Last March, I traveled to the country of Nepal. I was part of an expedition that was climbing Mount Everest. I wasn’t scheduled to go to the top, but about 75% of the way. Other members of our team did summit.

To even get to Everest base camp, there is a ten day 70 mile hike through the very remote portions of Nepal. Not a road for hundreds of miles, barely any electricity, basically a third world existence. I was one day away from base camp, climbing a hill called “Thukla.” The local Sherpa people say the hill is so steep and gains so much elevation that it even gives yaks headaches (headaches are common when ascending to much altitude in one day).

As I trudged up the hill with my backpack over my shoulders, the cold wind whipping against my face and laboring for each breath and step, out of no where I hear, “WAR EAGLE!” Of course I was shocked because I had forgotten I was wearing my Auburn hat. It was a very surreal moment. Here I am on the other side of the planet, no phones, electricity, roads, and barely trudging up this laborious hill, and I hear those common words. I look up and there stood Ryan Ross, another former Auburn student.

We exchanged War Eagles and got to talking. Turns out he went to Auburn for two years, but transferred to Colorado. He was part of another IMAX film team that was on the mountain to do research on climber’s physiology. The new IMAX is scheduled to be in theaters in 2009. We were even in the same freshman class together.

In a place where you look for inspiration to take even one more step up the mountain, hearing these words certainly inspired me to keep on heading on.

I just thought I would share after seeing the latest TV ads with the man and the airplane. These are wonderful ads and really share the common bond we all as Auburn people have. I hope you find this one as interesting! I have included a picture of me at Everest Camp 1 with my hat on.

Thank you very much for reading and, “WAR EAGLE”

-Grant

My wife and I (both Auburn grads) were in Maui for our honeymoon. We were hiking to a waterfall and were in the middle of a bamboo forest, miles away from civilization. We were discussing how we felt like we were in the middle of nowhere and how we hadn’t seen another human in probably 3 hours. About that time, we saw a pair of hikers coming toward us through the forest. As they passed, the man looked at me, saw my Auburn hat, and said, “War Eagle!” It just goes to show that no matter how far from home you are, no matter how far out in the wilderness you are, there’s always a fellow Auburner around the corner….
Adam

I met my husband when we were both undergrads at Auburn and the fall after we started dating we took a semester off and went to Nepal. We were hiking towards the Tengboche monastery in a remote region of the Himalayans, after an hour plane ride in what my husband calls a “crop-duster” that you might see flying over the Plains. After a long hike straight up the mountains, we stopped at a small guesthouse to stay the night. We had no electricity, no running water, a wooden bed, and a menu consisting mainly of rice and “greens”. The weather was cold and while sitting in the common area by the fire before starting the next day’s hike, I was wearing my orange and blue Auburn fleece and heard those two words: “War Eagle.” I realized the woman across the fire had noticed the AU logo on my fleece. Being the only other English speaking person there, we started talking, and it turned out she was from Alabama and was an Auburn fan. So here we sat, literally on the other side of the world, a 2-day plane ride from Birmingham, AL, followed by another nerve-wrecking flight in a tiny plane plus a day’s hike straight up the side of a mountain, talking about the Auburn football season we were missing on our trip. Since they haven’t heard about Auburn or football in Kathmandu, we had to ask if she knew how Auburn was doing that season.
Stephanie & Tommy