The women came together at Base Camp and stood around a memorial stone, on which were the names of Vera and Alison. These two climbers had stood here two months earlier and had looked up the summit of Annapurna with so much hope. All the women felt very sad as they looked at the stone and remembered Vera and Alison , but deep inside they knew that their friends had died doing something they really loved.
Now , for the last time , Arlene looked round at this group pf friends at Margi, the young climber who had learnt so much on this expedition at Annie, still very much in love with Yeshi at Piro, who had almost climbed to the summit at Christy, their Base Camp Manager at Joan, who had almost recovered from her illness and at Irene and Vera the successful summit climbers. All of them had worked so hard to make the dream come true . Annapurna had cruelly taken away two very dear friends - but it had given them all so much