“There is no point of discussing this if you cannot feel what I feel. You need to use your heart and not the mind”, said Tzongpa. “You have to close your eyes, clean your head of every thought and feel”.
“Have you ever questioned why you are leading your current life? Do you know about your real purpose? Why are you here today alongside billions of people on the planet? Did your life give you time to think about what you wanted to do? Did you ever actually make a decision to do something on your own? Did it bring happiness?”
Aalesh and Tim stared at each other. “Have you ever felt like you can see your body moving, like a video game, going about the daily grind? Why do you get up every morning, brush and go to work? Why do you work for ten hours every day? With no time to ponder, you have never really questioned your routine.” They felt a shiver. Tzongpa continued in his deep icy voice and heavily accented English, “From Stone age, man has come a long way to develop a world in which the simplest of things like being able to survive has b’come so hard that nobody has a clue to what they are really pursuing. You look up and all you see are tall man-made steel structures. Sparkling glass squares fit neatly into a maze of floors running up till the clouds and below are humans scurrying around like little ants. Imagine sitting on a magic carpet being able to see everybody from top. This huge world with humans literally coming out of every possible corner of land deemed feasible to live". They continued talking but soon came to being devoured into sleep by the thought of what lies ahead…
Not that they were persistently shuddering due to the icy winds, but due to the thought of deeper realization. The fire was lit in bare minimum oxygen and it could go off any moment. Breathing was difficult but all this was inevitable. This is what they had trained for. They are here today only because they made the choice to not be confined within their cozy pointless lives. They left everything in search for the real meaning of life. They began trekking and soon developed love for climbing hilltops. Today with years of experience in trekking and mountaineering, they’ve ended up climbing the most gruesome of mountains.
So they are here today, sitting on campsite C4 at a height of about eight thousand metres and one step away from the summit. C4 was one of the several mid-stops on the way to climbing the Savage Mountain aka the mountain of mountains, Mount K2. It has been aptly named as one of every four mountaineers has died while trying to tame its heights. Getting used to the continuous shiver was a small part of the deal. Sitting close to each other huddled, they looked around. Chest deep snow, jagged edges, threatening cliffs, crevasses, unforgiving seracs …the list was endless. Only yesterday had they heard the news of one of the seracs giving way at the ‘bottleneck’. Bottleneck was the last and the most unforgiving path to the top. At more than twenty eight thousand feet, there is no second chance. Most of the mountaineers on the support line were crushed or are reportedly missing including Antonio, Tim’s new found friend from Italy whom he had met on the base camp.
Having waited for several days for the weather to clear up, the trio finally had some luck with the heavens opening up. Climbing K2 is gruesome mostly because of the harsh weather and rougher terrain compared to the other ‘Eight Thousanders’. Tzongpa, the Sherpa who was leading the way started the ascent and ‘broke the trail’ for the climbers following him on the line. It was a long journey ahead to the summit. It would be almost another twenty hours before they get any rest again. With every forcible dig into the sea of ice, he perched forward trying to balance the weight of his bagpack. Stoves, food, bottles, shoes, sleeping mat and pitching tent all on his back!
Each one of them continued pushing through the snow over the long drawn path. Climbing over inclines of as much as seventy degrees, one glance below would be enough to make even the bravest souls to swoon. Tzongpa came about a hindrance on the path. The deep crack separating the path by several feet. He was awed by the splendor of the crevasse. Hanging onto the ice breaker, he looked into the beautiful colors of sparkling ice glistening in the sun. The fissure continued for as long as the eye could see. Tzongpa felt a chill down his spine when he pursued himself into looking down from the rich hues into the darkness that waited below. One couldn’t see the end really. Gathering up courage he set up the line to begin its conquest. It wasn’t the first time he was doing this but this was different. This was mount K2. He could see the clouds floating in the distance and the wind had started to pick up somewhat.
He continued his trek over the crack that cut into the core of the earth. Aalesh and Tim continued and caught up on the pass. They took a breather, digging their pointy iron rods into the snow. Tim was a bit worried as one of the front spikes on his snow shoes had given way. Getting grip was suddenly much harder than ever. He paused for a moment looking at the spectacular view. The Himalayan peaks looked like pointy pins enveloped in ice. Then trying to move out of his position, he pushed into the ice….
“TIM!! The ice..”, Aalesh shouted while rushing towards the opposite end. Tim’s gone. The slab of ice on which he was standing gave way and that was it. The moment that separated him from being alive a split second before. They heard his scream before the abrupt calm. Aalesh glanced at Tzongpa. None of them said anything. This was it. The moment of truth. They just stood there with an enlightened look on their faces. The meaning of life suddenly became vivid…They both looked to the top of the summit. The bottleneck, the Traverse and the Summit.
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