Sunrise Notes from Poon Hill

We left Ghorepani at half past four with head torches and no conversation. The trail up to the viewpoint is short but relentless — stone steps stacked on stone steps, the kind that make your calves negotiate with you.

The walk up

In the dark you notice sound before scenery: gravel, breathing, a dog somewhere below. By the time the ridge flattened out, the sky had already turned the colour of weak tea, and Dhaulagiri was a pale outline that nobody had to point at.

Some mornings do not need to be photographed. They need to be stood still in.

What I would do differently

• —Carry one extra warm layer for the twenty minutes of waiting at the top.
• —Start half an hour earlier than the crowd, not with it.
• —Stay a second night in Ghorepani instead of rushing down the same day.

Coming back down

The descent is where the trek becomes a memory. Rhododendron forest, the smell of woodsmoke, and enough time to think through three articles I had been avoiding for weeks. Most of my best ideas arrive on the way back, never on the way up.