Tenzing Energy
Joining the experience of a lifetime, I headed to Nepal with Tenzing Energy, to take part in the first of their Tenzing Treks initiative. The brand, named after first Tenzing Norgay, who alongside Sir Edmund Hillary was the first to summit Everest, tasked me with capturing both photo and video throughout the trip, which took us from the streets and temples of Kathmandu, through the impressive valleys of the Khumbu region to the foot of the tallest mountain of the world – and as a bonus experience we climbed nearby Lobuche East, standing at 6199m.
After a couple of days exploring the busy and bustling streets of Nepal’s capital city, we found ourselves flying into the Himalaya in style – via helicopter straight to our first tea lodge in Phakding. Over the next week we made our way up the trail, stopping by the infamous Namche Bazaar, Tengboche Monastery and the higher lodges at Dingboche, Lobuche and Gorakshep, before finally making it to Everest Base Camp. After experiencing life in the highest camp in the world, we then made our way to Lobuche High Camp and prepared for our own summit push. With an early 0100 alpine start we started climbing, donning our crampons and clipping into the fixed lines as we made our way up the imposing face. The sun rising alongside, we soon found ourselves approaching 6000m and the final few pitches to the summit. The thin air did nothing to deflate my spirit as we finally summited a Himalayan peak for one of the most satisfying and unreal experience I’ve ever had. The following few days walk back to Lukla were a joyous and accomplished time, chatting with the group and recalling how great an experience the trip had been.
Shooting a full expedition trek was a challenge, but one I really relished. It meant a lot of adaptive and fast paced photography. Working to find compositions as I was walking (and battling the altitude), and for this I chose mainly rely on zoom lenses, rather than my usual preferred primes. With little time to stage many real photo opportunities, it was much a more of a documentary style shoot, with lots of impulsive shooting and filming.
