23 October - An Acclimatization Day
Today--an acclimatization day--we took a four-hour hike up the spur of a mountain that overlooks Pheriche, pausing first to look at the memorial to all those who have been killed on Everest--a large cone that has been bisected into two halves, and which bears hundreds of names. As Liesha, one of our trekkers,wryly pointed out, there is space for more names as well. Soon we could see Island Peak, Peak 38, and Ama Dablam again, but from a different angle this time--with the child in front of the mother. We could also see little eddies of mist coming off the peaks--wind plumes, according to Anda, blowing snow into the endless blue space. Again, we were overwhelmed by the majesty of the sight. It's as if the outer planets had been plucked from their orbits, brought down to earth, mashed together and then tapered into huge jagged pyramids of rock and ice and snow. Eventually we hiked up to an altitude of 4635 m., through a worn and elemental landscape of rock, clay and low gnarled juniper. We could see several chortens (good luck monuments) as well rock cairns built by the local people, and of course we had to build our Inukshuk!