(click picture to enlarge)
Everest
Basecamp
One of our
Tibetan
Yak herders
The team.
With thanks to Greg Howard and Polaris Pool Systems.
Brian McCullough
Journal
6: Lots of Yaks
by
Brian McCullough
August
24, 2001
Everest Basecamp
Just before dusk yesterday the first yak showed up at our camp on the bank of the Rongbuk River. The Tibetan yak driver wore a black blazer, grey wool vest, a grey fedora and camouflage sneakers. Down in the valley we could see the main herd of 33 beasts. Thick, shaggy tails, hairy bellies and very sharp, curved horns made them look quite different from a regular cow.
These animals spend their whole lives living at really high altitudes and they seem to be very tough. A dozen Tibetans had been walking for three days with their yaks to get to our camp so they could carry our gear 12 miles up the east fork of the Rongbuk Glacier.
We have a 3000 pound load of gear made up of food, fuel, O2 bottles, tents, ropes and warm clothes for our team. Everything has to be carried up 21,000 feet to Advance Basecamp (ABC). It took two large trucks to bring everything here to BC from Kathmandu.
The Tibetans made their camp downstream from us. Yaks wandered by our tents throughout the night. These animals are very gentle. Some of them wore bell collars and had prayer flags tied to the hair on their necks.
--Brian McCullough
