Puja Day!

 September 9^th

Today is our Puja day.  There’s a tradition within the Nepalese mountaineering community to have a Lama provide a ceremony whereby the team shows respect to the mountain and receives a blessing for safe passage during a climb.  Most Nepalese mountain guides will not set foot on the mountain proper before participating in a Puja.

The Lama arrived at about 8:30 to begin preparations for the ceremony.  Things began in earnest before 9:30 and our entire team plus all the climbing Sherpas and guides and some support staff were present.  Those who wanted to have their climbing gear blessed put it to the left of the altar.  The pile was impressive.  During the Puja, a pole is raised on top of the altar and long lines of prayer flags are strung out in all directions to support it.  The altar is decorated in the Buddhist tradition with lots of different offerings placed in front. 

One of the last parts of the ceremony is passing out flour that we throw together as an offering.  We also place the flour on each other’s faces as a wish for long life.  The guides have a bit of fun with this, and some get more than their share on face, coat and in the hair.  It’s the end of the Puja and now we have a celebration.  There were snacks and drinks in front of the altar that are now shared with us and the guides.  Also, the guides know some dances and I take part in the first one to have some fun.  This was the Lama’s turn to watch and be entertained.  He was even recording a video as the guides danced. 

When done, we gather up our gear and hang out for a bit before lunch.  The six trekkers will be leaving us after lunch and I’m a bit sad to see my friends go.  We came to Manaslu as a team of nine friends and after lunch we will be three.  Thankfully, we three are fully integrated with the rest of the overall team and it’s a great group of lively people.  You can always find conversation if you want it or retreat to the tent for solitude. 

The afternoon turns rainy and we’re hoping the trekkers walk out of it as they move away from Manaslu.  The mountain creates its own weather like most big mountains do so this is likely.  Our plan was for a few of us to gather up some gear and head to the lower glacier for some fixed line practice.  We made a last minute call to move training to inside the dining dome which was fortunate because the weather outside continued to deteriorate with heavier rain and even a bit of snow.  The rest of the day we will lay low and rest up for tomorrow’s efforts.

Tomorrow we will head to Camp 1 early in the morning and come back here by noon or early afternoon.  The goal is acclimatization and route familiarity.  This will be our first rotation of four and it appears that our schedule is ahead of most of the other teams in base camp.  Let’s hope the weather cooperates and we can maintain our schedule.