Everest!
Last night I climbed up to Everest!
It was literally at night when I finally managed to scale it. But I am getting ahead of myself.
The dream starts midway while the four of us (Radhika, 2 middle aged, white, blonde women and myself) are midway through the trek.
Though its supposed to be Nepal the scenery is pretty much like Kashmir. I guess my sub-concious being not very familiar with the topography around Everest went into default mode and switched it with the one it was familiar with.
We stay a night at Sonamarg and there is an instance when the sun rays of the setting sun can be seen all golden through the snow laden branches of coniferous trees. I am trying to click its photo through my cell but am not getting a good angle. So the golden meadows thing kind of comes true.
One of the American girls (the shorter and plumper one) gets all dizzy and sick so we plan to take a detour through Pahalgam and plan to get her checked there.
Due to the inadvertent delay at Pahalgam hospital, where she is admitted for hypoxia, we get delayed for our trek up to the Everest. We move on up through the night at a slow pace, trudging up the slope with our heavy backpacks, shoes with spikes and a skiing stick in hand.
Thanks to the commercialisation the trek almost to the top has been made into a kind of a pathway by Nepal govt so its not such a big deal. The pathway is paved and there is a rope to hold on to on the side throughout the way.
We finally reach close to the summit at around 2am! Its dark all around. The last few meters to the top of the peak are steep, rocky and can only take up one person at a time. I climb up on all fours, panting my way to the top.
I reach the top of the world!
There is darkness below but up above maybe due to the height there is a kind of a glow all around the horizon. I imagine that its because dawn would come here first. The other mountain peaks can be seen below. I just get a few moments to savor the sites. There is another guy who I know from somewhere trying to climb up. He is in a yellow jacket. I pull him up and as he stands upright on the top, I start my descent. In the rush to help him up I forget to click a pic.
Finally on the way back we pass through valleys where we can the places where avalanches would have come by the absence of trees. I wonder aloud that how come there were trees near Everest when they say that the treeline can't go above a certain height. The conifer trees near Everest were young, with stunted growth and hardly a few feet in height. They resembled more of a bush, than a tree.
We pass through a place where there is this huge snow bank on our right extending for miles. Its literally sparkling under a deep blue sky in the bright sunlight. The branches of coniferous trees in the forest that we pass through have been chopped off at lower heights which make me think that the Nepali villagers in the neighborhood would be still using fire wood for their cooking needs. Unlike in India where most of them have shifted to cooking gas even in the mountains
We realise that the American (the taller, slimmer, fitter one) and I are both in bright orange overalls from head to toe and laugh about it. I also crack a joke about how Orange looks good on me!
We finally reach a place where cell signals are present and I call up home to tell them that I am safe and we are on our way back. The American we had left behind at Pahalgam has recovered fully and we pick her up on our way back.
It was literally at night when I finally managed to scale it. But I am getting ahead of myself.
The dream starts midway while the four of us (Radhika, 2 middle aged, white, blonde women and myself) are midway through the trek.
Though its supposed to be Nepal the scenery is pretty much like Kashmir. I guess my sub-concious being not very familiar with the topography around Everest went into default mode and switched it with the one it was familiar with.
We stay a night at Sonamarg and there is an instance when the sun rays of the setting sun can be seen all golden through the snow laden branches of coniferous trees. I am trying to click its photo through my cell but am not getting a good angle. So the golden meadows thing kind of comes true.
One of the American girls (the shorter and plumper one) gets all dizzy and sick so we plan to take a detour through Pahalgam and plan to get her checked there.
Due to the inadvertent delay at Pahalgam hospital, where she is admitted for hypoxia, we get delayed for our trek up to the Everest. We move on up through the night at a slow pace, trudging up the slope with our heavy backpacks, shoes with spikes and a skiing stick in hand.
Thanks to the commercialisation the trek almost to the top has been made into a kind of a pathway by Nepal govt so its not such a big deal. The pathway is paved and there is a rope to hold on to on the side throughout the way.
We finally reach close to the summit at around 2am! Its dark all around. The last few meters to the top of the peak are steep, rocky and can only take up one person at a time. I climb up on all fours, panting my way to the top.
I reach the top of the world!
There is darkness below but up above maybe due to the height there is a kind of a glow all around the horizon. I imagine that its because dawn would come here first. The other mountain peaks can be seen below. I just get a few moments to savor the sites. There is another guy who I know from somewhere trying to climb up. He is in a yellow jacket. I pull him up and as he stands upright on the top, I start my descent. In the rush to help him up I forget to click a pic.
Finally on the way back we pass through valleys where we can the places where avalanches would have come by the absence of trees. I wonder aloud that how come there were trees near Everest when they say that the treeline can't go above a certain height. The conifer trees near Everest were young, with stunted growth and hardly a few feet in height. They resembled more of a bush, than a tree.
We pass through a place where there is this huge snow bank on our right extending for miles. Its literally sparkling under a deep blue sky in the bright sunlight. The branches of coniferous trees in the forest that we pass through have been chopped off at lower heights which make me think that the Nepali villagers in the neighborhood would be still using fire wood for their cooking needs. Unlike in India where most of them have shifted to cooking gas even in the mountains
We realise that the American (the taller, slimmer, fitter one) and I are both in bright orange overalls from head to toe and laugh about it. I also crack a joke about how Orange looks good on me!
We finally reach a place where cell signals are present and I call up home to tell them that I am safe and we are on our way back. The American we had left behind at Pahalgam has recovered fully and we pick her up on our way back.
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