October 18, 2012

 Day 8.  Dingboche (14,271'/4350m) to Lobuche (16,207'/4940m)

Happy Birthday, Dad!  

I just don't know the words to describe how very "knackered" I feel.  It's hard to swallow any of the dry food.  We had pancakes and egg for breakfast and I really struggled to get through just half the pancake.  When we started to walk I had absolutely zero energy.  Every step uphill was such a struggle.  I was clearly the slowest one this morning.  I felt so weak that it was even a struggle just to hold my poles.  

We got to the lunch spot by about 11, after having left Dingboche about 8.  I had some beef jerky and some gorp, and then laid down and slept for about half an hour; bliss!  Dan and Lenka are clearly the strongest, with Steve and Helen close behind.  For lunch we had cabbage, cheese, salmon (?), potatoes and tibetan bread.  I didn't touch the cabbage and had a hard time eating the bread (although it was tasty).  I think I'll supplement with gorp and jerky every day.  I seem to be able to eat those things. 

We had a big hill after lunch.  I felt a bit better but it was still a struggle.  

We had great views all day today, and there was not much cloud cover in the afternoon for a change.

The dzopkios were carrying our kit bags today.  When we got to our lodge in Lobuche we decided to stay inside again tonight.  It seems that everyone is starting to suffer at least a bit.  Liba had a gall bladder attack and Steve has developed a head cold.  The owner here is a friend of Sangye.  I had a little lay-down from about 4 until 6.  I don't think I slept but it felt good to be horizontal!  

We had a view of Lobuche mountain pretty much all day - OMG!  It's hard to believe that that is our objective in a few days and with any luck at all we will be on top of it soon - yikes!  

We also saw the Everest memorials shortly after lunch today, including the memorials for Scott Fisher and the Canadian woman who died earlier this year.  The number of memorials here (people who have died on Everest) is staggering.  I can only imagine the emotions one would experience if one were on their way to climb the mountain.  It would certainly give me reason to pause and reconsider my mission.......  

I think I've mentioned a few times that just about everything comes in on the backs of porters.  We passed this poor fellow this afternoon carrying a load too wide to walk forward with.  He had to side-step through this section; who knows how long he had to do that for!  BTW - that's Pumo Ri in the background.

October 17, 2012

 Day 7.  Rest day at Dingboche (14,271'/4350m)

Yay for a rest day; I feel pretty crappy today.  I have a vague headache and my stomach doesn't feel great either, but mostly I just feel really bagged.  It's probably a combination of my ongoing cold and the altitude.  I didn't sleep as well last night.  At first I was really cold - I even had a thick blanket on top of my sleeping bag and I put socks on for a while (which is pretty unusual for me).  Eventually the blanket came off.  The Diamox must be kicking in; I had to get up to pee 3 times during the night.  My cough is still there but there is pretty much no phlegm.  The coughing, though, takes a lot out of me.  

I went for a walk down "main street" after breakfast.  It's interesting how they have built up walls of stone on either side and laid down a lot of stones for the surface; a lot of work!  Surprisingly (to me, anyway) there are still lodges advertising internet access, etc.  A helicopter landed close to the lodge this morning; apparently an emergency evacuation.  After my little walk I had to have a wee lay-down and then found it really hard to get motivated to get back up again.  But - I managed to get up again around 10:30 and joined Paule & Dennis for a very slow walk up to the various chortens on the ridge.  Just when I think I can't possibly get any slower, I do....

Back to the lodge for lunch.  It looks like everyone is having a fairly lazy day.  Except the Nepalis, that is.  Sangye  is off to Gorak Shep to bring the dining tent back to Loboche because it seems we won't have access to a lodge there.  Dawa went back to Tengboche to do some shopping for vegetables.  He was back by noon!!  Another guide is off to Loboche to scout out a camping spot.  Meanwhile us tourists are gasping for breath just to get out of bed!  

The weather has definitely changed.  I think the shorts can be safely packed away for good.  It was quite windy here today - time for a coat and hat.  I'm really not looking forward to the cold weather from here on.  

I didn't do much after lunch.  I played a game (from Lenka) with Dennis and Liba, read a bit, and coughed a lot.  I had apple pie for dessert.  It tasted great but was too much.  I mustn't be feeling well....  In the afternoon I went to Mama's Bakery with Liba, Paule & Dennis where I had tea and a brownie - thanks Paule!  The bakery was run by a Tibetan and we had an enlightening (for me) discussion on Tibet.  I really had no idea of the history.  Liba shared her story of her trip there in 2009.

Vera gave me a puffer that was supposed to help with my cough.  I am to use it 3x per day for 4 days.  We'll see if it helps...........  I coughed a lot through the night and had another crappy sleep.  I feel sorry for anyone else in that wing.  I'm sure I kept a few people awake; sorry...........

It seems that a lot of my thoughts here are about how crappy I feel.  However - the experience is amazing so far.  The people, the terrain, the sights, the exposure to something so very different and genuine.  How I'm feeling is a small price to pay.    

October 16, 2012

Day 6.  Deboche (12,369'/3770m) to Dingboche (14,271'/4350m)

I slept about 9.5 hours last night - about 8:30pm to 6am!  Today we had a breakfast of muesli and french toast.  It wasn't as good as it sounds, but it filled the stomach.  Poor Liba - once again she didn't eat much and then felt sick from the french toast.

We left about 8:45, and had a big elevation gain day ahead; about 3700m to 4400m but thankfully not a lot of downhills to gain back.  After a brief bit of sunshine we walked in the shade for quite a while.  That made it a tad chilly until we found the sunshine again.  We had just a few clouds in the morning, but had generally good visibility until after noon.  We enjoyed great views of Ama Dablam (and others) as we went.  

So - we are on a camping trip, but that doesn't mean that we're totally roughing it.  Besides our own sleeping tents we have a cook tent and a dining tent.  And in that dining tent we have tables and chairs; the tables are shown on the porter's back in the above picture; amazing!

We took a morning break at Pangboche, and got to Shomare around noon where we had lunch in a great little dining room upstairs amongst the memorabilia from various Everest marathons.  I can barely walk at this elevation.  I sure couldn't imagine running a marathon!  Lunch was half a wiener, cole slaw, potatoes done in a curry, and individual pizzas.  It was actually quite good, but again Liba couldn't eat any of it.  She had some rice; I don't know how she keeps going.....  

Shomare is pretty much the tree line.  The terrain was much more open this afternoon.  Without any forests to contain us, the trails were pretty braided.  It was a bit windy (tailwind) at times but it's still shorts weather (and 2 shirts plus gloves).  It seems our kit bags were transported via dzopkio today.

My cough is still there; I'm not sure whether it's getting worse or not.  I took one of Paule's Advils today and sucked on a Halls a few times.  I also tried to breathe through my Buff a bit (like many of the locals do) and that worked OK except for when I was really gasping for air.  Then it felt a bit suffocating.  

My pace was incredibly slow!  A stroll or a saunter would be a sprint compared to what I/we were doing today.  We arrived in Dingboche shortly before 3, which was much earlier than I had expected.  The climb wasn't very steep in most places - thank goodness!  Stairs are definitely more taxing than a slope. 

We never seem to be very far from a river, which makes sense so that the trails essentially follow the river valleys.  But - I've noticed there is more and more glacial melt coming down the hillsides to join the rivers.  I can see that rafting could be big in this country, but probably very cold!  It has definitely become colder as we go higher - the days of shorts may be coming to an end!  

When Liba got to the camp she checked out the possibility of renting rooms rather than sleeping in tents the next two nights - 500rps per night.  Everyone is in!  The rooms are not heated, but having a bed is a nice change.  Since we are now above treeline, the only heating in the lodge was in the communal area, and that was meagerly heated by yak dung.   

The pit toilets we've had over the past few days haven't been too bad.  They sure don't stink like some of the outhouses at home.  It must be the organic material they put in the pits.