The Snowdancer (PDF) - Rolf Gross

It was perfectly still. No wind. No birds. The earth was overwhelmed by an immaculate blue sky, from which thesun beat down, not hot but relentless. He had spent many days and nights in the deserts of Nevada, California,Arizona. The North American deserts were gardens by comparison with Tibet. It was so high here that nothinggrew except short yak-grass along the ice-cold rivers. Water was not in short supply, the rivers drained the snowrun-off from the higher Chang Tang. In fact, these hills were well over 6000 meters high, only because the placewhere he was sitting was itself over 4500 meters, did they look so timid.He felt utterly alone, alone on the moon. He shouted at the top of his lungs "As-yaaa!", but the sound trailed offinto space, it vanished into the empty sky without an echo. You could die here and nobody would ever find you, hethought, yes, but the land was so open that it seemed that you could not get lost, except in a snow storm.Where was she? She still had not come back. Had she fallen off the edge of the world? Well, he thought, all hecan do is to stay here and wait. He lay down again in the dirt and closed his eyes.He must have fallen asleep, because he was awoken by the snorting of an animal. Startled he opened hiseyes and found himself in the shadow of a man, standing above him, who silently contemplated the strangeforeigner while holding a horse by a rope. Richard sat up with a jerk. The horse spooked, dragging the man almostinto the dirt. Cussing and shouting at the rearing and whinnying creature, holding onto the rope with all his might,the man ran after his horse. When he had struggled it down, he jumped into the saddle and rode off, soon only aspeck in the field to the east.And then he noticed Asya slowly walking across the expanse towards him."I had to be alone for a while," she said apologetically when she reached him. "And then I fell asleep. I am sorry tokeep you waiting so long.""I slept too," he said, "the man with the horse woke me up. Did you see him ride off into the distance? What aplace! I thought there was nobody around among these forlorn rocks. One and a quarter person per squarekilometer in this area; he must have been the one, the quarter would be invisible!" He laughed. "But you could atleast have told me when you walked off!" Wordlessly she squatted next to him. "Where do we go from here?" sheasked with a trailing voice. He rummaged in his backpack and recovered a copy of a sketchy map and the trailnotes.He read, "'Beyond Sangsang the landscape is gorgeous.' Well," he said, "gorgeous all-right, like on the moon! 'Awell-used trail leads from there to the south across low Sangsang Pay La pass, 5000 meters, to the village andchörten of Chung Riwoche. Attempt the ascent to the pass in the morning, there is no water until you are wellacross the pass.' I guess we better camp somewhere here tonight, it is late. Did you see a trace of the Raga riveron your wanderings? It's supposed to be close. We will need some water."They found the river and a camp site at its bank and set up their tent. He filtered some water for drinking andheated a packaged soup, carefully rationing the gasoline he was burning in the collapsible stove.Night came quickly and the temperature dropped as soon as the sun had set. A sharp wind started to blow fromthe south. They sat in the open for a while watching the stars. It was their first night alone outside the inhabitedareas around Lhasa and Shigatse.Never before had he seen a night sky like this, not above the Greek Sea, nor from the deserts of America. Amyriad of stars and the Milky Way passed like a silver-belt through them. Overwhelmed by the beauty of the skythey pointed out the constellations to each other until it became too cold to sit outside. They crept into theirsleeping bags and fell asleep in a wink.He had noticed her first on the flight from Kathmandu to Lhasa. Her lithe figure, a beautiful, lively face underdark hair, and her purposeful yet smooth movements had intrigued him. Later she turned up at the Banak Shöl, theold Tibetan hotel in Lhasa, where he had settled. He had watched her for several days, and she knew it.Most of the time she appeared withdrawn, but she could affect a ravishing smile, which she directed at him as heasked, rather formally, because her radiance confused him, whether he could sit with her at the table in the smallrestaurant on the roof.Mesmerized, he thought self-consciously, that she must be thirty-five years younger than he. Her eyes, dark andcool looked at him with a sharp skepticism that belied her smile. They seemed to warn him, stay away, I am not5