Crazy Wisdom

Arita Sherpa and Ang Tsering Sherpa on the Western Cwm of Everest (8848m). In "Three Springs," reposted on Alpinist.com, Jemima Diki Sherpa writes, "'They ask how many kilos you can carry,' says every Sherpa who has ever travelled abroad." [Photo] Jimmy Chin

Beside the Dudh Kosi, the milk river, I stopped to watch the sunlight filter through the pines. The cold mountain air tickled my nose. It had been a grim week in Kathmandu. I'd spent four days tracking events on Everest, talking to those flying back from the mountain in the helicopters that carried the dead and injured from the avalanche of April 18. Now, as I walked to base camp, I felt glad to have stepped back from such intensity, if only for a while.