Wally Berg

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Buddha altar [click to zoom] (photo: Potterfield)

I met Nima Tashi at his home, and we went to see the Lama Geshi. There's a very Lama-like presence, I will have to say, and also a very joyful, laughing man who we had a wonderful visit with. He gave us a blessing for our expedition. I was very pleased to get to meet him. It was a very special experience for Nima Tashi, I know. It's kind of hard, perhaps for the readers of the Mountain Zone, to understand really how important religion is, how integral it is to the Sherpas daily life, especially when we undertake to do something like a climbing expedition.

Nima Tashi came down from base camp with money that he had collected from our climbing Sherpas and organized not only his visit with the Lama Geshi this morning but actually there were ten monks, ten Lamas visiting Pangboche in his home and the Gompa Pangboche on behalf of the expedition to do a Puja.

Pheriche campsite [click to zoom] (photo: Corfield)

We had passed through the Gompa Pangboche yesterday morning and found that to be a beautiful, fascinating place. There wasn't much going on, but today it was quite the contrast. There was a world of color and noise as there was chanting and bell ringing with these ten Lamas busily doing a Puja on behalf of Nima Tashi and our expedition, for both Sherpas and climbing members.

Although, I'll have to add that this is something that the Sherpas do apart from us; they don't even know we necessarily know about it, it's just part of their daily life. This is just something they live with in their daily life and particularly when you go to Everest, it is something you'd want to make sure you cover, you might say. I felt pleased to see this today. It's a great experience for me as we continue to acclimatize and get ready to approach base camp.

— Wally Berg, Expedition Leader

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