Reflections on the Ladakh Medical
Mission in encouraging Roger Herr
to be joining us through a NGS proposal, and a comment on the nature
of “True Believers” observing the exotic Buddhism of the “Kingdom in the Clouds”
From: Glenn Geelhoed
To: "herugo@earthlink.net".IA4GW.Harper
Date: 6/21/01 5:16PM
Subject: Re: One more, since I had referred to the Pin Valley disasterin1998,
when we deferred
Dear Roger:
I am cheering you on to go for the best! I hope that is the NGS, and it would not hurt if they knew you have a deadline to catch the Lufthansa flight on July 17, a month from this past Tuesday!
I do understand the pressures you are under, and hope that this makes for a big break in the right direction. I am eager that it happen soon, and the Ladakh mission would be ideal, but, then, so would any mission you were on be ideal, so I will hope for the first and make plans to get you "out the door" on the next one that floats your boat!
I spoke with Ravi, and he is eager to help as well, so he will start looking for some breaks. The group has now expanded to 24, although the logistics will be about the same, with a few extra vehicles in our convoy. We will be putting up army tents outside the Thicksay Monastery as well as the four rooms I have previously set up in their health post. Since I know that you and I are both into visual imagery, you can already picture the long queues of patient monks and novitiates in their red and saffron lined up in curiosity to see the Western medicine men, while twirling their prayer wheels and fingering the prayer beads. The backdrop is stunning, since the Thicksay Monastery is on a high hilltop, with a stark desert around it, with the chortens and prayer flags festooned over head, and a swatch of green where the snowmelt rushes down from the heights of Stok Kangri behind us‑‑a 22,500 foot peak of the Karakoram Range I was planning to climb with a couple of stalwarts after a week of acclimatization‑‑two days up and one day down to Lei, the capital of Ladakh "Kingdom in the Clouds."
For a teaser on what this is like, after the first day of rest and poking gently around the capital markets and Gompas, I would usually take a convoy up to the highest motorable pass on earth, at 18,380 feet, to get some heavy breathing started ‑‑looking out in the direction of Pakistani K‑2‑‑and to shake out a few of the crew for the next mission, which is to pack up from lei and to set out on our excursion up the Himalayan Massif.
We will make our way in convoy up the switchbacks of Himank ( The proud engineers of the Indian army corps "Himank Sweats, Mountains Melt!") and head toward Tso Morari, through a landscape that is "breathtaking " in several ways. There we will have our remote clinic along the saline lake‑‑among the highest on earth‑‑and find our way back along the origins of the Indus‑‑‑the earliest cradle of settled civilization antedating the Nile's agronomists, all the valley being beneficiaries of the "Abode of the Gods"= "Himalaya."
You asked if I were more than a casual student of the Buddhism here (the ancient "red‑hatted sect"). I am a "true believer" but not Buddhist, and have a good familiarity with the Mahabharata as well‑‑with epic references to this epicenter of the cosmology.. [Curiously, the "sacred mountain" here is also the point seismologists tell us was the subduction hypocenter of the collision of the subcontinent with the underbelly of Asia which pushed the Roof of the World as high as it now is and still growing higher in an orogeny of measurable centimeters per year, thanks to a bit of real‑time GPS work!]
While on the subject of Buddhism interactions with other religions with respect for each (I know you would like the Einstein quote in the temple at the prayer wheel in Lei I will point out to you, that eventually when religions and civilizations evolve to mutual respect, it will most closely resemble current Buddhism as a model of what should be aimed toward in the maturation of religious fervor) the area around Thicksay is historically Islamic‑‑and with a very good relation of the two faiths from the earliest time when the one rescued the other. That was blown apart just before my arrival last year, when a group of Buddhist monks were describing in their homily of the "debate" model, that Islam was not the true faith, and a group of extremists came back later and murdered the monks for this heresy. The army was moved in (a frontier hazard duty pay situation for them, as well as for the frontier artillery duelists at the Pakistani front you will skirt) and a curfew declared, with which we had little trouble complying along with the exertions of the day. After the initial shock of such violence in so peaceful and friendly a state of coexistence imported along with outside agitators, no further riots or any actions other than the consternation over both the reaction and the army's presence was voiced.
I come from a long line of "true believers;" yet some of my ancestors were sometimes a little bit short on one commodity in introspection when convinced by ritual or revelation rather than reason to impose upon others. I have made of this an example of my own beliefs, when I have stated before:
"I have many strongly held convictions; the strongest of which might be that I could conceivably be wrong, and should take no action to exterminate the ones who might yet enlighten me!"
I surely hope we join up on this, or the next possible excursion, together!
Cheers!
GWG
>>> "{USER_FIRSTNAME} {USER_LASTNAME}" <herugo@earthlink.net> 06/21/01 11:11AM >>>
Glenn,
Thanks for the return on my message. I am glad to have spoken with Kurt and
hope he fares well. I will talk with Ravi today.I can't fund the project on
my own at this point. I was let go from CNN after the latest merger with AOL
and am making my way as a freelancer, which means paying off loans on the broadcast
equipment I purchased to start the business as well as feeding the family, if
you catch my drift. If not for that small hurdle I would be out the door with
you tomorrow.
I will continue to pursue National Geo. TV for the story and hope they will
go for it. I don't think it can happen fast enough for the July trip. As you
mentioned though there are more trips this year and next. If you do find someone
who is willing to fund my travel in exchange for the video that I will shoot,
put us together and we'll see about making it happen. I'll keep in touch.
All the best,
rog
‑‑‑‑‑ Original Message ‑‑‑‑‑
From: "Glenn Geelhoed" <msdgwg@gwumc.edu>
To: <herugo@earthlink.net>
Cc: "Ravi Singh" <ravi@himalayanspirit.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2001 5:57 PM
Subject: Re: One more, since I had referred to the Pin Valley disasterin1998,
when we deferred
Thanks, Roger!
Kurt had called me and told me of your conversation at a rather tumultuous
time in his life, reaching me as I was returning from the Big Horn Ultra. I
had gathered up a file of hard copy materials for your proposal, but he said
he had forewarned you that there will be no shortage of supporting materials
and to beware lest I crash your email inbox with a flood of text and graphics
from the productive pen of a writer/wanderer! I have said in the web site you
have seen that I travel like an excited squid‑‑leaving a trail of
ink in my wake‑‑not to mention Kodachrome! Yes, I am doing very
well, thank you! My momentary burst of heroics was well invested in my nubile
female medical students, since each has gone on to great things that would have
been somewhat dampened in an overturned Tata in a flooded Himalayan river.
I simply strapped on my Koflach climbing boots when advised to take it easy
by the orthopedist who examined and X‑rayed the foot upon return, and
took off to climb over the Brooks Range immediately after seeing you! I would
LOVE to have you with us, and would be very interested in a "fast track"
proposal to get you on board. I do not know of any organization that is interested
now in funding such a trip, but I would be happy to clear the way with the outfitter,
who has already told me that our trip is oversubscribed (the limited seats on
the Delhi‑‑Lei charter are the bottleneck or capacity knothole in
the itinerary.) However, I had said I could take no more than a dozen medical
students, since I have to supervise every clinical interaction, but this is
such a popular trek from the reports that filtered back from my excursion there
last year, that hundreds (no, that is not really true‑‑‑actually,
over a thousand ) have applied and we have stretched the limit to include aver
twenty already. But, I am calling Ravi Singh right now and telling him I would
like to have you as a "Must" even if we have to substitute others.
I am also going to Spiti/Chang Thang Plateau/ Nepal/Lukla/Everest in September/October
as a fallback, and I am repeating each of the five Himalayan expeditions of
this year, as well as adding Sikkim and Bhutan for next year, along with planned
missions in Mindanao and Malawi in early 2002.) But I would push the proposal
for a Ladakh "Kingdom in the Clouds" for several reasons: I am carrying
several very special people along for a "first time" experience in
introducing them to this kind of adventure, at a variety of ages, prior history,
expectations and skill levels‑‑that would be good coverage of this
kind of adventure to see if others can identify with it, as they might not if
we were all fit and veteran surgeons, for example, as would be the case with
the trips I am taking in Jan/Feb of this year, I had Raghu Rai, the Indian
photojournalist (whose "coffee table books" include volumes on Kashmir,
etc) drop in for a few days in Lei, and he was overwhelmed with the photographic
potential of this trip. He shot scores of rolls of film on my interaction with
the students and the clinic patients, then was completely transfixed by the
first and only example he had ever encountered of a beatific "perfect light"
as we set off for a portrait backdrop‑‑from which you saw one of
the out‑takes. I thought all along that video would be a better medium.
I would not presume to substitute an amateur video for the real thing, since
I appreciate the power of the imaging done right‑‑as you might see
from a few volumes of my own still photos, carrousels of slides or audiotape
collections. Yes, Ravi Singh lives right next to you in Atlanta, and he is already
introduced to you by name since I called him when you and I had first talked,
and I will refresh him now by phone to expect your call. Let us see what we
can work out. I am excited to the point that I have just postponed the tag‑on
trip I was trying to work out in smershing another trip I am scheduled to take
through Russia to Kamchatka, Siberia in later August, I was trying to arrange
from Delhi through Moscow. But, I will now return to Washington in the interval
between the Lingshed extension (if you can‑‑stay on for this chartered
helicopter extension into a remote area after the return to Lei!) and take off
for the Russian excursion in the second week of August after my August 6th return
from Delhi. I am moving around stiffly today, thinking that I am very lucky,
since many people feel as I now do every day‑‑and I, at least, have
the luxury of a temporary and self‑inflicted disability‑‑like
the foot fracture from last year's "stream‑fording" on the way
to Tso Morari. I completed the Big Horn Ultra Run this weekend at 10,000 feet
up in the pristine wilderness over the Big Horn Canyon, running the wilderness
through calving elk and alpine wildflowers for 54.3 mountain miles to do what
I could against the elemental harsh beauty of that unpolluted environment in
Wyoming. What I could do, again, (my fourth Big horn and my seventh Ultra)
was just enough to finish the race, passing the cutoff points and picking up
the prize as the eldest of the survivors. It was wonderful‑‑and
I will forward to you my lyrical rhapsodies of the event, which usually constitute
an epiphany a little short of ecstasy, before the pain sets in and I surpass
the limits that should be there for good reason. I am already signed in for
next year's repeat!
I look forward to talking with you and so will Ravi, at 404/929‑9399 or
ravi@himalayanspirit.com
Cheers!
GWG
>>> "{USER_FIRSTNAME} {USER_LASTNAME}" <herugo@earthlink.net> 06/20/01
10:10AM >>>
Glenn,
Spoke with your friend and publisher at 3 Hawks last night. He continued to
heap praise on your work and will forward several copies of "Assa"
to me. I've been going through your journal excerpts that you emailed and figured
I should be up and running after hearing about your foot injury and rehab.
Doesn't it still hurt to run? Another thought, are you a student of Tibetan
Buddhism? The mention of Padmasambhava and his teachings in the trip itinerary
point out more than a passing interest.
Anyway, I'm making a hard pitch to get out the door on this and was wondering
if there is any space available on the July trip. I don't know if I can get
anyone to commit to the project within this amount of time so I might be jumping
the gun. I would love to go on the trip and document your work and have the
tape available for the proposal. But at this point it would be a stretch for
me financially. Will anyone with you be carrying a video camera? If so maybe
I could utilize their footage for the pitch. Another way is for me to come
along and document the whole trip for an interested organization. If the organization
could pick up my travel expenses then I could pick up all of the production
costs. This could be a win, win situation for all of us. Give me a call and
let's talk it over to determine what the possibilities might be.
By the way I was surprised to see that Himalayan Health Exchange is out of Decatur,
Ga. that's right next door to me. I was thinking of calling over there and
speaking to someone about the trip. Any suggestions?
Hope your run went well. Talk to you soon,
Roger
‑‑‑‑‑ Original Message ‑‑‑‑‑
From: "Glenn Geelhoed" <msdgwg@gwumc.edu>
To: <herugo@earthlink.net>
Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2001 3:30 PM
Subject: One more, since I had referred to the Pin Valley disaster in1998,when
we deferred
As I had referred to the note I had seen later of the Swedish team with a Sherpa
crew that had passed us at the Pin Valley when we declined to enter the higher
altitude trek in view of the rain in the Spiti Valley we had figured to be snow
at the higher elevations toward Mud, this New York Times piece was all I had
heard of that followup. And in my haste to forward the last years' adventure
travel reviews, I had neglected to send you the one for 2000 (text only‑‑photos
available upon request) in which we met over ANWR. I herewith remedy that incomplete
pass!
Cheers!
GWG