“I came to a place where every light is muted, which bellows like the sea beneath a tempest. The hellish hurricane, which never rests, drives on the spirits with its violence: wheeling and pounding, it harasses them. When they come up against the ruined slope, there are cries and wailing and lament, and there they curse the forces of the divine.” Inferno, Canto V (Dante)
(Nepal, April 28)
In Kathmandu you hold your breath
when the mountain shakes.
We were rolled
up tight as a cocoon; staying warm, huddled in a group on the side of Everest;
where the temperature never exceeds zero centigrade.
Photo from AP
The weather was
calm in the early dawn; yet my tent was still slightly visible, colored
brightly orange like a road cone. Ready for the next stage of climbing, maybe
one more full day; the caravan zig-zagged, reaching for the top of the world’s most
prestigious mountain, but staging this evening just below the summit at a camp
called, “Khumbu Icefall.”
This
expedition was made of a diverse band of new and experienced climbers, and
numerous, ever-present Nepalese Sherpas: part pack-mule, part ghostly guide, slowly
leading us by taking the burden and responsibility of “feeling” the mountain.
Only those with an indigenous attachment to Everest had the sensitivity to
divine what the sounds, smells, shadows, and winds spoke to those daring enough
to confront its harsh conditions. Costing over $30,000 to join an expedition,
one of the more unusual reasons to climb was attending the wedding of Nepalese
couple Moni Mule Pati and Pem Dorjeee, Sherpas on the mountain in 2004.
Copyright of Berta Tilmantaite (2015)
Everest is
not the world’s tallest mountain but that’s like saying the Kentucky Derby
isn’t the world’s only horse race. Those who argue that it is the highest
mountain in the world put its height at 29,035 feet, about the altitude of a
cruising commercial jet. The ultimate prize of every climber, it's as if reaching the summit allowed you to wear a coveted green jacket. Sticking out
of the Himalayas, stretching 1,500 miles along the border of
Nepal and China; in 2014, an avalanche killed 16 guides, so far, the greatest tragedy ever seen on Everest. Hundreds sleep on the
mountain forever, their frozen graves permanently affixed to the mountainside;
however, since 1953, more than 2,000 people have successfully climbed to the
peak.
If the earth
suddenly rips apart by 3 feet, how does it make a sound as if an old man belched?
The sudden jarring shift ripped away the tent from its anchor spikes, earth turning to jelly; but it was the high, rumbling roar, the sound of fury
and death raining down from above, which was horrific. The shaking quickly subsided even though the actual earthquake lasted more than 90
seconds. The oncoming thunder of the falling snow resounded with intensity
for a short time; before it hollered down from a rolling wave like a hundred
thousand head of cattle driving across the dry plains of Texas.
Whether
rolling or falling, the descent depressurized and disoriented the climbers, the floor dropping from under them in an instant. Plummeting over 1,000
feet in 5 seconds, confined in millions of tons of hard packed snow;
the most immediate threats were suffocation, wounds, and hypothermia. Tumbling
over and over in a clothes-dryer motion; the chances that any of them would survive the somersaulting plunge were as unknown as a
bouncing lottery ball.
The terror stopped like a pause button. After minutes that seemed like an
eternity; the booming, roaring, violent cacophony of the Fall ended with a soft
thud. I was like a hot-dog stuffed inside a moist, pallid bun. During the twisted, rambling, hellish descent down the mountain, in
what could have been a meat-grinder; my limber body was intact. I laid wrapped in nylon and snow, still in silence, making inventory of my
limbs with my nerve endings; waiting for the scream of pain, as the score.
I’ve felt
alone before. The everyday worker, husband, student, or octogenarian can
understand that sometimes the overwhelming isolation of the human condition
causes one to feel shut-in, forced into confinement even if it is not physical
restraint. The vacuum quiet of mind-numbing pain, the racing heartbeat of
anxiety, fear, and dread, swallowed him whole; it reminded him of old school
days, when the heat rash of embarrassment flushed through his skin: “Proceed
to the Principal’s office young man; and do it now!”
“Sir, you
need to turn around and put your hands behind your back…” If you can relate to
that sort of disorienting confusion, if you’ve ever felt so deserted,
distressed, and shocked that you wanted to close your eyes and wish it all
away; then you can understand a little of what it was like to settle into a
hole, interned at the bottom of an Avalanche. What is going to happen next;
will I live or die?
#Fiction ©(2015)Mark H.
Pillsbury
As you consider Nepal, please consider supporting these relief agencies as they strive to help the real victims of this earthquake still suffering:
UNICEF The
U.N. children’s agency, UNICEF, says nearly 1 million children in Nepal need
help. UNICEF says it is preparing two cargo flights with a combined 120 tons of
humanitarian supplies including medical and hospital supplies, tents and
blankets, for urgent airlift to Kathmandu.
Online: http://www.supportunicef.org
World
Food Program
The U.N. World Food Program says logistics and emergency response teams have
arrived in Kathmandu.
Online: https://give.wfp.org
Red
Cross
The International Committee for the Red Cross says it is working with the Nepal
Red Cross Society and has a team working on emergency response.
Online: http://familylinks.icrc.org
Save
the Children
Save the Children says it has staff in 63 districts and emergency kits, hygiene
materials and tarpaulins already in Nepal and ready for distribution.
Additional supplies and emergency recovery teams are being flown in.
Online: https://secure.savethechildren.org
Oxfam
Oxfam says its team in Nepal is assessing needs and it is sending emergency
food, water and sanitation supplies. “Communication is currently very
difficult. Telephone lines are down and the electricity has been cut off making
charging mobile phones difficult. The water is also cut off,” country director
Cecilia Keizer says in a statement.
Online: https://secure2.oxfamamerica.org
Doctors
Without Borders
Doctors Without Borders, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres, says it is
sending medical staff and supplies to Nepal, including emergency surgical
teams.
Online: https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org
Samaritan's
Purse
The
Christian aid organization has deployed a disaster relief team and initial
supplies for 15,000 households to support partner hospitals.
Online: http://www.samaritanspurse.org
