Either because Lobuche is situated in the shadows of so many great mountain peaks or because of the vaulted elevation reaching up into thick, roiling clouds, the sunlight fades out and the chill sets in very early in the evening. As a camper, foraging along with the yaks for something to snack on, you notice that just when you’re getting a handle on the day it seems that it’s coming to an end. Perhaps by 4 pm the glare of the sunlight from the grazed grasslands dims out and the sapping cold quickly demands your attention. This experience was in October, even before the adjustment from Daylight Savings. Of course I don’t even recall whether Nepal adjusts their clocks between the seasons. Considering that their time zone and calendar are entirely independent from the rest of the world, it is unlikely that Nepal follows the conventions of daylight savings time. So even in early autumn the the golden glint of the fading summer washes out to a frigid and alien purgatory.

It reminded me of being on the dark side of some failed planet, and in particular of a short story I read where the earth has been knocked out of its orbit and thwarted far beyond the reach of the warming rays of the sun. It was so cold that the air in the atmosphere had all frozen into crystals, like snow flakes, and has fallen in to the ground. To keep warm and to even have air to breath, the survivors had the chore of collecting buckets full of the icy air and bringing it back to an enclosed area where it could sublimate and fuel the flames of an open fire. Needless to say, you’d have to wear a pretty substantial space suit most of the time, and that’s just how it was in our little camp outside of Lobuche. We did have to wander into the deep darkness to find the kitchen tent to fill our bottles with boiling hot water. That would keep us warm at least long enough to stumble back to our tents.

At least on this occasion the cooks had it a bit better than us since it was a lot warmer in their tent. Despite the obvious danger of running a kerosene stove at full throttle in a small, enclosed area, it was a lot like stepping back into the tent on that dead, forsaken earth of the story where a fire was burning bright with a bucket of air roiling up and flooding the room with air. I spent a little extra time visiting with Pema and the cooks, and just before I wore out my welcome I went back to my own tent. Thankfully we did bring space suits, our silly looking expedition coats made of puffy microfiber. Once I sealed myself into my coat I was instantly warm and I sustained against the inhospitable night. If only there was a matching bubble helmet and air tanks to go with it.