Nepal and Everest Base Camp

[Drew Wiley]

I don't know that it's that big a deal. People here at the company routinely go to Nepal and
Tibet and are not in anywhere near as good a shape as I typically am in summertime at least. Biking or hiking in the mtns for atitude adjustment is important, and decent overall
health. But Everest basecamp is a trek, not a climb. And nothing special is necessarily
needed if your camera gear is in decent shape. Have family members and friends who have
been all over there, right to the summit of Everest and even more difficult summits without any winterization of basic manual film SLR's. Some of the fancy newer electronic cameras did fail. Modern leaf-shutter view lenses shouldn't be a problem. You'll need to keep meter & other batteries warm. I rarely print for other people, but have done some Himalayan stuff taken at extreme altitudes where nothing special was needed other than UV of SL filtration.

[Vaughn]

Basic traveling tip...

I spent 3 and a half weeks in Costa Rica with the 4x5 -- traveling by public buses. I had a large backpack that my 4x5 camera pack and tripod could fit into, along with what I needed for the trip (not much in a warm climate!) It was nice not advertising that I have a bunch of photo equipment. I just looked like a crazy American would could not decide what to leave home, so brought everything!

Vaughn

[kansasjhawk]

Check your life insurance.
Flying within Nepal is as risky as it gets!

Luckily, I'm not married. I'm gonna make sure my will is done before then though!

[adelorenzo]

I haven't had a chance to try my 4x5 in extreme cold yet but I was out at -30 C on the weekend. It seems like it will probably be warmer where you are going, but here are a few things to consider:

1. Hands. You can only have your bare hands out of your mittens for a few seconds before they start to freeze. A thin glove will help a bit but anything that will actually keep you warm will be difficult to operate the camera.
2. Ground glass. Your breath will cover it with frost it instantly. Going under the darkcloth is like going underwater and holding your breath, or you could use a scarf or something to cover your face.
3. Camera controls. My fine focusing knobs were inoperable so I could only focus by moving the standards. I'm going to have to strip the grease out of them and loosen them off if I want to be able to focus accurately.
4. Shutter. I had no problems with this and I have never had any problems with a camera shutter at extreme temperatures.
5. Film. Can get brittle in the cold but obviously less of a concern with sheet film. I would definitely recommend handling film (loading/unloading) in a warmer environment.

The biggest thing for me was that I was feeling very rushed due to the cold. Trying to set controls without freezing my hands, not being able to really spend time in front of the ground glass due to frost... It showed in my film as I ruined 2 out of 8 shots and really didn't like any of the other sheets.

[Drew Wiley]

Probably not even as bad as Winter photography for most of us in general, and not everything on such a trek is at really high altitude. I've equipped family members for high
arctic and even antarctic work without winterization - just really simple reliable things like
Nikon FM's or cheapo Pentax MX's, and no issues except cold batteries. Eliot Porter did
his classic Antarctic work with no modification at all to his 4x5 gear. There are times I wish
I was wearing a snorkel to keep breath from freezing on a groundglass, however.

[eddie]

Check your life insurance.
Flying within Nepal is as risky as it gets!

Yeah! You should see the approach and landing at the lukla airport. I am not sure if it was more scary coming in to land or flying out on take off! Wild to say the least. Well worth the price of admission!

[Brian Sims]

The only thing that convinced me to to take off from Lukla (runway with a 12% slope) was the fear of spending another night in a room with rats running overhead in the ceiling. Landing wasn't scary until I got out of plane and looked at the runway we just landed on.

[kansasjhawk]

I successfully made it back from Nepal. In retrospect I think taking the 4x5 was more trouble than it was worth (unfortunately). I took 3 boxes of film and only took 6 pictures with the 4x5. I just didn't have the time (and in some cases energy) to devote to a big camera. I'll see how the pictures I did take come out.....I'm a bit worried about the X-ray machine at the domestic terminal in Kathmandu. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I didn't ruin 3 boxes of film.

[jloen]

I did the trip in March one year, and we were turned around by a blizzard. We got horribly sick as well.
Please post photos if they came out OK!

[Brian Sims]

How many pounds did you lose?