EVOLVE 50 reaches new heights in the Himalayas

The Gokyo Lakes are the highest freshwater lakes in the world, located at an altitude of 15,400–16,400 feet (4700–5000 meters) above sea level in Sagarmatha National Park in the Himalaya region of north-eastern Nepal. The lakes area is a popular destination for tourists starting the trek to Mount Everest, which lies to the north.

Mr. Dawa Steven Sherpa, a Nepalese businessman, keen trekker and organizer of high-altitude events in Nepal, recently inspired a group of Olympic medallists and champions from across the globe to take part in the first-ever Skate Nepal event at Gokyo Lake on February 14th, 2020. The event was the highest-ever exhibition of figure skating and ice hockey at 15,715 feet (4790 meters).

The challenge, aside from ensuring smooth ice on the lake, was to provide a public address and music system for the event. After being flown-in to Lukla airport at 9200 feet (2800 meters), an Electro-Voice EVOLVE 50 column loudspeaker system was carried by a porter for six days on a popular trek route up to Gokyo Lake. The system’s portability, along with its long and wide acoustic coverage, came through with flying colors for the event.

Mr. Dawa Steven Sherpa tells the story: “Music is a crucial part of every figure skating routine. Our challenge was to find a speaker system that was compact and light enough to be carried up by a porter, tough enough to handle the freezing cold and rough transport, loud enough to be heard across an open arena 200 feet in length with the Himalayan winter wind constantly on our backs, yet clear enough for our athletes to hear the nuances in the music to time their complex maneuvers. Add to this the challenge of only having a single small petrol generator to power all our equipment. The EVOLVE 50 system was the natural choice.

“On February 7th, we flew in a small propeller aircraft with the EVOLVE 50 to Lukla Airport, considered the most dangerous airport in the world. The subwoofer was packed in its cardboard box with some extra padding, while the column speaker was simply packed in its zip-up case together with a mic and some auxiliary cables. A single porter was able to carry the whole system on his back for the next six days to from Lukla airport to Gokyo village. The cardboard box was a little damaged during the travel on the porters back but the rugged sub didn’t show any sign of damage. We arrived on site, unpacked the subwoofer on the frozen lake, added the column array on top, plugged in our microphone and laptop with the auxiliary cables, and turned on the power. ‘Check, check, 1, 2, 3… It’s working!’ Less than five minutes to set up and we had our entire PA and music system ready. The rest is history!”