Advice for first time trekker: a more unusual request, perhaps...

[Rev.A.Shkay]

Well, there's now less than three months to trip to Nepal. If any of you knowledgeable people have any advice about what I should take with me, what to wear (I hear it is very cold in late December in the Everest/Gokyo area...), or whatever else I should be aware off...

For example, I am tossing whether I will take my baby-semigrand-piano with me (it is made of kevlar, battery operated, though I will need an extra porter to carry it; three or four in fact; and probably another one for the battery pack...).

Can I charge the batteries all the way to Gokyo? Or in Thami?
Secondly, is the food as bad as people say? Should I take some weetbix, Sanitarium soy milk, and some Marmite or Promite with me? That might mean another porter...

What do people think? What is your experience with taking reasonably large musical instruments with you on trek?


Thank you, and God bless you all.

[Weka]

As a passionate lover of Bach's liturgical masses, I took on my last trip, the Vienna Philharmonic and Boy's Choir. However, I insisted they carried their own instruments.
There is nothing more uplifting than eating a breakfast of Cocoa Pops at 5000 meters to the strains of the B minor Mass.
Best, Weka

[Weka]

Bet you haven't considered what happens at 5000 meters to the tuning of a piano. John Cage had a battalion of tuners working in shifts when he recorded his "Silence between the Silence on the Throung La", 1968, Telark CD1263554-2.

It's the longest silence in his catalogue but has the distinction of being the quietest.

[julia]

Top of my list Bach!


Hi Rev.A ShKay,

I think you might be ok carrying your baby 'Grand Piano' yourself, the Fisher Price models are usually very light, so you shouldn't have any trouble, maybe just get a slightly bigger rucksack? I think you might be exagerating just a little about the size, I mean, weight of your battery pack, but if you feel you need an extra porter, thats up to you of course.

The food in Nepal is wonderful, most of the time, and if you are lucky you might be offered pizza by the LYW, a rare occurrence, but I have heard it has happened. She has to like you though, so be nice to her, difficult I know!

Taking Marmite is a good idea, I recently came to know that Paddington Bear has started eating it, as he is bored of marmalade, and if he eats it in the mountains why shouldnt you. Marmite is always a good thing to bargain with the LYW if you need to make a great escape, maybe offer her your piano too? You might need to ask the advice of YS or Escher about escaping from her clutches, I dont know anything about that side of things.

Ok, hope my advice has helped. Have a great time, hope you manage to play some great tunes on the GP. :cool:

[Oli]

Mike Peters from The Alarm, along with a few other "rock stars" are right now trekking up to EBC to do a gig.

And here is a pic of my mate Rich playing his didgeridoo on Thorung La - the circular beathing trick is not easy at the best of times, let alone 5400m

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/38/87111212_64427c6b7f_m.jpg

[Rev.A.Shkay]

Thank you folk for all the valuable information about my plans...

Hm, maybe my idea of taking a baby grand piano on trek is a bit too much. Am I tempting God/Fate there?

I never thought about the effects on altitude on the piano itself, I was more concerned with what might happen to me when I get high... Selfish creature that I am!

Now dear Julia, what is a Fisher model? Is there a website? I would dearly love to look at it. Maybe it is an option. Only I hope it is not like the website once was directed to, when inquiring with a "friend" (as it turned out) about the LACE (Listen, Acknowledge, Check, Enquire) model, a simple yet effective model of active listening that the ones of us working with people value a lot. You can imagine what kind of "LACE" models I found there. Or I'd rather you not...

On the other hand, what or who is LWY? Why does one need to escape from her ... clutches? I assume YS is Mr.Yakshaver who often posts here, as if there's no tomorrow. Sometimes a bit sarcastic but a knowledgeable person, it seems. Maybe he feels he needs more love? And Escher is the one who put together the wonderful sticky threads which have a lot of excellent information. I must write private messages to them regarding their experiences with this LYW, whoever she is.

God bless

[yakshaver]

Top of my list Bach!


Hi Rev.A ShKay,

I think you might be ok carrying your baby 'Grand Piano' yourself, the Fisher Price models are usually very light, so you shouldn't have any trouble, maybe just get a slightly bigger rucksack? I think you might be exagerating just a little about the size, I mean, weight of your battery pack, but if you feel you need an extra porter, thats up to you of course.

The food in Nepal is wonderful, most of the time, and if you are lucky you might be offered pizza by the LYW, a rare occurrence, but I have heard it has happened. She has to like you though, so be nice to her, difficult I know!

Taking Marmite is a good idea, I recently came to know that Paddington Bear has started eating it, as he is bored of marmalade, and if he eats it in the mountains why shouldnt you. Marmite is always a good thing to bargain with the LYW if you need to make a great escape, maybe offer her your piano too? You might need to ask the advice of YS or Escher about escaping from her clutches, I dont know anything about that side of things.

Ok, hope my advice has helped. Have a great time, hope you manage to play some great tunes on the GP. :cool:

I think a baby grand piano, if there is such a thing, will create quite a stir in Khumbu. Everybody will love it. Apart from the poor porters who have to carry it. No matter how much you'll pay them. Well, not quite, everyone has their price. Eh Reverend? By the way, I do get a lot of love, but I don't go bragging about it on non-adult web sites (or on adult ones either, don't get me wrong...)

Regarding Julia's remark about the LYW, it is an acronym, or better an abbreviation, depending on how one pronounces it.
It stands for the Luscious Yeti Woman. Oli, Escher and I all swear we've encountered it, although Julia and others are still mocking unbelievers... At least this is what I sense.

The best way, in my opinion, to stop her very very forthright and insistent advances (she accosts male trekkers to have their babies, would you believe it!, around Portse Tenga and the higher Khumbu mostly, but the same, or another one has been encountered in the Annapurnas too)... As I was saying, the best way to stop her advances is to have a good pair of tungsten tipped trekking poles (like Leki Makalu for example, and no, they don't pay me anything to advertise for them, but this is what I take for trekking) and know how to use them. It was a battle for me last time but I managed to escape, thank God!

I still have a suspicion that Escher or Oli might have succumbed to her, as the following season no one saw her in the mountains, and rumorus were abounding about her raising a bunch of todlers in some cave somewhere, on the North side of Khumbila. But this is all hearsay, and I would not want to be take to courst for this. Just a suspicion, that's all. Escher especially was very non comital in his replies.


In terms of repertoir: I love Bach, but for the majesty of the mountains you might want to consider Beethoven's Fifth piano concerto (with a cd Orchestral back up) and maybe some Debussy to balance things out. If you want to do Chopin, the Dinu Lipatti's 1954 collection is the ultimate for me, an inspiration. Are you that good? Sorry for the incredulous question, but if you're going to carry a grand piano uphill from Jorsale to Namche it must be for a reason...

[Escher]

My psychiatrist (god bless him) Dr Bob Dick always tried to listen to, acknowledge, check and enquire (L.A.C.E) about my state of mind and my feelings, and responded in kind with information, decisions and outcomes (F.I.D.O). Although whenever I studied an inkblot all I could see was a dog in lingerie, however hard I tried to picture my mother.

But I did learn that it is important for the first time trekker to arrange for at least one porter for each of their multiple personalities, as each will have their own tastes and their creature comforts will need to be catered for - be those a large razor and an industrial size can of shaving foam or a string quartet to accompany a high altitude piano concerto.

Madness is all to common these days. One can so easily be pushed over the edge by such simple matters as high expectations, the misaligned trajectory of a thrown object (even if this is a very common occurrence) and a blind Englishman's disregard for the wishes of a nation. It nearly brings tears to your eyes. <sniff>

[julia]

My psychiatrist (god bless him) Dr Bob Dick always tried to listen to, acknowledge, check and enquire (L.A.C.E) about my state of mind and my feelings, and responded in kind with information, decisions and outcomes (F.I.D.O). Although whenever I studied an inkblot all I could see was a dog in lingerie, however hard I tried to picture my mother.

But I did learn that it is important for the first time trekker to arrange for at least one porter for each of their multiple personalities, as each will have their own tastes and their creature comforts will need to be catered for - be those a large razor and an industrial size can of shaving foam or a string quartet to accompany a high altitude piano concerto.

Madness is all to common these days. One can so easily be pushed over the edge by such simple matters as high expectations, the misaligned trajectory of a thrown object (even if this is a very common occurrence) and a blind Englishman's disregard for the wishes of a nation. It nearly brings tears to your eyes. <sniff>



Have you been drinking coffee Escher!?

[yakshaver]

Have you been drinking coffee Escher!?

Coffee? Escher seems in withdrawal from something or other...

[julia]

Hi Rev


Here is the website for the FP Baby Grand Piano.

Take the Fisher Price model, it will be much easier for the porters to carry up the mountains, and I understand the quality of the tone is second to none!


http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=2341&e=detail&pcat=bulnl&pid=37149

[Rev.A.Shkay]

Hi Rev


Here is the website for the FP Baby Grand Piano.

Take the Fisher Price model, it will be much easier for the porters to carry up the mountains, and I understand the quality of the tone is second to none!


http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=2341&e=detail&pcat=bulnl&pid=37149


Dear Julia,

This particular model is a bit small for my requirements... Though I see the funny side of it: Baby-Grand-Piano, eh :)

In regards to Escher's kind reply, do you know Prof.Dick? Great man! I did not know he got his PhD... He was always against the system. Quoting one of the big rock bands who (apparently) sing: "if you think the system works, ask someone who ain't...". Arrested Development, or some such.
Lovely man. Bob Dick, I mean.

I may have to tone down (pardon the pun) my piano wishes for the Himalayas, I think. Maybe I'll just take an electric keyboard, with the assorted battery and solar charger pack. Hopefully there's going to be enough sunshine on trek. At least in our souls...

God bless.