Jordan Campbell Chronicles Nepal’s Civil War for Climbing Magazine
Aspen-based climber and photographer, Jordan Campbell is a featured journalist in the October 2006 "Danger" issue of Climbing Magazine, which covers Nepal's twelve year civil war. Campbell's story, "Fear is Ruling Here" is a heady, documentary-style work about Nepal's struggling political situation and on-going civil war, in which nearly 13,000 people have lost their lives over the past decade.
Documented through his two mountaineering expeditions to Nepal in 2005 Campbell's story chronicles the origins of the Maoist Revolution; the controversial King Gyanendra; and Nepal's dysfunctional seven-party congress. Powerfully written inside the context of trekking and climbing among the highest mountains in the world, "Fear is Ruling Here" touches a nerve for adventure climbers with high ambitions.
Beginning in the spring of 2005, Campbell and a group of climbers trekked through the Maoist controlled territory of the Solu Khumbu with the goal of assisting corneal surgeons in remote cataract "eye camps". After completing the eye camps, the team flew via helicopter into the heart of Nepal's Khumbu region arriving at the base of 21,400-foot Cholatse and successfully completed a new variation on the mountain's southwest ridge.
After experiencing the tense and unfolding political landscape in Nepal firsthand, Campbell returned in the fall, this time as a dedicated journalist -and a climber- to cover Nepal's civil unrest for Climbing Magazine and to attempt Ama Dablam, a 22,500-foot peak near Mount Everest, with five members of the San Miguel (Telluride) Search and Rescue.
Led by 8000-meter veteran and SAR member John Matthews, the team of six, including Kim Havel, Rob Klimek, Todd Rector and Lance Waring, climbed 6200-meter Lobuche, as a means to acclimatize for Ama Dablam (6800 meters). On November 12, Havel, Klimek and Rector successfully reached Ama's summit in artic temperatures. Campbell and Sherpa Kami Chirring reached the summit two days later.
Completing their successful expedition, Matthews and the team also worked with the Himalayan Rescue Association (HRA), donating clothing, equipment and money to the non-profit organization, which helps with high-altitude and medical emergencies in the Nepal Himalaya.