DISPATCHES

Wallace

Hear Wayne's Call LISTEN: [RealPlayer]  [Windows Media] (Requires a FREE media player to listen)

There is a common theme in outdoor life in general that is used to explain survival. And that is to simply be prepared. This phrase is so overused, it's become beyond cliché. An aspiring Himalayan adventurer can only be so prepared for what may greet him or her. Oh yeah, let's just pick the biggest and baddest that this range has to offer.

Just try to prepare yourself for uncontrollable fear, when you first step on perhaps the greatest mountain in the world for the first time. Prepare yourself for the toughest days of your life, only to find yourself a quarter of the way up it. Step, breathe, breathe, breathe, step, breathe, breathe, totally exhausted, step, breathe.

Let's see how you prepare yourself to outrun an avalanche that could wipe out the city you're from. Just stretch out your imagination to the limits of what the very few can even try to handle. The only way I could have prepared myself for the sun today, that induced heat, would have been to grow tin foil for my skin. Let's try to get some sleep, because it's going to be harder tomorrow.

Okay, so it's all self-induced you say. And you are right. Why do we do these things to ourselves? I don't know about you, but I like to see and feel life at its fullest and most glorious. Could it be any other way? Are we cheating ourselves right up to the point where we are at our best?

I just want to add a few thoughts. That while sleeping here, my personal dreams have been fantastic. Is it the oxygen deprivation that does this? You can transport yourself to fantastic worlds in your imagination, only to find yourself in the cold waking existence similar to Bill Murray's film Groundhog Day.

Here's to another glorious day in the Himalaya. Whose turn is it to go up today? Is it mine? It's hard to insulate yourself from the experience of being up here. It's no movie. This is happening to you and you're really here. Ah, the sun just hit your tent. I hope everyone returns safe today. It seems like it could be warm today. I can't wait to go back up again tomorrow.

We have to get up early. My watch alarm isn't waking me up. We can get caught in the avalanche zone during peak hours. They've been so regular: 10 to 11am, 4 to 5pm. Deadman's rush hour, so get ready the day before. Let's turn our headlamps off; the moon's so bright. Can you believe how fast we're going this morning? Ever stepped on a rock and had it explode under your foot?

Stick with us on this journey that we love to share with you. Thank you very much. This is Wayne Wallace from K2000 and we are psyched and out. Bye.

— Wayne Wallace, MountainZone.com Correspondent

Email this story to a friend