Alcohol consumption is a customary part of Sherpa culture, and it seems that it is available to everyone of all ages in Nepal. Traditionally the Sherpa people brew their own “chang” (rice beer) and drink it heavily for social gatherings and parties. This is actually a very mild alcoholic drink, with an alcoholic content comparable to weak American beers. It is served warm (like Japanese sake) and it is a little sour with a yeast smell (like pizza dough). The Sherpas will prepare a batch and let it sit at least a month to get a richer flavor and higher level of alcohol. The Sherpas prepare “rakshi”, distilled from potatoes like vodka, but again it’s kind of weak (Pema will be hurt). I didn’t see anyone passed out from the drink, and I never heard any complaints of a hangover while we were on the trails, so it doesn’t seem like there is much of a drinking problem in the mountains. However, you would think someone was hitting the sauce pretty hard by seeing all the porters carrying enormous stacks of beer cases up from Lukla. Those cans of beer (San Miguel) are priced a little high for the Sherpas I’m guessing, so it’s for the benefit of the trekkers.

After spending some time camping in the mountains I got to really like some of the equipment and the clothing layers that we adopted for the environment. Typically you make good use of Nalgene bottles, carabiners, your daypack, and lots of fleece and wicking materials. Those things turn out to be very useful and adaptable in the rest of the world too, and some of the ideas have stuck. I see carabiner keychains all the time and I especially grew accustomed to the warmth and comfort of wearing a layer or two of thin fleece to keep warm and dry. It seemed no matter what the activity level or the weather conditions that was a great base layer. Of course I could wear a thicker fleece vest or jacket over that, but most of the time the one long-sleeve shirt was perfect. Wearing my polypro undies as pajamas is just fantastic. I also got to like the thin hiking socks a lot. They’re made of a mix of materials that give good texture and they’re pretty warm. I see Richard wearing his Mountain Grabbers™ fleece vest most of the time, so it looks like he took onto the habit as well. Clothing made for hiking is just so comfortable, relaxed, and versatile that you feel you could get out and do anything, or just sit down and have some more hot chocolate.