The Sherpas had spent a lot of time building a stone alter and decorated it with offerings like rice, candy, cakes, wine, whiskey and a lot of prayer flags.

As the ceremony begins all Sherpas and climbers get together around the alter and sing prayers and clap hands. This goes on for a good moment until some Sherpas climb atop the altar and erect a mast strung with multicolored prayer flags. It's an impressive arrangement with flags swinging in the wind all over the place.

The ceremony ends as everyone throws rice and some kind of powder in the air for good luck.

One thing about our ceremony, that I really don't hope is a sign, was that it was really cold and windy. When you see photos from these kinds of ceremonies you always find that it's sunshine and warm but this was not the case for us. A cold wind was pounding down on us and I think all participants had cold feet towards the end...

But the Sherpas leading the ceremony seemed very happy so I take that as a sign of a successful ceremony!