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Chris Upson Everest Sky Race - Thursday 20th
October
Chris is an able hill runner and peak bagger who has occasionally
joined Glenmorons for a weekend meet. In April 2005 he participated in
the Everest Sky Race, a 10-stage trail race of 280 km with 13,000m
ascent along with 42 other competitors including 10 women.
Chris had been to the region on an Everest base camp trek with Jagged
Globe the year before to get an idea of the terrain and conditions he’d
encounter in the race. Chris presented a fantastic slide show mainly
from this trek as, unsurprisingly, there were limited opportunities to
take photographs during the race itself. These started with the colour
and culture of Katmandu through the green forests, people and villages
of the lower slopes to the bare mountain and fantastic peaks of the
higher mountains.
Chris demonstrated his appreciation of the people and the landscape
during his talk and also his own determination and drive. He expressed
disappointment with fellow trekkers who couldn’t be bothered getting up
early enough to climb a minor peak in time for the best views of the
high mountains including Everest and incredulity that they’d rather play
cards in camp then get out and explore. We gained some insight into his
drive when looking at views from a peak he’d done 3 times in a row!
Having seen the route as a gently paced, fully supported trek, it was
hard to contemplate how anyone would cope running it with a pack. The
French organised Everest Sky Race has mainly Nepalese and French runners
with Chris as the only British entrant. Setting off from Lukla the
10-stage race visits Cho Oyu, Everest and Aba Dablam base camps, Gokyo
Ki, the high passes of Renjo La and Cho La with Kala Patter at 5545m the
highest point. During the 10 days Chris inevitably faced sickness which,
along with a lack of support from the race organisers, affected his
peformance. For most of us completing this race seems a fantastic
achievement in itself
www.everestskyrace.blogspot.com
Mary Cox
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