Day 12 - Finally a Shower !

.
Please go to Day 1 (below) to read these in order. They are posted from back to front.
.
.

Day 12 - April 7 - evening:

Am : "Woke up feeling slightly better this morning. The Lodge was packed last night. Maybe 50-60 people of all nationalities in the cafe. You can easily tell those who are going up, from those who are going down, by the color of their noses. Deep red/black sunburn means they are heading back down."

Left by 8:30AM. Arrived in Namche at 1pm. We had a nice reunion with Lloyd and Christiana. They had been resting, shopping, and reading for 8 days. I teased Christina that she would need to hire another porter to haul her additional gifts and souvenirs.
Our lodge was great. We all took, long anticipated hot showers. It was heavenly. We were pretty sticky and dusty at that point.
We went down to the main street. I realized that I really hadn't missed the hard sell vendors hawking their knock off mountain gear there. "Buy now", "best price."

We stayed at the Shangri La Lodge. I almost bought a soft shell jacket for 1,000 rp ($14) but it fit strange. Asian cut. Bought some soft shell pants later. Every pair was cut different, so I just kept on trying them on until I found one that fit. "Feeling much better today finally." Alison celebrated the grand descent with an Everest beer. Too swill for me. Even here.

Day 11 - Draggin' booty

April 6th - Pheriche to Tengboche

Karma was antsy to get down to Phakding and see his sick daughter so we blessed him to head down. That was the last we saw of him until we arrived in his hotel 4 days later. He had apparently hiked the entire distance in one fell swoop, even though he was feeling some AMS symptoms as well.

I woke up the next morning feeling a lot better. Still sick, but not like before. It came back a bit stronger in the afternoon.
The view of the peaks was obstructed as we hiked down by milky fog. As we approached Tengboche, I was feeling pretty bad. Moving glacially slow with a brutal headache. Brian was also hurtin' for certain at that point. We felt like we were sloggin' through molasses. The porters, which Had arrived hours earlier in Tengboche, came back and relieved us of our loads. Hearts of gold I tell ya.

When we finally arrived in Tengboche, I gave them some of the precious Almond Snickers that I had (actually, they had) been totting along. They were grateful. Donkuram, a licensed message therapist, offered me a 600rp message. I took him up on it. It helped tremendously.

Day 10 - Descent

April 5th
Pheriche is at the bottom of the Khumbu Glacier. The icey wind blows hard and constantly. As we approached this little village a helicopter flew over-head. Karma, joking pretended to wave down the heli to stop and take me down the mountain. We had a good chuckle.
The helicopter eventually landed in town and some locals loaded someone in it. We found out later that it was the manager of the hotel that we were staying in that night.

Despite the loss of the manager, the White Yak was a great lodge. Probably the best that we experienced. It cost a bit more, and provided no lodging for our porters, but it was equiped with a hot shower, western style toilets, decent beds, and good food.

Day 10 - Sick

Gorak Shep - Went to bed at 8pm exhausted. I woke up at 10PM feeling like I was suffocating and with a brain splitting headache. When I tried to breathe deep my lungs sent shocks of pain through my chest. The only option was rapid little breaths. I had flu like chills even though I had two layers of down on. Later the chills would alternate with bouts of sweating. I hoped it would pass, so I tried to lay down and sleep it off. Every position I tried to take was painful for my ribs. Sat up 1/2 hour later feeling nausea as well.

At this point I knew I was heading for serious trouble. These were the symptoms of AMS (Accute Mountain Sickness). I knew that there was only one thing to do do recover; go down. I had read enough about Everest do know a bit about AMS. It had lead to the death of many people when they stayed up high on the mountain ignoring the symptoms, or denying them, or unable to descend. I wsn't sure whether I had Pulminary Edima, or Cerebral Edema, or some combination, but I knew I had AMS of some sort.
I woke up Alison, who had taken a sleeping pill hoping for solid sleep. I told her that I needed her help; maybe she could help me decide if we needed to go down right then and there, and hike through the night. I wasn't sure if it was safe to remain until the next day.
Alison pulled out the trekking guide, turned to the pages on AMS and read that it was probably okay to wait until morning before descending.

I slept very little. I just waited, trying not to focus on the misery of it all, and praying for the sun to rise... It finally did at 5:30AM. It took quite a bit of energy to move at all. As I tried to dress and lace up my boots, I could barely think. It took forever to pack. When things were halfway packed, and I was geared up, I headed to the restaurant to try to get some food and water, figuring the porters would be able to finish the job. But food looked nauseating. I forced down some water.

Alison and I headed down as the sun rose. I moved slightly faster than backwards, stopping every 10 steps or so to try to get some air and prepare for the next 10. We hiked about half the speed that we had going up. And going up was slow.
After a forever march down to Lobuche, we stopped to hydrate and try to rest. Alison told me to lay down on the bench. As I did, one of the lodge staff began hammering on something, just inside the door to the kitchen. I don't know what he was banging on, but I fell asleep almost instantly anyway. I slept for maybe 20 minutes solid.

I was hoping to get down to Dughla, thinking that would be enough of a descent to recuperate. Karma wanted me to get down to Pheriche which was another 2-3 hours of hiking. There was a tricky decision to make at this point. Too much strain would contribute to worsening symptoms, but descending would give me more oxygen and help to relieve them. Get down, but don't kill yourself doing it, I was thinking.

We decided to go all the way down to Pheriche in the valley below. We hoped the exertion of energy it required to get there would not override the thicker air I would get there. In hindsite, I think we pushed too hard. It was almost 12 hours of hiking. 5:30am to 5:30pm. We ended up descending 870meters (2,870ft) and hiked 12 kilometers (7.4 miles). Kind of brutal when you have AMS.

Day 9 - Final Trek up Kala Pattar !

The weather was changing as we hiked up Kala Pattar. Clouds rolling in from downhill. It looked to my like the view from the top would soon be gone. I stopped short of the top thinking that I would give it a go the following morning when I knew the weather would be clear. I figured that after a nights sleep, and motivated by clear skies, tomorrow would be the day for the final stretch. (This second opportunity never came because I was forced to descend in the morning. AMS [Acute Mountain Sickness] came on strong during the night.)

There high on the ridge, I sat next to a big ol' bolder on the side of the slope by myself, and just took it all in. Though I'm sure the view would be slightly better from the top, I was indeed in a prime spot to soak in the view of the highest peaks, Everest sticking up clear as a bell with a cloud generating wind blasting off the top.

It was very cold, so I put on everything I had with me and hunkered downwind of the boulder. I got to spend a good hour or so with the high peaks surrounding me. Just me and the mountains. Trying to absorb as much of the view as possible, hoping to remember the dramatic images wrapping around me. From this spot I could see Pumori, Lingdon, Khumbutsi, Changtse, Nuptse, and Everest, and every high ridge in between. Just drinking it all in. Absolutely amazing.

I finally descended when I started to get too chilled and my toes started to go numb, but not after taking some great panoramas of the peaks which were not shrouded by clouds yet.

By the grace of God... mission accomplished.

Day 9 - Lobuche to Gorak Shep

April 4th, 2010 PM

Today is the last day of uphill hiking. Gorak Shep marks our destination and highest lodging, and Kala Pattar is our highest hiking elevation (up from Gorak Shep).
Gorak Shep is 17,028 feet and Kala Pattar is 18,192 feet.

Hiked from Lobuche to Gorak Shep. It was relatively flat along the glacier, but with some seemingly unending ups and downs over glacial moraines as we neared the town. It really drug on at first. I had to fight a mental battle to keep my head up and take in the view and not get fixated on getting to my next bunk where I could rest. The astounding view that met us around every corner brought me back to the reality of where I stood in those moments. This place was alpine bliss. It's impossible to describe the scale of these mountains. Continents up-righted, covered in glowing white snow and jetting up into the sky so high that you have to crane your neck to see the tops.

I was breathing heavy and moving only slightly faster uphill than the glacier was down. My headache was my companion. Another mental battle to dismiss it.

We rounded one last turn and hike down the big rocks into Gorak Shep. We rested for an hour or so, ate some chipati with honey and a snickers, and then feeling somewhat recovered, decided to head up Kala Pattar the same day. Brian carried some overnight gear, hoping to sleep on top of Kala Pattar. It was clear to me at this point that my altitude symptoms were not going to allow me go join him up there overnight, but we hiked up for the day.

Day 8 - Lobuche Village

The village of Lobuche is located at about 16,000 feet (that's higher than any mountain in the continental US.) It is abandoned in the extreme cold of winter, except for a few die hard maintenance guys who hunker down in the lodges buried deep in the snow. I have no idea how they keep from freezing. At the height of trekking season - which is Mid May - it is overrun by trekkers from all over the world looking for one last night of sleep before making the final journey to Everest Base camp or Kala Pattar. We beat the rush by a week.

Day 8 - Approaching Lobuche

April 3rd

The views in the Khumbu Valley today were incredible. Amazing. Feels like we are creeping up to the foot of a formation of giants. Their sheer verticleness is simply indescribable. Every high ridge is battered by the extreme relentless weather. Massive slabs of rock and snow regularly being ripped off the side of the mountain, and sliding thousands of feet down, and leaving vertical lacerations and ravines like someone ran a big serrated blade, sideways down the slope.

Day 8 - Dingboche to Lobuche

April 3rd

In the morning after our second night in Dingboche:
Yak herd rolled into our compound last night. A trekking group of 9 comprised of Americans, Canadians, and Australians along with all their gear and porters heading to 'Olympic Base Camp' to spend the night. It was a big production. Their stuff was spread all over the compound at our lodge. They seemed more stressed than happy. I don't think I would want to travel like that. Too complicated.

The plan for this day was to slowly climb 700 feet to Dugla, and spend the night to acclimitize. But we were feeling pretty good at that point, and Karma thought we should push on for Lobuche the same day ( an additional 700 vertical meters up). (This was a decision I would later regret).
The second half of the trek up to Lobuche was significantly steeper and required quite a bit of energy.

I was fighting a headache as we climbed, but it went away when we stopped moving up. I also was beginning to feel pain in my back, even though I had sloughed off additional weight to my porter. Our porters seemed to be impervious to fatigue and the loads didn't seem to bother them as they powered on ahead of us.

We totaled 6 hours of hiking today and gained about 1,400 feet. It became increasingly cold as we hiked upwards towards the Khumbu glacier. By this point we were hiking with quite a few warm layers, even though we were working hard. I hike portions of this leg with my puffy down jacket on as well.

When we arrived in Lobuche and found our rooms we were exhausted and crashed on our bunks. I ate half a small yak cheese and tomato pizza for dinner. It was tolerable. The lodges try hard to cater to western tastes, but it is tough for them to get the same ingredients that we would have in our part of the world. I also had half a fried veggie plate (also tolerable) and washed it all down with a cup of hot chocolate that I made with a packet of hot chocolate that we brought from Portland.

We met some crazy Finish guys climbing Everest while we were warming ourselves around the wood stove. They were climbing with only one Sherpa above base camp. The rest of their gear they were schlepping themselves. The previous year they had attempted the climb with no Sherpas or porters. Totally unsupported. One of the two of them made it to the top. They would carry most all of their own gear up to higher camps and fix their own lines. Below Base camp they said they had 52 Yaks and porters hauling up their gear. That's a lot of stuff! They were very friendly and we chatted by the yak dung fire for a while. Later Alison and I played golf (cards) and eventually I got up the courage to take a bucket bath. They charged me about 3 bucks for a little bowl full of warm water, then I headed for my little adventure. I could barely hack the cold. My feet went instantly numb on the icy floor of the "shower room." It ended up being only a partial bath. Once again, at least part of me felt better. My toes were back to normal temperature after an hour or so.

Day 7 - Dinboche - Rest Day

April 2nd 2010 - Rest day in Dingboche for acclimatization

Woke up watching my breath billow out from my nose like an icy cloud. I didn't want to leave my bag. Slept another 20 minutes.

I ate heavy, greasy hash browns with an omelet on top for breakfast. The Nepalese version of ketchup didn't help. I won't need much for lunch. My headache is almost gone today. I took a double dose of diamox last night. I still feel easily tired when I exert myself though. We're going to try to find a cyper-cafe before lunch to send an email to Loyd and Christina waiting below. The sky is getting hazy.

After reviewing the itinerary, it looks like we under estimated the time it would take to summit Kala Pattar and return to Kathmandu. Now we may only have one day at Gorak Shep. So much for our weather window. (We had planned two days at the top. If the first day's weather was bad then we would have a second chance for clear skies the second day.)

Day 6 - Tengboche to Dingboche

April 1st, 2010

Today was a long slog down and up ultimately putting us at 14,500 feet.
2,000 feet is a nice workout at sea level, but up here its a booty kicker. I could tell that I was hiking higher than I had before as my breathing became labored and moving upward on any incline slowed me significantly. This is the altitude that I was told becomes very difficult and hard on the body. I took many breaks and enjoyed looking straight up at Ama Dablam as we passed by it's base. One team was assembling gear below us by the river, apparently for a summit bid of Ama Dablam. It looks to be a very technical climb.

We arrived in Dingboche at 3pm. I was sucking air hard by that point. I am anxious to see how my body will handle the next three days as we make the final stretch. 3,500 feet to go yet. When we arrived here we rested for a while, and then struggled to do laundry in the sub freezing temperatures, and in water that I could tell was barely still liquid. One of the lodge keepers saw me trying to shake the blood into my wet, numb fingers and took pity by pouring some water from a pot on a nearby solar dish into my wash water. "Ahhh... thaaank you."

Then, I had no cloths pins so I tried tying them to line with prussics made from laundry line that I had brought and cut into little strips. After an hour or so, I checked them on the line and found them to be frozen solid. Stiff as a board. I set the slabs in our room, but they were no less rigid in the morning as it was only slightly less frigid inside than out. I went to bed early - 8pm. Nestled into my down bag, wearing long johns and a tuke, with the hood pulled down tight over my face I slept like a log, tired from a long day.

Day 5 - Namche to Tengboche

March 31st.

Today included a rigorous hike from Namche Bazaar to Tengboche. We began the day with a steep hike up, out of town as it glistened with a light layer of fresh snow, and up to a traverse high above the Phunki river. We rounded a corner to be taken back by a wide view of the high Everest range and then marched on toward Ama Dablam. Ama is in my humble opinion, the most gorgeous high peak of the journey. It reminds me of the Eiger, with it's steep hard angles towering high above it's sisters.

In the morning we descended deep into the gorge all the way down to the river. I had to console myself with the truth that we were still drawing nearer to the mountain laterally, as we lost altitude for two hours, only to have to make it up again after noon. Such is the life of a trekker in the Himilayas. There are only two directions to hike; up or down.

Christina and Loyd decided to head back to Namche to wait out the rest of the trip at this point. Christina's knees were causing her a lot of problems. We were mostly prepared for this probability.

After partaking of some nice Dal Bhat for lunch (rice and lentils) we slogged up a steep grade gaining 2,000 feet in two hours up to Tengboche (12,600 feet). When we reached the village at the top we hiked through a gate and into a relatively flat grassland perched between two grand peaks. A very long time ago Bhudist munks established a monestary here in this gorgeous hill surrounded by noble mountains. Today the winds are strong and very cold up here. We are finally able to make use of the thick layers of insulation we (actually our porter friends) have schlepped up the slopes. They have seemed like useless weight down in the warmer temperatures (50ish) down below. Tonight should be a good test of my 15 degree sleeping bag.

It was mostly cloudy when we arrived, but the clouds broke briefly over Everest as the sun set providing us with few minutes with an unobstructed view. An amazing sight.

I took a partial bucket shower. At least my arms and legs are clean for the moment. A nice reprieve from the layers of dust that collect on us as we hike along. I found a blue bucket with a spicket. The water seemed relatively clean. Clean enough for a rinse anyway. Felt a bit better.

I a bit worried about my sunburned face. I have applied 30spf every morning, but the bright sun seems to slowly burn through it. The thin air, and the second exposure of light reflecting off the light brown rocks below as we hike, that seems to get you like a 1-2 punch.