The Potala Palace Monastery, Lhasa
The winter home of the Dalai Lama before he was forced to flee Tibet in 1959
Waking up to a rainy Fall day, I'm brought back to two years ago when I was preparing to leave on my Tibetan trek in search of ... the ultimate hike, discovery of a country I had long hoped to visit, a better understanding of Tibetan Buddhism, and ultimately seeing the mystical Tibet before China completely siphons away its soul.
My good friend Judy and I were fortunate to be able to see Tibet with Peter Hillary (son of climbing legend Sir Edmund), who was able to share with us his unique perspective and extensive experience of both the country and the mountains.
After weeks of intense physical training, I passed the mandatory cardiac stress test required for high altitude hiking, obtained he necessary visas, and flew off to China (where my elder son was studying in Shanghai).
My first days in the Himalayas were brutal. I had somehow naively thought that having passed the cardiac stress-test with relative ease, that somehow I was fully prepared for what I'd face in these mountains. Was I ever wrong. Crushing headaches, inability to eat or keep down food. My first night at 14,000 feet was hellishly painful, but I pulled through, just barely. The next morning I resolved to visit the legendary Potala Palace Monastery. Taking one step up at this altitude requires full application of will-power; catching my breath was my only thought as I climbed the steps of the palace.
The lessons I learned from this intensely physical and ultimately spiritual journey are the personally invaluable lessons of humility, hardship, physical pain, and Love.... The love of God, something I felt intensely in the sheer stunning vastness and overwhelming beauty of the landscape with the genuinely awe inspiring magnificence of Everest at its center.
I accomplished my personal goal of trekking to base camp, and, following tradition, I tied the white symbolic scarf with the names of all my loved ones floating in the winds of Everest.
Tibetans will walk across their country to fulfill their
lifetime pilgrimage to the Potala Monastery
Tibetan women wearing their traditional braids and robeshaggle at the Barkhor Market in Lhasa.
Drepung Monastery at the base of Mount Gephel
Debating Monks at Sera Monastery
Me at the summit of my first hike at 15K feetExcruciatingly breathless!
Funeral Procession. The Tibetans leave their dead on sacred rocks to be consumed by vultures.
Yandrock Lake. Note the nearly surreal colors.
Remains of a Monastery. All but a few monasteries were destroyed during the Chinese cultural revolution of 1968
Occupied remains of the mostly destroyed NGOR Monasterywhere once a thousand monks lived and worshiped before the Chinese invasion.After our long trek up the Chakla Pass, the 5 remaining Monks offered us tea.
Another view of the ruins of Ngor Monastery
A Man and his young son along the North Road of Shuguha
Tashilumpo Monastery, Shigtase
Trekking through the Himalayas offers stunning but physically humbling vistas
"Green" agriculture
Everest viewed from Lapka at 17,000 Feet. VERY THIN AIR
Judy & I with Peter Hillary still able to break a smile after a grueling trek to 17K Feet
4:00 AM, preparing for our last Trek. It is a mind-bending cold at this altitude in the early morning hours.
The sign speaks for itself...
We made it
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