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Article: Thank heaven for Sherpas and ponies
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- October 9, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1994 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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THE Kali Gandaki riverbed was dry and pitted with white stones.
The wind whipped our backs. Ahead stretched the bleak Tibetan
plateau, red ochre and monumental; above soared the snow-tipped
peaks of Annapurna 1 and Dhaulagiri, both more than 26,000 feet
high. The air seemed purer, the light sharper and the vastness more
imposing than any place on earth.
I was back in my spiritual home, Nepal. But this was no ordinary
trek. We were four adults with five children under the age of 10. I
had envisaged a leisurely hike, keeping pace with the little ones.
How wrong I was. The children scaled the steep slopes with the
energy of mountain goats while, more often than not, the adults
brought up the ...