Snow on Lucy
Day Six - Pheriche to Lobuche - 16,109 feet - 3 hours
We're both starting to notice elements of altitude sickness kicking in now. For the past few nights, we've had problems sleeping because our heartbeat has been so fast, we can't relax properly into a resting sleep. It's so annoying, especially because we've been getting so tired from the walks during the day.
We eat breakfast and watch a few trekkers leave before us. Lucy is super-competitive on the paths and if she see's someone infront, she makes it her mission to get ahead. Our guide laughs at this and holds up his index finger and says "Lucy number one!"
It's raining as we start out and Lucy isn't feeling quite so well. I may just about be able to keep up with her today! The path today is very rocky and there are some points where we can't even see which way to go. It's another long climb up of about 2 hours. At the top we pass through lots of Buddhist burial grounds. Cloud has descended everywhere and the whole places feels quite creepy. It starts to snow a little while later but we have only another hour or so to go along even ground before we get to Lobuche and lunch.
Lobuche is another barren, hostile looking place set at the foot of towering mountains. It's cold and harsh and incredibly has fewer people and lodges as the place before. Thank God we're only stopping for one night.
We found it hard to walk up these trails but porters carry obscene amounts of weight. This guy in the background is carrying a table.
Resting at the burial grounds
Getting barren
Day Seven - Lobuche to Gorak Shep - 17,000 feet - 1.5 hours
Gorak Shep is the last little outpost before Everest Base Camp. Wikipedia says "Gorak Shep is a frozen lakebed covered with sand that sits at 5,164m (approximately 17,000 vertical feet) near Mount Everest." There's little else to say about it really.
We arrive, have lunch and set straight back out to Base Camp which is another 3 hour walk. We feel absolutely fine and the altitude is currently treating us very well. After about 2 hours though we both start to suffer. Our heads our absolutely killing us and we're finding it a real struggle to carry on. We make it through the ice fields and rocks and sit down and hold our heads. There are a few expeditions camping there preparing themselves to go up Everest. We stay for about 15 minutes before heading back to Gorak Shep.
Gorak Shep with Kala Pattar and Pumori in the distance
Lucy at base camp
Everest Glacier
Day Eight - Kala Pattar - 18,192 feet - 1.5 hours
Kala Pattar appears as a big brown bump below the impressive south face of the mountain Pumori (7,161 m/23,494 ft). As it provides the most accessible point to view Mt. Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse most trekkers attempt to summit it. Rich is unfortunately feeling too ill to attempt this today so I alone get up at 5.45am and head up with my guide. This is by far the hardest incline I've done since I started this trek as the thin air makes it hard to breathe. There is also a lot of snow the higher I get, so some careful scrambling is required. When I get to the top the views are spectacular. Although Everest is still slightly covered by cloud, all the surrounding mountains are completely clear and they positively glow when the sun reflects off their snowy peaks. After a race back down with a friendly German man, I rouse Rich out of bed and we head back down to Pheriche so he won't feel the effects of the altitude.
Looking up at Pumori, the Kala Pattar summit is behind the dark brown peak
Looking ahead at Everest and Nuptse (Everest's peak is hidden by clouds)
Looking up at Pumori from the summit
porters are nothing short of amazing. okay, they're native so used the conditions and what-not, but the ones of the inca trail were RUNNING [chas-stylee] up it in flip-flops [yes, chas has run/climbed/scrambled in flip-flops - the only non-peruvian i've so far witness do this successfully] cheerfully carrying tarpaulin-covered packages the size of a smart-car strapped to their backs. they were basically lungs with legs, and i gave them all my chocolate because i was so pathetically grateful.
ReplyDeleteRich - why no shorts? I'm sure that even in the middle of the deepest darkest winter in the UK, you resolutely shunned trousers for a more cropped variety. Surely even at 18K odd feet you only felt a slight chill? Disappointed. Very disappointed. You’ve let the short-wearing world down, you’ve let me down & most of all you’ve let your trousers down. Well unfurled them rather than dropped them…
ReplyDelete“Lucy Number One.” I always suspected as much. It’s also far better than being called a number two. I realise the prayer flags are simply battered by the elements, but I find them rather reminiscent of a neighbour who has left some of her washing out for years, while just hanging the new stuff a little further down the line – the old items now have a delightful layer of mould pretty much all over them. Have they not considered a dreadfully environmentally unfriendly plastic tea-towel / handkerchief version? Little less time praying & a bit more on the practicalities me thinks!!