
Thank you to the Sherpas and other Nepali people who made this possible.
I spent three months in the Himalayas of Nepal from March to June 2019 as part of a multidisciplinary scientific research expedition in the Hinku, Gokyo, and Khumbu Valleys with successful summits of Lhotse, Mera, and Lobuche Peaks. The research foci were botany, glacial sampling, and social science. I participated as a social science assistant focused on climate change impacts and conservation issues (I also assisted with sampling and botanical studies).
Here is a short essay focused on my summit day about my harrowing and soul-bending encounters with death (I would like to publish this in a mainstream outlet - if you are such an outlet, please be in touch [and I will remove the self-published website]).
A short article is available here: Dispatches From the Cryosophere: Intimate Encounters With the Intricate and Disappearing Ice of Everest Base Camp.
My photographs from this expedition (plus some from 2015) are on Flickr.
Nepal Research and Mountainering Expedition (2019) Presentation
My photo was featured in the news at the beginning of the 2019 expedition.
Washington Post
U.S. News and World Report
PHYS.ORG
Western Washington University
My summit partner, Orianne Aymard, is featured in this short video telling her story (in French) and featuring some of my photos.
This is also a part of a larger project I'm working on: Vanishing Ice
I spent three months in the Himalayas of Nepal from March to June 2019 as part of a multidisciplinary scientific research expedition in the Hinku, Gokyo, and Khumbu Valleys with successful summits of Lhotse, Mera, and Lobuche Peaks. The research foci were botany, glacial sampling, and social science. I participated as a social science assistant focused on climate change impacts and conservation issues (I also assisted with sampling and botanical studies).
Here is a short essay focused on my summit day about my harrowing and soul-bending encounters with death (I would like to publish this in a mainstream outlet - if you are such an outlet, please be in touch [and I will remove the self-published website]).
A short article is available here: Dispatches From the Cryosophere: Intimate Encounters With the Intricate and Disappearing Ice of Everest Base Camp.
My photographs from this expedition (plus some from 2015) are on Flickr.
Nepal Research and Mountainering Expedition (2019) Presentation
My photo was featured in the news at the beginning of the 2019 expedition.
Washington Post
U.S. News and World Report
PHYS.ORG
Western Washington University
My summit partner, Orianne Aymard, is featured in this short video telling her story (in French) and featuring some of my photos.
This is also a part of a larger project I'm working on: Vanishing Ice
Relevant News
- East and South Asia Are the Largest Sources of Black Carbon Blanketing the Tibetan Plateau
- South Asian Perspectives on News of Rapid Himalayan Glacier Melt
- Overcrowding on Mount Everest
- UNESCO-Recognized Glaciers Could Shrink 60 Percent by End of Century
- Environmental activist becomes first Hongkonger to climb Mount Lhotse – world’s fourth-highest peak
- Everest: I interviewed people risking their lives in the ‘death zone’ during one of the deadliest seasons yet

A member of U.S. scientist team arranges bags before leaving for Everest region, in Kathmandu, Nepal, Wednesday, March 27, 2019. A team of American scientists is heading to the Mount Everest region to study how pollution has impacted the Himalayas and glaciers that are melting due to global warming. The team plans to spend the next two months in the region and climb the world's highest peak while they collect samples and study the ice, snow and vegetation. AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha