Simple Request

[zenman]

I've flown around Mt. Everest but would like to know if there is anyone who could get me to the base so I can actually stand on the mountain. My knees are shot so need to do as little trekking as possible, just need to actually stand officially on the mountain to do a little shaman ceremony. Possible??

[Todd Delaney]

I think the title to your thread is misleading...it is anything but a simple request.

You could charter a helicopter straight to base camp stand at the bottom of the icefall? Very very expensive...not sure if it would suffice and not sure how long you would have before you started to get AMS, ie, how many hours.

The other thing you could do is plan to take a few weeks to get there and a couple of weeks to get back...plan it so you only need walk a couple of hours each day, hire a porter so you need not carry anything. If you take your time it would be a far more rewarding experience than flying in and flying out.

The way the villages are spread out along the route you, could take a month to get there needing to walk not much more than an hour each day... granted there may be a day or 2 where you will need to put in a big 3 or 4 hours, eg from Jorsale to Namche. But generally with enough time and planning you could do it...I have done it with my 60 year old father, we just took our time and enjoyed the local culture.

[yakshaver]

I've flown around Mt. Everest but would like to know if there is anyone who could get me to the base so I can actually stand on the mountain. My knees are shot so need to do as little trekking as possible, just need to actually stand officially on the mountain to do a little shaman ceremony. Possible??

Todd is correct in his advice, in my opinion.

What mountain you'd like to sand on? Everest?! or perhaps a smaller one?

I guess that if the ceremony can be that perfunctory (just being on a mountain is good enough... even if for just half an hour), then yes, as Todd says, hiring a helicopter for about 5000 USD will probably do the job. They will not fly much more than 5000 meters in altitude, so you'll need to look for a smaller mountain. And you need to fly back down in 30-60 minutes.
Flying at 4000 or higher and then trying to hike up to some hill for a day or more would be tantamount to commiting suicide, as the altitude will get you. You won't have time to acclimatise. But who knows, those shamans have some amazing powers; I have seen a couple flying over the Himal. One of them was some Tulku from Tibet. Does his shopping in Kathmandu and then flies back home, without needing to put up with the Chinese and Nepali border guards.