Everest Calling - Kala Patthar to Periche

The walk back from Gorakshep to Lobuche through a landscape, arid, rocky, dry and colourless, made me thank God for the snow that had been there like a vast white carpet two days ago when the needle pricks had turned to knife cuts.
What a difference snow had made!

We were lucky. Everything had been turned so perfectly to give us the best of all possible experiences.
It had snowed at the right time.
The snow had melted at the right time.
The sky that had been cloudy for a week had cleared right on the day we climbed Kala Patthar to view Everest.
All nature was obeying the writ.

The evening walk to Periche was a new experience.

We were walking on level land strewn with small rocks. It was already evening. Mist was hanging low all around us. It was a straight walk to a village that we could see but took forever to reach.
There were mountains on both sides far away from us, visible only partly through the haze that surrounded us.
There were little streams we had to cross by stepping carefully on the stones that lay across them.

Nandu’s admonishing made it difficult to take pictures or even savour the experience. We were running. Almost.
And we reached.

I mention this since it was noted in my diary; must have been very important then. This was the only place where they relit a cooling Tandoor upon my request.