HIGH IN THE HIMALAYAS

[Music] e [Applause] [Music] a Himalayan Expedition is a tremendous experience for all those who take part when we go on such an expedition we live much the same as you would on a camping trip Nepal is one of the more remote areas of Asia that hasn't had the opportunity to keep Pace with the modern world the mountains of the kumbu area can only be by walking for 170 miles an expedition is made up in cap Mandu the last touch with civilization as we know [Music] it more in [Music] length a typical day's March starts with early morning [Music] tea the country is rugged and beautiful and there's always something to see terrace rice patties broad valleys beautiful [Music] flowers and magnificent mountains and we pass monasteries with their many prayer Flags fluttering in the breeze it is the belief of these people that each time the flag waves their prayer is repeated about 10:00 time is taken out for breakfast this part of our camping isn't quite like ordinary family camping because you see the Shapers look after us sabs rather [Music] well after breakfast we continue the [Music] March each man sets his own pace according to the load he [Music] [Applause] carries from high up on the track we can see the thin thread of the suspension bridge below which our Porters are [Music] crossing these chains are forged locally in small villages the suspension of these Bridges is not always reliable so it's wise to keep one hand on the Chain a little invocation to your deity doesn't hurt either but there are still those those you prefer to for the stream and climb back up the hill to the [Music] trail often the narrow Trail clings to the side of the [Music] mountain the March continues until about 4:00 in the afternoon when Camp is set up for the night [Applause] in no time the tents are pitched and we can relax for the rest of the [Music] evening about 17 days later we arrive at the Village of Kum Jong to be greeted by old friends this school that we help build at Kum Jong was the first school in this part of the Himalayas during its first two years it seems to have met a basic need of the villagers and the parents and pupils gave us a wonderful welcome one of the main projects of this trip was to pipe a supply of fresh water to Kum Jong Village so we made our first base of operations here [Music] the women of Kum Jong had always carried water from its source a mile above the village their loads weighed 80 to 90 lb this new pipe of ours was going to make a great difference to them [Applause] marelis our engineer was in charge and he concentrated on getting a consistent fall so that the water would flow [Music] evenly since this area is so remote the shers use methods much the same as those used by Americans a century ago everything is done by hand all with the help of simple hand tools the villagers donated all their time and energy to this community project we Supply the material the [Music] knowhow [Music] finally the water gushed out at the [Music] bottom now water was available right in the village the tarpan was later replaced with a permanent cement pool the women were quick to take advantage of the ample water [Music] supply after the building of the first Schoolhouse at kjong we' received several requests from other villagers in the area to help them do the same one of these letters read please give us a school like Kum Jong our children have eyes and yet they are blind on this trip we were committed to building two schools one of them was at pangi within sight of Mount Everest the contribution of the villagers was their labor because this was their school and they were prepared to work for it however we paid The Artisans like this stonemason they were very expert at fitting the stones together without cement to form the wall the school quickly began to take shape all the timber had to be carried up from the forest down below and Pits on into the correct [Music] size these fellow are real [Music] Craftsman everything is cut and squared on the spot mass production hasn't yet reached the kumu area in these schools we try to maintain the better features of local architecture a snowfall each afternoon was the usual weather pattern but the work went on regardless however the mornings were usually fine once the rock walls were completed the Expedition members were kept very busy on the framework and the [Music] roofing the roof was finished with aluminum sheeting and with fiberglass panels of skylights since there's no electricity we have to use the daylight for interior lighting few schools can have so spectacular a location as this one at pangi 13,500 FT above sea [Music] level all during the Expedition doctors like Phil Horton were treating the local people their work was aggravated by a small poox epidemic we had some vaccine air dropped to us and vaccinated over 7,000 Shepherds we built the second school at the Village of tamy a mere 12 mi from the Tibetan border and as with all theol RS the head Lama of Tangi performed the dedication [Music] ceremony by this time several wives of expedition members had walked 170 Mi to join us and they too were present for the [Music] dedication [Music] a all the villagers took advantage of the head L's visit to receive his Blessing as did the Expedition [Music] members then with the raising of the flag and the singing of the national anthem my wife Louise was given the honor of cutting the ribbon and officially opening the school Desmond do thanked the head Lama for his part in the [Music] dedication a little more [Music] singing a few more [Music] speeches [Music] [Applause] [Music] and the traditional exchanging of scarves which is the shepher way of expressing honor and respect and then the serious business of enrolling [Music] students their parents signed the register with their Thum [Music] prints the children at Tami looked much scruffier than those from Kum Jong who'd already had two years at school Kum Jong celebrated the second anniversary of its school with a sports day the first sports day that had ever been held in the kumu area there were traditional contests that are familiar to us but everything was fresh and new to the shephers the sabs took part in the senior [Music] competition there was a special contest for the girls and one for the smaller children I must say the parents thoroughly enjoyed this [Music] [Applause] [Music] one there were several PR of War contests some between the shephers and another between the shephers and the sabs needless to say the shephers won perhaps they had more fresh Replacements the obstacle race was great fun Desmond do had managed to scrape together enough material to set up quite a course and it was very interesting to see how some of the boys reacted to new [Music] situations [Music] [Laughter] of course we couldn't have a sports day in the Himalayas without having some sort of a climbing [Music] contest on the whole the sports day was a great success and I have no doubt that the boys are practicing up on their skills in preparation for the second annual sports day during the building of the school at pangi some of the party could be spared for a try at climbing toi this virgin Peak is 21,42 Ft High base camp was established at 177,000 FT and preparations were made for the [Music] climb for day after day the men struggle with the technical difficulties of the great Rock and snow [Music] face and as the route was established loads of equipment and food were carried [Music] go carrying loads at this altitude is mighty Hard [Music] Work Camp one was set up at 18,000 F feet under an overhanging Boulder to protect the tents from rockfall in climbing a mountain it's not a case of just starting at the bottom and going on up to the top it's a long tedious process of covering a short distance at a [Music] time working back and forth fixing ropes up over the more difficult and dangerous [Music] spots That's Mike Gil driving in a peton he did most of the camera work on this Expedition and as well did a full share of the [Music] climbing [Music] [Music] you have to be careful when there's a couple of thousand ft of nothing under the seat of your pants once the route is established the heavier equipment can be moved to the location of the next [Music] camp [Music] the climbing was now even steeper and more exposed and the loads weighed like a ton [Music] two Rock steps but too steep to climb direct these were tamed with long wire ladders [Applause] at 20,000 ft man's efficiency is reduced about 50% any effort at all even that of breathing is difficult after three weeks of Mighty hard work the assault Camp was established on the snow Plateau at 20,000 ft Camp two is here and the route follows the prominent Ridge in the center of the face and it's steep terribly [Applause] steep [Music] conscious of the fact that a slip could be fatal the men hack their way up the ice face the ice chips peppered the men below adding to their [Music] discomfort [Applause] [Music] the last few hundred ft up onto the Summit Ridge was almost vertical and this took a long long [Music] time the summit was only a short distance away but the final 100 ft looked pretty [Music] rough after a brief pause to get back their breath they moved along the [Music] ridge [Music] the ridge Narrows into a contorted crest of delicately balanced snow to venture along it would bring certain disaster and so 200 ft from the summit on a little Crest they plant their prayer Flags men believe that as these flags wave in the Winds of this high place they will fate the Grim deities of [Music] twii