NORSEWEAR

Nick says the trip reinforces the close Kiwi links to a special part of the world, made famous by that other bloke on Mt Everest, just to the west. But he also delivered some tough comfort to the sherpa team who helped him and his group as they trekked to Kanchenjunga Base Camp. “You never quite comprehend their effort until you see firsthand what these sherpa are capable of doing,” Nick says. “It defies logic.”

He recalls seeing one sherpa cart over 40 kgs of powerline cable in a basket strapped to his forehead up the mountain. It was raining, and he was wearing nothing more than shorts and jandals - the universal footwear of many sherpa. “First-world problems sort of pale into insignificance.”

The journey itself was no easy feat for Nick and his group of 19 Aussies and Kiwis. Even making it to the beginning of the track was a challenge, navigating international travel, driving eight hours, off-roading another three to the very end of the road, then walking for nine straight days, on a route that fewer than a thousand take each year.

Being fed on hot porridge and soups by the sherpa, then wrapping up in their Norsewear gear before setting off each day, the group established a healthy respect for the deadly mountain conditions. Nick recalls how on the descent down from base camp following an unexpected overnight snow, the team – spread into groups - traversed a rock face. “The front group, which I was in, got separated by a series of rock falls,” he explains. The rocks came fast; “hurtling down, the size of office chairs. Basically, we just had to hope that one didn't get us.”

Meanwhile the temperatures varied greatly, from 20 degrees of relative warmth at the bottom of the valley starting the approach, to icy overnight snowfalls. The clothing had to stand up to a lot and their Norsewear gear definitely did the trick. “A fresh pair of socks and a beanie each day kept us pretty snug,” says Nick, adding that a major bonus was that the quality New Zealand merino wool remained odourless, even when soaked in sweat after several big days in a row.

The greatest comfort of all, however, was being able to gift some quality Kiwi grown and manufactured ingenuity to the sherpa who had supported the group on their life-changing journey.
All 20 sherpa who accompanied the expedition, carrying packs of luggage for the group, benefitted from a donation of Norsewear socks - a way of giving back to the people who had given so much to Nick and his friends amid such rugged terrain. “Norsewear is good, genuine Kiwi gear that can be relied on,” Nick says.

And there may be more cultural exchange to come. Nick says he now harbours an intense desire to return to Nepal, and has set a new goal of reaching over 6,000 masl.
You can bet there will be more Norsewear socks in his backpack when the time comes, too - for himself and his group and for the sherpa as well. Warm bods, warm hearts. “The job’s not done. We've got to go back and do it higher and harder.”