word by Kim Strom
photos by Dan Patitucci & Kim Strom
Three Passes, the First Time
Everything that made our first attempt at running Nepal’s Three Passes in a day rather miserable in 2018 were overshadowed by the few big things that made it one of the greatest experiences of our lives: pushing ourselves through hard times in the Himalaya, finding our way across a 5000-meter/17,000-foot pass in a whiteout and sharing a difficult effort with your closest friend.
Dan and I returned this May to do better because we took an overnight nap during our 2018 in-a-day goal. Five years later, we had better training and nutrition, plus experience on our side, but we also had some unknowns hanging over us. We’d both grown five years older, which is starting to feel significant, and I had gone through a couple years of cancer treatment, complications and recovery. Things would work out, we knew the experience would be worth repeating.