A very auspicious day for us here at Everest base camp with our “Puja” (blessing ceremony) taking place.

A Puja is a Tibetan Buddhist ritual, the purpose of which is to ask the mountain deity for safe passage and of course to celebrate.

Regardless of your religious affiliation, being part of and witnessing a Puja is a wonderful cultural moment and a precious opportunity to be fully present in our common goal and humbled by the mountains that stand before us. It is also a great opportunity for our full team to come together and bond before heading higher.

We concluded with a traditional Sherpa dance, locking arms and forming a semi circle in front of the Puja alter. We ‘Mikaru’ (or ‘foreigner’ which roughly translates to ‘white eyes’) tried to emulate the Sherpa as best we could!

The culmination of the ceremony is raising the Puja pole in the centre of the alter and stringing prayer flags over our camp, building a zone of protection for the team. When the flags blow in the wind it is thought by the Sherpa that they send out prayers. This has become a common part of any Everest and Lhotse expedition and the Sherpa, who draw no distinction between their daily lives and their Tibetan Buddhism, appreciate and welcome us in this ritual.

With the Puja complete we are now ready to begin our climbing on Everest/Lhotse in earnest.

Tthe teams spent the rest of the day acclimatizing, training in the lower Khumbu icefall and have become preparing and packing for our second high altitude rotation (our first was our Lobuche climb, and this one will be our first on Everest)

Meanwhile, our 3 Peaks Climbers bid EBC farewell as they now split off and head off to tackle their next objective Pokalde and our trekkers are heading off to Gokyo, first stop JongLha.

Cheers
CTSS Team