Himalayan Challenge for Whizz-Kidz
Indian Himalayas, October 28^th to November 10^th 2006
Expedition leader…				Log 8 November 5^th					…and sherpa
View from…				I had never, until today, had an Indian head massage…and it came as my ‘after breakfast mint-and-liqueur’…administered very authentically by a lady of the same extraction…who also happened to be one of the trek team… With its truly relaxing and mentally liberating effect, it was to herald a zenith of a day…that brought the warmest sunshine, utterly translucent blue skies… and options to match. We could stay put…rest, potter, explore, even sleep…or we could trek! Though it is now hard to recall exactly who did what…it probably wouldn’t be too far from the truth to say that those who’d fallen for the walking carrot the day before did so again…					…Shilpadhani Jot
Looking…	…to the south…				…past the author...		…from				…Shilpadhani Jot
To the north…with Riflehorn masked by cloud…			…but perseverance pays off, and when it does, the results can occasionally be unprecedented… From Shilpadhani Jot…reached by a steep morning’s climb…there is a 270 degree panorama that instantly quietens the most pounding heart and gasping lung… …and, most fascinatingly and conveniently for us, displayed very casually, on a plate, the routes to date of each of our treks. From this height, at well over 10,000ft, that meant actually looking down on them…purely in a geographical sense of course…Aesthetically, we were talking very much up……and awe-inspiring. And from the standpoint of achievement it was difficult not to admit to being just a little impressed…					…from Shilpadhani Jot
Lunchtime…		Shilpadhani Jot is a small area of somewhat varied relief…Steep patches with rocky outcrops give way to undulating grassy stretches…and here and there that exceedingly rare commodity…a piece of level ground. As a result, shepherds have come to use it periodically as a campsite… Sometimes staying here for as long as a month at a time, they camp in the shelter of the rocks…				…preparations	… and from here they may move up to higher pastures for a while with their sheep and goats…leaving their belongings behind under a blanket… …only to find, occasionally, on their return, a few unexpected extras tucked in amongst them… …like the chocolate cake that our leader once made…right here in the open air… and baked on the campfire …			Aftermath…
Although there was to be no chocolate cake today, our sherpas did light a campfire…the only one we ever had at lunchtime…and so we were treated to delicious hot soup, as well as sandwiches…and homemade cake, non-cocoa…for lunch. And as we sat on the patio of the greatest little café this side of the western Himalayas, I reflected on just how much I was in awe of these men, who treated us very much like the crown jewels every day…with the enormous weight of water and provisions they carried on their backs to keep twenty-one of us, and themselves, going…the speed and agility with which they negotiated the treacherous ground…and the constant vigil they displayed in order to keep each one of us safe…If one of our team was ever in difficulty, they were catapulted into action in the blink of an eye. We owed them a lot…for they missed nothing……and I take my hat off to them. As they took their brief and very well-earned siesta after lunch, so the rest of us could take our ease…to wander at will…to relax…perhaps to sleep…or even just to follow the journeys of the mind…a little like the Himalayan Griffin Vulture that circled and wheeled in the cerulean blue far above…utterly free to be guided by some ancient mind-map… For up here…well on the way to the top of the world…we had encountered that unique peace… The one ’that passeth all understanding’.
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