This is truly magical. After several days trek past spectacular scenery, mountains ahead, the land has opened out and we are surrounded by frosted peaks - this is really the Himalayas as you see in pictures. There are seven or eight majestic summits around our teahouse. Last night a few of us wandered up the slopes and saw the whole thing swathed in rose with the sun setting. Am Dablam rises up right ahead of where we are staying, and the moon was 3/4 full over it last night.
This is a place that makes you feel glad you're alive and you get a sense that anything's possible. Maybe why further up, they say, there are so many cairns to the memory of those who believed that too.
We went for a walk this morning to test the altitude (4760 m) and experience the peace, with the flags strung across the path here and there. It's the highest I've been yet and I think it's a truly original landscape. I'm in good company to appreciate it - lots of cheery Irish and the same goes for the ever patient sherpas. They're ever watchful - only two of us have had to go into the decompression chamber so far. Two days to go - on Saturday we get to Base Camp. It's 9-10 hours walking, and hopefully we'll all be fit enough to make it.
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