2 Charlotteans will be among the last to visit Mount Everest until coronavirus subsides
For the past few days, Charlotte friends Mariah Bridges and Matthew Barnhill have been on the other side of the globe, fulfilling a shared dream in a place that they say feels almost uniquely isolated from the coronavirus pandemic: Mount Everest.
And the government that oversees the world’s highest peak above sea level apparently intends to try to keep it that way.
According to BBC News, there is only one confirmed case in Nepal, but the country borders India which has more than 70 cases. So Nepal announced on Friday that it is shutting down all expeditions on Mount Everest for the rest of this year’s climbing season due to coronavirus concerns.
That makes Bridges, a 35-year-old marketing director, and Barnhill, a 36-year-old accountant — who left Charlotte on March 6 and on Friday completed Day Four of their trek to the South Base Camp — among the last people who will get to attempt that journey for the foreseeable future.
The closure, BBC News said, followed reports from climbers that the Chinese government has shut the Tibet side of the mountain.
“It’s a mixture of anxiety and also feeling like we are in the safest place,” Bridges told the Observer via Facebook message on Friday. “It’s a really interesting vibe to me. It’s like ... the world is madness, (and) you’re in the wilderness hiking.”
Bridges and Barnhill indicated that although the coronavirus hasn’t infiltrated Nepal the way it has other countries in Asia, it’s still much on the minds of the country’s citizens.
Barnhill said that, before starting their trek, they visited the Boudhanath Stupa, a famous Buddhist temple in Kathmandu, and were told that one day earlier a group of monks had been offering prayers for protection against the coronavirus. Added Barnhill: “(Our guide) told us that Nepalis believe they are protected from the coronavirus by their faith and prayers.”
But Bridges and Barnhill said while the Nepalese people they’ve met have faced the potential problem with optimism, they’re feeling less-positive about the impact of Everest being shut down.
“The Nepali people are so worried because now it means we are their last income for the foreseeable future,” Bridges said. “Our guide is the only income for his family and parents.”
Bridges said that, if all goes according to plan, they will reach the 17,598-foot-high Base campsite next Wednesday, then retreat down the mountain. They’ll catch a plane from the town of Lukla, Nepal to the capital of Kathmandu, then try to come home on March 22 via Doha, Qatar.
But, of course, anything can happen between now and then. Qatar has temporarily banned entry of people coming from 14 countries (including China and India) in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak; that easily could change. And this week, President Trump imposed limits on travel to the U.S. from most of Europe.
“We thought long and hard about canceling this trip,” Bridges said, but “decided that this was our story, and to say yes. I got to see Everest for the first time yesterday and immediately thought, ‘What if I let fear win? What if I said no? I would have missed this!’”
Bridges is documenting her expedition on her YouTube channel.
