Below, we hope you enjoy the story of one Nepali dog who accompanies mountain climbers to the top of Everest...and the two pictures of him!

THE DOG WHO RAN THE EVEREST MARATHON

High in the Everest region, a lone brown dog roams seeking out food and company

It was Thursday 29 November, 2007.  The Everest marathon group was half way through the 17 day trek up to the original base camp at Gorek Shep (5184m). I was one of 70 internationals crazy enough to attempt the hardest marathon in the world. It was our lunch break and the Nepalese kitchen crew where busy creating a nourishing lunch for hungry trekkers.  A lean brown dog with half a tail appeared, and casually wandered through the camp, found a spot to lie down, and eyed the trekkers looking for his target. 

Being an avid animal lover, I found it hard to walk past the hundreds of starving and bedraggled dogs throughout Kathmandu.  I did not want to encourage the dog, or risk rabies, so I kept at arm’s length, and watched his antics as he worked his charms on the hungry team.  Thinking that he may be one of the villagers’ dogs, I was surprised to see him still lingering around as we settled in for another very cold night of around -12 degrees.

After a hearty breakfast, the group set out to climb another 500m in altitude, which would take most of the day at a painfully slow pace.  On the track I saw the brown dog trotting alongside two of the trekkers.  In the distance, a small group had congregated, with one of the team Doctors tending to a collapsed yak herder.  The yak herder, as it turned out, had overindulged in the local chang, and he was deemed ‘too drunk to be in charge’. Two porters carrying 50 plus kilos took over the role of yaks drivers, shouted yak instructions and moved off kicking out dust that added another layer of dirt to our already filthy clothes. The brown dog with half a tail disappeared into the cloud of dust.

Although we slept in tents, we were able in most camps, to eat our meals in one of the local lodges’ dining rooms.  This was a real treat as we could sit reasonably comfortably, have light, and get warmth from the central fire place, which was always a welcome relief and a very popular spot. That night in Dingboche, the door swung open, and in came one of the locals, and a flash of brown.  A commotion erupted as the lodge owner attempted to grab the dog, who was now scooting between tables and yelping as if he was being beaten.  The owner’s wife yelled at her husband, and the kitchen boy carrying a platter of pop corn was tripped over.  The dog was not sure whether he should continue his yelping or scoff the pop corn.  Luckily for the dog, the lady of the lodge was a kind person, and he got to stay (and managed to score the prime spot near the fireplace).  It was about this time, I changed from being a vegetarian to opting for meat with my meals.  I also collected any leftover meat from my neighbour’s plates, and went for a quick pit stop outside each night to check out the stars.

Two days before the race, we stopped in a very cold place called Lobuche   I had gone with the group to attempt to climb Kala Pattar (5623m).  Upon reaching the peak, Everest had disappeared behind the swirling clouds.  The weather turned for the worse, and we anxiously scurried back to camp before things got nasty.  The camp was covered in a light coating of snow, along with the brown dog, who had curled up just outside my tent.  I took off one of my layers, and covered the dog with a jacket which very quickly turned white.  When I headed to bed later that night, the dog and my jacket were nowhere to be seen.  As I opened the tent fly, I was surprised by the dog, which had pulled my jacket into the foyer and was curled up tightly.  I crawled into my -20°C sleeping bag, and prepared myself for another sub zero night.  I could feel the shivering dog on the other side of the nylon and wondered what would become of him when the trekking season finished. The next morning, I opened the zip to get a steaming cup of bed tea, and was bowled over as the dog earnestly attempted to get into my sleeping bag.

December 5 2007, 92 runners and the brown dog lined up along the start line in the dry lake bed of Gorek Shep. At -15°C, most of the westerners were wearing up to five layers, the Nepalese had one or two layers, and the dog with none.  At 6.30am the race started and so began an extreme endurance test, which would take me eight hours to reach the finish at Namche Bazaar, 42 km’s later.  Completing this event was a feat to be very proud of, and the exhausted runners had medals hung around their necks as they crossed the finish line.  Sitting a metre of two from the line, was the brown dog, paws crossed, with a look as if to say’ so what took ya so long’.  I pulled the medal from my neck, and placed it around his as he posed for his finisher’s photo.

The next day the brown dog was gone.

Postscript:  At one of my event presentations, I was telling the story of the brown dog and one of the audience started to laugh.  He had been in the Khumbu region two weeks after our group, and ‘that’ dog had stayed with them the duration of their trek.  A seasoned trekker for sure.