Lightning strikes twice for Chaka’s Rock adventurer

Danger is Chaka’s Rock cameraman Graeme Duane’s second name.

Seven months after he barely escaped with his life from devastating avalanches in Nepal, this week he was caught up in the worst earthquakes in that country in 80 years.

Returning last week to the Himalayan country on the northern border between India and China, home of the famous Mt Everest, to complete the mountain bike ride he started last October, Graeme and Durban companion Cuan Cronje have now been caught up in the earthquakes that have claimed more than 2 500 lives.

Last October, Graeme, Cuan and another friend started out to ride the the challenging Annapurna circuit, a 250km trek through the Himalayas when heavy snows started avalanches that killed 43 people and they had to cycle more than 100km in below-freezing temperatures back to safety.

Two weeks ago Graeme and Cuan returned to Nepal to finish their quest, hopefully in more favourable weather. They cycled safely through the Manang valley, through the Tilicho base camp and on to Thorung Pedi, base camp for the Thorung La pass.

Although they enountered some snow, that did not stop them reaching the top of the Thorung La pass, the highest pass in the world at 5 416 metres.

They were about 50km from Katmandu and felt the shock of the massive quake, measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, when it hit on Saturday morning.

Big boulders and landslides careened down the mountains, but they were in a safe place.

In Katmandu, the quake flattened buildings and killed more than 2 500 people, triggering an international relief effort.

Graeme’s wife, Tessa, was in the Umfolozi game reserve with her mother and children. So she had no access to television and was blissfully unaware of the danger Graeme was in, yet again. But cellphone communications were still working.

“He left a message on Saturday that they were alright and not to worry,” she said at her Chaka’s Rock home on Monday.

“At that stage I didn’t even know there was a problem.”

“Cuan even chirped that they were ‘shaken, but not stirred’!”

The pair will now make their way back to Katmandu and hope to get a flight out on Wednesday or Thursday, if the airport is open.

And will Graeme be going back to Nepal, for another attempt to complete the whole 250km circuit?

“I think this will be their last trip,” laughed Tessa.

But Graeme, an award-winning cinematographer who made his name with hair-raising stunts like filming great white sharks and crocodiles in their underwater lairs, will no doubt come up with another adventure to push the limits.