Adventures in the Himalayas

Jack sleepily rubbed his eyes as he woke up to the cool breeze which whipped through the snow capped mountains of Himalayas. The weather was unexpectedly cold. Suddenly, there was an unexpected release of snow and ice. It was the dreaded snow avalanche. In the base camp, there was screaming as the tent collapsed on top of them. The snow engulfed them and the tent blew away from them. Even with his snow goggles, Jack was blinded and his vision went white. Chunks of ice cut across his face like sharp daggers. He moved blindly across the snow and tripped over the edge of the cliff. He toppled over and fell unconscious.

When Jack opened his eyes he found himself comfortably relaxing in his sleeping bag. Harry and Peter, his fellow companions, stood over him looking concerned. They explained that they had stabilized their accessory cords on a firm rock so the falling impact decreased. Jack himself had luckily landed in the snow but the impact still bruised his back. He had to rest until tomorrow to continue their journey. Harry said that he scouted the area and noticed that it wasn’t far from base camp. If they followed along the same trail, they could probably still hike to the summit and meet with the captain. The next morning, the trio continued on their way. During the hike, they noticed spectacular wildlife such as snow leopards, musk deer, and bears. However, as their journey continued, the population of the organisms began to lessen, and at 7000 feet, only lichen and grass grew. Jack began to feel excited because yetis lived in deserted places with high elevation. But their lives were also at risk now. They were three-fourth the way up and oxygen was scarce. After a few more days, they braced themselves for the most dangerous part: hiking the “Death Zone”.

That night, they slept early and left the food out in the open. They had not expected a mysterious guest to pay them a deadly visit. Jack, Peter, and Harry awakened at dawn to a deafening roar. Even at night, Jack could tell from its enormous size that it was the yeti. He had always dreamed of seeing the yeti, but this wasn’t the chance he was hoping for. Peter barely had time to duck when the yeti charged him. The three of them escaped from its grasp, but it soon caught  up with them.

“I will hold them off while you guys escape!” Peter yelled.

Jack and Harry didn’t want to abandon their comrade, but they knew that someone had to make the sacrifice. Heartbroken, they ran away and hid behind a large boulder. They could hear the continuous screams of pain and thunderous roars until the yeti made its killing blow. Peter’s body fell in a graceful arc and his eyes looked surprisingly peaceful. The yeti seemed no longer interested in their food after the fight and walked away. Harry and Jack ran to Peter’s broken corpse. Specks of blood glittered the pure white snow but the constantly falling snow quickly covered it up. Peter weakly pointed at the footprints on the snow and muttered his last words ‘Protect the yeti’.

Jack and Harry buried him at the very spot he perished, the anguish swelling inside of them. They had bonded tightly during their journey, and now it seemed as though they had lost a part of themselves. The least they could do was to obey the last command of their fallen comrade. They followed the yeti’s trail and traced it back to its cave. The colossal beast was cuddling its crying baby. Jack realized that it had a high fever since its forehead was reddish unlike its brownish body. Suddenly, all his anger was drained from  him and he only wanted to ensure its survival. But at his present state, he could do nothing. Silently, he placed a security camera in a well hidden spot where the yeti could not detect it, but they could see him clearly. Jack and Peter returned to their own shelter and packed up their belongings. They fought their way through the death zone, ignoring the signals sent from their lungs which screamed for oxygen. Luckily, they caught up just in time with Captain Charles and the crew to board the flight down. The team was back together and they rejoiced. Jack explained his adventures and how they had tracked down what may be the only existing yeti in the world.

When they finally returned to base camp, it was August 14, 1958. It had been six weeks since they left Nepal to hike Mount Everest. Charles formed a rescue team led by the two experienced travelers Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay to go to the cave and look after the yeti family. Meanwhile, Jack published his novel *Castotrophe in the Himalayas *which explained in rich detail the adventures they experienced and the wildlife of the Himalayas. Most importantly, they had saved the yeti from becoming extinct, which was the duty of a responsible naturalist.