THE CHOSEN · BATTLE WITH A CERBEROSIAN PRINCE
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The Chosen: Battle with a Cerberosian Prince Journey to Sagarmatha
piercingly freezing mammoth rock, you will be a victor, a
champion.”
Dorjee was charismatic and vibrant. With every word
that came out of his mouth, he had them sucked in and
glued to everything he said. He made even the most lifethreatening experience sound like a trip to Disneyland.
None of them exhibited fear on their faces. Dorjee had
managed to put them at ease, giving them a reassurance that
they were in great hands and a wonderful journey awaited
them. Then he discussed the itinerary:
“Before we get there, though, we need to prep you guys.
You will need to go through a process of acclimatization.
That just basically means getting your body physically
adjusted to the mountainous environment. That alone will
take about a month. The good thing about the acclimatization process is that you will actually be climbing the
mountain. It will involve going up and down the various
camps, with Base Camp as your starting point. Once that
is complete, we will attempt to trek up to the summit.
That should be about seven days to the top, and another
six back to Base Camp. Including the 10-day trek to Base
Camp from the lodge, that puts us at a total of about two
months… Welcome to Sagarmatha.”
They all had a look of unbelief across their faces.
Standing motionless, they couldn’t believe what they were
hearing. Seeing as none of them were climbers, or climbing
enthusiasts, they had no idea how long it took to get up the
mountain.
“Two months!” TJ exclaimed. “I thought this would
take three or four days, a week at most.”
“Wow, two months in snow,” Tumi said anxiously.
“Can we still choose to opt out, and like, go home?”
Ethan said, half joking, half speaking honestly.
Even Ana was caught off guard. She hadn’t realized they
would be completing the entire summit.
“Is Ana even old enough to climb up Everest?” TJ asked.
“Yes! I’m old enough,” Ana protested. “The youngest
climbers to make it to the summit were both 13. A boy and
a girl. I’m 14, TJ!”
“No, I didn’t mean it like that, Ana,” he said as he and a
few of the others tittered. Her ferocity was unexpected and
threw him off a little.
“I was just concerned about you, that’s all,” TJ said.
After giving them some time to let it all sink in, Dorjee
called for their attention. He pulled up a slide with their
detailed itinerary. He also had the sherpas give the climbers
their own printout of the itinerary.
Sagarmatha Itinerary:
Day 1-11: Walk to Base Camp (Day 11-18:
Stay At Base Camp)
Day 19: Climb up to Camp 1
Day 20: Back to Base Camp (Day 20-22:
Stay At Base Camp)
Day 23: Climb up to Camp 2 (Day 23-24:
Stay at Camp 2)
Day 25: Back to Base Camp (Day 25-28:
Stay at Base Camp)
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