The mountaineers were descending from a successful summit of #MeraPeak when the #dog – who they had seen a few days earlier – decided to join them at 17,500 feet.
At first it seemed like the expedition members only tolerated #Mera because of #Wargowsky’s taking to her, but the #pooch quickly #impressed the team with her impressive #climbing #skills, according to the mag.
“They’d never seen anything like this happen. They said she was a special dog, that she brought #luck to the expedition,” Wargowsky told the outlet. “Some even thought she was #blessed.”
At one point, however, Wargowsky said Mera spent two nights at one camp out in the open, alone on the #glacier in the #bitter #cold.
“I was certain she was going to die up there,” he said.
But the dog #prevailed, and trailed along with the team as they worked their way up to 22,500-feet before going back to the base camp.
“Imagine that instead of crampons, you have claws,” Wargowsky said. “Her feet were bloodied. She had busted knuckles and broken toenails. It was hard to see.”
During the trek, Wargowsky had tied Mera up at camp so she couldn’t follow them back up the mountain, but the canine chewed through the #rope, catching up with the team less than a half-hour later.
“She just tucked in right behind me,” Wargowsky told the magazine. “And it’s not like I could leave the clients to take her back, so it meant she was going with us.”
There was a close call along the way.
Mera was ahead of Wargowsky when she started to #slip, and a quick-thinking Wargowsky #hung onto a fixed line on the #mountain with one hand and #grabbed #Mera with the other as he #prevented her from #falling 600-feet, according to the magazine.
But that didn’t stop the dog from continuing on with the team.
Nothing will really stop dogs from continuing on with us.
Our #relationship with them may not look very necessary today, but it certainly was #necessary in the #past. #Dogs would keep #guard at #night and let us know if another tribe was about to #attack, they’d detect #intruders, they’d help us #hunt, and they’d even help us #fight.
They #served us well, and we should #return the #favor by #treating them #fairly now that most of their services are no longer required by most people.