October 20, 2012

 Day 10: Gorak Shep (16,962'/5170m) to Kala Pattar (18,448'/5623m) to Lobuche (16,207'/4940m)

I had a pretty good sleep in the tent last night.  I was in the tent shortly after 7 and only got up to pee twice.  The toilet was really quite raunchy.  We had tea and wash water at about 7:30am.  After the good sleep I was all packed up and ready to go by then.  I even got the sleeping bag in the stuff sack without having to stop and rest!  It probably helped that we only gained about 200m yesterday.  And - I could eat a fair bit of breakfast.  I had granola and a fried egg. 

Lots of these Tibetan snowcocks roaming around the campsite. 

I started heading up Kala Pattar by about 9:15.  Sangye kindly got my sleeping bag out of my kit bag to dry it out a bit.  It was a bit frosty last night so the bag was a bit damp.  My Camelbak tube was frozen solid this morning.  I took my time going up KP; there were amazing views to be had!  Views of Everest, of course, but also many other mountains including Nuptse and Lhotse flanking Everest and Pumori straight ahead.  I still can't believe I'm here!  Since Everest is still quite far away, some of the closer mountains still look bigger.  

You know you've been at altitude for a while when you hear a helicopter and you automatically look down for it.....................

It took me about 2 hours to get to the top.  Steve and Helen got up top shortly after me.  Although I was slow, I didn't feel too bad going up.  I am glad, though, that we'll be going a bit lower to sleep tonight.  

We had soup for lunch in Gorak Shep and then we were off for Lobuche.  There was a bit more uphill going back than I remember from the reverse trip.  It took about 2 hours to get back there.  We're in very rocky terrain - both the landscape and the trail.  

Dan and Lenka went a bit further today.  They went to Pumori base camp with Sangye.  Apparently there are great views from there too, but I just didn't have it in me.  Liba and Vladka seemed to be suffering the most today.  

I think I'm a bit dehydrated.  I must try to drink even more although I know that with the Diamox I'll end up getting up to pee more often.  

I asked to stay in a tent tonight, but Sangye said "no"; it was too dirty.  I do seem to sleep better in the tent, though.

I was really tired by the time we got back to Lobuche so I had a brief nap before dinner.  It will be an early night to bed again.  I can't believe how full I always feel, yet I'm not eating a whole lot.