njmenninger

Most people only know about those who attempt Everest's peak, but there's almost a hundred thousand more that climb to its base camp, its neighboring mountains, and its general area every year. Do I think anyone can do this, yes? But you've gotta know yourself and train accordingly. No doubt, there are many who haven't trained sufficiently for their own bodies. Sometimes, Porters have to physically carry their clients.

Very surpised to encounter a foreign Porter (I was actually working with Tamang and not Sherpa, another ethnic group in the mountains). But as time passed, word spread. Foreigners started asking for pics, then locals and soon enough everyone kind of knew about me. We even had a whole group of locals and foreigners cheering at the end when I tried to carry 100 kilos - I think most thought I was just that nuts dude. As for the latter questions, it's quite a lot to explain, but I think the film does a good job of showing how I was treated. I was definitely treated differently, and at different times. But I should've been. Afterall, I was only doing their job for a month as opposed to a full year like many other porters.

1) Socially, I came from a pretty wealthy neighborhood up in Boston, Mass. Then a spur of colleges and Universities, afterwhich I left and for 5 years hence, sought the opposite. I became pretty poor, slept on people's floors, in closets, in hostels in exchange for food and a bed, lived out of a bag and ate white rice with salt for food. I raised money for this film from a gift, a former doctor, a teammate and a highshool classmate.
2) It didn't hit me until after I came back, until after I burned out in Hollywood - to which I flew directly from Nepal - but when it did, it really messed me up. And quite clearly, showed me just how little adversity I've had and how privelaged I've been.
Thank you Jess!

Everything. You carry their everything. Most trekkers will have a small backpack with a backup shirt and a waterbottle/snacks, and climbers might have more, like their crampons and a jacket or what not. But all nightly items, the Porter usually carries. Unfortunately, we don't get too look inside the bags, so I don't know. But you can imagine, people bring some weird stuff up to that altitude. Weird electronics, face oils, things like that.

This project really shifted me around a bit, and seeing as though they let me into their culture and life not just to work, but to do so with a camera, I'd really like to get as much of their story out as possible and raise awareness for the improvement of their salary. There's tons of other stuff I'd like to, but don't wanna jump the gun. Got my eyes on a few more issues for sure.