Mount Everest has a reputation – conquest, danger, intimidation! It’s a mountain suited only for the strongest, most fearless, and physically fit of individuals. These weren’t my goals. For me, Mount Everest also represented trails, rhododendron forests, rivers, monasteries, and a summit that offered time to meditate; to take in the peace and beauty the mountain has to offer.[break] It would be for my heart an opportunity to heal and fall in love with adventure. I’m compulsively optimistic and believe “anything is possible.” I have strong lungs, heart and mind. These would be the tools that would allow my legs to carry me to 18,000 feet. For some people, the mountain takes life; for me, it would give life.
Enduring Everest
I didn’t understand the toll the diminishing oxygen would take on my body and mind, or how I would function while trekking 7-10 hours per day. To be honest, the year prior to the race, I wasn’t “in the mood for training” at all! My father had recently passed away; my child had moved out for university, my love life was in shambles. My world was changing, and I wasn’t certain where my life was going.
Therefore, I ended up at the base of Mt. Everest in less than my best physical shape. I still believed I had the necessary strength to endure. Trekking into the Sagarmatha National Park, I realized we would be near the Dudh Koshi (Milky River) during this adventure. The thunderous roar of the rushing water was music to my ears. Crossing suspension bridges; I would pause long enough to feel the magic in the hundreds of prayer flags waving in the wind, offering hope to all climbing the mountain and faith in good things to come. I had found Nirvana!
Then I had to survive the day’s 8-hour trek into Namche Bazaar. Nirvana was gone. I kept looking up, hoping for an end in sight. As I trudged up, up, and up, I worried there was no end in sight. I cried. I screamed out loud, “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Yet I kept on trekking. The sheer joy of arriving was cause for me to do a cartwheel! Namche Bazaar would be the finish line of the race. What had I gotten myself into? It was the beginning of many days to come where trekking up difficult terrains was followed by very brief, gleeful downhill sections. For me, joy existed when going downhill. Some days, the faster runners would drop to the back and encourage me to take the uphill sections slowly. They had been fully trained, they were prepared, and yet graciously encouraging me.
I developed some type of respiratory illness and needed rest. As the schedule didn’t allow for much rest, I pushed through. I found respite when I could hear birds singing, or the sounds of the vociferous river. Sometimes, little yellow flowers would fall off the trees onto the trail at my feet. I felt romanced by the mountain. I would pause, close my eyes, breathe in deeply, feel the wind on my face, smell the air, and allow my spirit to be cleansed. At the end of one long, arduous day of trekking, the Nepali doctors with our group greeted me with a small bouquet of purple wildflowers they had handpicked, and they told me: “This is your home!”
Reborn of Mt Everest
Arriving at the Everest Base Camp (brrrrr!), surrounded by the bluest of skies, gazing at Mt Everest – I had made it! I lost 14 kg in the process. Slowly, painfully, full of doubt on many days, today I was standing in view of this summit many people can only dream of. On race day, I had no idea how long it would take me to cross the finish line. Running downhill, walking uphill, pausing to rest, I even stopped in Funky Thangka to shop for jewelry (never a bad time to shop), and then I continued back on the race. There were uphill sections that almost defeated me; the climb to Tyangboche Monastery, Funky Thangka, Khumjung, and then into Namche.
The last mile was incredibly downhill, and the air was filled with the music of celebrations. Tears of joy poured from my eyes. I was the slowest participant, and yet, as I ran down the trails with rocks sliding under my feet and a fading sun in the western sky and my legs pounding in fatigue, my heart was bursting with pride. I was doing it! I did it! I survived the physical pain and the emotional doubt, and accomplished the spiritual pursuit of a love affair with the tallest mountain in the world.
I thus became one with the prayer flags and realized: Nirvana is within me!
Related story
Himalaya Airlines launches internet booking engine
