Snow in the Kingdom: My Storm Years on Everest by Ed Webster

Author:Ed Webster [Webster, Ed]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Non-Fiction, Adventure, Hiking
Published: 2014-04-21T00:00:00+00:00

Now there was no choice: the support team had to leave for home tomorrow without reaching Base Camp, or for that matter, without even seeing the Kangshung Face. They were obviously disappointed, and Norbu was especially sad not to see the fabled Gangla firsthand. I promised him I’d track it down.

After a celebratory farewell dinner, we stood around the cook tent for a long time. We’d melded into a wonderfully harmonious group, the eleven of us, plus Pasang and Kasang, and it was with a genuine feeling of nostalgia that we were turning to go our separate ways—they back to work , home, and civilization, and we, onward to the mountain. Miklos waxed romantic while sharing the sentiment that coming to Everest had been the most exciting event in his life.

“The most frustrating part of organizing this expedition,” he continued, “has been the realization that it’s dealing with individual people that makes the process so difficult. Just getting here to Tibet is quite an achievement.”

“Ed kept warning me, no sponsorship will be firm until six months before departure,” Wendy said. “And nothing will really happen until six weeks before!”

“If you’ve done three-quarters of the things on your ‘To Do’ list before you leave home, you’ve done well,” Stephen interjected.

“And all of your friends will call up and say,‘We should get together before you leave,’ but there’s no time!” Paul exclaimed.

“I’d call Stephen in London with requests for names and phone numbers and addresses, and he’d reply, ‘Wendy, I’m sorry, there’s no way I can possibly get these to you by next Thursday,’ then he’d ring back ten minutes later and say, ‘Okay, okay, here they are’,” Wendy said.

I then related the story of how after I had left Colorado, my roommates changed the message on our answering machine to: “Ed has left for Everest. He won’t be back for four months, so don’t bother calling.”

We’d shared a lot, our merry group, but Robert wouldn’t let us retreat to our tents yet. “One of the things on my list was to buy some wool socks. As you can see by these cotton socks, I never quite got around to it. So I’d really appreciate it if anyone has any extra wool socks that I could have.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

That night I dreamt of Lauren. She had been hurt, but she was not badly injured. She lay resting in her bed in a white hospital room. We hadn’t seen each other in several years. I could see her if I wished. Yes, of course I wanted to see her again. I walked into the room. Her brown hair was pulled back and she was wearing her favorite bandanna, the one she always wore when we went climbing. Our eyes met. We kissed. But why hadn’t we been together ? Where had Lauren been all this time?

Moments later, we were floating together and swimming in a warm pool of water. Then, coming together, we spiralled round and round, floating lazily on the water’s surface.

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