Month: October 2010

I just heard from two fellow climbers I met on the Kangchenjunga trek in Nepal in 1996. I’ve written about both of them before, since they continue to lead energetic and adventurous lives. If all goes well, I’ll meet up with one, Terry Rollins, when I visit Dharamsala in December, after climbing with my daughters in Sikkim. Terry has been teaching English to Tibetan refugees as a volunteer at the Tibet Charity in McLeod Ganj, Upper Dharamsala, since July. He’ll return to Japan in April, to continue as an ESL teacher in that country. I’m thrilled to be able to connect with him after all these years!

Another avid climber from the Kangchenjungo trip is Sigrid Selle, who is a photographer extraordinaire, and has trekked in such faraway places as Pakistan and Yemen. She spent last August in Mongolia, covering the whole country by jeep, staying in yurts along the way, and taking two separate treks in the western mountain ranges, Altai and  Kaakhiraa. She planned the entire trip on the spot, visiting small villages and hiring guides as she went. Now this is something I would love to do. Any takers?

Here are a few of Sigrid’s photos, which she has graciously given me permission to scan. The colors cannot compare to the originals, but are, nevertheless, outstanding. She is known in the San Francisco area for her stunning slide shows…and she hasn’t gone digital!

Ladakh

Kangchenjunga, third highest mountain in the world, from Ladakh

Mustang

Kashgar/Xinjiang

Yemen

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Hunza Valley/Pakistan

Tolbachik Volcano/Kamchatka

Finally, I cannot disappoint my friends who laugh at my theater addiction. You can’t blame me for seeing two wonderful new shows on Broadway before I depart for Asia. I highly recommend the hysterically funny La Bete, starring the amazing Mark Rylance, David Hyde Pierce, and Joanna Lumley, written by David Hirson and directed by Matthew Warchus (remember, he directed the recent hits, God of Carnage and The Norman Conquests). And don’t miss Kander and Ebb’s final musical, The Scottsboro Boys, a wrenching story that is told as a minstrel show with a powerful bite to match its powerful performance. To top this off I saw the Metropolitan Opera’s latest production of Modest Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, with the magnificent Rene Pape in the title roll. Long it is, but with such a chorus and orchestra, under the baton of the Russian, Valery Gergiev, that the four hours flew by. Many thanks go to my good friend, Phyllis Bitow, who squired a group of us in the wee hours back to our suburban nests.

Stand by for more information about my upcoming trip, plus a few more travel tips.

I think it’s autumn that keeps me in New Jersey. The heat and humidity are forgotten, and the ice and snow seem far away. It’s easy to live in the present, walk through the curled up red and yellow leaves, and kick aside even the storm clouds that bring the blessed rain to revive our parched land and half-dead bushes. Every week or so I join members of the AMC (Appalachian Mountain Club) for a hike up and down the hills of Harriman or Bear Mountain or the cliffs that abut the Hudson River. Sure, Harriman is in New York State, but close enough to qualify as my backyard. Here are a few pictures of yesterday’s seven-mile hike in the park.

Two weekends ago I visited my friends, Carol and Ted Goodman, who moved from Morristown to Williamstown, MA. That is one beautiful community, which I had visited as a child whenever my father returned to Williams College, his alma mater. I’d move there in a minute if it weren’t so far from NYC and my family. The Goodmans have a lovely house atop a hill with a 360-degree view of the Berkshires. Who could ask for anything more? Watch for Carol’s new book, Never Lie Down, coming soon to Amazon.com.

I had a wonderful discussion with Joan Malespina at the non-fiction book club of Maplewood Library. We shared various adventure stories and she told me about Erik Weihenmayer, the blind climber who has summited Mt. Everest. He is the only blind person to have climbed the “Seven Summits,” the tallest peaks on every continent. Take a look at his website. He’s amazing!

In preparation for my November 16 departure for Sikkin, I’ve combed through Campmor and EMS, finally investing in a down sleeping bag that goes to zero (now what do I do with the other three?). With it all I’ve pared down my belongings to one duffel, one backpack, and a small daypack. It’s taken me twenty-four years to get wise. Next, I traded my humongous Canon camera for a small Nikon Coolpix P7000 that has more bells and whistles than I could use in a lifetime…but I’ll try. Add to that a small digital voice recorder and my pint-sized Sony video camera, and I’m wired to go. Expect a lot of reports along the way. The only sure dates are three weeks trekking in Sikkim with my daughters, Cary and Martha, and three more weeks in the Dharamsala area visiting Tibetan friends, the TCV (Tibetan Children Village) school in Bir, and the mountain community of Tso Pema.

A note about Sikkim. It’s the second smallest state in India (after Goa), located in the northeastern part of the country in the Himalayas. It’s nestled between Tibet and Bhutan on the east, Nepal on the west, West Bengal on the south, and China on the north. So you see I have lots of choices if I decide to jettison India. Who knows? I’ll be traveling by the seat of my pants as usual, with a return ticket on Feb. 28. Keep tuned for new developments.

My theater addiction has been drastically curtailed, but I did enjoy the hilarious English import, Alphabetical Order by Michael Frayn. You may remember two of his other hits, Noises Off and Copenhagen.

And for those of you getting on in years (tell me who isn’t?), I recommend a new book, Dare to Be 100, by Dr. Walter M. Bortz II. Hell, he’s even older than I!