This is the last dispatch I will do for this trip. It is a hard one to write, as it is a hard one to talk about.

At the beginning of this trip, in Gorak Shep, I sat in the sunroom of the lodge where we were staying and was truly enjoying my final cup of tea for the evening, while reflecting on how lucky I was to be back in the High Himalaya.

To my right was a Swiss-German-sounding woman, earnestly plying a Sherpa for details of an accident on Everest that sounded familiar. Beginning to listen in on the conversation without even thinking about it, I realized this woman was talking about an accident that happened three days before I summitted last year.

The vicitm of this horrible accident was in fact her husband and she had come to pay honor to him and say goodbye in the only way she knew how, by seeking answers to her questions and seeing the mountain for herself.

I knew of this accident because as I was huddled in my tent at the South Col for the first time, hearing the wind rip across the fabric, we heard of this man's body, a lone, small dot, that returning climbers could see down the Tibetan side of the mountain.

Rumors were that he lived for 18 hours, alone, in the dark, until Pasang Gelu Sherpa, a member of his team, climbed to him and held him in his arms for his final moments of his life.

I did not know what to do at this moment, do I introduce myself? Or let her go on her own journey of discovery. What I realized was I was there to be a part of her journey.

I summoned up my courage and introduced myself to Ingrid Ganner, Peter Ganner's wife, and thus began a conversation of where and why, who and how, asking those often unanswered questions, listening to stories of their wonderful children and life together.

It was then that I knew I could offer Ingrid a gift. I promised her, if I was to reach the summit again, I would carry whatever she wished to her husband's final resting place. Take photos of the views he had liked, she requested, and tell her what I saw. As tears welled up in her eyes, she said 'thank you' over and over and that she was leaving the next morning and would sleep on it.

— Luis Benitez, Alpine Ascents International Guide and MountainZone.com Correspondent

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