Himalaya Odyssey (3/6)

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(작가 블로그 가기)

It was the day before our challenge to Tilicho Lake.

The first of the two major hurdles on our route.

My body was at its limit after 30 hours of sleepless travel. Then, altitude sickness struck. My head felt like it was splitting open. My stomach churned incessantly. Gasping like a fish thrown onto dry land. I felt like my breath would stop at any moment.

I looked around.

Fear was etched on the faces of trekkers without guides. Panic set in as symptoms appeared. They didn’t know what to do. That bewilderment and terror spread like a contagion.

‘Is something terrible going to happen?’

‘If I collapse here, it’s over.’

The fear of the unknown weighed heavier on me than the physical pain.

Just then, our guide gripped my shoulder.

“Don’t worry.”

His voice was astonishingly calm.

“I’ve been up here more than a hundred times. I have solutions for every symptom.”

“Just trust me and follow.”

Those few short words. They changed the entire atmosphere.

It was the moment the terror of the unknown transformed into trust in a guide.

‘Yes. He knows this path.’
‘He knows the answer.’

If only life, and startups, had guides like this. I realized to my core that the only way to be fearless while knowing nothing is to trust someone who has walked the path before.

Into the Dark

I couldn’t sleep due to the altitude. Just as I drifted into a shallow doze, the guide nudged us awake. 2 AM. We set out again.

Pitch black. The only thing visible was the single patch of ground lit by my headlamp.

Suddenly, I looked up. My breath caught in my throat.

Along the mountainside, star-like lights were twinkling and moving. It was the lantern light of pilgrims walking ahead of us. It looked as if the Milky Way had descended to flow across the earth.

The moment I saw that procession of lights, a verse flashed through my mind.

‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses...’

I was not alone.

Ahead were the lights of those who had walked first. Beside me were my companions, breathing hard, walking with me. My father. And the nameless pilgrims. We were becoming witnesses for one another.

Saying that this is the right path.
That we are going the right way. So do not give up.

A guide ahead who knows the way. Witnesses walking beside me. And myself.

Inside this ‘Triangle of Trust’, I found the strength to take one more step.

And so, piercing through the darkness, we walked silently toward the highest lake in the world.

(End of Part 3. To be continued in Part 4)

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