Wally Berg

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The blessing [zoom]
DRUMS CYMBALS

I wanted to follow-up just a little bit and let you know that from my perspective it was a beautiful and wonderful experience, as Puja usually is, in a nice, sunlit setting. The Lama from Pangboche of course was the head man at the Puja. We felt very fortunate to have Lakpa Gyalzen from Phortse, one of our climbing Sherpas, on hand as well. Lakpa Gyalzen has spent a lot of time in training at the monastery and put that to use for us during the Puja ceremony. Of course, Dawa Nuru, the climbing sirdar (lead Sherpa) and myself were also seated up there with the Lama and Lakpa Gyalzen. I felt very honored about that and was thrilled to have that opportunity. Also approached it wondering if I was going to be able to keep my legs crossed that long, and in fact I did manage to pull it off, so my little challenge for the Puja was something that I was able to rise to.

Prayer flags [zoom]

One thing about the Puja that was really special to me was — you notice all the prayer flags going up, being strung — two sets of those prayer flags were brought to us (on climbing expedition) by the Alpine Ascents trekkers who visited our base camp the day prior to our Puja, and they were turned over to the Sherpas for the blessing and to be strung above our base camp. That's going to mean a great deal to us over the next few weeks as we climb on the expedition.

One thing that was really great was four of the group of Alpine Ascents trekkers, Warren and Becky Johnson and Marilyn and Rob Rymer, all of Kansas City, along with Lakpa Rita, as well, spent the night at our base camp and we had a wonderful time, sharing dinner with them, the evening prior to Puja and just catching up with those great friends.

We send them, as well as all the Alpine Ascents trekkers, our best wishes as they head on out on the last few days of the their trek and return to the States. Of course, Marci Johnson's seventh grade class, who I know is following everything we're doing on the Internet, we will continue to send our best regards to and as much information as we can about what we're doing on this trip.

— Wally Berg, Expedition Leader

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