The crossing

I broke the binoculars today; it fell on a rock and now I’m really going to struggle to find the wolves; also, the viewfinder to the 7D camera fogs up so it’s really hard to focus. I’m trying to make a plan with the top of a mayonnaise jar to use as a magnifier. The batteries go flat very quickly so I’m always racing the clock. Someone stole my awesome 3 panel fold up solar panel so I’ve had to daisy chain all my small ones together, but so what? if it wasn't that, it would have been something else, and if it was easy I probably wouldn’t be doing it. I have figured out where the wolves are, at least I think I have. Tomorrow I leave real early for a day’s trek to get to them, if I can confirm that’s where they are then I’ll come back and grab the tent. I think they’re hiding in a cove near a glacier, that’s where the tracks are leading me. Of course, I have to trek up to an adjoining glacier so I can cross the river, then trek across to the next glacier again and so on until I get to where I think the wolves are.

This evening the locals made me potato pancakes; they wouldn’t let me help so I filmed them, and again, when it came time for me to eat, they would sit and stare at me. It makes me feel really awkward. It also makes me look forward to when I go to the tent, at least I can eat in peace, except for the wolves watching but that I don’t mind, especially since I can’t see them yet. I know they're there though, I can feel them. They've probably already seen me a thousand times. https://www.facebook.com/ryan.s.davy/posts/10156475970560846

The potato pancakes are by far my best meal, they’re expensive but I’m going to give it a try when I get back to the USA. I’d probably make them slightly different just to make it tastier but still, they’re a winner. It’s sweet of them to make sure I’m enjoying my meal by watching me eat but at the same time, I really don’t think they realize that’s it’s awkward for us.

We are brought up with the concept that staring is rude but when a person comes to the Himalayas you are constantly stared at, I guess it’s something we have to get used to. It would be good for an actor to get over self-consciousness.

Today I walked from 7am to 7pm. I tracked a pair of wolf tracks from about 4200m to about 5100m. They’re a few weeks old but better than nothing. I had to cross a glacier that maybe took about 3 hours to cross. It was frustrating to try and find a way across the River, and then I fell in which was a bummer because it makes it harder to manoeuvre on the rock and ice with wet shoes.

I also damaged my back in the process, so it's added an element of constant pain and frustration to the trek. Theirs probably an easier way to cross but I just can't risk the gear getting wet. I don’t mind getting wet myself but I can’t afford to wet all the camera and the batteries; if that had to happen the expedition would be over.

I suspect that I’m using a similar route to the wolves since for the most part I was following her tracks. I lost the tracks in the glacier of course because it’s all rock and ice. The current is too strong for them to cross so they have to find a way like I’m doing but I don’t know, I got a bad feeling that they’re not this side of the river as I suspected they would be. I have to make sure before I consider other options.

A few things were accomplished today, one being that I got great drone footage. I had to haul that thing all the way up there but it was worth it. It’s hard to see if there is any movement on the slopes since my ray shade was lost on set from a friend’s shoot in LA. I’m always so nervous to fly the drone here; first of all, it’s highly illegal, secondly the batteries go flat without warning because it’s so cold and lastly the air is thin so the engines are working overtime. I would be flying it and suddenly a message pops up stating "battery critically low". The problem is the drone could be 1 mile away when that message comes up and then I have to get it back fast before it shuts down and falls out of the sky. I managed to get it back just before it died so I was lucky. It won’t fly unless the batteries are warm, so I have to walk with a drone battery under my arm Pitt or in my crutch for about half an hour before flying it. It definitely adds an element of excitement to the expedition.

I lost the wolf’s tracks again at 3pm as the clouds were coming in, so I figured it a good time to head back since it had taken me 8 hours to get to that point. I stowed the drone bag in a crack in a rock and hauled ass back towards the lodge. Of course, the clouds were thick in the glacier so I couldn’t find my route, I ended up getting lost. Fortunately, I knew the glacier ended on the east side so I just kept to my compass and eventually I popped out on the trail. It was a little daunting because I had no sleeping bag, and no warm gear, so I would have frozen on the glacier if I was stuck there overnight. I make it a rule that even if I’m doing a half day track or an hour or even 20 minutes, I always take a headlamp.

I got back to the lodge in the dark and again I sat down to dinner to be stared at, but now I’ve decided to turn it into a language lesson; I’m learning to speak Sherpa. It’s difficult because there is Sherpa language and then there's Nepalese language. The Sherpa understand Nepalese but the Nepalese don’t understand Sherpa. Since a majority of people in Kathmandu can speak English and a majority of Sherpa people can’t, I’m going to stick to learning Sherpa because I spend more time in the mountains then I do in Kathmandu. I’m trying to learn at least 5 words a night, that’s about all my brain can handle.

I didn’t sleep well again so I worked on ‘Waiting on the Devil’ feature film script. It's a story about a group of teenagers who take refuge in a forest to protect the local wildlife, however their conspicuous plans go horribly wrong when one of their team members gets taken hostage by a sinister deer hunter. The debacle throws the entire group into turmoil and all their alternative intentions are exposed. The leader of the extremist group hopes to find his father who went missing after an incident involving his mom, a hunter and a shotgun. By placing himself in the crosshairs of the perpetrators he is able to resurrect certain issues that have left the people of the town shaken for many years. being out here in the mountains puts my creative mind into a different gear, opening portals that would otherwise not be opened in civilization. Perhaps it's just because I am forced to focus on it and there are no distractions. I think the next time I write a script I will subject myself to another expedition. 'Waiting on the devil' is certainly my best work.

A lot of the films I make and write are a way of me living a misspent youth I guess. Perhaps it’s a means of reliving the adventures we had when my siblings and I were kids growing up out in the country. We built forts, treehouses, rafts, and go-carts. We would pretend to be cowboys and Indians, Tarzan’s, super heroes and villains. All these elements I have used through the course of my film making career. Perhaps even now, I am out here because of that lifestyle.

A new idea sprang up for a scene in the film which works great overall and puts me at about 95 percent complete with the 4th draft of the screenplay. I’m pretty sure things will change further but overall, I think it’s a great story. My laptop battery died so I listened to music to inspire the scenes that need fixing until I passed out. Tomorrow I’m taking my tent up higher and will acclimate for the night at 5100meters. Then Tuesday first light I’ll go higher; I know they’re up there, that’s where I would be if I was a wolf. If they not there then I’m at a loss for ideas.

Today I crossed the river; I couldn’t stand to cross that monotonous glacier with a bust up back so I took the plunge, literally. It wasn’t too bad other than frozen feet that I couldn’t feel for about an hour after crossing, but it saved me 5 hours of trekking so it was worth it. It was extremely slippery and every step had to be planned and carefully mastered. I had to do it four times because I had 2 bags and the river splits in 2 after the glacier.

Once I got both bags across both sections of the river, I left them in an open area where it would be easy to find, and I went exploring. I found so many wolf tracks but it was hard to say how old they were. The ground freezes so the tracks stay preserved for quite some time. I’m staying in my tent tonight in the same area I’ve been scouting. I’ve howled a few times to coax them, hopefully they’ll be curious enough to come investigate.

I’ve got the night vision camera rolling outside my tent so if there are any visitors I’ll know when I check the footage. I can’t play music or watch any movies on my phone because I have to listen for howls, I can’t even sing, it’s going to be a long night. Strangely enough I’m not even hungry, I think it’s just because I’m sick of spaghetti and instant soup, but I have to eat. If I don't eat at high altitude I risk getting acute mountain sickness which is no joke. I boiled some pasta, and once it was cooked I threw out the water and fried the pasta in mayonnaise, oh and I found salt in my bag, it was actually pretty yummy.

I’ve run out of supplies so tomorrow I have to make my way back to the lodge and then Friday I have to head to Namche and go to the market. Hopefully tonight I hear howls, then I’ll know where to set up camp when I come back from Namche.