This is Pumori

This is Pumori. Her name translates to “mountain daughter.” She is one of the most beautiful and striking mountains I’ve ever seen. She shares a base camp with Everest. In 2015, the earthquake in Nepal shook her and she avalanched onto the base camp. Claimed 20+ lives.

I snapped this on my way up to Kala Patthar, a little ridge on the south side of Pumori that has an incredible view of some of the most prominent peaks the Khumbu. This was a month before that avalanche.

My solo 2015 trip to Everest base camp changed me in so many ways. I learned the healing power of the the thin Himalayan air. I learned to yield to Mother Nature. And, I learned that my outdoor ambitious were dangerous ones that rely on sheer luck and instinct, in addition to skill.

This mountaineering instinct is SO HARD to develop when the foundation of it is built on the male ego, and when the people with the best instincts have no interest in sharing wisdom with people they don’t share an identity with. I was SO disillusioned. Mountaineering is a selfish pursuit, but it doesn’t need to be greedy.

I felt out of place in mountaineering, not just because I’m a woman of color, but because I don’t share that same ego or greed. I didn’t fit in, and spent a lot of time feeling lost and outraged.

I persisted until I connected with more mountain daughters and people that also experience mountains through humility and healing, not force and conquest. We climb so many mountains before we even strap on our boots. We have so much wisdom and instinct to share also, just not with those that can’t get past their greed.