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Life at altitude: Miami's Nepal experience

Megan Brooks

Not many people can say that they've climbed a part of Mount Everest.

But this summer, after 14 Miami students climb 5,400 feet to the mountain's base camp, they will be able to say just that.

The opportunity is part of a summer program that two Miami University professors decided to restart for the summer 2007.

"It's an excellent opportunity for Miami, it's not a trip you can do by yourself," said Janardan Subedi, Miami sociology and gerontology professor. "You have to have an organized group along with experts in order to make it happen."

Subedi and Mark Walsh; assistant professor of physical education, health and sports studies; planned a trip with 14 students that will take place from May 15 to June 13. The group is a mix of both undergraduate and graduate students from a variety of disciplines.

The six credit hours students receive for learning about Nepali culture include the 5,400-meter climb up Mount Everest and a five-week course involving readings before the students depart. The course concludes with a final project comparing each student's own culture with a version of Nepali culture, Walsh said.

Cheryl Young, director of the Office of Continuing Education, said this program is one of 172 summer programs that will occur through Miami this summer.

"It is a great opportunity because students are able to travel with Miami professors to a location that really is different, it's not your Florence program and it is something that is focused on different aspects, such as culture, health and sports studies - it is a very physical program," Young said.

This is not the first time that there's been a summer program at Miami that takes students to Nepal. Subedi, a native of Nepal, took Miami students every summer from 1992 to 2002. Political unrest made it unsafe to travel after 2002 - however Subedi said it is now considered safe to return.

"Things are much better now than they have been and so it's finally time to do this again," Subedi said.

Young said that 10 other universities are sending students to Nepal this summer as well.

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Subedi invited his friend, Walsh, to be a part of the coordination and according to Walsh, he had no problem getting involved.

"It really just sounded like an awesome trip and there didn't seem to be a downside," Walsh said.

The cost of the trip equals the cost of six Miami credit hours plus an additional $5,500 for travel expenses.

"When I first heard how much it cost I thought it was really expensive, but then when I looked at other trips it didn't seem so bad," Walsh said. "If you think about it, it costs so much more to travel halfway across the world to Nepal versus just traveling to Europe."

Subedi explained that the program was popular in the past.

"When I did it for those 10 years it was one of the most successful summer workshops that Miami offered, based on impact, student popularity and challenge provided," Subedi said.

In the past, the trip has averaged 25 students each summer for 10 years. Walsh and Subedi are pleased with the 13 students that enrolled in the program after such a long break of offering it at Miami.

They publicized the summer workshop by posting flyers throughout academic buildings and bulletin boards on campus and talking to their students about the opportunity.

Since Subedi is a native of Nepal and visits there four times a year, he is the major connection between Miami and the Nepali culture.

Having someone on the trip with knowledge of the culture is crucial because with 30 million people and more than 75 different ethnic groups speaking 36 different languages in Nepal, it would be easy for students to get overwhelmed.

"We are very ethnocentric here compared to other countries, we're less worried about others," Walsh said. "I want the students to be exposed, to get the chance to immerse themselves in another culture."

The trip takes students to Kathmandu, Nepal's capital, where participants will begin to adapt to their new surroundings. From there they will meet 20 Sherpas, who are the people indigenous to the mountainous region in Nepal that borders China.

Following the direction of the Sherpas will ensure that the students stay on the right path while climbing Everest and allow student to go at their own pace.

"Every student will be assigned to a Sherpa, which allows students to be safe while being able to travel individually," Walsh said. "It also gives students another opportunity to learn more about another culture."

The Sherpas will carry everything the group needs to survive including tents, down jackets and food, leaving the students with only the task of carrying a day pack, which will include things like chapstick, water and sunblock, according to Walsh.

Although the students are only climbing to the base camp, they need to be in good physical shape. Walsh compares the climb to familiar locations to stress the importance of altitude - the climb is about two and a half times higher than Mexico City, or three times higher than the Mile High City in Denver.

"It is crucial for the students to have the right frame of mind and be in good physical shape," Subedi said.

Kate Padfield, a senior exercise science major at Miami, has already started preparing. "I'm completely doing it for personal reasons," Padfield said. "I'm graduating so it won't go towards school at all. I was in professor Walsh's class last semester when he mentioned the trip to the class and I knew instantly that I wanted to go."

Padfield said that despite an injury during her final season of soccer for Miami's team last fall, the timing of the trip just fell into place.

"I've been going through rehab for a while and I just got cleared by physical therapy so I can go on the trip, it all just fell into place," Padfield said.

She said she has already been trying to break her hiking boots in for the upcoming climb.

"I started walking around in them everywhere, going on hikes to trying to break them in, they're so important for the climb," Padfield said. "Out of anticipation I've been training every day in one way or another, just trying to do something to get ready."

She already counts herself fortunate enough to have traveled to Europe and South Africa, but knows this trip will be an eye-opener.

"It's Mount Everest, an experience of a lifetime, what else is there to say," Padfield said.

Senior exercise science major Ashley Petak is also an athlete at Miami and is curious about the effect the altitude will have on students.

"They told me that as much physically prepared as you are you never know how you are going to handle that altitude," Petak said. "They just recommended that we walk two to three miles a day. I'm staying physically fit, but I'm still not sure how I'm going to handle that altitude."

Petak said she was interested in the program because of the unique experience it offered.

"Well I've never gotten a chance to study abroad," Petak said. "I've been an athlete here - I was a swimmer, and Dr. Walsh is one of my favorite professors and he brought it up in class at the beginning of the year ... I guess the biggest thing that appealed to me is that it was different and seems like a once in a lifetime opportunity."

She said that although she knows a few details of the program, she is still generally unaware of all the details of the schedule.

"I guess when we get there every night we are going to have discussion groups, but we are going into it not knowing that much," Petak said.

The air will be thinner, the weather will be colder, the climb may be a challenge, but the students and professors agree that the trip will be unforgettable.

As Subedi prepares for his 11th trip to Nepal with Miami students, he said that in the end the course is more than just the credit hours.

"They get to know themselves a little better, it is, in the end about self discovery," Subedi said .


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