sea level.

Campbell did not climb to the very top of Mount Everest, but only because of the expense he said. It would cost about $50,000 to get to the very top, he said. His trip just to the base camp ran about $4,500. In addition to the expense, climbing to the top of Mount Everest would require an extra month of acclimating to the thinner atmosphere.

During the trip to the Mount Everest base camp, Campbell entered the village of Lobuche, which consisted mostly of stone huts with shared bunk dormitories. The land is stark and cold. Bugs don’t even live here, Campbell said. The village doesn’t have any wood to burn so dried yak dung is used instead of firewood.

The sick man sat next to a cast iron container that burned the yak dung. His constant coughing grated on Campbell’s nerves. He had dark circles under his eyes. Art Franzen, 48, who traveled with Campbell during the trip, said the man’s lips looked purple.

Later, Campbell would learn the man had water on his brain, a danger of the pressurization of climbing the trail to Mount Everest. The man would eventually be flown out by helicopter, Campbell said, suffering from the effects of being more than 16,000 feet above sea level.

“When you go to an altitude like that, your body and your insides and everything are not used to where you’re at,” Campbell said. “You’re getting less oxygen and your body is working overtime. Plus you’re climbing eight hours.”

The sick man served as a reminder to Campbell the dangers he and Franzen faced during their journey. Campbell said he’d seen others flown down the mountain.

Campbell also watched his friend succumb to the environment and its effects.

“He’d just get irritated for no reason because of the altitude,” Campbell said. “But that was the altitude. He would always come back an hour later and say, ‘I’m sorry.’ It plays with your emotions, hormones, the whole nine yards.”

Franzen agreed.

“You don’t get the oxygen you need,” Franzen said. “So you become agitated or irrational. It can even create a loss of sleep. 

THE FLIGHT IN

Campbell and Franzen faced frigid temperatures and a harsh environment to trek to the Mount Everest base camp – something a lot of people would probably not be willing to do.

Many couldn’t compete with the conditions. Despite watching other climbers abandon their trek, Campbell pushed himself to suffer through 18 degree temperatures and 100 mile an hour winds, often climbing eight hours a day.

“Why would you give up something you can go see that might be intriguing to a lot of people but only a certain amount of people can do it?” Campbell said. “Why not keep going? Why not see that?”

That was Campbell’s thought even before he ended up in Lobuche. In order to even start the trek to Mount Everest, Campbell had to fly from Kathmandu into Lukla, one of the most dangerous airports to land in.

A plane had crashed just three months before Campbell’s trip, killing 19 people, he said.

The danger comes from the fact that Lukla is surrounded by mountains and any cloud cover can make flying dangerous. Especially since the one engine airplane that Campbell rode on didn’t have radar. The pilot had to rely on sight during the flight.

On top of that, the runway for the airplane is little more than a football field long, ending at a wall. If you don’t slow down in time, there’s a good chance your plane will crash.

“It was a little nerve wracking,” Campbell said. “You go through the mountains and see mountains on both sides of you and then you end up landing and you really don’t know how far you’ve got until you see that wall.”

Before the flight, Campbell had to take several medications just to prepare for his ascent. One medication creates red blood cells which help create more oxygen. The Mount Everest base camp is so high above sea level that there is actually less oxygen, making it harder to breath. The body has to acclimate itself during each part of the trek, Campbell said.

“If you can’t depressurize you can’t climb the mountain because your head will be splitting,” Campbell said.

Breathing less oxygen was only one challenge Campbell faced. The climb was intense. He and Franzen had two guides. Campbell remembers one guide looking at him before they started their climb.

“I don’t think he thought we’d make it,” Campbell said. “Because we were fat and out of shape. But we had been climbing before.”

Before the climb, Campbell weighed 268 pounds. He lost 25 pounds in the 14 days he trekked to the base camp and back. Part of that drastic weight loss stemmed from the intense workout, but also the meals.

His food supply consisted mostly of noodles, rice and vegetables.

“You can’t eat meat at that height, because meat sitting in your stomach is going to make you sick,” Campbell said. “That’s just taboo in mountain climbing. It just sits and stirs and curls and makes you sick.”

Another strain was just trying to sleep.

“Because first of all, your stomach and everything and your body is telling you, ‘go back down, go back down,’” Campbell said. “Go back down the mountain so you can feel better. Because it gets difficult to breath in certain areas.”

Despite the cold, Campbell would often find himself sweating, the sun beating down on him and his group as they hiked. But Campbell paced himself.

That mentality stayed with Campbell as he pushed himself onward, taking each step closer to completing his trek. Even by day 12, when he entered Lobuche, Campbell paced himself. He said one of the most difficult things about the trip was trying to stay awake when they got to a camp site.

“You have to stay up during the day,” Campbell said. “Your body is telling you, ‘please, please, please, I’m so tired, I just climbed for eight hours.” But the last thing he wanted to do was take a nap and throw off his sleep pattern

JUST ANOTHER ADVENTURE

For many, this trip may sound grueling torture. But for Campbell, it’s just another adventure. He’s visited more than 25 countries and has been skydiving for about seven years. He’s jumped 268 times, he said.

“I’ve seen a lot of my friends die, different places and different things,” he said. “You want to make as much money as you can and be able to retire, but I see people that are able to retire and they are not able to go and spend it. They are not able to go enjoy themselves. So I figured I might as well do it while I’m young.”

When Campbell isn’t mountain climbing or visiting some foreign country, he juggles his hobbies with his day job as a courier for Federal Express. It was a group of friends at Federal Express that originally got him involved in skydiving.

A 1985 Concord High School graduate, Campbell has bounced all over the world. Straight out of school he joined the U.S. Navy and got married. His wife at the time had ties to Japan and an acquaintance of hers was interested in Campbell coming to Japan to teach English.

Campbell had several jobs in Japan, including teaching English, and even did some modeling. Having blond hair and blue eyes made him stand out in Japan. He eventually divorced his wife and returned to America with his daughter, Sasha.

He settled back into Concord in about 1994 and has continued to enjoy adventures when he can take off from work.

Franzen said he and Campbell had been planning the Mount Everest base camp climb for about two years.

“Together, going through this different environment and culture is something we can appreciate,” Franzen said.

Campbell agreed.

“If you want to know if you have a real, true friend, go climb a mountain with him,” Campbell said. “If you can trust him and he doesn’t get on your nerves constantly, you’re good to go.”