So, I’m having a beer…at this point, the hard part is over, or I hope the hard part is over….haha.

Today, we hiked back into Namche.  A somewhat difficult hike since I still cant breathe, but overall bearable.  And, we got to hike down into Namche, which was a nice change.  We got here and got cleaned up, and then went to grab some souvenirs (mainly yak bells).  Then we headed to a bar with some of our fellow trekkers to celebrate our return.  Yeah beer at 11,000 feet….haha.

We’re camping at the same lodge we camped at on the way up – yay for a second chance to fall off the terrace.  We headed back there for dinner….yak steak!  I’ve never had yak before, and it was actually pretty good – kind of similar to salsbury steak.  Or I just really needed red meat.  Or both.

Now we’re enjoying more beer and playing our nightly dominos game.  We’re in the lodge with two other groups of people on their way up….one group is playing cards in another corner and the other is a group of guys singing to music through their dinner.  Oh to have that much energy again.  haha.  It would be interesting to see them in a week on their way back through….

We met some people at the bar who were also on their way up.  Not sure why drinking was a good call….or not having a buff…but they seemed interested in what we had to say and still have time to buy the stuff they dont have.  They have some tough days ahead of them, but hopefully they have a good time.

Tomorrow, we continue our descent into Phakding…hopefully an easy day since I’ve been up until a whopping 9pm tonight.

I can’t believe it’s only been one day since yesterday.  Our day started with a wake-up knock at 4:30am.  I was glad that despite the coughing fits, I was able to get a decent amount of sleep.  However, I wasnt ready to be up yet.  Too bad I didnt really have a choice.

After attempting to force down a small breakfast, we were off towards the summit of Kala Patthar.  To say that I was nervous was an understatement – I was nervous it would be too hard or I wouldnt be able to finish.  It was hard, but not too hard.  One of the guides was in front of me the whole time – he helped me fish out my heavy gloves (I thought it would warm up quicker, so had started out in my lighter gloves), he held the top of my water bottle so I could drink with my gloves on, and when we got to the top, he turned to me and said – just two more steps.  And as with every other day on this trip, I did something I didnt think I’d be able to do – I made it up to the top of the 18,500 foot peak.  I wasnt the first, I wasnt the last, but in the end, it didnt matter.  All of us that set out that morning made it to the top.

And the view….it doesnt get much better than a completely unobstructed view of Everest – the Hilary step and the South Col.  We took great photos and got some group and individual shots too.  Definitely some of my favorite shots from the trip.

Then, we made our way down for what felt like the longest day of hiking ever.  We had some tea and cookies in the lodge at Gorak Shep before we officially departed.  It was hot…it was cold…we were pretty much too exhausted to eat lunch.  Nine miles later, we reached our destination.

Once I reached my tent, I barely had the energy to dust myself off (literally) and change clothes.  We had some tea and then we were off to the Himalayan Rescue Association Hospital.  It was interesting to learn about the center, how many people they support – 600 trekkers each season, plus the locals they treat for free during that time.  They’re completely funded through donations and receive no government support.

We had pizza for dinner again – this time with sausage, and spaghetti with yak cheese instead of parmesan cheese.  I thought we were supposed to lose weight on this trip, but these cooks have been amazing.  The things they come up with at several thousand feet of elevation.

After dinner, we had an interesting conversation with our guide about the expedition season ending and the sherpa strike, and he had a very different point of view than we thought.  They’re concerned for the impact to the economy in Nepal – lodges, hotels, shops, etc. in future seasons, if people are afraid something similar might happen, and thus decide not to sign up.

Alright, today has drained pretty much all the energy I had, and the cough is kicking my butt.  Off to sleep with my hot water bottle.

And…there are stray yaks.  Awesome.  But, luckily theyve put up a make shift metal fence to keep them out.  Does that actually work?  We shall see.  And, there are some tied up in here with us, hopefully with a thick rope.

Quick note….amazing trail run today.  Rock tape has changed running with a healing ankle injury.  Ok, on with the story….

Well, today I proved that even if you sprain an ankle the week before your trek, and get sick the day it starts, you can still make it to base camp.  Base camp was…pretty cool even though just about everything was gone.  There wasnt a sign either, but there was a bunch of prayer flags and stones people had written messages on.

Today was a cool day, but a long day of hiking.  We got to Gorak Shep for an early lunch after about three hours of hiking up and down and more up.  Then about five hours of hiking to and from base camp.  It was rough, even with the excitement of base camp.  Tomorrow is Kala Patthar…based on today, I’m still nervous.  I want to be able to make it up to the top, but between the altitude and the cough, I’m not sure how it will go.  I’m basically huffing and puffing through my mouth, when I really need both my nose and my mouth with such little oxygen.  Hopefully, somehow I’ll feel as good as I did on the stairs on the way to Lobuche.

It was interesting to watch the sherpas and guides today, really over the entire trip.  Our Sherpa leader always brings up the rear – helping people if they stop, and slowing down with people if they need.  Like today, I decided I needed gloves, so stopped to pull them out.  He came over, pulled them apart for me (my hands were too cold) and held them up so I could slip my hands in.

Each of the guides takes a turn leading the group, and the others divide up within the line.  They answer questions and keep the Yak/Zopkyo trains away from us if they get too interested.  There’s one that always seems to be in front of me – I think he’s afraid I might crash through the rocks or something and he wants to be close in case he has to rescue me.  It seems as though each of them also takes a turn running the site and walks with the yak driver and kitchen team for the day. They go ahead and make sure everything is ready when we get there.  It’s also interesting to see how they train people – for example, today one of the kitchen boys came on the base camp hike, I imagine to experience what the guides do.

Ok…last night in a lodge – nice one too (read, western style toilet…now if only I didnt have to dump water in it to get it to flush).  And, now I have a hot water bottle in my sleeping bag, I’m exhausted, and it’s an early morning….it’s bed time.

I have made it above 16,000 feet.  It’s actually not as crazy as I thought it might be either, considering there’s 50% less oxygen up there than there is in San Francisco.  And, it’s already colder at 5pm than it was last night after the sun went down.

Today’s highlight was the Thokla Pass. It was about an hour straight up a steep hill and some steps.  In reality, it might have been half a mile, but felt like a marathon with the altitude.  We took it slow, and took several breaks, and it really wasnt as bad as I thought it might be after yesterday.  And as we talked about all through lunch (we had lunch at a lodge and looked at the hill the entire time).  I’m still worried about making it up Kala Patthar though.

At the top, we were treated to not only a great view, but also to memorials of fallen climbers decked out in prayer flags.  There was one for Scott Fischer, one of the guides from the ’96 tragedy, one for the Nepalese descended Canadian climber who passed away on her way down from the summit a few years ago.  It was interesting to see the memorials of the people I’ve spent a year reading about.

And, I just watched a guy ask the lodge keeper if he could use the rest of his daughter’s shower water to wash his hair, rather than pay for his own shower.  Dude, it’s $5, pay the poor lodge lady and go have your shower.

Speaking of the lodge, it’s a nice change to be staying in here rather than the tent.  It’s nice not having to crawl in and out of my bed, and be able to see the stuff in my bag without digging.  The lodge lady makes beautiful hats, scarves, and more out of yak wool.  I bought a pretty scarf that will keep me warm in the chilly office.  She also charged my phone and camera battery for $6.  They also have a horse for hire….perhaps I can hire it to take me the rest of the way….haha…

I tried to go for a walk after we had our tea.  A couple of the others from our group said there wasnt much to see…just a horses, yaks, and some stray dogs.  I made it a few feet, and realized that the dogs must have run away with the yaks, because all that was out there were three horses.

The cook made us pizza for dinner tonight.  Delicious at 16,000 feet.  I had another sherpa sauna, hopefully that helps with the dust as well as the congestion.  One of my fellow trekkers brought a pulse-ox meter so we’ve spent the evening trying that, and then decided that we needed to try it out on the sherpas.  Of course, they knew what was up…and they had ridiculously low heart rates for the altitude.

Tomorrow, we head to Gorak Shep for lunch and then to either base camp or Kala Patthar (depending on the weather).  Then, the other the next day, and then down we go.  I can’t believe the days we’ve been hiking all this time for are almost here…

I got to take a shower today!  Well, sort of…they have a solar heater, so they have a small booth/shed with a sprayer and a bucket.  I borrowed shampoo, conditioner, and soap from another trekker (thanks Adrienne!), and enjoyed getting somewhat clean.  The only thing missing was some clean clothes to put on afterwords, but oh well.  Seriously, best $5 I’ve ever spent.

Today’s acclimatization hike was a climb of just over 1000 feet, and…it was rough.  I was slow, and at one point, I just stopped and needed to rest.  Interestingly enough, everyone behind me stopped to rest too.  We got some great photos and had great views of Makalau and Ama Dablam.  The way down was pretty crazy too…I think we lost the trail at some points and were just coming down the side of a mountain.  Great hike, but like I said, pretty tough.  And made me more concerned about Kala Patthar.  Some of these hills have been pretty crazy, and that’s the longest and steepest of them all.

This afternoon, Brian and I walked around Dingboche – pretty small and quiet.  It seemed as though it was just lodges, each one offering a restaurant, a store selling sundries, and various lodge amenities – hot shower, heated room, bathroom in room, etc. which I guess makes sense if these places grew up around the trekkers.  But, I wonder where they all are, plenty of people on the trail today, but no one out walking around.  Nothing like Namche.  We stopped at three places that advertised telephone services, but found out quickly that none of them really do.

Since there wasnt much going on and there werent any souvenir shops, we headed back to the lodge for the afternoon.  Some people from the group are playing dominos with the guides (some are sherpa, some are not).  While theyve been playing, we’ve been talking to them about the mountains, becoming guides (they typically spend three years as a porter, then move to the kitchen, then guide/assistant guide, sirdar, trip leader), what sherpa means (people from the east).  Our sirdar told us that he enjoys talking with us and answering our questions because it helps him learn and practice English.

In other news, the weather has improved and has offered us some great views of the mountains.  However, the lack of daily rain has kicked up the dust.  Despite wearing a buff nearly constantly, I’ve added the “Khumbu cough” to my list of issues.  There is dust everywhere….on the trail, in the tent, and in the air.

Tomorrow, we head to Lobuche, where we’ll be able to stay in a lodge.  We’ve been assured it’s nothing fancy and wont be heated, but will be a nice change from the tent.  I’m excited not to have to unzip my front door and to get dressed standing up.
    

We got our first glimpses of Everest today!  Well, really our first glimpse of any mountains.  When we woke up, the fog had dissipated and we could see mountains from our campsite.  At breakfast, our guide told us that if we were able to hurry and make it up the hill behind the lodge in time, we’d get a great view of Ama Dablam.  So, we hurried, somehow I made it up the hill, and what a view we had.

A little while later, after charging up some more hills and stone steps…gosh, I felt slow….but, people in my group told me I was doing fine, so hopefully that’s the case.  Anyway, after some more crazy up, the clouds cleared, and we were able to see Everest….and Lhotse.  It was so cool to finally see the mountains I’ve read so much about over the past year.

With all the rushing, we made it to lunch about an hour ahead of schedule.  That gave us some time to see a nearby monastery.  Our guide knew the monk from his monastery days, so he gave us a tour and explained how everything worked.

The rest of the day was tough but manageable.  The sherpa sauna combined with decongestant worked wonderfully, and I woke up feeling much better than I have in days.  But, because we missed a day with the flight delay in Lukla, we had to combine two days of hiking.  Like I said, not bad, and would have been two really easy days if we had split it.

Once we got to the lodge, I basically found my tent and collapsed on the little mattress that goes under my sleeping bag.  At some point, I said, ‘there are a bunch of things I should do (open my wet for some reason sleeping bag, pull out the stuff I want to hand wash when the washing water gets here, etc.) but I’m so tired, all I want to do is lay here.

We’re camped by another lodge….it was interesting to learn that the lodges and villages we’ve stopped at grew up around the trekkers.  They have a main room where we’ve been hanging out – it has lights powered by solar energy and a small furnace that heats the place using Yak dung.  Surprisingly, it doesnt smell, though, it did try to explode earlier.

Tomorrow we have another acclimatization hike.  It’s basically several hundred feet straight up.  Hopefully, at some point I’ll be better at these hills. I’m beginning to get a little worried about the Kala Patthar hike at the end of the trip.  Hopefully I have the strength to make it…or they let me crawl.  I gave in and started taking the Diamox, maybe that will help, along with getting over the sick.

Other than that, I paid $6 to get both garmins charged so we can continue to track our treks.  I have no idea what the phone battery looks like, it had half a few days ago, but things tend to lose battery life in the cold.  I’ll figure it out the next time I use it, I guess.  Maybe there’s a coffee shop with free wifi here too…I’ll explore tomorrow.  I don’t plan on paying $9 an hour to use it at the lodge.

Ok…time to brave the cold and head to bed.

Somewhat long hike today, just over seven miles, I think.  Most of it wasnt bad, but the rest rivaled the crazy hill going into Namche.  It was especially tough going up to lunch and then getting into town and to our campsite (after the hard part was supposedly over).  Of course, our site was at the top of town, which will come in handy tomorrow since we need to leave from the top tomorrow.

I still havent managed to shake the congestion…it almost seems to be getting worse with the altitude.  And climbing hills is the worst, since I already cant breathe.  Hopefully slow and steady will get me through tomorrow.  Two of our guides gave me a sherpa sauna after dinner to help clear the congestion.  Basically, it’s a bowl of boiling water with some Vicks that you bend your head over and breathe deeply.  It felt and worked wonderfully.  Hopefully that coupled with some decongestant will help get rid of it.

We still havent really seen the mountains.  We may be able to see Ama Dablam tomorrow if the weather clears.  But, the weather for base camp on Friday looks clear, so that’s exciting.

Ok…off to bed.  Hopefully tomorrow’s hike wont kick my butt as much and maybe I’ll start to feel better.