Trekking Day 5

10/26/2011
Annapurna Base Camp

Wow, I made it! This morning I left from Macchapucchare Base Camp (MBC) at 6 am to catch the sunrise as I walked 2 more hours to Annapurna Base Camp (ABC). Those were probably the hardest 2 hours of the entire trek - it was SO cold! My fingers were so numb I could hardly move them, even though I was wearing gloves. It had snowed a little the night before, and I think I spotted snow leopard tracks! (The tracks were too small to be a dog, anyway). Upon reaching ABC I collapsed in the nearest lodge dining room to thaw my hands and have some ginger tea & oatmeal.

During my icy morning trek, I had been doubting whether it was worth it to come all the way up here. After breakfast, when I walked up to the hill with all the prayer flags, all my doubts vanished. It was totally worth it. The beauty here blows my mind and heart. I couldn't keep back tears as I turned around and around, gazing at the 360-degree views of up-close, gigantic snow-covered mountains. The words awe, wonder, and amazement are the closest approximation to what I was feeling. No wonder so many people come here every year. On the hill where all the multicolored prayer flags are strung out, there is a quote from a climber in plated metal: "Mountains are not the arenas where I exercise my desire to achieve, they are the cathedrals where I practice my religion."

Here is a poem about Anna Purna Base Camp:

Face-to-face with snow-covered gods
Heaven touches Earth with blue sky and clouds
Black crows ride the ribbons of air
Brown grass gets tangled in last night's snow.

I don't know how I got here:
Dropped from an airplane turned upside down?
Perhaps what grabs my heart the most
Is knowing this is only the beginning.
This is only the beginning of my journey.
I still have no idea, really, what lies around the next corner.

The air is rich with feeling here.
Many people have died here,
Trying to ascend further up into heaven.
(Just one week ago, Korean climbers died in a snow avalanche.
Helicopters go by searching for their bodies.)
Many people have truly lived here, reaching as far up into heaven as they can with their feet planted on solid ground.
I know I am alive right now,
Closer to the edge of disbelief,
Stretching the truth,
Overstepping my boundaries with strides of trust and intuition.
It is a feeling beyond happiness, beyond elation,
As though I would like to cry for many days,
Just for the sake of being alive.
And all from being encircled by mountains,
Snow-covered giants,
And being warm and safe inside.