On freezing to death

Last night, I finished reading Into thin air  by Jon Krakauer. My mind is still being blasted by the images of some of the climbers who died that fateful day on Mt Everest. What a lonely way to die for Rob Hall, who was in radio contact with his team mates (and his wife) until the end but knew that there was no possibility of rescue. It's going to give me nightmares...

To think that when this tragedy was unfolding, most of the world was oblivious to it - I was trying to make a life for myself in Toronto, going about my day without a care in the world. Meanwhile, these poor souls were drawing their last breath on top of the world...

The futility of it all...

How can a survivor of such a tragedy be able to go on with their life afterwards? What a traumatizing experience, a brutal reality check - a face-off with mortality. The memory of the horrendous ordeal as well as that of their fellow climbers must still haunt them, all these years later. And the friends and family of the victims......... So much sadness and anguish...

I am glad I read this book, so I can join them in the remembrance of the loved ones they lost, even though I did not know them myself.

I will, in my own way, honor their memory by never forgetting what happened on Mt Everest on May 10, 1996.