South Kona resident Dusty Boyd goes to Mount Everest twice a year.
South Kona resident Dusty Boyd goes to Mount Everest twice a year.
But this fall’s trip will be something a little different. Boyd, who owns the Fujihara Store in Kealia in addition to taking hikers on Himalayan treks, is taking several war veterans to the world’s highest mountain. One of those soldiers is a Big Island resident, David Dukevares of Waimea.
Boyd and Dukevares met at Fujihara Store one evening, when Dukevares stopped in wearing military fatigues. Boyd made some small talk, eventually mentioning he had climbed Everest and returned regularly to guide others.
“He just said, ‘I really want to go there and have you show me something beautiful,’” Boyd said. “I knew he had seen some ugly things. It was pretty simple, really.”
Boyd didn’t press Dukevares for details about his military tours in the Middle East. But he did offer to take the soldier to Nepal. They’re going in September, and while they won’t try for the summit — the best weather for reaching the summit is March through June — they will hike to about the 19,000-foot elevation, to the ice fall area.
Attempts to reach Dukevares this week by phone and email were unsuccessful.
Boyd said Dukevares has been training behind the store, carrying 90-pound packs up the steep slope there. Dukevares will join several mainland veterans, whom Boyd sought out for the trip.
“I wouldn’t take normal clients” in September, when the weather is colder, Boyd said. But the veterans, with their military training, will do fine, he added.
He’s hoping to provide to the veterans what Dukevares asked for, something beautiful to remember. And maybe, Boyd said, the beautiful images the veterans see will replace some of the images of war they have in their heads now.
“I see a lot of (military) guys who come back, they’re a little messed up,” Boyd said, referring to other veterans he’s met while working in his store. One evening, a local man sat down and talked with Boyd about just that. “He said, ‘They train you how to do all these things. They don’t teach you how to come back to society.’”
Boyd said he’s hoping the trip to Everest can help some of the veterans make a better transition back to society. Dukevares is back living in Hawaii with his family, but some of the other veterans are coming to Boyd through a program for injured veterans. The group will take 18 days for the trip.
Boyd has been going to Everest for 12 years. When he started, being in base camp meant camping, but in the years since, the local residents have learned they can make a small fortune, in local dollars, by building and renting rooms in small tea houses. Boyd said the accommodations are sparse, but more comfortable than camping. Even with those changes, the hike remains challenging.
“The best part for me is, where you going and do Everest is the same trail as Sir Edmund Hillary,” Boyd said. “Nothing has changed.”
Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay were the first confirmed climbers to reach the summit.
Everest is so big, that even from 50 or 60 miles away, it looks close, Boyd said. It’s in the midst of other, similarly huge mountains.
“They’re just towering,” Boyd said. “They make you feel small.”