And then I saw the vision. It’s the warrior cloak. Bright red. As red as the sky that we had seen. It gently touches me on the shoulders and enfolds me. That was when the strength came.

And I knew…

I knew I had inner warrior strength. The vision of the warrior cloak wrapped around me was a cloak of courage. All the strength I needed was within me. This was my lesson. I exhaled the tension. My shoulders went down and back. I felt my heart open. This was my gift from the mountain.

- 

Also in the rucksack was the summit bag in which I’d made sure was a small object to represent each of our other five points of the star: an Inuit inuksuk from the North Pole zone; a Mount Kailas pebble from Tibet; a picture of the goddess Pele on Mauna Kea from the Pacific – all carried in a llama wool wallet from the Andes. I added a picture of the Dalai Lama, the embodiment of compassion; my granddaughter’s two little stones; and a little wooden bracelet representing the circle of life. Everything one could possibly need for an adventure.

“Did you bring any toothpaste?” Pete asked on the plane.

“No, sorry,” I replied. Well, you can’t think of everything.

- 

At dinner the mood started off tense. Everyone was particularly hungry for the fresh oranges and watermelon that had been laboriously carried up the mountain. The light of the Peace Flame and the two candles cast uneasy shadows on the sides of the tent. We were all focused on what tomorrow might bring and on that unspoken question: would we actually make it to the summit? At times like these a life distraction can be useful. Pete was pleased he’d managed to say happy birthday to his daughter Anna on the satellite phone. Here he’d found a really exciting message for Nicholas, who, not wanting to be outdone by a granny, had previously declared that he was about to have a grandchild, too.