Dingboche-Loboche Woven trails guide us through the lowest points of the valley. The trail emerges higher, surrounded by seemingly taller peaks than seen before. The dusty paths are carved by feet of locals, travelers, nomads, traders, tourists, and the yaks and horses that bring so many curious minds and bodies [mindbodies] to this place. It is carved from those desperate for money, those out to prove something to themselves or others, those with an innate thirst for adventure or excitement, those seeking work, those going to work, those who want to know more about why people are here, why this place. And myself, questioning what these Himalayan mountains, and specifically Mount Everest, mean to humans and to understand these mountains with agency and life in their own right.

These paths, however, are not solely made by humans. These paths exist because of the movement and reaction of dirt and soil and rocks, and from those iterations of human movements. These paths exist from economic and cultural needs and wants of humans, from the imperialist symbolism of early British expeditions, the romantic hyperbolic and post-colonial expeditions and the inward drives to climb, the commercial commodification of name brand expeditions, to the hypertouristic movements that lead so many to the base of (and up) Mount Everest. This path is entangled with weather systems that shape and erode the valley, from the climate patterns of the subcontinent to the geophysical history and the glacial movements that shape and twist the yul lha (peaks) and beyul (valleys) of Khumbu.