Thursday, October 23, 2014

Ama Dablam: Blessing

Edelweiss with Ama Dablam in the background
Blessing
21 October 2014

Hello Everyone,

This morning we were lucky again with clear skies and fantastic views of the huge peaks around us. We started our day with an acclimatisation hike up towards Tobuche, a 6000m mountain just up behind us here in Upper Pangboche.

On the way I was surprised to see the iconic alpine flower the Edelweiss, a reminder of where I live in the Swiss Alps. No sooner than we saw one, we saw another until finally they were all around the Yak trail we were following up the hill. This seemed ironic as I have rarely seen them in Switzerland.

In the afternoon we had a blessing from the local Lama at his house. Lama Geshe looks about a thousand years old and after some chanting, throwing of rice and drumming we had his blessing for our summit attempt.

I leave you with a prayer he gave us all to take to the summit;

"Give up all intention to harm others from your heart and do your best to benefit them all. If each and everyone feels the universal responsibility to do so, we will all enjoy the feast of peace."

Bye for now,
Tim and the Ama Dablam Team


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