The Puja Ceremony

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So today is Easter Monday, and what better day to have the Puja Ceremony than today. Of course there is no relationship between the Christian festival and the Buddhist ceremony, but it makes a nice end to the Easter weekend to have our trip blessed by the Lamas on this day.

The Puja Ceremony involves the building of a stupa or alter on which gifts to Buddha are placed, the reciting of mantras, the throwing of rice and sampa (a type of flour) and the blessing of climbing equipment. Essentially we are asking the Goddess of the mountain ? Sagamartha - to bless our trip, and to watch over us. It is a very relaxed affair, but very symbolic; no sane mountaineer would undertake an attempt on the mountain without participating in such a ceremony. Don?t forget that all our climbing Sherpas are Buddhists themselves so it is very important to support them in the Puja no matter what our own beliefs. We are also very fortunate in that 3 of our climbing Sherpas are Lamas as well. They conducted the ceremony.

The last few days have seen us settling into our tents and above all, undertaking the arduous task of conducting experiments at altitude. With around 33 protocols to get through, there is an awful lot of work. This is hard enough in a sea level lab, but add the altitude and cold to the equation, and it becomes a marvel that we are more or less on track with the timetable. For the most part we have Dan Martin and Denny Levett to thank for their supreme organizational skills that we are able to get all the work done.

I, for the most part, feel much like the rest of the summit team does?I imagine. The first few days one walks around in a sort of hypoxic haze, find that things take a little bit longer to do, a tad clumsier, etc.. All seems to be settling though and in a few days time the climbers will ?split? from the base camp team to begin a further acclimitisation process. So amongst the days of research we will start checking our climbing gear and praying for good weather. I like to get to know the names of our ever reliable Sherpas, especially as we may well rely on them for our lives, or perhaps vice-versa, although this is unlikely as they have over 60 successful summits between them. Mingma, head climbing sirdar, has 11 successful Everest summits as well as 2 K2 summits. That is enormous respect, so on the day I will be listening to what he tells me to do, as will most of the team I expect. So we are in good hands.

Keep well, love to all our loved ones and send the sun this way please.

Patrick Doyle

Comments on this article

By: Shell	When: 16th Apr 2007 19:34
Wish I was there 2 experience a little bit with u. Not the cold though. Cands wedding plans on track.Jorja and Quinn so cute with their walking.Took mom out 4 supper 4 her birthday. Take care and travel safely.Love u lots and miss u stax. Shell

By: nigel nimmo	When: 15th Apr 2007 02:11
hi mike.g - great to hear of your progress. Hope all goes well and we look forward to catching up with you when you get back to UK. all the best, cheers, nige and the family

By: Cameron	When: 13th Apr 2007 12:14
Hey Uncle Pat, hope you're getting used to the high excitement and low O2. Mud Island is warming up really well for your return, so you can even out those tan lines you're getting up there! Regards, Cam.

By: Candice	When: 13th Apr 2007 12:13
Missing you lots. Hope you had a wonderful Easter. It sounds like everyday is a new adventure! You'll be coming home to a beautiful summer here, already had temperatures of 23C...so keep that in mind on the coldest days! Love you lots. Cands

By: Graham	When: 11th Apr 2007 15:09
Mike G - Good luck to you, Denny & the team. Enjoy the experience, learn lots & be careful ! Hope to see you when we visit the UK this summer. The Griffins - Shenzhen, China.

By: Georgie Thompson

When: 11th Apr 2007 14:16

Great to hear your news Patrick we are immensely proud of you all; the Aussies must be sick of me showing them the website! You&Paul know in another life I'd be puffing away on the bikes too in that amazing place. Here's to the expedition getting some great results with all the hard work.

With lots of love,best wishes for getting safely there and back
and even more southern hemisphere sun

Georgie and Nick

By: Teresa	When: 11th Apr 2007 07:52
Best wishes to all at EBC, but especially to Gwen. Wishing the Summit Team great success and please come back safely. Sending you South African sunshine. Teresa

By: Mike	When: 11th Apr 2007 06:42
Good to hear you're all well. Sounds like your team have everything under control. Winter on the way here. Off to the farm later so expect we'll think of you when the temps plunge below zero. Lots of love. M,K,J,Q - South Africa

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