EBC Day 2: Meeting the Mother

Excerpt from my travel journal, September 3 2006:

Late to bed, early to rise. The altitude and dry air limits me to only a few hours of weak sleep. With a sore throat and slight headache, I join the others for a quick breakfast and we hit the road, the Mother awaits.

Tibetans call the peak Qomolangma which roughly translates as "Goddess Mother of te Universe." The goddess that dwells at the mountain is one of five famous Tibetan dieties which predate Buddhism. And we were in a rush to make her acquaintance.

But our plans were quickling put on hold when Friday realized he had forgotten one of the necessary permits. Leaving us at the checkpoint in a small village [Andre the German would say "willage"], he backtracked the 10k to Shegar to fix the problem. We were immediately aware of our good fortune to be left where we were. Allowed to wander through the rural village, we take in a uniquely Tibetan lifestyle.

Hundreds of goats were corralled in pens built of mortar-less rock walls four feel high. Donkeys were tied to posts on a short leash while many dogs were free to roam the grounds. While the villagers were hard at work, they were polite enough to greet our alien faces with a smile and the Tibetan greeting "Tashi delek!" A river bed cut deeply into the terrain downhill of the village, and looking across it a half mile away I could see what appeared to be an old ruined castle.

The hour we were set free on the village was remarkably fulfilling. Far from the Chinese influence which belies Lhasa's historical and religious significance and suffocates real Tibetan culture, this town functioned independently and from what I could see was nearly fully self-sustaining.

Before long, Friday returned and we big farewell to the anthropological interests of the village and focused on the geological ones at hand.

Up about two dozen switchbacks and over another pass we arrived at the end of our journey in the car. 8 km (5 miles) from EBC the road stops at a monastery. Our foursome decides unanimously to forgo the pony-drawn carts taht most visitors take the rest of the way in favor of a nice short trek. The way is slightly uphill the whole way and is made difficult only because we are just shy of 17,000 ft above sea level, and half our group arrived in Tibet only 2 days before (thats me!).

Still, we made short wor of the hike and arrive in camp to find what appears a makeshift Main street with semi-permanent tents serving as stores, hotels and a post office lining both sides. Only a few steps down the hundred yard street and we are greeted with the same sterile English greetings as we could find in a market in Lhasa. Not surprisingly, all the Tibetans in the street were there to sell us something, old stale food, a trinket, fossil, or a berth inside a tented hotel. Tourism dependency has reached the top of the world.

Since all hotels were priced exactly the same- how COMMUNAL for these Tibetans- we chose the nicest looking interior and sat down to rest while our gracious Tibetan host tirelessly refilled our tea cups with hot water heated by burning yak dung inteh central stove.

Within the next few hours a pair of Basque cilmbers stopped for a cup tea in our tent and we asked them many questions. Even though it is late in the climbing season, they will try for the summit within the next couple weeks if the weather holds out. I should remember to find out about the results of their summit attempyt.

The sun begins to set and I am just beginning to get comfortable in our tent- bundled up with all the warm layers I brought- when Andre walks in and informs us the mountain is poking her head out of the seemingly endless clouds. Those remaining in the tent jump to and I run up the short hill just on teh mountain end of main street, quickly losing my breath and nearly passing out before I reach the prayer-flag lined top.

The setting sun casts a shimmering orange glow on the summit which is exposed while the great body of the beast remains hidden behind the cloud. At first glance it is easy to miss the golden pyramid because it floats much higher in the heavens than I expected. And for the second time in two days, my spirit was lifted to heights rivaling the massive Mother and I put to rest any worries about an disappointing adventure as I imagined this moment as the summit of our short journey. But this summit proved to be false, as again I found the next day that the true summit was actually loftier than expected.