Tibet banner trips climber

RICHMOND — It’s back to the day job for William Brant Holland, international man of intrigue.

He’s $20,000 poorer and with little to show for his aborted attempt to climb Mount Everest, except a mark on his passport indicating he was deported from the Himalayan paradise of Nepal. And there’s a letter of rebuke from the Nepalese office of tourism, which Monday banned him from Everest for two years.

“They said they were going to go easy on me,” Mr. Holland said. “They were very nice about it, really.”

He sipped his first beer here Wednesday since his dream of reaching the summit of Everest failed. He was back on Cary Street, wearing a green Patagonia polo shirt and canvas pants. His face was sunburned, except where his beard was and where the mask covered his face from the cold on the mountain.

Now he’s got to recoup his losses, collect his equipment and get back to cutting trees. His Ridgeline Trees LLC has funded all his adventures.

“I’ll find three guys to work for me and it will be back to work six days a week, from sunrise to 10 p.m. each day,” he said.

He’s come to this conclusion about it all:

“The mountain isn’t going anywhere. I’ll be back.”

At 26, Mr. Holland has attained a distinction that he never invited or imagined.

A $10, 2-foot-square banner carrying the words “Free Tibet” got him booted off Everest, the first victim of new regulations designed to avoid any unpleasantness over the Chinese government’s plan to haul the Olympic torch to the mountain’s summit, probably in the next few days.

Mr. Holland was the first mountaineer to be stopped by soldiers and policemen stationed on the Nepalese side of the world’s highest mountain to prevent anti-China protests during the torch run.

The torch climb will take place on the Chinese side of the mountain, but the Nepalese government, complying with pressure from China, posted soldiers on the southern side and banned climbing near the summit through May 10 as a precaution.

Police and soldiers have been ordered to stop any protest on the mountain using whatever means necessary, including use of weapons, although the use of deadly force is authorized only as a last resort.

There are already dozens of mountaineers on Everest for the popular spring climbing season. Climbers spend weeks acclimatizing and making practice runs up the slopes before attempting the 29,035-foot summit.

They will be barred from going above Camp 2 at 21,300 feet until the Chinese finish their torch run. The harsh weather on Everest allows only about two windows — anywhere from a couple of days to a week — this month when conditions are favorable enough for the push to the summit.

Mr. Holland’s plan to get a picture of himself at the top of Everest with the banner backfired.

He said someone informed authorities, the flag was confiscated, and then he was told to report to tourism officials in Katmandu.

“I did the walk back (from base camp) in three days. I was pretty upset and needed to figure out what was going on,” Mr. Holland said.

News of the ouster went worldwide and Mr. Holland says now he never imagined that his plan would become public or arouse suspicion.

“If I’d meant to cause trouble I could have bought a $20 permit and been leading demonstrations or something at the base camp. That’s not what was going on.”

A 2000 graduate of Midlothian High School, where he wrestled and played football, Mr. Holland is leading a rarified life.

The son of a prominent cardiologist and the nephew of two retired state senators, he’s set on summitting the world’s seven tallest peaks. Everest was next on the list; he’s done five, immersing himself in foreign cultures along the way.

“If there’s not some sort of danger involved, I figure it’s not going to be much of an adventure,” Mr. Holland said.

He planned to climb Everest without the help of Sherpa carriers, handling hundreds of pounds of equipment by himself by moving it up the mountain in stages.

Braided wrist bands from Tanzania and Peru and a green stone necklace from New Zealand speak to past adventures.

He’s seen the stunning beauty of Denali in Alaska and yearns to see the deserts of Ethiopia.

“My biggest problem is learning to be patient; you have to learn to take one day at a time,” he said.

Adversity is an adventure, and he said he’s putting off a more stable life until the world has worn out some of its welcome.

“I can put everything I own in the back of a pickup,” he said.

He made it to China in January. After riding across the United States on a bicycle in 36 days, he flew to China and then took trains and more bikes to the western part of the country.

He was aware of China’s crackdown on Buddhist monks in Tibet, but never equated the uproar with his plan for the flag, hatched when he spotted the emblem in a Katmandu souvenir shop.

Sooner or later, Mr. Holland wants to go to medical school. “Something like Doctors Without Borders is appealing to me,” he said.

But old age won’t come without a fight and more adventures.

“In my family, the saying is, ’It’s better to live till 50 like a bull than to 100 like a mouse.’ ”