|
|
|||
|
|
|||
| นิตยสาร สารคดี: ฉบับที่ ๒๒๔ เดือนตุลาคม ๒๕๔๖ | ISSN 0857-1538 | |||
|
|
|
| Story & Photos: Arckom Kijwanichprasert | |||
|
|||
 |
|
The Himalaya rise where once was a sea. The tremendous force and pressure of colliding Indian and Eurasian continental plates over a hundred million years ago forced up the sea bed, inch by inch, until it tipped the sky. Jagged peaks shrouded in clouds against the blue sky present an incredible sight of majestic beauty. My wife and I are drawn here to get a glimpse of Everest, the highest peak, the apex of the earth. To get a close-up view of the Everest, the only way-unless you look through a tiny window of an airplane-is to negotiate dizzying mountain footpaths across valleys and streams to high heights on your own feet. But the panorama of the stark white peaks set against temperate conifer and rhododendron forests and remote hillside villages can draw your breath as much as climbing at this altitude. |
|
 |
Our foot journey starts from Lukla into the Solu Khumbu Valley with a final destination at Kalar Pattar, a small hill with magnificent view of the Everest. At Lukla, the starting elevation is at 2,800 meters above sea level. The narrow path, which is shared with other trekkers, local people as well as yaks carrying heavy loads, leads us up and down-mostly up-into Sagarmatha National Park. At the end of each day of our 8-day hike-in, we would rest and spend a night in mountain villages along the way, exchanging stories with fellow travelers from around the world. Climbing steep paths at over 3000 meter elevation can be quite a chest-pounding and lung-sapping experience. The combination of strenuous exercise and rarefied air-availability of oxygen only two-thirds that at sea level- causes bad headaches, altitude sickness, and even deaths in some cases. As we climb higher, the air grows cooler and thinner. We must make more frequent stops to catch our breath-and the view. |
||
 |
Day by day and step by step, we work our way up to Khumbu Glacier at over 5,000 meters above sea level. Intense headaches force my wife to rest at a lodge while I continue on to climb another 400 meters of elevation or so. At last at Kalar Pattar, I soak in the breath-taking 360 degree panoramic view of the Himalaya and feel the splendid Everest is just within reach. While some people invest a lot of time, energy and money in an attempt to conquer the summit of Everest, I am content with being here, surrounded by the magnificence of stark natural beauty of this sacred place. |