Action Asia - February-March 2018

66 

— March/April 2018

hill”. By now two-thirds of the party were

popping pills from Subal’s extensive selection,

variously for altitude, stomach, cold or cough.

But with all three passes done, we could

begin the journey home. If Gokyo had recalled

Switzerland, our wilderness camp at Taranga was

more like Scotland: scrub-covered hills, stark

stone walls marking isolated lots of grazing land,

and overhead, shreds of clinging cloud.

A day lower near the pretty village of Thame,

trees reappeared, softening and greening the

landscape. Beyond that came lovely stretches of

rhododendron forest, and then a cleft in the rocks

through which we saw Namche spread out below.

Back in the Khumbu Manhattan, we began

reacquainting with the outside world with

showers, coffee – and beer, at the highest Irish

bar in the world.

The last two days back to Lukla were an

extended farewell. At Ghat we parted from most

of the crew who were picking up an incoming

party fresh out of Lukla. That evening there was

a raffle of our surplus gear and the dividing up of

tips, small ways for us to reward their prodigious

efforts to keep us housed, fed and watered.

Reaching EBC hadn’t been the sole focus for

any of us. But going there brought perspective.

Everest is merely the highest of many incredible

mountains. They all repay the effort to get up

close to, as we had on our High Passes. To

trek in the mountains is to move in relation to

something that’s also continuously changing,

however imperceptibly. This shifting experience

makes mountains compelling each time you

return to them. And return we would. Ailments

and tiredness would fade. Some of the group

were already talking of climbing Ama Dablam or

Island Peak. Once mountains snag you, they are

implacable. AA

CRAMPON YOUR STYLE?

Cho La, the middle one of the three High Passes,

involves a glacier crossing just below the final ascent.