The view from near the top of the world is humbling - not because of the vista but for the way of life of the people who live there.
It is one of the things Columba College pupil Lucy Newton (17) found most memorable about her trip to the base of Mt Everest recently.
"It was life-changing. The people and their culture are so different.
"It was humbling to see Sherpas with so little but who are still happy with their lives."
Lucy was one of 20 New Zealand senior secondary school pupils selected to attend the 2010 Youth to Everest expedition, on which their primary mission was to help with a reforestation programme at Ghaat.
While there, she visited the Ghaat Village Primary School, where she told pupils what life was like for children in New Zealand.
Her trip included visits to Kathmandu, Lukla a (village at the base of the Everest Valley which many trekkers and mountaineers pass each year), Namche (the capital for the Sherpa people), Khundes Hospital, Khumjungs Edmund Hillary School, Kanjuma, Deboche and Pangboche, where she spent two nights at the home of the head Llama of the Pangboche Monastery.
It was near there that she reached the literal high point of her trip, ascending to 4200m above sea level, within 12km of Mt Everest.
To put that into perspective, the top of New Zealand's highest mountain, Aoraki Mt Cook, is 3754m above sea level.
At that elevation, Lucy became worried about altitude sickness.
"There were other people visiting the area who got bleeding noses because of the altitude, but it didn't affect me.
"Seeing Mt Everest . . . was so awesome," she said.
