What's His Passion 2 - Climbing the Savage Mountain (10 page)

“I just don’t see the point of rehashing my family history. None of that matters any more. I have my family right here. You. These three. Your parents and siblings. Heck, even Simpson is part of it.” Jensen tilted his head at Jigger and Cat. “Maybe someday we’ll have kids to add to it.”

“Oh we’ll have kids,” Toby swore.

His heart jumped. All Jensen knew about raising kids was not to do what his parents had done. He had a feeling that would be a good rule to follow when they added children to their lives.

Chapter Nine

…but attempting to climb Everest is an intrinsically irrational act—a triumph of desire over sensibility. Any person who would seriously consider it is almost by definition beyond the sway of reasoned argument.

—Jon Krakauer, Into Thin Air

“We got here all right and met up with the guides from the company. We’re going to hang here in Katmandu for a day while the rest of the group comes in. Once we’re all here, we’ll take a prop jet out to Lukla before we trek up to Base Camp,” Jensen told Toby over the phone. He leaned against the wall in the room he was sharing with Jigger and Cat.

“Did all your stuff make it over there okay?” Toby sounded relieved that they’d completed the first step of their journey without incident.

He chuckled. “Yeah. It’s stored with the rest of the expedition’s stuff or we wouldn’t fit into our room.”

Toby laughed. “You did take a lot of stuff.”

Jensen nodded, even though Toby couldn’t see him. “There was a lot, but you know it was for three people. Thank God, I don’t have to carry it all. Most of it will be carried up to Base Camp by yak, with our Sherpas keeping an eye on it.”

“Will you be able to keep in touch when you get there?” The hesitation in Toby’s voice told Jensen he was afraid of seeming too needy.

“As long as the weather is good, we should be able to make some calls while there, plus I’ll write you a letter every night I can. I won’t be able to mail them to you, but it’ll give you something to read when I get home.”

He’d packed several notebooks, planning on keeping a journal about his climb. It would be even nicer to turn the entries into letters to Toby. Maybe it would help Toby connect with the trip.

“I’d love to read them.” Toby yawned. “I better get to bed.”

“Sorry about the late call,” he apologized.

Toby grunted. “No. Don’t worry about it. Call me whenever you get the chance. I promise I’ll answer, even if I’m at work. I’ll just explain that my husband is climbing Everest. They’ll all be suitably impressed.”

Laughing, Jensen looked up to see Jigger peer around the door then motion to him to come on. “Hey love, I have to go. Have a meeting with the guides to decide strategy on the mountain. I’ll call as soon as I can tomorrow.”

“All right. I love you. Have fun and please be safe.”

“I love you too, Toby.”

Toby ended the call first and Jensen slid his phone in his jacket pocket. He scrubbed his hand over his hair as he went to join Jigger out in the hallway. Cat stood a little bit away, chatting with one of the other female climbers going out with them on this expedition.

“Toby doing okay?” Jigger asked while pushing himself off the wall.

“Yeah. I’m glad we were able to get a layover in New York so I could see him before we flew here.” He ran his thumb over the wide band on his ring finger. He’d gotten into the habit of doing that after Toby had flown home. It soothed him.

“Good.” Jigger gathered the others and led the way downstairs to one of the conference rooms in the hotel where their guides were waiting for them.

* * * *

Two days later, Jensen stepped off the plane in Lukla, fighting the urge to drop to his knees and kiss the runaway. He’d heard stories about how scary flying in and out of Lukla could be, but he’d thought they were exaggerated. The pilots had to be experienced and bloody fearless to guide their planes into the village. There was a very small margin for error with the short runway and sharp drop off at the end of it. Hell, if the plane didn’t get off the ground on takeoff—or stop soon enough on landing—the aircraft and its passengers could careen into an unforgiving obstacle.

Jensen stopped to glance around, mostly to quit trembling, but also to stare at some of the most beautiful scenery he’d ever seen. Mountains covered with green forest surrounded Lukla. Luckily the weather was good today, so the sky was clear. Yet fog clung to the uppermost parts of the trees, giving the scenery a haunted feel, as though the ghosts of the long dead gathered among them.

He carried his backpack across the small tarmac, following his guides to the Everest Summit Lodge where they were staying for the night. Jigger and Cat were right behind him. The outside of the lodge was built with native stone and the sharp angled roof peaks added the rustic flare Jensen had been hoping for. The hardwood floors and wood paneled walls gleamed. It looked like a great deal of care went into making the lodge beautiful for the trekkers who stayed there. There was a very laid-back feel to the place. Jensen relaxed, soaking up the peacefulness. He wished he could bottle it and take some with him when they left for Base camp, because he knew he wasn’t going to find much once they were up on the mountain.

After they got their rooms and dumped their bags, they went down to get something to eat since their flight was the last one in from Katmandu at three-thirty in the afternoon.

When they were seated and had gotten their tea, Jensen looked at his friends and exhaled. “Thank God Toby isn’t with us. I think he would’ve lost his mind if he had to fly into this airport.”

“I know. Holy shit! You have to be crazy or a very competent pilot to land and take off here.” Jigger shook his head. “Just think… We get to do that on our way back home.”

“Oh come on, mate. It wasn’t that bad.” Rodney, one of their guides, said, as he joined them at their table. Rodney wasn’t the head guide, but he’d been to Everest six times and had experience with other high altitude climbs.

All the guides with the expedition had solid reputations in the climbing community, which was why they’d chosen to go with them. Yet Jensen wondered if all that high altitude climbing had destroyed more brain cells than Rodney could afford to lose.

“Maybe if I took that flight on a regular basis, I’d get used to it, but then again, maybe not.” Jensen sipped his tea. “When do we head out?”

“The Sherpas will be taking the yaks out tomorrow around four in the morning. We’ll leave a little later heading to Namche Baazar. It’ll take us two days to reach it. It’s at eleven thousand two hundred and ninety feet. We’ll rest there for a day while getting acclimatized.” Rodney scratched his chin. “Then hike another two days to Dingboche at thirteen thousand nine hundred and eighty feet. Another rest day before we head out for Base Camp. It’ll take another two days for us to reach that.”

“Base Camp is at seventeen thousand five hundred and ninety-eight feet right?” Jigger pulled out the beat-up leather journal he’d carried on all his climbs then flipped through the pages to get where he’d written down the stats for Everest.

“Right, man. A week to get there. It’s slow, but it’ll help get you used to the altitude around here. I’ve had altitude sickness before and it sucks. Plus, you don’t want to cut your trip short by rushing it.” Rodney waved to some of the other climbers. “I heard this is your last one, Cat.”

She nodded. “Yes. We have a daughter, and I just don’t have the drive to go any more. Don’t want to make her an orphan either.”

Rodney nodded as he pulled a wallet from his back pocket. “I got two little girls myself. Hate to leave them every season, but it’s the only way I can climb and get paid for it.”

He showed the pictures around and Jensen agreed they were cute.

“You don’t have kids, do you, Brockhoff?” Rodney eyed him then noticed the ring on his finger. “But you must have got hitched at some point. Congratulations on that. Thought you were gay though.”

“It’s Schwartzel now. I am gay, and I live in a state that allows me to get married,” he told Rodney. “I got married in February. No, we don’t have kids yet. It’s something we’ll probably think about when I stop climbing.”

Rodney chuckled. “Good plan, mate. My wife would rather we had waited as well. First one was a surprise, you know. Oh hey, are you guys in the trip to K2 next year that Ransom’s putting together?”

Jigger nodded and they got talking about how that looked to be panning out. Jensen wasn’t interested in that at the moment. He was taking Toby’s advice and focusing on one trip at a time. No need to get excited about K2 when he still had to summit Everest.

He’d carried his camera down with him, so he took a few candid shots of Jigger, Cat and Rodney before he set it aside when their meals arrived. The staff at the lodge was very courteous and most of them spoke some English.

“Will you all be using supplemental oxygen?” Rodney glanced at them.

“Yes,” Jensen answered.

“Awesome. I’ll be using it too. I did the summit once in true alpine style, you know. No oxygen except what I could drag into my tired overworked lungs. Just about killed me getting back down, especially when there was a bottleneck at the Step.” Rodney grimaced. “I’m pretty sure everyone with our expedition is using oxygen on this climb.”

While they ate, they talked about different climbs they’d done and which ones had turned dangerous without warning. Other people wandered by as other expeditions arrived to start their own treks to Base Camp. Jensen saw a few people he knew, but there seemed to be a lot of strangers.

“How many groups are going out this season?” he asked Rodney as they were getting ready to leave the dining room.

Rodney squinted off into the distance while he thought. “At least eight are heading out now. Hightower wants to be one of the first to try and summit this season. He doesn’t like going later because the ladders at the Step get worse for wear after a while, plus they’re only maintained through the end of May.”

“Right. Still…eight groups with ten to twenty climbers in each group is a lot to shepherded up and down the mountain,” he commented as they stepped outside.

“Aye,” Rodney agreed. “Some of these guys are going to need their hands held while doing it. Luckily, High made sure our group was filled with experienced climbers. All of you have done at least one or two other eight thousand meter climbs, so you aren’t going to get swept up in summit fever. Or I hope you won’t.”

Jensen shook his head. “I won’t. As much as I’d love to have Everest on my résumé, if High—or any of you—tell me to turn back before I hit the top, I will. I have someone expecting me to get home in one piece. I’m not going to disappoint him by going against the advice of my guides. Hell, that’s what I’m paying you for.”

“Good on you for that, mate.” Rodney slapped Jensen’s shoulder. “I have to go find High and see what he needs me to do. See you in the morning.”

“Bright and early,” he muttered as Rodney strolled away.

“Still doesn’t feel real, does it?” Jigger stepped up beside Jensen and they stared in the direction of Everest, the peak shrouded in clouds. Nature hid the massive mountain from the prying eyes of mere humans and rarely deigned to give them even a glimpse of its magnificence.

“No. Probably won’t until we get to Base Camp and start climbing. Hell, it might not seem real until we’re standing at the summit of Everest, looking down at the rest of the world.” Jensen held up his camera. “I’m going to get some pictures around here for Toby and his parents.”

“Aren’t they your parents too now?” Jigger elbowed him before wandering back inside the lodge.

Jensen didn’t reply as he took off to get some good shots of the scenery and the airport. He knew those would scare Toby to death, but as long as Jensen didn’t think about it, he’d be able to climb on the airplane when it was time to go home.

* * * *

“Were you able to talk to Jensen today?” Simpson asked, as he flopped down into the chair across from Toby’s desk.

He looked up from his computer screens and nodded. “Yes. He called before they started out on the first part of their hike up to Base Camp.”

“Why can’t they just fly up there?” Simpson grimaced. “I can’t imagine hiking anywhere.”

Toby chuckled. “You’d only hike if it involved naked women and alcohol.”

“Now that would be an entertaining way to go for a walk.” Simpson leered.

Rolling his eyes, Toby hit save for the file he’d been working on before giving his friend his full attention. “First of all, there’s not enough air up where the camp is to support an airplane. It’s even difficult for helicopters to get up there, which is why being med-evac’d out is a big production. Second of all, there is no room to put a landing strip on the side of the mountain. Thirdly, they need to take the week to start getting acclimatized to the lower oxygenated air they’ll be breathing. Climbing Everest isn’t a cakewalk, Simpson.”

Simpson huffed in annoyance. “I know that, Schwartzel. I’m not a complete idiot. So tell me? What’s married sex like?”

“Do you want me to tell you all the details?” He wiggled his eyebrows then burst out laughing when Simpson gave him a disgusted look. “You were the one who asked.”

“I know. What the hell was I thinking?” Simpson smacked himself in the forehead. “Actually what I wanted to know was, do you feel any different now that you and Brockhoff are married? More secure about him?”

After standing, Toby paced his small office. He was one of the lucky ones who had his own workspace instead of being out in the open area of the bullpen, as they called it. “I don’t think I feel any different. I like having this ring on my finger and knowing he wears a matching one. Being married to me isn’t going to change things for him except his last name. It’s just one more way we’ve entwined our lives to the point where it’ll be very painful for us to break apart.”

Simpson shifted in his chair then stuck out his foot to nudge Toby when he went by. Stopping, Toby met his friend’s serious gaze.