Logistics
Mar 19, 2004 01: 23 EST
We're moving along at Nepal's pace...our biggest obstacles remain 1) getting our tents out of customs without paying our entire budget to do so, and 2) once out of customs, getting them up the proverbial hill. See, our custom made tents (thanks to Hansen Weatherport and Alaska Structures) will provide us lots of space and insulation, but that all comes at a tremendous price. Getting 1400 pounds of canvas and poles up to EBC is going to be expensive if not logistically extremely difficult.
Amongst other similar problems, the HRA board of directors tells me they are unhappy with our budgetary requirements and much of my time is spent lobbying for the importance of this clinic. If we can't get any closer to breaking even this season (in 2003, our inaugural season, we lost 500,000 rupees or around $7000US when the accounting was finished), our future will be in jeopardy. The HRA has a small budget, and a yearly $7000 loss is too much for the organization to bear.
I keep on smiling though. I know we've done most of the hard work already; sold the very notion of the clinic to most of the climbing community, made some important and influential connections in the Nepali government, and got some terrific sponsors to get our gear in shape. In the words of a familiar American movie, "if you build it, they will come" -- if we can get our budget in line this season, this clinic will be on auto-pilot, technically speaking, and the work of recruiting volunteers for future seasons, I believe, is going to be relatively simple.
Although Kathmandu is provocative, culturally amazing and colorful, we simply cannot wait to be "up there", away from the smog and the city, in the fresh air, on the trail and doing what it is we came to do and have been working for all season....with all of these problems behind for awhile.....maybe Monday?
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