Our journey was yet over. The next day, we continued towards a section of the glacier where we could enjoy a view of the summit of Mount Tomur. Waiting for US on the way ahead were fathomless open and concealed crevasses, and glacial tills blocking the way; the hidden river gurgled on beneath our feet and from time to time the Sound of collapsing glaciers reverberated in our ears. Every spine-chilling step forward made my hair stand on end!

Two and a half hours later, we finally arrived at the center of the glacier's leading edge. It was a soul-stirring moment when the magnificent Mount Tomur finally came into view. The white cloud over the summit drifted off, lifting the last veil. Rising erect into the sky, it mirrored the far distant Hantengri, 6,995 meters above sea level. It gives birth to the Aksu River, the largest tributary of the Tarim River, and is the life source of the Aksu oasis.

With boundless sky above and limitless ground below, this stunning mountain stands proud and defiant in its pure white world of ice and snow, radiant, lustrous, brilliant.

I knelt and kowtowed to this vast world. There and then l left behind my frivolous youth and lack of reverence for nature.

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