Apr 12, 2010

Arrive at EBC
The approach to base camp is certainly longer than I was prepared for, though everything is going on just according to our plan. Almost 3 weeks after I left home in Boston, finally I’m in EBC! On one side, climber team took a more conservative pace to ensure best acclimatization; on the other side, located at 5300m (17700ft), EBC is higher than any mountains in the lower 48 states. The trek is not just a hike in your backyard! Impatient trekkers can easily run into altitude sickness problems. 

We already saw EBC and Khumbu Glacier two days ago from Lobuche and yesterday from GorekShep. So today, the trek is basically is a walk towards ice fall! There is only one word to describe ice fall – Wow! The closer you get, the more you “wow!” I saw similar glacier before in Alaska from high up in the air or to a less degree at end of our Denali climb when the glacier became so corrupted from heat, but this time we have to navigate such a maze of ice falls ourselves! During the day, we could hear the thunder-loud noise of avalanche here and there from time to time, and we are getting used to it fast! To be safe, our camp site is located quite far away from the ice fall. The only group further away is Russell Brice’s team.

Another surprise is that there is no flat ground for base camp! The whole terrain is on a super ragged glacier moraine. It took a lot of work to pile up rocks just to build a little platform for each tent. Once step out of your tent, watch for “stairs”! The biggest challenge is to go to bathroom. Bathroom itself is actually sheltered inside a tent and is as comfortable as you can expect in a mountain. But to safeguard our water source for cooking, the bathroom is located at the far end of our camp site. It takes 5-10 minutes careful hike (consider hiking poles and crampons if there’s snow) from our tents to the bathroom! Plan your emergency well in advance and good luck not getting lost in the night! 

Puja

We arrived at EBC shortly after 10am, and 11am is the time for Puja ceremony! The date for Puja ceremony is determined by Buddha calendar.  We each brought our climbing hardware such as harness, ascenders, crampons, ice axe and etc to lay by the center podium for blessing. It was a 1.5 hour long ceremony started with prayer chanting led by Lama. Later drink (milk tea, butter beer, regular beer, soda) and various service food were distributed while the pray and chanting continued. Long strings of pray flags were unwound from the center pole and sent across the camp side by Sherpa to be attached to remote high points across the glacier moraine in all directions, decorating the whole base camp with sacred and beautiful prayer flags. People put butter power on each other face for good luck, and my Sherpe Da Tenji put another yellow string on my neck. The ceremony ended with festive line dancing and singing. Everyone is so happy and excited about the beginning of a new season!


Apr 13, 2010

Busy Life
Once we are at EBC, life gets busy! There’s an agenda for everyday.

Yesterday, after the Puja ceremony in the morning, we spent part of the afternoon going over our gear, making sure everyone is properly rigged up for ascending, rappelling and self rescue in case of falling into crevasse.  The rest of the day (the day is defined by sun rise and sun set, and portioned by three meals and other agenda) is spent organizing our own tent. While on the trek, we pack and unpack almost every day. Life is always on the move. Now finally at base camp, it took a while to reorganize our new home. It has been almost three weeks since I saw my big duffle bags! Remember how much care I took to pack each bag before the trip. Now it takes no less effort trying to dig out where I hide each little thing inside other bigger things. It is also a serious internal design work to make my tent as comfy as possible while still be able to find every little item!

But just as I was barely unpacked; it’s time to pack again! We are leaving tomorrow for a training climb on Lobuche, a 6000m peak, for 4 or 5 days. Once we are back, we will get ready to tackle ice fall!

Last night, we went to bed under a full sky of amazing stars. Evening was not too cold, the temperature inside my tent was about 20F. This morning, we woke up to find the whole EBC covered in fresh snow! What a beautiful day! We spent the morning practice climbing fixed rope.

I have been dreaming about shower and washing clothes for several days before we arrived at EBC. But finding personal time is not easy with our busy agenda, and there is only short window warm enough for shower and washing clothes – when sun is shining on our campsite between 10am and 3pm. I finally managed to get a shower (don’t ask me if it’s comparable to the heavenly bath! But you would enjoy it if you have been wiping yourself with baby wipes for a week or more) after lunch, then the wind picked up, and I have to postpone washing clothes indefinitely.

Still a few hours of day light left, time to get ready for Lobuche! 

Apr 9th
We walked about 5 hours from Pheriche to Lobuche (4900m). It was a hot day! Still 75F around, but the strong radiation of sun at high altitude and dust from trails require us to fully cover every inch of our skin. Last night, I went to bed with my nose a little bit stuffy, woke up feeling ok. Once start walking, hard to tell the difference of stuffy nose from cold or from altitude anyway. Other than that, I don’t feel other effects of cold.

We had a tea break at Khola, where Khumbu Glacier terminates.  From there, we went up the hill to a place marked by Scott Fisher’s memorial. I’m a little bit emotional to pay the visit to his memorial, and am sad to see memorials of other young souls nearby, some died so early! But at least, they died doing what they love, albeit too early. 


This reminds me of the quote I read at my Pheriche Lodge - 

Life’s journey is not to arrive at the grave safely, in a well preserved body, but rather to ski in sideways, totally worn out, shouting “Holy shit, what a ride”.

Everywhere you go on this trip, you would see many inspirational posters. Life is short, cherish every day, make the best of every day, doing things you love! I also remember the memorial at Pheriche, the beautiful broken shining pyramid shaped memorial with all the fallen climbers’ names etched on it. It’s too beautiful for such a sad a reminder. There’re still many empty name plates pre-attached it. It’s sad that eventually it will all be claimed, many by Sherpa, some by young souls ….


I couldn’t take my thoughts away from those emotions from those memorials until suddenly some new peaks popped out of the ridge in front me. I was too excited that I raced up the ridge – those are the beautiful peaks I have been admiring from far away in Gokyo a week ago: Pumo Ri, Lintren, Khumbutse! And you can clearly see Nuptse ridge winding down into Kumbu Glacier. Those 7000m or 6000m peaks are just right in front of my eyes, not intimidating at all, rather, felt dear to my heart like those lovely hills in my home yard!

Apr 10th
Last night when I went to bed, my nose still clearly demonstrated the symptom of cold. Luckily, it’s not too bad to keep me from falling asleep. I kept cough drop in my throat all night. On one side, it helps to relieve the dry throat irritation and prevent dry cough; on the other side, the moisture in throat helps breathing, so I don’t have to wake up in panic felling suffocated. 5000m is already high enough that sometimes you could have that kind of panic feeling in sleep. I remembered that there was one night on Aconcagua high camp, as my breath slowed down when I was falling asleep, I would suddenly wake up in panic worried that my breath would stop if I fell asleep and then immediately found myself suffocated because my dry throat prevented any swallow actions. It was a scary feeling, and I don’t want to live like that for two months. Cough drop seems to be the nice solution to kill two birds with one stone.

This morning, we took a short hike to visit the Italian Pyramid research station, then hiked up the hill next to it that offered a great view of Khumbu Glacier. We can even see the basecamp next to the ice fall! When those 7000m peaks appear just like a small hill in front you, almost reachable by hands, you know are close! I can’t believe Everest Base Camp (EBC) is right in front of my eyes though we will still patiently take two days to reach there in order to proper acclimatize. 

To get over cold as soon as possible, I spent the hours between lunch and dinner sleeping! It’s amazing how many hours we spent in sleeping in the mountains. When the first person got the cold, we would try to keep a distance. Now half of the team have the cold, it’s not a big deal anymore. Everyone is toughing up! So far, the cold hasn’t been holding back our progress. Compare to other more serious health threats, this is really just nothing.

To be safe, our meals have been boring - revolving around fried rice and pizza. The potato pizza is not bad at all although it’s just a plate of baked potato topped with cheese. Hopefully, we will have vegetable curries again once we arrive at base camp.

Tomorrow, we will hike to Groek Shep early, then go up Kala Pattar in the afternoon to have another Panorama view of Khumbu Glacier. The day after tomorrow (Apr 12th) we will arrive at EBC early to get ready for Puja, the pray ceremony for the climb, on Apr 13th. We are getting busier with agenda lined up every day! Ang Jangbu Sherpa, our basecamp director, already took a short cut to pass us and arrived at EBC yesterday! Climbing route is already completed in ice fall area, and all the way to camp 2 already! Well ahead of schedule! Things are happening fast!

Apr 5th – 8th, 2010

With the ultimate goal in mind, our group hiked at a very conservative pace, with extra rest day at each stop to allow sufficient acclimatization.  Apr 5th and 6th, we hiked to Deboche/Tengboche with a day of rest, then on Apr. 7th we hiked from Deboche (3700m)  to Periche (4200m)  in about 4 hours, with more than an hour’s stop at Pangboche monastery to get blessed by the Lama and an hour’s lunch break at Syamore.

My spiritual journey
The most important thing during the past few days is getting the blessing from Lamas.  Yesterday, Apr 6th, we got blessed at Tengboche, and on, Apr 7th, at Pangboche. During each blessing, we put on a Khaddar that was blessed by the lama, and the Lama also tied a red string around our neck that we will keep on us during the whole trip at all time. Everyone carefully retied the string afterwards to make sure it won’t fall off by accident. Some Sherpa also brought some sacred items they would bring to Everest Base Camp and to get the blessing from the Pangboche Lama. Everyone takes it seriously. 

We also did  some questions and answers with the Lama. Nothing complicated, just simple philosophy about life. The most important lesson is positive thinking and peace. Not only peace from within, but do good deeds to create peace in the surroundings. The whole journey to Everest is not just an adventure, but  more of a spiritual journey for me and many others. 

During the past few years, my life has been through several transforming stages. At each critical point, it is with the help of many kind friends that I overcame some of the most difficult moments of my life and grew out of it. The little sailboat finally broke through the stormy wave and arrives at this serene land surrounded by peace. The hectic past  seems to be distant when you can look at the world with a peaceful heart, and life moved on to a different level of understanding. I’m grateful for the good wishes and kind help from all friends that allow me to embark on this trip with the peace of mind. 

Himalaya is truly a special destination, and I truly believe that the right attitude is the most important thing to enjoy this wonderful place. Khumbu valley, where most Sherpa come from, is a Buddhism  valley. It’s not only manifested by the temples, various Buddhist symbols and prayer flags, but also in the kindness of the people and peaceful spirit everywhere. In this spiritual journey, I’m glad to have the company of a like-spirited team. This is a very capable team. Some have previously summated Everest or reached high on the mountain; several climbed Cho-Oyu or other high peaks; Some have been extreme athletes that went through some of the most rigorous training/competition in the world in their past lives. Everyone has a lot that worth bragging about, yet, everyone is so humble and brings calm and kindness. 


Though each of us is going to climb with our own Sherpa, we still take care of each other just like a traditional climbing team. Our guides are all so tall (6’5”), yet they deliberately set such a slow pace during hike to keep the team at a very conservative pace because they are focusing on the big picture and the ultimate goal. We need to stay in the best shape as we can, and this is not a race. Our guides look out for every details like a dutiful guardian, from enforcing sanitizing practice to keeping track of everyone’s drinking/eating/sleeping conditions. Our Sherpa works so diligently to take care of the drinking/eating logistics of such a big team at high sanitary standard. 


The whole climbing team is so focused on Everest, that few people can name or cared to know other lesser-known mountains along the way. I think I’m the most knowledgeable one thanks my trekking last week and the education from Ted and Dawa. 

The trail between Namche and Deboche was very similar to the one I was familiar with – Ama Dablam to the south east; Peak 38, Lhotse Shar, Lhotse, Everest to the east; Thamserku, Kantega to the south; Cholatse and Taboche to the north; Nuptse ridge is very distinguishable that hide the Everest behind it.

After Deboche, the scenery starts to change. We gradually walked to the east side of Taboche and Cholatse; We also went around Ama Dalbam that I couldn’t recognize it easily anymore; When we crossed the river near Periche, Island Peak started to show up, while Everest completely hid behind Nuptse ridge. 

Apr 8th

With spring comes the cold virus! 
There’s some cold virus circulating among the team. Several members including our guide are having cold. Sound of coughing is not rare anymore.Then I started to feel very dry at upper part of my throat in the afternoon and felt super sleepy while waiting for dinner. I suspect it is the early symptom of the cold if not any virus worse than that. Altitude wise, I was feeling almost perfect.


Finally, I can’t wait to hit the sack after dessert while most people were still excited with the concert going on in the dining room. It was strange, despite the extremely noisy footsteps upstairs, I fell asleep like a dead log! I felt as if I was on a heavy anesthesia! Once I lay down, my dry throat became unbearably irritable (itching) that I had to keep a cough drop in my throat through the night while sleeping. I got up once in mid of the night to bathroom but then fell back to sleep immediately with the help of another cough drop.


By breakfast, I still didn’t feel like to get up, not because of tiredness, but the gravity towards the pillow. I felt like I was still on a sleeping pill. I was concerned. I knew I am fighting a cold virus that was circulating among the team. I deliberately choose to sleep hot by closing my already very hot sleeping bag. I sweat quite some, and I think that helps to fight off the virus.

I got up with trepidation. It’s a weird feeling that my head still feel heavy though no signs of headache. I felt like having an alien inside me! Not sure if I’m over the threat of cold or not, I decided to be conservative for today. So while most of the group went for a short hike up the hill to Dingboche, I only took some flat walk near Pheriche with some other members who also preferred to take it easy. From my previous experience, I know my body is sensitive to virus circulating around me and alerts me with those early irritations so my immune system would kick in immediately to fight off the invaders. So I know it’s important to take the opportunity of the rest day today to win the battle against the virus. Tomorrow will be a big day as we will be moving up to nearly 4900m at Lobuche. Not only it’s a day of significant altitude gain (700m), 4900m is also a serious altitude level.

After the flat walk, I felt more like myself again. I do have a little running nose, but not serious. My sore throat seems to have relived a lot. I don’t feel wired anymore. I felt the frontier of the virus has passed and I’m already on my way to recovery. Hopefully, with another night’s warm sleep, the virus would pass through my system.

News from EBC
Icefall route has been finished well ahead of schedule. Route fixed all the way to camp 1 already. 

Here are some of the pictures that we've taken for our trek to Everest. You can find more on my Facebook page! 

Apr 3rd – Apr 4th, 2010

Apr 3rd
Having hiked so many hours yesterday, and no pressure of schedule today, I slept until almost 8am before leisurely enjoyed breakfast with Pasang and Dawa. My acclimatization went well that we didn’t need to take those rest days. So I’m heading back to Namche today, one days ahead of schedule.  But my legs were definitely tired when I had to make the 400m ascending from Phortse Tenga to Mong La again. 

Having to wear down parka whenever sitting around during the past few days, now the air is getting hotter we are near Namche. It’s like getting back to summer again. Clearly, there was no precipitation here when we had snow near Gokyo, the air is dry and dusty, especially when wind swirls by. 

My dirty socks are at their limit already that they almost can glue my feet to my boots. I kept on telling myself that this as far as I can bear with one pair dirty socks! I kept on calculating how fast I would want to get ready for shower once I arrive at Namche. 

Namche again!
I took a long shower and did laundry. This was only a week. How am I going to bear with the dirtiness when I arrive at Everest Base Camp (EBC)?

I met my other team members. Trip leader is Justin Merle, and he will be the private guide for one of the climbers. Our Sherpa guided group is lead by Greg Vernovage, who will serve as coach for the team while trying to make his own first summit on Everest.  Legendary mountaineer Phil Ershler will oversee this season’s climb. 

Among the 14 members of the Sherpa guided group, there’s another female climber beside me – Anastasia from Greece. She had reached North Col a few years ago with a Greek team. There are also two other Asian climbers - -Davis from Taiwan and Lein from Singapore. 

There is also a large group from California! At least one member (Al Hancock) had previously summitted Everest, while several other climbers had reached very high up on Everest in previous attempts or have climbed Cho Oyu. A few of them are also on the quest for the 7 summits. 

Over the first dinner with the group, we shared a lot of laughs. Atmosphere is different from the previous few days. More hopeful jokes about the climb than the serious advice from Sherpa. Though we are staying at the same lodge and being served by the same kitchen staff, we enjoyed a buffet dinner with three choices of main dishes, including two different veg curries, and one meat curries. Everyone loaded their plates full and many went for second round. This is so different from my experience of the past week when I can’t order enough food when following local style. I couldn’t understand how do those Sherpa get so much energy with just such a tiny portion of potato/carrots/ cabbage/rice/lentils for each meal? Asking our IMG guides, they couldn’t understand either!


Apr 4th
Group went for a training hike this morning, but I have the perfect excuse to rest. My legs were tired, and this is a needed rest day for me. A perfect day to catch up all the writings and emails.

Tomorrow we will head out towards EBC via Tengboche.

March 31, 2010 – Apr 2, 2010



March 31st
Last night’s snow stopped by dinner time, and the accumulation is only a few inches.  I was feeling good about the altitude. So we decided to skip the rest day and made the easy ascent to Gokyo at 4750m .

There’s a big group of Japanese trekkers at the lodge. They are mostly in their 60s, and they brought some traditional Japanese dishes to the trip, such as miso soup. This reminded me of the Korean trekkers at Machhermo lodge last night, where they were eating their traditional dish plates of many small pickles (forgot what they call it). This seems to be consistent with my encounter to other Asian climbers in my previous trips – Asian tend to adhere to their culinary culture even on such expeditions.

Dawa shared his experience of how he and his clients narrowly escaping avalanche in Kumbu icefall last season and how their timely response to rescue made a difference. We have seen the drama captured in Everest, Beyond Limit movie, but hearing it first hand is different.  Film-makers like dramas, audience like dramas, but such excitement is only for people from outside and faraway. From Dawa’s eyes, it’s not the excitement, but the concern and worry. Death in Kumbu ice fall is just a probability game. Have worked on Everest for so many years, for him, it’s just a matter of time that one of his colleagues/friends would die there.  This is a serious business. For climbers, we come here for the climb; for Sherpa, they are putting their lives in line for the success of climbers! When come to rescue, rescuers actually face even higher level of risks.

Apr 1st
I hiked to fifth lake at 5000m to enjoy the panorama view of the valley. Gokyo area has a string of turquoise glacier lakes, and the fifth lake is the one is closer to Cho Oyu.  I was surrounded by magnificent mountains during the whole trek. Cho Oyu constantly to the north, Thamserku and Kangtega constantly to the south, then Cholatse and Taboche to the east. I spent a whole hour there to take pictures and videos of the mountains in various combinations. Watching Cho Oyu in and out of clouds. It’ amazing that when you are standing at 5000m, those high peaks do not look so intimidating.

At 5000m, still feeling healthy and comfortable with the altitude, I am puffing puffing as I was making my steps up the hill. What would it feel like for another 4000m?


Life in Gokyo

When not outside hiking, my life is just sitting here with a cup of Sherpa tea and watching the mountains surrounding me. Life can be so good if I can just sit here all day sipping tea and watching the mountains all day. This is such a contrast to the hectic life before the trip. Once the trip starts, my mind concentrates on the primitive needs – food and drink.

The price of food and drink sharply increases as the trail extends to more remote places. A bottle of boiled water is now 150 rupees. Hot tea is nice, but I have to calculate the budget to spend it on solid food.  When we carry food on expeditions, we calculate calories per unit of weight, so often take more fat in lieu of carb or protein. Here under budget constraints, I am calculating the nutrition value per dollar. The new discovery is Tuna Mixed Pizza! It’s loaded with cheese, and has a thick layer of tuna and veg . Taste is not the first criteria for food here! It’s more important as to what food you can take in and what’s the best for you body!

One of the best news is that my laptop still works at near 5000m. I don’t know how to write down all the details had I not having this modern gadget. But I have to remember to warm up the battery inside my clothes first, and carefully plan what I will do once I turns it on. It’s important to make best use of every minute of the battery power. It costs money to just charge the battery. Gokyo is the only place after Nasmche that can charge battery during this trek. Electricity and hot water comes at a premium here. 

Having been sleep-deprived at home, now the normal schedule is to sleep after 8pm, and wake up when light breaks around 5 or 6 am. 

Air is much dryer here. There are traces of dry blood in nose every day. I have to try to cover up my nose with buff when hiking to keep my airway moisturized, and prevent my throat from getting irritated by the cold dry air. 

Apr 2nd
Am I having HACE? Last night, every time I woke up, the word came to my mind is Thamserku! Those mountains are growing on me!

Got up early to climb up Gokyo Ri for another panorama view of the valley. Ri means peak. Gokyo Ri is the high point at Gokyo. It’s again a windless clear day. I can even see Lhotse Shar next to Lhotse, and Makalu in the distant. There was a lot of haze in the air, so the picture came out like blue-hued postcards. 

After rest for an hour after Gokyo Ri, we started our hiking back to Dole. It was a long day, a lot of descending! I was so lucky that weather was so good during the whole day, and I can’t have enough of Kangtega and Thamserku in front of my eyes. Cho Oyu is like a loyal lover standing there behind me to send me off. The trail wind from one side of Cholaste and Taboche to the other side, and I was amazed at how different they look as the day moves on. When I came to Gokyo a few days earlier, it was cloudier. So I now feel like having a fresh look at everything again. I just can’t stop enough times to take pictures again and again. Cholatse, Taboche, Kangtega, Thamserku! I kept on repeating those names every time I looks up and I used the word “insane” to describe the beautiful view all the way. I can’t have enough look of them!

At Dole, I had my first taste of alcohol drink on this trip. We were staying at the lodge run by Pasang Sherpa’ wide Permba Sherpa. Pasang is going to work at Camp 2 (ABC) as the cook for the team. There are no other guests here, only me with my trekking Sherpa Dawa, porter Tsuri, Pasang, and his wife. So I joined their tradition of drinking at end of a trip. It was a kind of rice wine looks like milk, but tastes like saki. Dawa and Pasang will soon pack up to head up to EBC to meet the team on Apr 12. Other than a glass of beer at Puja cerememony, there will be no alcohol until end of the trip. So this is one of few opportunities they are relax and celebrate a good time.  

Writing daily journal definitely helps me to keep track of the date, even though I think it’s a total waste of time to calculate which day of the week it is. 

Today, we walked about 2.5 hours from Dole (4110m) to Machhermo at 4465m, just in time for lunch. This is already higher than Aconcagua base camp, but I’m still feeling good about the altitude, not even feeling headache. Staying with “Sherpa” items on food menu also kept my stomach happy (I mean calm, though obviously it’s not as filling as I was used to). Sherpa tea and sherpa stew became routine of my every meal, and the rice dish “Dal, Bhath, Tarkari” (Lentil soup, rice, vegetable curry) is one of my favorite meal now! I want to be safe and stay away from meat.

The morning is clear, with Cho Oyu in front our eyes most of the time.  Cho means “Lake”, “Oyu” means Turquoise (jade).  It’s beautiful mountain. Similar to the view of Everest, huge flume of snow dust is blowing off from summit that covered half of the view of the mountain. 

Shortly after lunch, snow flurries dropped from the sky and has been non-stopping for the afternoon. If the snow continues like this, there might be avalanche danger on the trails ahead, and we may need to stay in Machhermo to rest for tomorrow. 

At Dole, we had the lodge all to ourselves. Here we were joined by a big group of college kids. There was a talk about altitude sickness at the health post office at 3pm, so I took opportunity of the quiet moment to work on my laptop while everyone went to the talk. I’m happy to find that my laptop still works here. I heard that non-SSD computers would start to have problems around 4000m, so I was a little bit nervous when I pressed the power button. So far so good!

Obviously, altitude sickness became the topic of our chat when Brad and Mike came back. For most people who had experience with altitude, their experience with altitude sickness is mostly related to headache, loss of appetite or trouble falling asleep. But here at such extreme altitude, altitude sickness means life threatening HACE or HAPE developed rapidly (in terms of hours not days) without any warnings. Not only people who have been to such altitude not immune to it, even Sherpa who grew up here and have been climbing all their life here can develop it suddenly. 

Minus 40 degree may not sound so cold to people who have worked in Alberta or did a lot of winter climbing on Mt Washington. The coldest continent, Antarctica, can easily beat Everest in terms of coldest temperature. But the extreme altitude makes it a total different game. 8000m (26000 ft) is the death zone. What does that mean? Not only our body cannibalizes itself, it also shuts down a lot of basic functions, such as heat generation. That’s why, in the Himalayas, climbers wear much heavier layers than climbers on other mountains even though the temperature does not appear to be so extreme.  Unable to generate heat, sense of body parts and judgment capability also deteriorate.  That’s why it’s so easy to get serious frostbite on Everest. The death rate on Everest may not sound so extreme given all the commercial guiding make it more accessible to many non-professional climbers, but that does not make it less serious. The injury rate is way higher than people would expect. It’s too easy to sit on the couch and blame climbers making “stupid” mistakes high up on the mountain.

Note to readers:
I may mention people I met on this trip, but in no position I am serving as story teller of their experience here. Only official announcement or reports from themselves directly should be relied on for news on any climbers on this trip. Pre-mature news sharing would cause false expectation or unnecessary worry/desperation to those who care about them. 

Got up early this morning to get packed before 7am, and we set off around 8:30am. So far on this trip, everyday has been blue sky or light clouds, pleasant temperature around 75F.
 
We took the lower trail that cuts across the hill we went up yesterday. The beginning part of the trail is shared by both EBC and Gokyo trek. Both Mt Thamserku (next to Namche) and Mt Ama Dablam are in clear view. Ted kept on helping me review the mountains that I will see in the next few days. He seemed more worried about me not recalling names of mountains in front of my eyes than the climb itself. 

Almost an hour into the hike, just before the hair- spin turn of the trail, came the little town Sanasa. Under the background of Mt Taboche and Peak 38 in the distant, we shared the last cup of tea, and split our ways a few minutes later. Ted took the lower pass toward EBC via Tengboche, and I headed up the hill towards Gokyo via Mong La pass. “Be safe and take care of yourself” were the last words for each other. 

I know many friends back home would have said the same thing. Yes, summit or not, safety is the most important thing. I have been chatting with Dawa Sherpa and other people a lot about all the details of the climb, and intimately understand how danger this climb is. Confidence is not something we talk about here.  Mt. Everest has been so commercialized in the past few years, and enough movies had made it just another fun reality show like Survivor, that the climb appeared to be less serious than it was.  Only when you are in it, you can fully appreciate the challenge and danger.  It’s impossible not to get nervous. Excitement is for people who look from outside and faraway.

After a steady ascent to Mong La at 3900m, the trail descended into Phortse Tenga. Phortse means “high up” and Tenga means “by the river”.  This is a very low spot by the river at about 3500m. I had steak, potato, boiled vegetable for lunch, but found it hard to take down and I could barely finish half of the steak and potato. Energy-wise, I felt good, so we pushed on according to original plan to Dole, which is another 2 hour’s uphill from 3500m to 4100m. It must be the meat, I started to have stomach cramp soon after we took off. Remembered that all the meat have been travelling for several days from Lukla on porter shoulder, no refrigerator, I need to be more careful about food now! 

It was cloudier in the afternoon, so it was hard to see any mountains. We just followed the river from high up in the valley. One Australian man caught up with us. After exchanged hello, he asked “you are not the Lei who climb Everest, are you?” The world is indeed small! This is Brad Jackson, who came to climb Everest with Alan Arnette in 2008.  He already knew everything about me, but I got to poke his brain about more details of the climb. Brad is on his second attempt to Everest, and he is doing the same pre-climb training trek as I am doing. 

By the time we reached Dole at 4110m, there was some light wind and heavy clouds, temperature dropped to 40ish. I was shivering with still just one T-shirt on, and had to change into dry clothes and put on my belay jacket immediately.

To my surprise, my friend, Mike Coote, came out to greet us when we walked into the lodge! After he took off from Namche, he felt necessary to rest in Phortse Tenga last night instead of pushing on all the way to Dole. Looks like we will get to share the hiking more!

I have been fighting stomach cramps during the afternoon hike, I only had Sherpa Stew (potato and cabbage soup with a little pasta) and boiled cabbage for dinner. This is the lightest meal I have had on this trip. My stomach calmed down. Later I learned that local people only eat meat during cold seasons when meat would not rot during transportation from Lukla over many days.

Today is the rest day in Namche. I got up early to take an easy walk up the hill of memorial park, and caught some nice pictures under soft morning light. After breakfast, we walked up 300m to the hill top where Everest View Hotel is situated. Clouds covered Everest, but we got a good view of Ama Dablam. Good views of mountain will be abundant on this trip. On the other side of the hill is Kunde village, where Pasang, Ted’s Sherpa, comes from. In the distance, we can see Portse, where Dawa, my shepra for the trekking part of the trip, comes from.

After lunch, I went over to my friend Tsedam’s shop. But unfortunately, internet service at his hotel only works in the night when he gets back there. So we just used the expensive internet service from Cyber Café across the street, slightly cheaper than our hotel. Can’t upload too many pictures though.

At the lodge, Mark Inglis was giving a lecture of past events on Everest. He talked about balance between being persistent and having good judgment. He said, for each step, there are two questions one should ask him/herself – can you take the next step, and should you take the next step? He talked about turning around some climbers who clearly were in danger  and that he had to remind the climber of their family to make him/her accept the decision to turn around. 

This reminded me of the episode on John Golden in Everest, Beyond Limit season 3. He had an injured knee and an broken rib. Eric Simmonson eventually made the decision for him:
”...since you have demonstrated that you can’t make the right decision yourself, I have to make this decision for you – going down is the only option...." 
It was cruel to have that moment caught on film. But it is a sober reminder for anyone who is attempting Everest.

I’m very excited at seeing those beautiful mountains so up close, but I know I can’t let the excitement take over me, and not to let any setbacks (such as luggage problems, flight delays, and who knows what’s next) upset me. I just want to focus on each step in front me and keep myself in a calm mood and healthy condition. I have a goal, but I don’t want to put myself under the pressure of any expectation. I know my limit, and I know I’m such a newbie to the Himalayas. It’s a privilege to be here in this beautiful land and it’s an experience of a life time not matter what the outcome would be. It’s important to respect the mountains and respect the limit. At the same time, it’s very warm in my heart to know that there are so many friends cheering for me, there is a home team who is providing support while I’m out here.

For the trekking part of the trip, e.g. until we arrive at base camp, there are tea houses and lodges all the way at each village or town. We will have the comfort of a bed and restaurant, but nothing comes cheap though. Shower 300 rupees, rent a towel 100 rupees, internet 10-15 rupees per minute, charge a battery 100 rupees. There’s barely any water from the tap at the tiny sink (one per floor), and it’s explicitly posted that you can’t wash clothes there, e.g. you need to pay to use their laundry service. To fill in boiled water here at our hotel in Namche is free at least (I was surprised at the charge of 80 rupees per bottle of boiled water at Monjo), but probably won’t be free in other smaller villages along the trail. (note, 70 rupees = 1 USD).

Food at the lodge are healthy, and tasty, especially any dish with a “sherpa” in its name, such as Sherpa tea (milk tea), Sherpa soup (potato + veg), and curries. There are plenty of potato and rice for carb, some fresh vegetables like cabbage and carrots, and I can ask for things not fried, e.g., soup or steamed, but protein is not easy to find. So far, the protein comes from Lentil soup (very watery), egg, small pieces of meat (buffalo), maybe a tiny bit of tuna if I order momo or spaghetti with tuna sauce. The portions are small too. I always have to order two or three entries for each meal and often got the comment “it’s too much you are ordering”. 

In previous trips, I just eat whatever comes to my way; but after past few months’ training, I became pickier about the structure of the food I take. I learned to look at food in terms of nutrition components and discriminate between the good kind of and the bad kind of each component (e.g. good carbs, bad carbs) and got used to calculate the portion of each component as well. It takes effort to eat right when there is just so limited variety of food available here. Though there are yaks everywhere, it’s a taboo to slaughter them for food. So the meat supply comes from buffalo outside the area, and carried here on porters’ shoulder from Lukla along the same trail we just hiked through.
Once at base camp, tent will be our home, but food, shower (of course, can’t compare that to the showers from a real hotel or home in the west), and water will be more accessible without extra charge.

For the past few days, I was accompanied by two friends from Boston -- Mike Coote, my climbing partner of several years, and Ted Mayer, who have studied the Himalaya so well that he could tell me what peak is in front of my eyes at each turn. We shared the trek from Lukla to Namche. This morning, Mike took off to Gokyo, then he will cross Cho La pass to the Everest side. His goal is to climb Island Peak. Tomorrow, Ted and I would also split our ways. He is trekking to Everest Base Camp directly, while I would slowly trek to Gokyo before come back toward Namche to meet up with the group.

Because of the delays caused by luggage problem and weather at Lukla, I’m three days behind schedule for my trekking part.  Since the group will be acclimatizing at Namche for three days (Apr 2nd – Apr 4th), I now plan on joining the group in Namche on April 4th the earliest, or I could meet the group in Tengboche, the next stop after Namche.  I will make the decision with Dawa Sherpa later based on how I feel and the actual schedule of the group. If I don’t come back to Namche to meet up with the group on April 4th, that would also imply that I will not have internet and shower until base camp on April 12th! I would have to stretch each piece of my clothes/socks  to its “dirty” limit.  

Didn’t sleep too well last night. Went to bed late because I stayed up to write journal after watched the movies, then woke up a few times. I woke up before dawn at bell ring of passing yaks. Based on my past experience, I know I’m slow on the acclimatization process, that’s why I wanted to do the extra trekking before the group arrives. I must be a little bit of nervous about the climb. I dreamt of strange oxygen saturation numbers a  couple times, and woke up to feel my heart beat much faster than my normal pace at sea level. As the altitude goes higher, the heart beat speeds up because of the extra work needed to pump more oxygen into blood system (is that correct? – I need to study more of the change of heart and red blood cell at altitude)

Had porridge and omelet for breakfast, didn’t like the greasy feeling of omelet afterward. At altitude, stomach starts to behave differently, becomes more sensitive to greasy stuff and tends to be more gassy, which causes what we joke as HAFE – High Altitude Farting Edema. 

Leaving Monjo, we officially entered Sagarmatha National Park, where Everest is located. Weather was chilled in the morning, but heated up pretty fast as we approached Namche. Winding along the valley followed by the pleasant sound of glacier river (Bhote Koshi River) down below, we first descended about 450m before start the rolling hill ascent of about 1000m to Namche.

Highlight of the day include the first glimpse of Everest, shrouded in high wind, which we can tell easily even from so far away because of the huge snow dust blowing from summit ridge; first glimpse of Ama Dablam, an uniquely shaped peak that has a special appeal to me because of the beauty of its technical climb..

I also ran into Mark Inglis, the first double amputee who climbed Everest from north side in 2006; he is leading a New Zealander charity trekking group to Gokyo this time, will be on the same schedule as me! We are staying at the same lodge in Namche, and I will expect to see his group every day for the next week! This is awesome!

It became more dusty as we approached Namche because air gets drier as we got up higher, and I need to start to cover up my mouth/nose more. Radiation from sun also became stronger, more sun protection from now on!

Nothing comes cheap here. 15 rupees per minute for internet access = 1 USD for 5 minutes! Spent 300 rupees = 4.5 USD to take a shower that I had to struggle between burning hot and icy cold water. Checked with the Sherpa, good news is that shower in base camp is free and should be warm. Can’t wait to get to base camp!

Eating food is a bit difficult. I need to eat a lot of protein, but it is limited. I ordered “steak, roasted potato and veg” for both lunch and dinner. The steak is only a few pieces of buffo meat of about 30 grams. Lots of potatos. And the vegetables consist of mainly fresh cabbage and carrots. Quite a healthy combination, but not filling. My stomach felt empty within just a couple hours after the meal. Trying to keep myself fed with my normal amount of calorie in-take and nutrition structure on the trek is going to be challenging. I need to be more generous in allocating the almonds/nuts and protein bars I brought to the trekking part.

Spent the afternoon resting in the lodge, hang out with friends, shower, sitting around meals and more chatting with Sherpa and friends. Tomorrow will be some short hike around Namche for acclimatization and visiting friends.