We got snow! It was a beautiful snowy walk to Gorak Shep! :)
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| snowy morning :) |
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| sporting Altitude Seven :) |
The Buddha said: You
yourself are your own refuge, Nobody else can be your refuge. If you really
tame your mind, You can attain the highest realization of the Buddha! May the
precious mind of enlightenment, Arise where it has not arisen. Where it has
arisen, may it not wane, But further and further increase.
It also has a request
to all sentient beings on Earth:
Give up all intentions
to harm others from your heart, and do your best to benefit them all. If each
and every one feels the Universal Responsibility to do so, we will all enjoy
the feast of PEACE!
I was really happy we
were able to meet with him and get his blessing for our team. We also had our team’s prayer flags blessed that will hang in
our Everest Base Camp.
After leaving Lama Geshe’s we headed to Dingboche, I decided
to wait to get lunch until we arrived as I wasn’t feeling like another break.
So I split off from the team for a bit. The altitude was starting to make its
presence known in my little body and so I just wanted to get to our
destination. Upon arrival to our tea
house, we heard a helicopter coming in. We had learned the day before that one
of the Sherpa Ice Fall Doctors had died in the ice fall after fixing ropes to
Camp 2. Apparently there was a crash in the ice fall and he fell victim to it.
I know Alan Arnette has already posted more details on the incident, if you
care to learn more. I was walking with one of our climbing Sherpas, Pasong, and
he informed me that the ice fall doctor that had passed away was from
Dingoboche. So to my surprise as we watched the chopper land, we saw the
village gather around and the body of the ice fall doctor be delivered to them.
It was a sobering and somber moment to say the least and also hard for many of
the Sherpa that were here. As much as
there is light around being in this majestic place, there is darkness when
incidents such as this happen. For me it is a reminder that one must always
have ultimate respect for nature and the mountains. We will only go as far as
she will let us. My heart and prayers go out to the family of the fallen
Sherpa.
On my walk over to Dingboche I was able to get to know
Pasong, one of our climbing Sherpa’s so much better. Some of their life stories
and adventures are quite remarkable and very humbling. Pasong used to be a
monk, but had to change his life path due to his father passing away and having
to make a sustainable living for himself and family. He was a monk from the age
of 7 to about 17. Since then he has become a climbing Sherpa and has two
summits on Everest, Ama Dablam, Makalu, and many more. Like many of the other
Sherpas, he beams positivity and encouragement. It was a great walk and just as
much as I wanted to learn about his climbing, he wanted to learn about me. He
then wanted to know the details of my 2011 Everest attempt and from there
offered some pretty awesome coaching tips. Some of the main points:
- Pray and pray that you will make it this time
- It’s not a competition: If people go fast on the summit push, let them; if they go slow, keep walking
- Try to eat at the South Col and take energy bars or Gu for the summit push
- Keep an eye on your O2 regulator
- Be the most careful on the decent because I will be tired
- Enjoy it and do everything you can and give it your all to make it this time.
He then smiled and said, you’ll make it and we continued on
our walk :) Learning of his summits on some of these major peaks was pretty humbling. The
most impressive was his October summit on Everest where 5 climbing Sherpa and 1
client went for it. They fixed lines as they ascended, they ran out of rope at
some point, and dealt with some pretty nasty weather (including white-out
conditions), yet they made it.
As we walked and as our team had two days in Dingboche, it
made me think how it’s always pretty cool how quickly a team can form in the
mountains. How quickly we are all keeping an eye out for one another and how
strangers become friends within days.
The journey so far has been awesome, beautiful and breathtaking
views, amazing people, and little reminders of how fortunate we are. My
mornings have started with the scent of burnt sage, the sounds of yak bells,
and fired eggs for breakfast (although I did try out some of the French toast
the other day-not bad). The tea houses
have been very welcoming and nice, although they have gotten colder as you go
up the valley so by my last few nights in Dingoboche and Loboche I was sleeping
in my light down jacket, leggings, and in my zero degree sleeping bag! Hence why
I also didn’t want to spend another night in a tea house in Gorak Shep and
rather just go to my tent :) Think it will be just as cold…lol. Some other favorite things around the trek
have been these cute little black chubby birds with bright yellow peaks that
have the funniest little chirps; they always make me smile. Also watching the
horses and yaks roam free in some of the valley is really a splendid and
beautiful sight.
We have all been keeping close watch on our bodies and
health. I still have a slight cough and hoping to knock that out at Base Camp
with a few days rest there. Alison and Rob went down to Pheriche to check in
with the docs there and so they will join us at EBC in a couple of days. There
has been a weird tummy bug going around the valley, luckily I didn’t get it,
but others have not been so fortunate. All of these things are normal though
and part of the deal. It’s your main job to keep yourself healthy so you can
last the journey. Some of the team will
stay in Gorak Shep tonight, so slowly we will all be in EBC soon and have our
Puja Ceremony and get the climbing show on the road :)
Excited to get to Base Camp here momentarily and hit the
first major milestone of this journey. Upon arrival, I will set up my little
home for the next 2 months and settle in. We will likely go explore the ice
fall and play on some ladders after a few days at EBC and once we have begun to
adjust to living at 17,500 feet! Looking forward to my first night in the tent
and starting the next leg of this journey. Also looking forward to catching up
with friends there that are on other teams! It’s been such a pleasant surprise
to know, that there will be some friendly and familiar faces up there J
More soon and as always if you would like to support our
efforts, please visit: www.climbtakeaction.com
Hugs,
G
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| amazing what the Sherpa carry! |
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| The team |
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| Top of Memorial Hill wearing Altitude Seven! |
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| Top of Memorial Hill |
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| Tea house ice box accomidations |
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| I am such a girl and gave myself a manicure on our rest day :) |
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| Morning snow in Loboche! |
