Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
There was a long pause and then Alex said, 'you know, I've been having some
scary dreams but I know how to find peace. Did I tell you I'm able to leave my body
when I sleep and be with Sarah when I need to? It is the strangest feeling, very
real. I can't wait to get home to see if she experienced the same thing.'
I didn't know how to respond. Alex was not one for flights of fancy. This was a
personal revelation that I had no way of understanding. Why was he telling me
this? Was he uncertain and needing an escape? Alex was split in two - one half
completely committed, the other deeply troubled and seeking a way out of his own
plan. It was a moment when perhaps Alex could conceive only one way out of his
momentary depression. Go and do something positive, as he had always done with
Sarah. Go and climb the south face of Annapurna.
'Let's just make sure we all get home, kid, so you can ask Sarah for sure.'
I walked a short distance up the moraine with them the morning they set off. The
alpine flowers were covered in rime and small frozen pools held the grass suspen-
ded in time. Two brightly clad figures descended onto the glacier and were soon
lost in the maze of humps and boulders.
1. Also known as sheep backs,
roches moutonnées
are irregular rock formations with steep sides on the opposite side of the direction of ice-flow
and can make the approach to the base of receding glaciers difficult.
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