The route that day was the next-to-last of a three-week trek, a combination of transcendent joy and stoic endurance, that had taken our Mountaineers group from Lukla up to Everest Basecamp and the Kala Patthar lookout, then over the grueling pass of Cho La to the lovely “resort” town of Gokyo perched on its jeweled necklace of lakes. The next day we would head west from Gokyo to cross 5340-meter Renjo La on our way through Thame back to Namche.