Sensible traveler Destinations Where they went Travel gear Student travelA challenge on high
By Diane Daniel, Globe Staff, 06/30/02
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Sensible traveler Destinations Where they went Travel gear Student travel |
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"I wanted to climb a mountain, not just walk up something," Boisvert, a bank auditor, said of his decision to target Island Peak, a classic climb in the Himalayas that is often paired with a trip to Mount Everest Base Camp.
Through his 1,600-subscriber weekly e-mail newsletter, he invited others to join him, and in May, Boisvert, his partner Jon Normand, 41, of Goffstown, N.H., and five other men and women went on the 3-week journey. The other climbers were guide Angela Hawse, 39, from Seattle; Holly Keith, 42, of Northampton; Navah Levine, 38, and Cathy Savino, 40, both of Somerville, and Doug Dye, 39, from Fort Lauderdale (who's now hiking half the Appalachian Trail). The trip cost about $3,350 each, plus $1,400 for air fare. Hawse was needed for her technical skills and Everest experience. To prepare, team members worked out in gyms, took a glacier travel workshop, and climbed area mountains.
Boisvert said he wanted an all-gay group because "there's a lack of awareness that gay people do mountaineering trips, or difficult hikes, or that we're even capable of doing it, so I guess I wanted to raise the consciousness of the general public."
As with most Himalayan adventures, the team's journey started in Katmandu. They visited the shopping district, and the local guides contracted through Ultimate Ascents of Colorado supplied tours to temples and other points of interest.
They flew to Lukla, at about 9,000 feet, to start the trek and meet their entourage of four yaks, seven porters, a cook, two guides, and "a guy who waited on us. I guess we were supporting the local economy," he said.
To acclimatize, they went to Everest Base Camp and climbed Kala Pattar (18,300 feet), where they had clear views of the world's highest mountains. "It's the closest you can get to Everest without climbing on it," Boisvert said. "We could see the route we took, along with glaciers, crevasses, and white-cap peaks everywhere you looked." Boisvert skipped Everest Base Camp because he felt sick for almost two days.
"The only time we were nervous was the day before Island Peak," he said. On May 12 at about 2 a.m., they started out from Island Peak base camp. They scrambled up a rock gully and hiked along a rock ridge. They reached the glacier by mid-morning and roped together as a team. The sky was clear and sunny.
"At the base of the headwall, I was the only one having trouble breathing," Boisvert said. "I had to have the group slow to a crawl just so I could keep going, but I was OK after that."
The headwall of ice and snow was about 500 feet high and extremely steep.
"It was intimidating to all of us since it was such a vertical climb, something most members hadn't expected and had never done." Even Hawse, the guide, was surprised. They wore crampons, and used ropes and ice axes to slowly work their way up. At the top - 20,305 feet - they waved the rainbow flag (a gay and lesbian symbol), left a strand of prayer flags, and read a poem written by a mountain porter.
"Everyone was really nervous about rappelling down; they didn't expect a rappel of that magnitude," Boisvert said.
Sherpas met them on the way down with hot tea and biscuits. "That lifted our spirits. They offered to take my pack, and I didn't argue."
For his next adventure, Boisvert said, "We'd love to have an all-gay Everest team. I think it would be a good, positive thing for the entire gay community."
Send suggestions to ddaniel@globe.com.