Mt. Everest: We are all in search of something (day 6)


Mt. Everest:  We are all in search of something
Dingboche to Thukla
September 17th
(day 6)

We woke up to the sound of everyone yelling “the mountains” – “come and see the mountains”.  We did not know which ones they were talking about, but it was the first time there was enough visibility to actually see the snow crested mountain tops.  They were magnificent – higher than the clouds circling around them.



There was a special comradery at these lodges, where if there was a sighting everyone would call to the group’s attention.

Once again after a quick adrenaline rush like that it was time for a bite of breakfast and time to get back on the trail.

The small Yak homes with slate roofs, the solar powered dishes for hot water were in the foreground, while the mountains remained in the background of village life (but no ours).



These paths were smoother – a massive relief – if even for short while.


Soon the road became rocky again. That’s when it became obvious – the need to follow the path of least resistance – following the dried river creek path, as opposed to trying to follow a straight line.


My observation for the day, although the land is fascinating and captivating, it is the people that are the most interesting thing here.  The Nepalese are hard-working and kind.  The Australians personable and caring.  More to the point, we are all here in search of something.  Some for our identity having been adopted, an immigrant from Russian to Israel, and even we were looking for where we are going next in our lives.  We even saw one woman draped in a shawl clearly pursuing a spiritual quest.

We were getting closer to Everest Base Camp and as a consequence a lot of our thought and attention became focused on the things that might slow us down or worse, stop us in our tracks.  We were mindful of colds beginning to intensify, signs of altitude sickness, including headaches, difficulty breathing, a sore knee or toe.  We even covered our ears with our buffs when the wind became too strong to make sure we did not get an ear ache from it.  They may seem small and pedestrian, but they are the things that can take you out of the “race”, as it were, and we were not about to let that happen when we were so close.

We were fortunate.  We saw both Andree and Hemant again.  Andree said he was having labored breathing, but that it was “lo kashov” or no problem.  We exchanged emails and assured each other that we would stay in touch.

Everything we were doing at 14,000 feet was harder and took longer but we were all in it for the long haul at this point.  After only 3 hours it was time for dinner and dessert (pomegranate and apple slides).

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