Four hours later, after taking a lunch of noodles, rice, and fried potatoes in Orsho, Sarah was back out on the trail poling her way amidst the men who were slogging single file into a barren land of stunted pine and scrub. No one said much as they walked except for a random comment now and then about the vast brown landscape and the approaching mountains before them. Frank was now in the lead, and Greg was following close behind him. Sarah could see them chatting every once in a while as the narrow path wove back and forth through the rocky terrain that now followed the Imja Khola River. Having joined with the Khumbu just north of Orsho, the Imja zigzagged down from the Lhotse Nup Glacier northeast of them.
As she went, Sarah occasionally glanced up into the hill lands that reached for t
