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| Posted on Sun, Feb. 15, 2004 |
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Nepalese climber has high hopes Nawang
Sherpa hesitated after a California climber offered to make his lifelong
dream to scale Mount Everest a reality. Tom
McMillan's invitation to include Nawang in a 2004 expedition erased
a major obstacle: money for food, transportation, manpower, gear and
fees. But
he still needed at least one spare leg and an extra foot, maybe two,
to scale the 29,035-foot peak. The
29-year-old Nepalese sidar, or trekking guide, lost his left leg below
the knee to a motorcycle wreck four years ago. The injury galvanized
Nawang's friends, former clients and Ed Hommer, the late Fish Lake,
Minn., climber who shared an admiration of Nawang's skills and ambition. In
April 2002, Nawang traveled to Duluth to be outfitted with a flexible,
durable prosthetic designed for climbing by Hommer, a double-amputee,
and Cloquet's Tom Halvorson. Five months later, Hommer died in a rock
slide on a Washington mountain while training for a second attempt
at Mount Everest -- an expedition he planned to undertake with Nawang. Nawang
returned to Duluth on Monday, this time at the invitation of Hommer's
friends and officials at High Exposure, a foundation Hommer launched
to provide prostheses for those in need. On
Thursday, Nawang will leave for San Francisco with two spare carbon
fiber and titanium legs, an extra pair of carbon graphite left feet
and four liners for padding and insulation. "That's
one thing Ed wanted to do -- help Nawang," said Halvorson, a
High Exposure director and certified prosthetist for Hanger Prosthetics
and Orthotics in Duluth. "It's finishing something that Ed wanted
to do." The
prosthetics give Nawang backups in case his artifical leg and foot
become damaged by the icy, treacherous conditions on Mount Everest's
historic southeast ridge route, known as the South Col. "We're
preparing him for Everest," Halvorson said. "We want him
to stand on top of the hill." THE EXPEDITION From
camp, climbers will face unstable ice formations, called seracs, precarious
crevasses and the Lhotse Face, a steep wall of ice, before reaching
26,300 feet, or the death zone. At that height, the body no longer
adjusts to the mountain's thin air. McMillan
and Nawang hope to reach the summit in May and return to Kathmandu
in June. McMillan,
Nawang, three guides, a cook and an aide are expected to arrive at
a Mount Everest base camp, at 17,300 feet, early in April. The
expedition, which is sponsored by the American Alpine Club, has raised
$45,000, almost entirely from private donations by executives at AMB
Property Corp., where McMillan works as a software developer. McMillan's
employer, Hamid Moghadam, proposed the expedition and donated $20,000. McMillan
immediately thought of Nawang after receiving Moghadam's offer. "I
like him and respect him," he said. Scaling Mount Everest will
boost Nawang's career as a high-altitude guide. "Think
how cool it's going to be to be standing up there with him,"
McMillan said. Nawang
met McMillan during the California climber's 1998 attempt at Annapurna,
a 26,545-foot high mountain in Nepal. Nawang acted as a guide for
15 trekkers who joined McMillan at Annapurna's base camp, including
McMillan's wife, Linda. "Nawang
was our shepherd," she explained. "That's how we felt. We
were pretty clueless." Nawang's
skills, determination and friendly, professional attitude impressed
the 15-person crew, Linda McMillan explained. PRESSING ON When
the trekkers learned of Nawang's wreck, they sponsored his trip to
the University of California-San Francisco, where doctors outfitted
him with a sturdy prosthetic. Nawang
lived with the McMillans during his one-month stay in 2001. The Bay
area couple and the guide from Nepal's Khumbu district became close
friends. It
was Linda McMillan and Seattle climber Jim Wickwire who introduced
Nawang to Hommer as he returned from an unsuccessful 2001 Mount Everest
expedition. Hommer
championed access to prosthetics and used his expeditions to erase
stigma that amputees are limited by their disability. "This
isn't about Ed Hommer," he said before his attempt to become
the first double-amputee to scale Mount Everest. "This is about
the capabilities of the human spirit and what any of us can accomplish." Hommer
launched High Exposure to provide prosthetics to those in need. Nawang
became the foundation's first client in 2002, after his original prosthetic
became loose as muscles in Nawang's limb atrophied. The
Duluth prosthetic allowed him to resume climbing, Nawang said. With
encouragement from his employer, Peak Promotions, he scaled 21,000
feet on Mount Everest in 2003. Nawang
recalled thinking: "I'm happy. I'll make it one day to the Mount
Everest summit," he said Tuesday. "I love to climb." Helping
prepare Nawang for Mount Everest honors Hommer's mission to see that
amputees are not hampered by ill-fitting prosthetics or discouraged
by their disability, said Sarah Cron, a High Exposure director. "Ed's
number one goal was to spread the message of hope," she said.
"Ed could run. Ed could ride a bike. Ed climbed mountains. Ed
lost both his legs." And
Hommer liked the guide from Nepal. "Nawang
meant so much to Ed," she said. The
foundation languished after Hommer's death. McMillan's and Nawang's
expedition has "reinvigorated" its board of directors, she
said. "It's
a pretty big deal." MELANIE EVANS covers health care. Call her
at (218) 720-4154 or (800) 456-8282 or e-mail her at mevans@duluthnews.com.
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