erywhere you look there are classically trained musicians. On the streetcars and subways on the corners it was amazing. One day Lanka invited me along to a
small town outside of Prague to demon- strate Ultimate to an elementary school. It was such a great experience. We showed them Ultimate and freestyle and then played some disc golf with them. They all seemed to enjoy it so much, what a thrill that was. That’s one thing you learn really fast traveling is that kids are the same ev- erywhere, they just like having fun. Maybe we could learn a few things from them.
Love Parade” every year (1.5 million people attended last year) and Andi who was also German but had been living in Dublin, Ire- land since he was 12 or 13. Andi’s goal was to trek the entire Annapurna Trail for his fa- ther who was once a mountain climber but now had arthritis and was unable to climb. I had considered maybe doing a 3 or 5 day trek at most but had never considered a 20 day trek through the Himalayan Mountains. I was amazed to find myself accepting his invitation and along with a 5th
person we
met, Liz also from Dublin, we set out for 3 weeks together. I started having doubts the first half
The next destination of the journey
was to fly to New Delhi, India. I hadn’t planned on going there but it was the only way I could get to Nepal with my Round- The-World plane ticket. I met 2 people from the UK, Ross & Emma, and together we traveled to Jaipur, Agra where the Taj Mahal is and then I set out on my own to Varanasi where they bring over 1000 dead bodies every day to cremate by the shores of the Ganges river to end their cycle of re- incarnation and send their souls to Nirvana. It is very hard to order food on the patio of your guest house when all you can smell are burning bodies 24/7. I arranged travel
on a bus that would take me to Pokhara, Nepal. On the bus I met a very nice Aussie girl named Alana who was traveling by herself. We ended up at the same hotel in Pokhara as did 2 other guys from the bus Michel from Berlin, Ger- many who along with his friends hold “The
hour of the trek but had researched cer- tain escape routes along the trail in case I changed my mind. I could turn around at Poon Hill and return to the starting point or I could fly back to Pokhara from one of 2 airstrips along the way. Saying there are 2 airstrips on the trail definitely does not paint the right picture of how isolated you are. The Annapurna Trail is how the Nep- alese have traveled from village to village through the mountains for hundreds of years. We foreigners discovered that it was a cool place to trek back in the 70’s. The second day we encountered a
staircase that ascended three quarters of a mile up a mountain side. We began to have serious doubts but one day led into anoth- er and we finally got into a routine of wak- ing up at 6 or 7 am, trekking approximately 6 hours, finding a village guest house to stay in, relaxing with a book, having din- ner, playing cards, and then going to sleep at 8 pm. The altitude started to become a problem above 3500 M (1150 feet) but our bodies slowly adjusted. About one week
into our trek an amazing thing happened. My mind actually turned off. For the first time in years I wasn’t thinking about 8 dif- ferent things or the past or the future I was just thinking about taking another step and I was able to simply enjoy my surround-
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ings. The only word I can use to describe that feeling is “peace”. I guess the concen- trated effort it takes to hike 6 hours a day is a very good way to learn how to focus. Around the 10th day we had been liv-
ing at 3800M (12,500 feet) for a few days but we had to spend time acclimatizing our bodies to go even higher. You do this by trekking to high altitudes and then re- turning to lower elevations to sleep. This tricks your body into producing more red blood cells so you can retain more oxy- gen in your blood. Due to a 5 day national strike imposed by the rebel Maoists we had to enter the trail from the place that most people finish it. In other words we did the trail backwards which doesn’t mean a whole lot until you reach the Thorung La Pass. If you go the preferred way you go over the Pass from Thorung Phedi at 4450M (14,600 feet) to the top of the pass which is at 5400M (17,600 feet). Going our way leaving from Muktinath at 3800M (12,500 feet) you have to ascend a verti- cal mile spending half your day trekking through snow and ice and living with the inconvenience of having fully one third less oxygen than you do at sea level. It took us 10 hours and it was without a doubt the most physically and mentally demanding day of my entire life. That’s the first time I’d ever thought “If I don’t move from where I’m standing I’m going to die”. As you look around you and you see nothing for 50 miles the last thing on your mind is “Gee, glad I got medical insurance before I left home”. Honestly every day of my life after that day seems easier somehow. Anytime I have a challenge in my life I remember that day and I know I can overcome any obstacles. On the 20th
day we reached Bhuleb-
hule at 840M (2755 feet) and the end of our trail. Andi and I celebrated by ordering our first beer in 3 weeks. I grabbed a chair and sat out in front of our guest house and looked way way up to the clouds in the sky. I said to Andi “We use to be up there”. I sat there for another 2 hours. The Annapurna Trail movie that is on
my website is by far my personal favou- rite and I often watch it and feel like I had
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