I cant sleep all that well once I am above 4000 meters. So I am up and out of my tent while it is still dark, well before anybody else. That's fine by me, I like sitting all alone, soaking in the sights and sounds of the mighty mountains all around me. The hour or so that I spend in this solitude thoroughly energises me for the travails of the day ahead.
The next person to stir out in the open would invariably be our guide, an ageing wizened Sherpa. The first thing he would do is look towards the east and offer his salutation to the Sun. The Sun wouldn't be visible for a while yet but its aura would already be doing its magic on the cliffs around us. Having bowed to the Sun the guide would dig into his pockets and pull out a joss stick. He would then search for a perch, a large rock, or a boulder, overlooking the direction in which we were planning to head during the day. Once he found the perch he would formally light the joss stick, point it towards our path, bow low and plant the joss stick firmly on the perch, all the while whispering a prayer asking the mountains to let us pass smoothly.
We all know that here we are totally at the mercy of these mountains. You cant take them on. Reinhold Messner has said it so eloquently "Mountains are not fair or unfair, they are just dangerous". The guide knew this, so the first thing he did every morning was to seek their blessing. Seek their permission to pass. Thankfully, the mountains heard him every single day and let us pass without any major setbacks.
The next person to stir out in the open would invariably be our guide, an ageing wizened Sherpa. The first thing he would do is look towards the east and offer his salutation to the Sun. The Sun wouldn't be visible for a while yet but its aura would already be doing its magic on the cliffs around us. Having bowed to the Sun the guide would dig into his pockets and pull out a joss stick. He would then search for a perch, a large rock, or a boulder, overlooking the direction in which we were planning to head during the day. Once he found the perch he would formally light the joss stick, point it towards our path, bow low and plant the joss stick firmly on the perch, all the while whispering a prayer asking the mountains to let us pass smoothly.We all know that here we are totally at the mercy of these mountains. You cant take them on. Reinhold Messner has said it so eloquently "Mountains are not fair or unfair, they are just dangerous". The guide knew this, so the first thing he did every morning was to seek their blessing. Seek their permission to pass. Thankfully, the mountains heard him every single day and let us pass without any major setbacks.
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