The second half of life has begun

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Greetings. Typing from the highest permanent settlement in Nepal - a wee yak herding village called Dingboche which sits at the head of the Chukkung valley at 4,400m (14,200ft). I type from a wee tent outside a wee lodge with snowy Himalayan peaks all around me. I had to wait for the young chap to start up the generator before we could get the machine up an running. It's very cold today so it took quite a few efforts to get it going but it's running smoothly for the mo so I should be ok to finish this rambling unless I'm overcome by the fumes.

I think the last thing I posted here was on arriving in the staggering beauty of Namche Bazar. I'm not sure how many days ago that was but it feels like a lifetime ago. My life has turned a corner since then - I've laid eyes on Mt Everest. By mid-morning the day after leaving Namche we were sat on the terrace of a wee "cafe" in warm sunshine with some of the most resonant mountains all around us. Ama Dablam standing tall, proud, and so, so beautiful in the foreground. Tamaserku's ridges soaring away to the south. Lhotse scything into the sky beside her reclining sister, Nuptse. Sitting proud but humble just to the north of Lhotse was the pyramid of Chomolungma (aka Mt Everest). Point marked - I believe it may be of the turning variety.

We did leave there eventually and a few more sightings of the master appeared through the day as we dropped down into the valley and then back up again onto the small plateau that houses Tengboche. Tengboche is a large, important Buddhist monastery - the home of the Lama Ringboche Tengboche, a man of much wisdom and empathy. He was born in Namche Bazar the month after the founding Lama (Gulu) died as a result of injuries he received in an earthquake. As soon as Ringboche could speak, he kept insisting to his parents that he had a home and belongings in Tengboche (a day's walk away, where he'd never been). He was taken there and given the usual test of being presented with a selection of items, some of them belonging to Lama Gulu. He selected all of Lama Gulu's belongings and no others, thus "proving" he is the reincarnation of Lama Gulu.

Since then, he has done more to bring the mountaineers and tourists in healthy contact with the Sherpas and their communities than any other man and has started a unique mountain health remedy research facility at Tengboche. Tengboche was below freezing and I could feel my toes going numb as I stood before the enormous statue of Buddha in the centre of the monastery (one has to remove one's boots to go in) but there is something magical about this little place nestled on a ridge in the highest place in the world - the place feels unfeasibly peaceful. So dangerous...so tempting to stay...to live among the mountains...to help the Ringboche's projects...

But we left the next day and trekked down into the valley again (where the nun's monastery is), then up again to the wee town of Dingboche (from where I type now). This is my second visit to Dingboche as we spent two nights here two nights ago (and did a wee acclimatisation hike up the hill above here) before heading up the valley to Chukkung in preparation to attempt a crossing of the Kongma La. I spent last night in my bed in the tiny lodge in Chukkung listening to my first Himalayan thunderstorm roll over us. Kept me awake all night and dumped an impressive amount of snow on the already snow-laden pass. So the 4am wake-up call from RB (our trekking guide) changed into a cancellation of the early start and a cancellation of the crossing. This is massively frustrating but he's no doubt right. So we trekked back down to Dingboche where I decided it was time to set a few things straight with the guys. I came here to do hard treks, to attempt the passes, to challenge myself beyond where I've been before. So far, this trek has not delivered any of that. I convinced Shaleish (the leader) that it was indeed rather pathetic to be completing the day's trek by 10am so we could indeed tackle the remaining 6-hour (i.e. 4 hour tops) trek to Lobuche (which is where we would've ended up had we gone over the pass). Unfortunately, both my trekking partners are suffering and really did not like the idea. Not wanting to be the cause of Acute Mountain Sickness in either of them, I backed down but insisted I will be going up one of these here mountains today. RB smiled, Shaleish looked a bit sheepish.

So RB and I headed off in the falling snow across the glacial river via a snow-covered, wobbly, four-log bridge and onto the path up the side of the majestic Ama Dablam. We weren't heading for the summit of course (that's a very serious multi-day expedition), we were heading for a couple of glacial lakes in a hanging glacial valley about a thousand feet above us. We pretty much instantly lost the path but happily stumbled on up the snowy "trails" for a couple of hours before reaching the wee summit (about 4700m / 15,000ft). We'd been in a mild snow storm all the way up but we shared a massively welcome lunch under an overhanging rock with smiles on our faces. "You must think I'm mad" I offered. RB turned swiftly to look me in the eye: "No, I love this". Big beaming smile.

The glacial lakes are all but gone. There is a small amount of water in the big lake, the other is completely dry. The effects of climate change are starkly apparent up here. If it keeps going at this rate, we will lose many glaciers here, will lose their lakes and their rivers and this place will become uninhabitable.

RB & I wandered down eventually (leaving some salt, a piece of cheese, and a chapati for the mountain goats to find), deciding that using the brushy bushes was much better than following the frozen, slippery path - though that was only an option whenever we could find it of course. By the time we (somehow) reached the bottom, the sun was out again and we both had great big smiles on our faces. We shook hands firmly and wandered back to the wee settlement through the snowy paths.
RB: "You come back do Everest?"
ww: "Oh dear, erm, no, that might be a bit much RB..."
RB: "But why not? Most start smaller peaks - you have no trouble."
ww: "Erm, maybe I'll aim at something a bit smaller first RB - Kilimanjaro in June, then maybe something here next year?"
RB: "Ah, you do Kilimanjaro easy. Please, you very welcome, come back Nepal - we do real mountain."

Oh dear - I seem to have started something...

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