‘Pandhraun Chuli’--a firsthand account of a Nepali surveyor’s Everest summits

Khim Lal Gautam’s ‘Pandhraun Chuli’ is a much-needed addition to Nepal’s mountaineering literature.

A dark cloud enveloped me. I am not sure if it is the weather or a hallucination. Altitude is a tricky place, was a common knowledge to me. I cannot exactly recall what went on in my head. Perhaps, it's the thin air that blurred out…all that was on my mind. I realized mindlessness could be a pleasure. What is this luxury? Why am I in a heavenly ecstasy here in the death zone? How is it possible that I can't recall anything, and that I'm not even trying? These questions remain unanswered to this day. The summit I had attained, the historical summit... did I reach the top? I couldn't remember. My home, family, my beloved, my status, prestige, wealth, everything vanished. The emptiness of my soul was gnawing at me. My legs collapsed before I could force myself to reclaim my human identity, and I vaguely recall tumbling towards the hard snow of South Col (p. 176).