Mother Nature's Strip Tease

I've never been to a strip club. But two weeks ago I witnessed Mother Nature's version of a strip tease! Mt. Kangchenjonga is nicknamed "The Elusive Peak" because a majority of the time it is covered in clouds. Nevertheless, we ventured off hoping to catch the peak unveiled.

It's hard to describe the Himalayas. I guess what you need to do is take the superlatives of the most amazing words, apply them to the Himalayas and then you have a partial description, which does not do them justice. But you have a taste!

Waking up at 4:45am and hiking up to a view point to catch the sun rising behind the mountains was something I was looking forward to. I didn't know that I should have prepared myself emotionally for the moment I first saw the snow-covered mountain tops. Hiking at dawn, wearing headlamps, and rounding a bend, I looked north and saw the silhouettes of the mountain tops that I've dreamed of seeing for so long. Honestly, I was caught off guard.

I was overwhelmed by it all and couldn't get a good hold of my emotions. I laughed out loud, shed a few tears, and continued hiking upward.

Thirty minutes later we were at Dzongri Top ready to continue watching the sunrise.

There were plenty of clouds in the sky, but our guide estimated that the winds were gusting around 80km/h, and that the sky would clear. Despite the initial clouds we still had amazing views of a majority of the peaks. The skies cleared after a while...except for over "The Elusive Peak." We continued waiting, the wind kept blowing, but the only clouds in the sky remained over Mt. Kangchenjonga. We waited for nearly 2 hours hoping to catch a view of the top, but were only rewarded with fading glimpses of its lower, north face.

This whole process was repeated the next day with the same result. As some clouds cleared, more rolled in from the backside of the mountain. The moments when we thought we may get to see it were only a tease. Despite not seeing the fullness of Mt. Kangchenjonga, the trip was a success. All of us handed out our dollar bills and departed satisfied.


That, my friends, was Mother Nature's Strip Tease.