O2, just a letter and a number, it’s such a beautiful combination ❤
I have a favorite color, a favorite motorcycle brand, favorite country and music artist, but I haven’t had favorite letter and number till today, when I discovered the beauty of the letter O plus the number 2. Say with me O2, OOOOOOTWOOOOO, once again! oooooOOOOOooootwoooOOOOOoooooom 😀
I now perfectly remember when I had my first fish tank with a gold fish in it, and I was a little lazy to have the water replaced every day. After long weekends the liquid in the tank was sort of stuffy, and when I got it replaced by fresh and clear water, coming from the high peaks of our mountain range right straight to the tap, I could sense absolute happiness on those big eyes of my golden friend. Today I feel I’m a fishy swimming happy in my tank of fresh water, plenty of O2 molecules.Today I envision the future of my professional career. No more IT Geek stuff from 9am to 7 in the evening. Today I see myself as O2 bar tender in the North Col of Everest. You grab your tired butt into a big dome tent with reclinable chairs and chill out music on the background. A tibetan lady on miniskirt and nepali chap on muscle T-Shirt offer you the menu. You can opt for plain O2 or flavored. It is not a replica of a shisha place in Abu Dhabi, but still you have plenty of choices. You choose the flavor and the flow rate and I charge you per hour. 0.5l/m will cost you somewhat around AED200. 1l/m AED350, and if you have Starwoods membership or Airmiles from the Star Alliance you’ll get a complimentary Gu energy gel or Snicker chocolate bar. The oxygen masks are sanitized with a Detol wet tissue, and you get ready to relax and filling you lungs with the essential element… O2… mmmMMMMMmmmmmMMMMmmmm.
Yesterday we descended 1250m, and few day ago I was 1800m higher up from Base Camp, opening my mouth wide an average of 60 times per minute, just like my golden fish was doing after a long weekend swimming in stuffy water. Today I have a tank full of fresh water and I shaking my tail happily 😀
Last night I had wonderful dreams… A crew of Swedish lesbians were singing and feeding me grapes… Esperanza Aguirre in Spain was jailed because of importing illegal breast implants into the country… My gardener was finally doing a good job and not killing my flowers every weekend…
Then I woke up and started coughing. The fluids are turning green, meaning I had small chest infection up there, and now my immune system is getting strong and fighting back whatever virus or bacteria was preventing me from breathing properly.
The morning was absolutely stunning. I’ve took a nice and warm bucket shower, noticed I look like some of my Arab friends (I won’t trim my beard yet) and I lost a considerable amount of the fat I stored in my belly before the expedition (Angelica will be happy)
Life is good again at the North Side of Everest, holding a bottle of beer while listening to the latest gossiping from the dark side (i.e South). Simone Moro and Ueli Stek, two of the most popular climbers in todays’ world, had to run away and hide in the glacier after a horde of angry Sherpas tried committing murder. Seriously, this story is very weird… these two guys and their camera man must have done something really bad for the beautiful Sherpa community to go that crazy. Now I remember the incident we have two days back (see my blog post) and I can’t wait to get more news from reliable sources to better understand the whole story.
Meanwhile I’ll keep breathing plain O2 (not double-apple flavor available yet), and I can’t wait for the day when I’ll put my oxygen mask on… inhale… exhale… Ahhhhh, live is so good at Base Camp 🙂
Unlimited Potential, Up to 8000m 
Hi Javier,
many many thanks for all of these wonderful posts, you’re clearly havng a fabulous experience up there.
The Ueli Steck story is news in Switzerland too of course, he gave an interview to Swiss Television last night. He said that it was caused by Simone Moro having a row with the Sherpas and saying “Motherfucker, what are you doing”. And that was apparently enough to get them to start throwing rocks at the mountaineers and threatening them with worse. Although you said yourself that this is language the Sherpas won’t have, this can’t have been the whole story surely. I hope we get to hear their side of the story soon.
Meanwhile Steck says he’s considering giving up this sort of climbing.
All the best of luck to you and your new friends for the rest of your stay there, fingers crossed!!
grahame
Thank you very much my good friend for your kind words and following me on my adventure these days.
I think Ueli is just a victim of a nasty situation provoked by Simone… The Italian is going to pay a very high price, and I hope the Ministry of Tourism ban him from flying or climbing in Nepal. After what I experienced myself on summit nigh, I also think the Sherpa community is oversensitive, and that has to be addressed as well.
I hope to see you soon mate!