New Horizons

When I first saw her I didn’t even know her name. I had studied only where I was headed, and now ahead lay a discovery that at first I did not seek.

She stood before me: Ama Dablam, the mother’s necklace. Her summit an indomitable presence that stood out strong against the hues of a morning sky. Two ridges flanked her on either side, like outstretched arms that beckoned me into an embrace.

And there I stood, delirious from the altitude, weak from influenza, and now enchanted by her presence. With her I was alone in my thoughts. The mountain that I had originally set out to climb now lingered as a place that I knew well but could no longer feel.

Over the coming days her presence would be ubiquitous, first from the east and then from the south as I tread slowly on that path, seeing lines of her ascent that seemed to be forever climbed by a future self.

Ama Dablam is known to many. Every guide and every sherpa knew her name and her temperament, and her penchant for capturing hearts. So though she was a big discovery to make, it was one limited to personal significance.

In our travels it is the small discoveries that we celebrate. We find somewhere hidden and the serendipity of our encounter emboldens us to what is there. So the thrill of finding a cavern comes with the compulsion to crawl inside. And stumbling upon clear pools in a dry desert is the fastest way to get naked I know. Small discoveries are chance discoveries. They make us feel large and a part of where we are.

But to be confronted by a big discovery? How small they make you feel. They jut out against the skyline, mighty and proud and adorned by their sheer obviousness. To make a big discovery is humbling. It is a reminder of our own transience, as travelers, as our footsteps tread where others call home.

Big discoveries remind us of our ignorance. But sometimes it is better to be ignorant – to be a fool in a land you do not know. Small discoveries, they makes us masters of where we are. But big discoveries, they allow us to again see the world with new eyes. They feed our desire to travel. And they are what our travels must chase.

When we plan our routes we plan to reach our destinations in good time and in good health, and we make provisions for what we need. But we can also plan our surprise by choosing the gaps in our knowledge that we wish to keep. Any place can be a discovery. You just need not know about it until you arrive.