As we limp through to Christmas, a lot of us are feeling tired and over the challenges that 2022 has brought us. I am fortunate as I am about to embark on my second trek to Everest Base Camp and to get some Himalayan kilometres in the hamstrings, decided to do the Model (pronounced Moodle) trek to Korchan view point last week. I was told that his trek offers the best views of the sacred Machhapuchhare (Fishtail) Mountain, near Pokhara.
The morning of the hardest of the 4 days, I woke up at 4.30am to trek two hours in the dark, through snow and up to the viewpoint (before returning back and continuing the descent for another five hours). I surveyed the sky as we set off and there were no stars to be found – indicating that there was a lot of cloud and thus, the view ahead may not be what we desired.
When the sun started lighting the horizon, we were completely enveloped in cloud and still had about another 40 minutes to go to reach the view. I wanted to turn back, didn’t see the point in continuing climbing the steep terrain, further aggravating my blisters with every step, to look at more cloud. In the back of my mind, I was thinking about how far I still had to go to get to our resting place for the night and it was troubling me. My Sherpa (not my husband…another one) said “You don’t know, when we get there, the cloud might go. I don’t know, you don’t know but the place we are going is heaven - you might get to see heaven before you die.”
So I kept going - I’m a sucker for an inspirational Sherpa speech! A bit later, my Sherpa exclaimed with delight at the view of his beloved Fishtail (said to be god Shiva’s house). When we got to the Korchan viewpoint, Shiva even delivered a rainbow for us illuminated in the clouds that were low on the horizon and shifting in and out with the wind.
There is a not so thinly veiled message here my friends...If you are trudging through the snow at the moment, keep going, the clouds will lift and it will be worth it! It may be making it through to the end of the year or it maybe something much more exciting on the horizon that you are working hard for but are yet to see the returns. Take one step at a time (even when you have blisters on your feet ) and keep the faith that heaven awaits.