Day Nine--Back to Tengboche

Ahh, to have the hardest behind us--what a glorious thing!  Nima, Gideon and I were all smiles this morning, although I was still totally worn out and had woken with a fat lower lip for some reason (sunburn, or did Gideon clock me in the mouth in the night?).  We had a leisurely morning packing up our bags at the lodge in Lobuche starting our descent to Tengboche at 9:15.

It was a long day, Gideon calculating that we walked nearly ten miles, but it was mostly downhill, and boy, what a difference that makes.  Despite the fact that we were going downhill, on average, we were still exerting ourselves at high altitudes.  My head pounded for the first half of the day, but lunch of soup and tea helped ease the pain.  Gideon and I had the realization that our headaches may be due more to exertion and low blood sugar than altitude, especially considering that a carbohydrate blast seems to cure us of our ills.

Our descent to Tengboche led us down through a wide glacial valley, past the towns of Thokla and Pheriche and then down along the cloudy-blue river to Shomare for lunch. 

Lots going on in this photo... click to enlarge.

Gideon and me heading home.  Just kidding.

Later in the day we came across a musk deer while walking through a rhododendron forest.  This smallish deer is unique because, rather than having antlers, it has long canine fangs, almost like a vampire. 

We also spotted a pair of Daufe pheasants, the Nepali national bird, the male of the pair being one of the most colorful and beautiful birds I've seen. 

By 5:15, we were at our home for the night, the Tengboche Guest House, happy to be at a warmer, lower altitude.

Day 8--Summit Day

Morning came too quickly today.  I did not sleep well at this altitude, periodically gasping for air and tossing and turning all night.  Gideon claims that his poor sleep was due to my snoring.  There is no heat in any of the lodges, other than a small wood stove (yak dung stove, actually) in the main dining room, so getting out of a warm sleeping bag and into freezing clothing is tough.  Reluctantly, we dragged ourselves out and readied ourselves for the big day. 

Despite Nima's warnings that this was going to be the hardest day yet, I found myself energized and excited about the challenge ahead.  The three of us were walking by 6:05. 

The hike started off pleasantly enough, as we worked our way up through the glacial trough.  After an hour or so, we reached the first of many ascents up mountain-sized piles of rocks left behind by passing glaciers.  Any upward movement at this altitude was absolutely taxing, and we had hours of marching uphill ahead of us.  Despite the brutally strong and cold headwind we arrived in Gorak Shep around 9 am for breakfast.  At this point Gideon had his first serious bout of altitude sickness.  A throbbing headache, exhaustion, and nausea stopped him in his tracks for over an hour.  Fortunately, forcing down some fluids and food and a few Advil got him over the worst of it. 

Nima with the tiny village of Gorak Shep in the background

By 10:15 we were back on the trail heading up to Kala Patthar.  The scramble up this last 1.5 kilometers was nothing less than torturous.  I was so close to crying, blacking out, and quitting that I wondered what I was doing here at all. 

But the sight of the peak above me was reminder enough that I was almost to my goal and I would make it.  I started a rather strict regimen of taking eight steps, no matter how small, followed by eight breaths of rest.  This kept me moving very slowly upward, and kept the stars in my vision and the rhythmic pounding in my head at bay.  Gideon, now fully recovered, made it to the top well ahead of me and waved me up the remainder of the way. 


Once we all arrived to the summit (18,500 ft!!!), it was picture time.  Unfortunately, I was so cold and lightheaded that I spent most of the time up top curled into the fetal position in the crook of a rock, sheltered from the hard wind. 

 Yes, I'm cuddling with the Frederick Magazine.  Gideon's dad sent it to us to take on our trip.  We'll submit this photo and the one below for publication.  We'll see which one they pick.  I think the choice is obvious, don't you?

When Gideon called, I hobbled over to the camera and smiled.  Everest smirked in the background, getting a kick out of my misery.  I put up a good front for posterity. 

 

 Nima and I with a bottle of Hanzell Chardonnay.  Yes, the best Sonoma Chard came with us thanks to our pal Jean.  Wish you were here with us, Jean!

On the very edge of a tantrum, I put a halt to the group photos and started the descent.  I was seriously hurting at this point, with a raging headache.  I could hardly breathe and my body was screaming at me to descend, descend, descend!  I obeyed and got down off that mountain in haste. 

 
Upon arriving at the lodge at Gorak Shep, I was the one fighting altitude sickness.  My head banged like a gong with each heart beat, and I was nauseated beyond belief.  I couldn't stomach the idea of eating or drinking anything, but Gideon did the right thing and forced me to eat a bowl of soup, drink a few cups of tea, and eat two granola bars.  I was really grossed out by this, but it truly is what must be done to help quell the sickness--that and descending.  As soon as I could bear it, we all started the long trek back to Lobuche.  The last thing I wanted to do was walk for hours, but even more than that, I did not want to stay the night in Gorak Shep at 16,863 feet. 

 (Click on the photos to enlarge)

 Our Sherpa dog friend who accompanied for a few miles on the hike back to Lobuche...  He's wearing Gideon's Virginia Tech hat.

The hike back to Lobuche seemed endless.  I really was convinced that I must have slept through hours of the journey up, as I could not remember portions of half the walk back.  We arrived back to the lodge around 5:30, completely relieved to be done with this crazy hard day. 

As I ate my dinner and rehydrated, I wondered what compelled me to go through with the trek today.  Did I need to summit Kala Patthar?  No.  But I wanted to.  I wanted to conquer this challenge.  But the truth is, I didn't really understand how much of a challenge it would be.  It turned out to be the most physically demanding day of my life.  I was thankful to have it over with when I dragged my tired bones to bed.

Day 7--From Dingboche to Lobuche

Today we hiked from Dingboche to Lobuche, gaining about 2400 feet in elevation. 

The first portion of our hike led us through an alpine meadow occupied by hairy mountain yaks grazing on the sparse winter grass.  I don't know why, but I find the yaks charming.  These big hairy beasts seem to be able to wander about anywhere they want, unless of course, they are engaged in porting goods.  Most have bells hanging around their necks, letting you know they're ahead on the trail.  Some even have tassel earrings, which I really dig.  It is evident that yaks have provided for the local people in many ways.  Besides providing milk, cheese, and meat, the yaks are used to carry heavy loads from town to town.  Their dung is even useful as fuel for the wood stove, particularly in the high altitudes where there are no trees.  Recently, they have become popular for carrying the hundreds of containers to Base Camp for the expeditions. 

 

After lunch, the trail started ascending rapidly.  We hiked up, up, up.  Unfortunately, my secret weapon, the iPod ran out of charge due to the cold, so I was forced to sing to myself (Crash Test Dummies was stuck in my head for some reason).  When I got tired of that, I began singing "Om Mani Peme Om", a Buddhist mantra that I've heard many times in Kathmandu and here in the Himalayas.  I found it to be quite soothing and powerful.  After a while I made up my own mantras to encourage my continued trekking up the hill.  "My body is strong and able and my breath will sustain me."  Over and over I repeated this to myself, effectively pushing myself to the top.

One portion of the afternoon hike took us past stone memorials erected for climbers lost on Everest over the years.  Gideon and I sought out the memorial for Scott Fisher, a highly experienced expedition leader lost on Mt. Everest in 1996.  He was Nima's very good friend and boss.  Nima had to walk through the area quickly.  "It's too sad," he explained quietly.

The remaining of the hike was a steady ascent through ancient glacier fields against a stiff wind.  We arrived to Lobuche totally beat.  After refueling on tea, Nima lead Gideon, me, and two American friends we met along the way on a short acclimatization hike to the Italian Pyramid, an environmental research center.  Nima worked at the research station for a number of years, coordinating supplies for the center.  It was a bit strange to stumble upon this Louvre-like glass pyramid tucked in between high Himalayan peaks and glaciers.  Unfortunately, no one was at the center when we visited, so we weren't able to look inside, but I found the outhouse and was most impressed with the clean facility.  (There is a definite scale of cleanliness among Himalayan outhouses, and this one got a 10 in my book.)

Upon returning to the Sherpa Lodge, we relaxed with our American buddies in the dining room, swapping trekking tales, mainly about bathroom experiences, and playing cards.  After loading up with liquids and carbs, we went to bed early in anticipation of the early start tomorrow—summit day!

Day 6--Dingboche

Today was a day for acclimatization here in Dingboche.  Our bodies are definitely starting to feel the effects of the high altitude.  The air is only about 60% of that at sea level, so you become out of breath (to the point of blacking out!) when performing the simplest tasks (like going to the bathroom), and the heart is continuously racing to transport what little oxygen that is available.  Taking a day to allow our bodies to calm down and adjust is very important.  But, that does not mean that we sat around the stove in the lodge shooting the breeze with the Sherpas and other trekkers.  We hiked, and I mean hiked.  The idea was to gain additional altitude and then return to Dingboche for the night.  Going up in altitude and descending for the night is one trick to help the body acclimatize more quickly.  I was tired when I woke up this morning, so the plan to hike for three hours was a bit off-putting to me.

 Yup, the walls in our room were wallpapered with astro-turf.  Hehehe...

Unfortunately, what was touted to be a three-hour walk to the next town turned into a five-hour affair.  We walked out of town and into an expanse of rock extending gradually uphill along what was once the path of a glacier.

 Don't be fooled by our smiles... we weren't having fun.

It was hard going trampling over rocks of all sizes.  At this altitude, I felt like I was walking through waist-high water at times, huffing and puffing, trying to get a full breath.  For every ten to twenty steps, we had to stop for a breather.  We were not climbing any big hills either.  Our goal was the tiny town of Chhukhung where we would eat lunch at the lodge of Nima's friend.  Wandering higher and higher and getting more and more winded, we were ecstatic to spot a roof in the distance.  That's got to be the place! 

As we got closer to our goal, we felt more and more relieved.  Finally we approached the building that we thought to be the restaurant only to find that it was a rundown and locked up house.  Ugh.  Wrong place.  "It's got to be just over those rocks," Nima said.  I had a bad feeling about that.  No sign of civilization could be seen in the distance, only large piles of rocks. 

About this time, Nima recognized a Sherpa walking down the trail.  He chatted with his old friend for a bit who informed him that the lodge we were looking for was only twenty more minutes up the hill.  Hmm... I've heard that one before.  Of course, twenty minutes for a Sherpa equates to at least forty minutes for most other people.  I was so worn out at this point that it took all that was in me to keep walking and not huff off down the hill back in the direction of Dingboche.

When at last we came to one more high rock piles, I stopped.  Gideon went on a reconnaissance mission to see what lay on the other side of the rock pile.  He hiked up and gave us the thumbs up.  We had arrived to Chhukhung!  By the time I flopped down on the bench in the restaurant I had a whopper of a headache and no smile left in me.  We had climbed 1250 feet and were now at 15,518 feet.

We recharged with soup and fried rice and many cups of hot lemon tea.  Nima chatted with his friend, the inn keeper, our Sonoma friend Jen's sister-in-law.

As they chatted I watched dark, ominous clouds move into the high valley, completely obscuring all views of the mountains.  Snow was in the air, just in time for our hike back to Dingboche.  Man, at this point I just wanted to be in sitting in front of the hot stove in Dingboche wrapped in a blanket, playing a round of cards.

Fortunately, our pace down the hill was much faster than our trek up.  We made it back to the lodge in an hour and a half.  With raging headaches, Gideon and I sat down in the dining room with a big bag of M&Ms and a large thermos of tea.  The hot fluid and the sugar helped calm our throbbing heads and soon we felt back to normal. 

We spent the evening around the wood stove with our friends from last night, Luc the eccentric Belgium, Bhim, his extra-tall Sherpa guide, the innkeeper and the crew of laughing teen-aged porters.  We played cards and told stories until bedtime.  As an added bonus, I washed my hair in a big bowl of warm water and dried it in front of the stove.  I feel like a new person now that my hair is less greasy than the fried noodles.

My hope is that this somewhat torturous day will ease the next leg of our journey to Luboche tomorrow.

Day 5--Tengboche to Dingboche

Today we walked from Tengboche to Dingboche (two towns that sound exactly the same to our American ears).  Thankfully, it was a somewhat easier day with about five hours of walking. 

When we woke, it was about 28 degrees in our little bedroom and perhaps 24 degrees outside.  It took about thirty minutes of mental encouragement to get out of my sleeping bag and into my frozen hiking clothes.

Fortunately, the temperature jumped up about 20 degrees once the sun reached over the mountains.  Earlier, Gideon had gone out to capture some shots of the clear morning light on the surrounding peaks.  Mt. Everest is getting bigger all the time.

 The morning view of Everest (the peak on the left, mostly hidden)

 Mingma preparing the bags

Our cozy little room, Number 17

The Tengboche Guest House

Yaks beating us to the trail

Our walk this morning was muddy and icy, once again.  Our hiking poles are definitely coming in handy; I walk with one in each hand, and they support me like two friends by my side.

Nima with Ama Dablam

 Mani walls, built with prayer-inscribed stones line portions of the trail

Stupas, another frequent site along the trail

We stopped in the little town of Shomare (13,156 ft.) for lunch.  It was here that I realized that the altitude is starting to take its toll.  We were breathing heavily and were tired.  Nima and I both stretched out on benches at the little restaurant and caught a few zzz's while waiting for our fried noodles.  The idea of another few hours of serious hiking ahead was a bit daunting.  To add to this, my gastrointestinal system is starting to revolt.  Perhaps the fried carbohydrate goodness is starting to take its toll.  This is not a fun development on the trail, especially since we are now above the tree line...  I'll stop there.

Lucky for us, we made it to Dingboche in good time, 30 minutes faster than anticipated.  Now we sit at 14,468 feet in the restaurant lounge of the Sonam Friendship Lodge and Restaurant, owned by Nima's wife's cousin.

We are drinking endless cups of milk tea and laughing with a Sherpa friend, Bhim, and an eccentric Belgian who we've been running into often along the trail.  He's training to climb Everest.  If his boisterous energy is any indication, I think he just may make it some day.  Nima is giving us all a lesson on how to use Yak droppings to heat a home.  It's burning in the stove right now, warming us in this snowy little town, and for that we are all grateful.