Tangerines

Daene McKinney and I were standing on  small bridge crossing a rushing river trying to remember the word for bundled stones used to protect river banks or bridge. We were at around 4000 m, where the forest landscape gives way to shrubs and grasses;  this was no small task for our tired, oxygen starved brains.  Daene knew it was not “caisson.”  I suggested “gabbion.”  That seemed right to both of us, but we agreed to verify at sea level.

(Photo by Daniel Byers)

That problem behind us, I turned and looked up the hill we had to climb out of the valley to reach Dingboche. A heavy mist and light rain had blown in, and through the mist I could see 20 tangerine colored figures trudging up the path.  The tangerines were members of our group, protected from the rain by the jackets North Face donated to this expedition.  The jackets are gossamer thin, like tissue paper, but tough and water resistant.  Everyone’s reaction has been the same: first, skepticism at their thinness, followed by awe at their utility.  it rained the day we passed them out, and everyone was grinning and talking about these magic jackets.

The orange color gives the group a common identity.  It also serves as a conversation starter.  Several trekkers and more than one porter have stopped me to ask if we’re part of a group, rubbing the jacket between their fingers as they ask.  This gives me an opening to tell them about the expedition and a quick lesson on glacier lakes.  But what they really want is the jacket.

The jacket envy stems partly from the fact that these jackets have not yet been pirated in the shops of Thamel Market in Kathmandu.  Thamel is a maze of small shops selling crafts and knock-offs of name brand labels: North Face, Mountain Hardware, etc.  If it is made of fabric, you can probably find a low-priced copy in Thamel.  But not these tangerine jackets.  The fabric and design are just too new.

- John