Real People | Real Stories

Today I went shopping with my mom for trekking boots. Yes. She bought them for me. Her biggest fear is me having wet feet atop a mountain. I think she is afraid I will buy too cheap boots if I get them myself and they will leak and I will get pneumonia. I love my mom. 

We went to Marmot MountainWorks. The Un-REI as far as I can tell. First of all, it was empty. Second, it was affordable. Third, the people that work there actually go outside. Like, big-time outside. Gary, the one who sold me my sweet new treads (the same ones he had on his own feet) has been a guide for 20 years all over Nepal and Tibet 5 months out of the year. The cutie that I met at the cash register, he climbed Mt. Everest–like, probably yesterday, because he was barely growing whiskers he is so young.

Gary did that thing that people do when you tell them you are going to Nepal. His eyes lit up and he started with the questions. “When? Where? For how long? You are going to love it!” It was probably twenty minutes before I even got to trying the boots.

He was so full of useful advice. Advice that I was not necessarily expecting. I mean, he knew a lot about altitude sickness and what to wear — all really useful information. But what really hit me was what he said about our first days in Nepal. “Take it easy,” he said. “Really easy.” He explained that it is very common for soon-to-be-trekkers to arrive in Nepal exhausted. When they get to the Himalayas they almost crash before they begin. Gary told me how overwhelming it all is and to just allow yourself to stay in your hotel, read the guidebook, sleep. It will all be there in the morning. 

This is excellent advice for me and Scott who tend to want to eat all the street foods and walk down every bustling street selling prosthetic limbs and refrigerator parts on the first day in a new city. 

Gary at the Marmot MountainWorks store said take the first days in Kathmandu and then on the mountain slow. There is no need to rush. Let your body adapt to its new environment. I know, pretty basic stuff. But I think with all the complicated stuff we have to figure out, like where to stow the battery chargers or how to get good sound on a windy mountain, I believe meeting Gary to remind us of the basics was no accident. 

Oh, and the boots were on sale!