Himalayan Trek

By Jeff Green

Photo: Linda Gaudet and Charmaine Jones

A lot of people know Linda Gaudet and Charmaine Jones as the women who are always walking in and around Sharbot Lake wearing backpacks and using what look like ski poles as walking sticks.

This month they will be doing quite a bit of walking, in the Himalayas. Along with 32 others, they will be hiking from the town of Lukla, Nepal, to the base camp for expeditions to Mount Everest, a trek of about 130 kilometres (there and back) over 12 days. The increase in altitude is more ominous than the distance to be traveled. Lukla is 8,330 feet above sea level and the base camp is 17,600 feet above sea level.

Another challenge will be dealing with the weather. This time of year, in the Himalayas the temperature rises to a warm 25-30 degrees in the daytime, but drops to 15 degrees below zero at night.

“We’ll be dressing in layers,” said Linda Gaudet.

The trek is organized by Save the Children Canada, in partnership with pharmacists from across the country.

“It all started with a fax that Jocelyn [Whalen] received at the pharmacy. She thought that Charmaine and I would be interested in the trip,” said Linda Gaudet, who works as a part-time pharmacist at the Sharbot Lake Pharmacy.

Linda and Charmaine live on Charlotte Island, about 1 kilometre from shore on Sharbot Lake. They bought the property in 1988, and used it as a vacation property until 3 years ago, when they made their permanent home. Until then they were both working in Cambridge, Leamington, and Windsor. Linda is a pharmacist and Charmaine is a retired Hospice physician now working part-time with Accreditation Canada.

Over the years, they have traveled the world on a series of cycling trips. The most extreme trip they took was in the year 2000, when they cycled around the world on a millennium Odyssey trip that took them to 54 countries on six continents. The trip included 20,000 kilometres of cycling. Last winter they cycled, self-supported, in New Zealand. Many of their trips have included a charitable component, so the fundraising aspect of this Himalayan trek fits in with the kinds of adventures they have embarked upon in the past.

The Himalayas themselves were another part of the appeal.

“We were in India a couple of years ago,” Linda said, “and at the time we thought about going to Nepal but it didn’t happen, and we didn’t think we would ever get back to that part of the world. So when we contacted the organizers and they said anyone with a high level of fitness would be able to do this trek, we were in.”

Participants were required to do fundraising in order to take the trip, and after Charmaine and Linda received a generous initial donation from Nick and Jocelyn Whalen of Sharbot Lake Pharmacy, they began contacting friends, colleagues and family though email, mail and telephone, eventually raising the $7,500 per person that was required. The 34 trekkers taking the trip have raised over $250,000. After trip expenses, $170,000 will be donated to Save the Children Canada for their programs in Latin America.

Save the Children Canada runs programs in Columbia, Nicaragua and Bolivia that are aimed at reducing violence against children, helping children access appropriate education, reducing harmful child labour, and HIV/AIDS prevention.

In addition, Charmaine and Linda will each be bringing two suitcases with them on the plane. The first suitcase will contain their clothes and supplies, and the second suitcase will be stuffed with clothing to be donated to a Save the Children Sweden sponsored program in Kathmandu.

“It’s a nice personal touch to be doing something for the country that will be hosting us for this trip,” Linda said.

The trip will take place between October 17 and November 3, and Linda and Charmaine should be back in plenty of time to celebrate another adventure this fall, the birth of their first grandchild.