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.

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.