Melburnian DAVID DUNCAN was one of 10 people from around Australia who trekked to Mount Everest Base Camp and nearby Island Peak in Nepal to raise funds for The Leprosy Mission. Here David shares his thoughts on a journey which stirred heart-felt emotions about his own spiritual and family life…
Melburnian DAVID DUNCAN was one of 10 people from around Australia who trekked to Mount Everest Base Camp and nearby Island Peak in Nepal to raise funds for The Leprosy Mission. The trek, which reached more than 6,000 metres above sea level, aimed to raise funds for the mission’s medical and rehabilitation projects in Nepal, giving participants the opportunity see the mission’s work first-hand at Anandaban Hospital as well as climb to the “top of the world’’. Here David shares his thoughts on a journey which stirred heart-felt emotions about his own spiritual and family life…
REACHING NEW HEIGHTS: David Duncan
“When you are climbing at altitude in the midst of some of the biggest mountains on our planet you have plenty of time to contemplate life, family, relationships, and other things that are important to you. This includes thoughts about God, your own existence and what it all really means…big picture stuff!”
Today at about 7.20am, under mostly clear skies, we reached the summit of Island Peak at 6,180 metres above sea level after six hours of climbing.
The path to Island Peak base camp was steep and made up of loose rock and shale. The temperature slowly dropped as we pushed higher.
With every step the air got increasingly thinner, but our well staged days of acclimatisation seemed to be working, with everyone in the group moving up the rocky terrain wall.
In the dark, the trail seemed steep with sheer drops off to the side at times. I just concentrated on each step making sure not to slip.
At about two hours into the climb we came over a ridge and onto ice! This was the start of the ice fall coming down from the summit and meant it was time to put our crampons on, followed by the group being roped together as we were entering crevasse territory.
At this point, before dawn, it was bitterly cold (maybe about -15 degrees Celcius) and shed layers were put back on with hoods cinched in tight. The air at this height freezes your runny nose and is sharp on the lungs when breathing.
Our entry into the ice left no room for the faint hearted with an immediate climb up and over what could best be described as a 30 to 50 metre ice arch with drops into crevasses either side. I was reassured by the existing footsteps that showed this path had been taken beforehand.
Finally as dawn was breaking we got our first view of the ice wall we had to ascend to make the summit ridge. It was bigger and steeper than actually described to me.
But we had come this far and we were not going to be stopped.
The climb up the wall was done on already low fuel tanks but finally we were on the summit ridge, tired, sucking in thin air, and looking up at still another several hundred meters of steep ascent along a razor’s ridge to the true summit!
It was time to regroup, drop the backpacks on a flat section and go for it.
We set forward along fixed lines, and after a lot of puffing and exertion we reached the summit, totally exhausted but elated at being in a place that not too many people get too see firsthand. We were clipped into a safety line and just marveled at the 360 degree panoramic view that surrounded us.
Emotions were high as we relayed a satellite phone audio update to our blogsite and took photos. Personally I felt totally elated and felt a deep longing to share this experience with my family. When you are climbing at altitude in the midst of some of the biggest mountains on our planet you have plenty of time to contemplate life, family, relationships, and other things that are important to you.
This includes thoughts about God, your own existence and what it all really means…big picture stuff! At times it was easy to be overcome with the grand scale and timeless nature of the Himalayan mountain range in comparison to my own short existence. However, at this time, it was the “small things’’ that kept coming to mind.
“Small things’’ that you know are important but sometimes sit at the back of your mind, clouded in by the busy rush and haze of everyday life. For me this included thoughts of shared moments with my four children and wife Emma. Facial expressions, good and bad habits, interests, emerging personalities, laughter and being there to share the moment with them are vivid.
“Small things’’ that sometimes we are too busy to take time to enjoy. If we are made in the image of God, then I am sure that these ‘small things’ are also just as important to God as well. They are personal treasures that make Mount Everest look insignificant!
I also thought about the pleasure I had in meeting patients and staff at Anandaban Leprosy Hospital.
Trekking to Island Peak has been a great physical challenge and while I think it was hard work, it is not as hard as the job performed by medical workers so committed to caring for leprosy patients each day. They overcome many obstacles and travel in harsh conditions to reach people affected by leprosy in their communities for the sake of bringing healing and restoring their dignity in the name of Jesus. What an achievement that is!
For more information about TLM adventure tours, contact Graham Peck or Glenda Hunt on (03) 9890 0577 or see www.leprosymission.org.au.
