When we last reminisced to our serial adventures on a trek in Nepal we were sipping lemon tea and gnawing on some nak cheese, storing up energy and oxygen for a hike up, up and away above Gorak Shep. This was far from the last day of our trip, but it was the end of driving upwards and discovering the awesome views from higher terrain. The view was already surreal, to the point that my mind couldn’t correlate the mixture of the setting and the inhabitants. It was almost something I’d expect to see coming from a digital camera on a Mars Rover. I could just ride with my imagination though, it wasn’t hard. I don’t remember seeing a single specimen of plant life anywhere, and the barren, sandy soil had a rusty tint to it, and the thinning air sure helped to believe it.

Isn’t it about time to start up hiking again? Well, we all have taken an atrophy break for a few months, but with the warmer weather (above freezing, woohoo) I’m getting the earliest signs of spring fever. When I wake up in the morning I don’t have to break through the ice on my blankets, and my shampoo isn’t frozen any more. I feel a light buzz of adrenaline now that the sun sets later and my legs are anxious to go run around the block. I’m in a wide valley surrounded by mountains, and I always look up and imagine hiking to each of the many peaks. However, the snow is still pretty thick and the temperatures still must be as cold as my apartment, so I don’t plan on any hikes up there just yet.

We are almost at the endpoint of our uphill climb. Of course this is a complete review of the experience and you can get my first impressions of the experience if you dig back into the archives (October). Hiking beyond Gorak Shep and proudly, yet slowly, lurching up the last mile up Kala Patthar, the excitement is mounting. Any other puns and cliches I missed, like saying “pinnacle of our journey”? But let’s hold that tension, and savor the anticipation for reaching the pinnacle of our journey. Let’s not get caught up in our fixation with reaching a single destination. There are so many fascinating tangents to our path, assuming we’re walking in a big circle, and it would be fascinating to just stop and look at the surroundings, to be mentally and physically present. Looking up we see the blue sky, a good sign that the clouds are biding time elsewhere, and generously sharing wide views of the landscape. Look left, right, and all about there are mountains, with unbelievably sharp edges, and unimaginably ancient ice packs.

As usual I found myself somewhat separated from the group as I was hiking onward to Gorak Shep. I set my pace ahead of the others, and I found myself in a bit of solitude in the grey, barren glacier valley. The trail was leading into frost and snow, and across the side streams from the river there were sheets of ice. This was clearly in an area that didn’t often thaw out and there seemed to be layers of snow and ice that had been building and slightly receding over the years. I could see a very thick buildup of icy snow wedged between some massive rocks and the hillside, and an odd little cave was left over by some process of years of melting and freezing. I wasn’t feeling such a chill anymore in my toes since I had a good hiking pace and the warm sun had tipped over the mountains and washed the grey snow in light. Since we had gotten such an early start to the day, buy mid-morning I already had the sack lunch on my mind. We had by then become familiar with the chapati bread with jam, the boiled egg, and the hearty wedge of nak cheese. After that back had been crammed and mangled inside of the pack is comes out pretty messy, but no less satisfying on the trail.