"It was 4 a.m. in mid-November, and I was stretching in a lodge in Thorong Phedi, Nepal, at 14,500 feet, trying to pump warmth back into my body and get rid of a throbbing headache brought on by dehydration and altitude sickness. Wolfing down chapati bread with jam and a fried egg, I chased it with pints of hot tea and water, and started to feel better. I knew I was going to need all my strength.
"Fifteen of us, along with porters and guides, were about to climb Thorong La, a pass 17,769 feet up in the Himalayas."
So begins a "Personal Journeys" travel article in today’s New York Times titled "In Nepal, a Long, Cold Climb to Inspiration."
A news article in the Times this weekend, however, might give readers some serious reservations before rushing to book flights to Nepal or Tibet to go mountain climbing in the Himalayas.
That article says, in part:
The husband of [Democratic U.S.] Representative Carolyn B. Maloney of New York died after scaling a mountain peak during an expedition in Tibet, Ms. Maloney’s office announced on Saturday.
Her husband, Clifton H. W. Maloney, 71, had returned safely to a high-altitude base camp after reaching the summit of the 27,000-foot Himalayan peak Cho Oyu…Mr. Maloney said he was “the happiest man in the world,” went to sleep and never woke up, the statement said.
The statement described Mr. Maloney as an avid climber, sailor and runner who had finished the New York City Marathon 20 times. He was a vice president at Goldman Sachs before starting his own investment firm, C. H. W. Maloney & Company, in 1981…
