Spring 2016 LOCALadk Magazine 35
LOCALadk
planned to traverse was covered with meters of snow, with fresh
avalanche slides attesting to the severity of the previous winter.
"Translated, Himalaya means home of the snow," Dinesh ex-
plained, patiently responding to our thirty-seventh question of
the afternoon. "It's been a very heavy winter this year; there is
more snow than most of the villagers here can remember."
We slogged past the Temple, passing Hindu and Buddhist pil-
grims dressed in saris and sandals, before ultimately topping
out in a large snowfield which offered a tremendous view of the
Annapurna range and the expansive, dry Mustang Valley below.
We dumped our bikes next to a suspension bridge, sucking wind
as Salomon and Dinesh casually pointed out the peaks of the
western Annapurna: Nilgiri, just over 7,000 meters, and beyond
it, Dhaulagiri, the seventh highest in the world. We turned and
looked at Bill as he surveyed the landscape, marveling at moun-
tains, which required a full tilt of the head to properly absorb.
This was the moment Bill had envisioned on the way to Marcy
Dam.
this quintessence of purity
mountains I knew
mountains of my dreams"
Maurice Herzog
