Part 3 - Entering an Another Earth -
After two nights of rest Bimala is ready to set out. Here, Bimala poses, ready to leave Tyangboche.
The pack looks heavy, and it is. It is very heavy for the air she breathes. But she carries it anyway. She never once complains of the weight. Already, Bimala has found out what Everest has as its defense against climbers. The cold. Its night cold. The winter night cold. With this ultra thin air, at night, Bimala can now only sleep two hours a night at most. The rest of the time she must lie awake feeling the pain of the cold, and the pain of her body that will not heal without sleep. In a few days it will become so cold that no one else will be allowed to follow. Bimala must get up the mountain and then descend.
Bimala says goodbye to Tyangboche, and is soon pushing hard again.
Soon the Earth has turned surreal. It is no longer the world that the human species knows it to be.
This is another world. A different Earth, to the one that supports people. Bimala is now on top of this world and it is exhilarating.
But the peak is still allusive. There is more to go. The exhilaration will fade. It is now a world inhabited by ghosts of past explorers, yeti, and other phenomena still unexplained.
The End of this Post
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