December 27th, 4 pm – I have taken my position on Reinhold’s rooftop. You are sitting on history condensed, neatly curved into the scenery by Zaha Hadid; a gesture of persistence and and also assimilation.  You are looking over the Peitlerkofel Range. A symphony of colours and light. A movement of yellow, played in time with gusts of wind, fades to a strong orange. A fabric of blood-red sacrifice at the finale. Blue persists in front of black.

Beliefing-in-Life, this is the underlying term for it (of course: equanimity and not fussing about everything), but the quintessence is Beliefing-in-Life: it is gonna be all right, it will find its course. You cannot suffocate life by regulating each and every aspect of it, although we have done quite a good job there. Let it breeze.

A moderate ascent. Laprak is situated straight behind the pass. Like Baphrak it must have been completely shattered. There hasn’t been anything rebuilt but at least the clearing up is finished. Lots of tin shacks,a lodge at the main path. The country is still under a thick gray haze. A glimpse of blue at the pass, a little breeze.