Up Through the Atmosphere

“Yesterday, I woke up at 1:30 a.m. to one hundred people banging around the dorm getting ready.  Okay, it was probably only twenty or thirty, but it sounded like a hundred.

At 2 a.m., I gave up on sleeping and went to “supper,” which consisted of breakfast.

At 3 a.m., a long line of headlamps scaled the mountain in the dark for 2.7 kilometers, up, up, up to the summit, 4,095 meters high.  At times, we were walking on a ledge about 6 inches wide and holding onto a rope with two hands, pulling ourselves along.  (It’s safe! Only a few people die a year.)

We reached the summit just as the very first rays of sun peeked over the mountains.  It was breathtaking…and freezing!  By the time I reached the top, I was wearing three layers of pants, four layers on top, mittens and a stocking cap.”

–August 23, 2013

   

Cee’s Fun Photo Challenge verse for this week:

Let’s Go Fly a Kite

With tuppence for paper and strings, You can have your own set of wings, With your feet on the ground, You’re a bird in a flight, With your fist holding tight, To the string of your kite. Oh, oh, oh! Let’s go fly a kite, Up to the highest height! Let’s go fly a kite and send it soaring, Up through the atmosphere, Up where the air is clear, Oh, let’s go fly a kite!