THE PROPOSAL

Sounds like the title for a John Grisham novel doesn't it?

Anyway straight down to business. The day before we spent a nervewracking few hours tiptoeing across the narrowest of yak-filled paths along an enormous steep slope consisting entirely of small loose rocks which stretched far far above us and a fiendishly long way down to the river bed hundreds of metres below. A single slip or small rock slide would not be a fun way to hurtle to certain death so we took it pretty easy and finally arrived at the one little stone building in the middle of nowhere exhausted and hungry.











That night giardia struck! Well it struck me anyway, Sarah was ok. I'd just managed to get slightly warm by shivering uncontrollably in my sleeping bag for an hour or so as the freezing wind whistled through the cracks between the stones in our wall, when suddenly I had the horrible feeling that I was about to shit myself. Shooting out of the bag like a torpedo from it's tube I clenched mightily as I minced down the stairs and across the snow to the one awful outhouse used by everyone staying at the place. Remember the most disgusting toilet in the world in that scene in Trainspotting? Well this one made the Trainspotting loo look like the Kew Gardens. Pure hell. Good think I only had to trudge through the snow about 5 or 6 times that night, precisely at the time I'd managed to warm up from the last run. Nightmare.

At dawn I was weak as a kitten, pretty much unslept and completely drained. I couldn't even think about food without wanting to puke violently and Sarah had to physically threaten me in order to get me to suck down a couple of mouthfulls of water. This was to be the day of our ascent to Tilicho Tal - the highest lake in the world at about 5,000m above sea level. I had trouble leaving the bed however, so Sarah prepared herself and took off with the rest of the group for the seriously steep hike. About half an hour later I hauled myself to my feet and decided that dammit I'd made it all the way out here and I wasn't about to leave without getting a look at that lake, even if it took me all damn day! I also had an ulterior motive...

So up I went. Slowly. After about ten steps I felt like I was about to puke and pass out so I stopped. Then I had to sit down on a rock. No that doesn't work. So I threw myself bodily down on the path and lay there on my side in the dirt for ten minutes or so until I felt like I was able to move on a few more metres. I felt strong getting up... and three steps later was looking for the next place to lie down. Ooo what a rough time, I kept setting myself goals of a couple of metres ahead and telling myself it didn't matter if it took eight hours, I was getting up there. In the event it took about 4 and a half and by this time almost everybody who'd been up there had spent some time hanging out at the lake and passed me coming back down.



Twenty minutes from the top I came around a corner and saw Sarah who couldn't wait any longer and figured I wasn't coming so was heading back down. When she came around the corner she was so happy to see me (after having been separated for a grand total of about 5 hours) that she almost started crying. I was pretty damn happy to see her too. The walk was a struggle for everyone, even at your best it's very difficult to breathe at that altitude and every step is a battle. Regardless that she'd spent so much energy that day, Sarah told me she was going to turn around and walk back up to the top with me, a gesture which was so sweet and selfless it really really touched me. We went that last twenty minutes together, me stumbling like a drunk and her supporting me.



Suddenly we came over a ridge and right before us lay the absolutely stunning Tilicho Lake. The colour of the water was indescribeable and it was fringed by imposing snow-capped peaks. The scene was nothing short of breathtaking (if we'd had any breath left to take) and Sarah and I sat snuggled together on a handy rock with our arms around each other just staring at the view. Suddenly there was a huge BOOM! and a mushroom cloud of powdery snow flew up from an avalanche coming down from one of the peaks just to the left of the lake. The moment was incredible. A big question which had been in the back of my mind for some time reared up and I turned to Sarah and asked, "Will you carry me?"

Of course she misheard over the howling wind and shouted "YES!" and the rest is history.

No seriously I asked if she'd marry me. And Sarah turned to me with a grin on her face, looked me in the eyes and replied, "Do you have altitude sickness?"
"No!"
"Are you serious?"
"Yes!"
"You're not going to take this back are you???"
"No! Just answer the question!"
"OF COURSE I'LL MARRY YOU!"

And then I started crying like a damn baby and what with the wind and the cold there was snot everywhere and it was just as romantic as you can imagine.