Seeing

“You’ve seen one mountain you’ve seen them all.”   This was iterated to me a few years back while viewing the sun set on a peak called Cholatse in the Himalaya of Nepal. It stands at 21,130 feet.  The North Ridge rises 5000 feet straight out of the ground, a kind of knife reaching to the heavens, splitting the jet stream like butter. 

The Alpenglow on the summit became a brilliant red as the sun dipped to sleep.  High winds were blowing spindrift creating a fire in the sky, an effect no cinema could produce.  The energy that surrounded these moments in this mountain drama were as if on a roller coaster ride with mother nature.  

I remember replying to the gentleman, as the reds turned to violet then lavender, “You’ve seen one flower, bird, or symphony, you have seen them all.”  I did not mean to start an argument but realize it was an edgy comment.  He began with “Yeah but.........…”  

The sun dipping to sleep, I thought, was a miracle in itself an occurrence which I often take for granted.  It reminded me that seeing has very little to do with the eyes.

                 
Alpenglow, Mt Everest and Nuptse, with the jet stream hammering the heavens