Behind-the-Scenes for First Editorial in Paris...

Ashlynn was quite excited when she found out that she would be shooting her first editorial in Paris. It was definitely not a traditional fashion editorial, but rather an unconventional artsy group shoot for a Portuguese international luxury menswear print magazine called DSection. 

She was the youngest there and was included in two of the three days of the shoot.

She knew that the photos would turn out quite odd and wouldn’t be helpful for her portfolio, but still enjoyed the creative process and working with the other models.

Test Shoots in Paris....

One of the goals in Paris was for Ashlynn to get some updated photos for her portfolio. Here are the results of the four test shoots during her three weeks of working in Paris.

These first four were shot by French photographer Camille Mompach in her apartment and on the rooftop.

These two were shot by a mysterious photographer known simply as Domino. 

There’s something very peaceful about these photos by Sam Ssefa.

It took a lot of digging to find any of the photos from the last test shoot she did with Sebastian Johansson, but I finally found this one...

...and this one used as the back cover of the February 2019 issue of Cerbere, an online magazine. 

Meanwhile in Paris...

While I was busy trekking down from EBC, Ashlynn was busy getting settled into life as a full-time model. Her first stop was Paris, where her agent from IMG Models arranged for her to get her hair bleached.

Despite never coloring her hair before, she was excited to have a new look. Apparently, her agent wasn’t pleased with the first round, so sent her back to go whiter. 

These stills were from a video that IMG had made of some of the new models that they were launching for Paris Fashion Week in September 2018. You can see Ashlynn here at the 34-second mark.

Homeward Bound...

After breakfast at 6:30 a.m., we were on our way to the airport. As there was no traffic, we were at the airport way too early for our flight, which arrived in Dubai 30 minutes late. We had a two-hour connection so we weren’t worried until we were further delayed within the arrival terminal. After being told that we wouldn’t be able to make our connection and had been booked for a flight 24 hours later, we were finally released and went into overdrive to get to our original gate in the main terminal to plead our case. As soon as we got through security, we took off running carrying our hiking boots across the enormous terminal. Despite an effort worthy of The Amazing Race and arriving before our scheduled flight left, we were denied boarding.

Needless to say, we were not amused. After much debate with a customer service manager, we were confirmed on flights later that night so we were delayed just 10 hours rather than 24. The airline gave us meal vouchers for lunch and dinner and also very nice rooms at the airport hotel so we could take a nap...

...and yet another glorious shower. 

After arriving home on Sunday morning, I joined Jimmy for an Amsterdam H3 hash trail where I was welcomed back to the Netherlands with this trash-inspired sculpture that would have fit in well in Kathmandu.

EBC Day 15: Back to Kathmandu...

The re-entry into the chaos of Kathmandu was quick. Friday afternoon traffic was bedlam, but the views along the way were once again fascinating.

It was a slow crawl, but eventually we were back at The Address Kathmandu Hotel. 

We dropped our bags in our rooms, Terri and I took our braids out and then met Carlin and Kent for a light lunch at the hotel. Afterwards I truly enjoyed taking a nice long shower and finally washing my hair for the first time in two and a half weeks.

After cleaning up and repacking, we spent some time doing some last-minute shopping.

For our final dinner in Nepal, we were taken out by a Himalayan Wonders staff member to a nice restaurant. Everyone laughed when I ordered dal bhat, but I have plenty of opportunities to eat non-Nepali food and it was very good. Terri had to leave dinner early as she wasn’t able to revert back to our flight since it was full and so was flying out later that night. It was strange having that big hotel room all to myself.

EBC Day 15: Escaping the Himalayas...

As soon as the pilot had finished his cup of coffee, we were told to grab our daypacks and start running. Our porters were already loading our duffel bags onboard. Unlike the pilot of one of the other helicopters, who we witnessed giving a safety briefing to his passengers before boarding, ours didn’t bother.

As the smallest, we chose Terri to get in the front and the rest of us piled into the back after quick hugs with Ishor. Sebastian got in before me, so he had the window seat. I wasn’t thrilled that I didn’t have a seatbelt (it was stuck under the seat), but luckily I lived to tell the tale. 

Perhaps our pilot was a bit of a cowboy or just a crazy risk taker, but he took off in the rain without saying a word to us. Eventually he tried putting on his seatbelt and needed Terri’s help. Luckily it didn’t rain for the entire 51-minute journey.

I wasn’t by a window, but the views were still incredible. We followed the river for much of the trip and saw lots of waterfalls (Terri took this photo). 

It was 40 minutes before I noticed the first road and cars; otherwise all of the villages and terraced farms that we saw along the way had to be reached by foot or by animal.

Overall the journey was smooth, but there were occasional worrisome shakes.

Even with all the drama, it was a damn fine way to end an epic journey.

EBC Day 15: Surkey Helipad...

Eventually we came across this funny little sign. We turned down that narrow path past more houses. Luckily it widened out just enough for us to get out of the way of our final mule train.

We walked along some cornfields and then reached our destination: a grassy field next to a small teahouse. We arrived around 10 a.m., two hours after we left Lukla, just as Ishor had predicted. 

 

The skies were white above, but clear down below. 

We were relieved when we arrived to only find ten other trekkers there before us, as we were concerned that there might have been dozens.  

Veronica had warned me about leeches as she was bit by 11 of them when she trekked in the Himalayas back in 2014. Perhaps because we were at higher elevations, we had never seen any until our final unscheduled two-hour hike. Luckily it had only hitchhiked on my hiking pole.

It was quite exciting when the first helicopter arrived even though we knew that it was for one of the other two groups waiting.

As soon as the first helicopter left, another was preparing to land; alas, that was also not ours. 

No sooner had the second one left that the clouds closed in. Our hopes to escape turned to worry that we might be stuck in that tiny teahouse overnight (we learned later that around 80 trekkers, including our former teammates, had been stuck there two nights previously with many sleeping on the floor).

It had started to rain, so we hunkered down and ordered hot drinks. Just as we were contemplating ordering lunch (either dal bhat or stir-fried noodles as they’d run out of all other options), Ishor rushed in to stop us as he claimed that our helicopter was on its way. As we’d heard that before and it was still raining, we weren’t too hopeful. We were pleasantly surprised about ten minutes later when we heard the familiar whirring sound of the blades and the helicopter appeared through the mist.

EBC Day 15: Falling for One Last Waterfall....

After getting distracted while trying to take a photo of this waterfall, I managed to lose my footing.

I felt like an idiot for slipping in the mud, but jumped right back up. Teresa and Carlin were concerned and asked if I wanted to rest, but I turned them down as I figured that just in case I actually was injured it would be best to let the adrenaline carry me along; it turned out that I just had two small cuts and a bruise on my right hand and a cut behind my right knee. Frankly, it was pretty incredible that I only slipped once time during the 14 days of hiking as I am quite a klutz.

Ishor prematurely announced that our helicopter had left Kathmandu. We thought it would be landing just minutes behind us, but that’s not quite how it worked out. Shortly before the last stretch of trail, we saw a calf in the doorway of a house. As we paused to grab a photo, our porters walked out of the door. We never did find out if that calf was one of their family pets, but it’s a sweet idea.