Into Thin(er) Air

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At long last I decided to sit down to write a new entry. Of course today happens to be the day I choose the computer with the faulty keyboard, so advance apologies for typing errors.

So since the last entry I've done 3 main excursions in Nepal: a 2 week hike up to Everest base camp (EBC); a few days in the second biggest city in Nepal called Pokhara; and a couple of days spend in the Chitwan National Park where I went on a jeep safari and washed a elephant.

First off, the EBC trek.

We flew to Lukla (elevation 2840) from Kathmandu on the 14th in order to bypass the 10 hour bus ride and six day hike up to that point from Jiri. The airport consists of one run way, which all the little 10 seater planes land and take off on. The run-way is set on a steep uphill because there isn't enough air pressure for the planes to take off otherwise. Essentially, a plane lands, moves slightly away from the run way, all the passengers scramble off, followed by a new set scrambling on. In the mean time another plane is landing, they then switch positions and the first plane takes off for Kathmandu.

We met two other Vancouverites on the plane and ended up hiking with them for the next 6 days which was great. They were going up to climb Island Peak (el. 6180) as a warm up for their Everest summit attempt on the North (Tibetan) face. Needless to say they were in excellent shape. I, on the other hand, after nearly 8 straight months of travel (interrupted by a two week stint at the gym in Van) was not in very good shape. And as it turns out, altitude and I are not on very good terms.

Day 1: Lukla (2840) to Jorsale (2740)
The first day we ended up 100m below the airport after 4ish hours of hiking to help us acclimatize. The general rules when gaining elevation quickly are to walk slowly (to keep your heart rate down) and to always try and sleep below the highest point you reached that day. The train from Lukla to Jorsale was pretty heavily populated, most of it covered with small gatherings of tea houses. The day involved a lot of up and downs that all evened each other out, which is pretty frustrating when you are carrying a 15kg pack.

Day 2: Jorsale (2740) to Namche Bazaar (3440)
The second day started off flat and then turned into something like a 600m elevation gain. I was already taking Diamox (a med which helps to thin your blood, thus making elevation gain easier on the body) but as soon we started climbing my headaches set in. Pretty much I would have a headache - ranging from mild to quite bad - for the next 12 days.
The 2 -3 hour hike uphill was so hot and I cursed myself for not working out at all while traveling. One of the guys we met C had guided mountains a bunch in the past and was amazing in setting a slow pace so to lessen the effects of the gain.

Day 3: Acclimatization Day
We spent the third day acclimatizing in Namche. It is a pretty incredible place, only accessible by foot yet the home to thousands of people. From Lukla up the mountain there are no roads. The only way to bring in anything (from food to fuel to building materials) is on the back of porters and sometimes by helicopter. All the way up the mountain there are hundreds of porters carrying these unbelievable heavy loads. Until the tree line most of the were wearing sandals. Being passed by porters all the way up the mountain while I shouldered my comparatively light bag reminded me of when I was first learning to snow board and all these little kids would come whizzing by me laughing. Anyway, point was that this entire town had been brought up on the back of people, pretty crazy. The same goes for the rest of the towns on the train but none of them compare in size to Namche.
We did a day hike up to the Everest View Hotel which was once again a steady 500m climb in about an hour - aka very steep. C told us it is the hardest trail anywhere on the circuit and is the one used by film crews to show how hard it is to trek up. The hotel was built by a Japanese guy and most of his clients are also Japanese. They are helicoptered in, given supplemental oxygen to help deal with the rapid elevation gain and then pay hundreds of dollars for one night and a view of Everest and then flown back to Kathmandu the next day.
The hike made me feel horrible but after spending 2 hours sitting up top acclimatizing my headache went down and we headed back to Namche for the night (and some awesome pizza).

Day 4: Namche (3440) to Deboche (3710)
Day 4 started with some stunning valley views as we walked along the edge of mountains as well as some great views of Ama Dablam, Everest of Nupste. After about an hour and a half we started down quite a steep hill to the river. I learned very quickly that downhills only ever meant one thing - a much larger up hill. Sure enough a 400m gain was awaiting me. Notes to self: (a) going on hikes in bad shape is not the best idea; (b) going on hikes with two people who are going to summit Everest and to in-shape geologist means you will drag behind. Needless to say I was trailing the group, but I did make it to the top with the help of my trusty Ipod (RIP) and Girl Talk. We sat at the largest monetary in the region for an hour acclimatization then descended 100m to Deboche were we spent the night in a really nice new guest house. When I say really nice I mean they had a tap with running water - a luxury we would not see again for over a week.

Day 5: Deboche (3710) to Dingboche (4410)
Despite the 700m we gained this day the hike was pretty easy going, with a part that was even labeled "flat trail" to my delight. Deboche is the last place where the forest exists and as we climbed the trees turned into shrubs. The air was getting noticeably thinner, making it harder to breath while hiking and at night. It was also getting much colder, especially after the sun set around 6:30.

Day 6: Acclimatization
C and S left in the morning much to out dismay to head out to Island Peak while we stayed in Dingboche for another acclimatization day. I woke up with a pounding headache, never a good sign. We did another day hike to help acclimatize faster and met another Canadian and an Austrian who we ended up spending the next 2 weeks with.

Here I would like to take a minute to tell one of the more interesting stories C told us one night on the trail. Both him and S were great company with hilarious stories about their own lives and from their friends. So, one of C's friends is a doctor somewhere in the southern U.S. who does some work at a walk in clinic. One day a woman comes in complaining that she has... leaves growing from her vagina. Intrigued and slighting scared, the doctor investigates the situation to discover that the woman (probably due to poverty) had created her own diaphragm out of a potato. She then forgot about it and the potato started to sprout. NO JOKE.
Other incredible stories included their description of 2 French Canadians who worked as immigration officers who loved guns and using the work "porking" to describe sex.

Day 7: Dingboche (4410m) to Loboche (4910m)
The hike from Dingboche to Loboche was pretty flat besides a steep 200m pass in the middle of the day. At the top of the pass are a number of memorials set up in honour of those who had lost their lives climbing Everest. A lot of the stone formation were for Sherpa who make up the majority of people who die on the mountain. I also saw the memorial for Scott Fischer, the leader of the 1996 Mountain Madness expedition that got stuck on the mountain overnight in a storm, along with another commercial expedition under Rob Hall. "Into Thin Air" and "The Climb" both talk about the 1996 season which claimed a huge number (13) lives. I read both while in Nepal and definitely recommend them.
Lobeche itself was pretty unimpressive, especially because we arrived as a snow storm was blowing in which reduced visibility to a about a meter in front of you. We got one of the last rooms in the town. At this point I was feeling the worst I had all trip with a pounding headache and some nausea so I spent most of the afternoon in bed in our very cold room in all my clothing.

Day 8: Loboche (4910m) to Gorak Shep (5142)
We made our final push to the highest town on the mountain before base camp. By this time there was no vegetation around. The weather had cleared up and the visibility was amazing. The hike was mostly flat ridge walking which allowed time to take in the views which was incredible. The sky was the bluest I've ever seen it and all around us were towering snow capped mountains. We were planning to drop our stuff in Gorak Shep and make afternoon trip to EBC that day but when we arrive in town we found out that there were no rooms for us because a huge party was in town attempting to set the world record for the highest cricket game in the world. The two teams, names Hillary and Tenzing after the two first people to summit Everest had set up a pitch on the open area near town and were well into the game when we arrived at 11am.
We spent the next few hours watching the game which I tried and failed to explain while I nursed some extra-strength Advil Liquid gels and a few litres of water in attempts to avoid altitude sickness before reaching Kala Pattar, the look out at 5545m we were climbing to the next morning.
Above 5000m the amount of oxygen in the air drops to half what we are used to at sea level. As a result breathing becomes much harder and even lying in bed my heart-rate was as if I had just gone for a run.
That night we slept in the tea room of a guest-house which was really cold and none of us really got any sleep. I had the sensation of floating right above sleep you get when you are totally relaxed but can't quite get to sleep for the entire night. At 4am we rolled out of our sleeping bags, shoved down to tea and set off for Kala Pattar.

The hike up to Kala Pattar usually takes about 1.5hours which would set us on top for sunrise. After about ten minutes I realized there was no way I was getting up the fast. I was going into cold sweats, felt like I was going to vomit and had a horrible headache. Usually, this means you should turn around, but as I hadn't actually got sick yet there was no way I was turning around after hiking for a week before getting to the top. I wasn't really in any danger, it would have taken less than an hour for me to drop down to Loboche were I would have felt better. It was easy to see though how people who spend up to $70,00, countless hours of training and 2-3 months acclimatizing in the cold and low-oxygen conditions of base camp and the higher camps up to summit get so caught up in reaching the top they put their lives in danger in order to reach their final goal. Anyway, I made it to the top after nearly 3 hours, but man was it worth it. 360 degree views of mountains. It was incredible. Everest itself is ironically one of the least impressive mountains we could see, looked dwarfed beside the shorter but closer Nupste. I spent about 30 minutes with J and S taking in the views and some photos and then headed down.

That afternoon we went to EBC (5364m), most of the walk was on glaciers which was really cool and the views towards camp continued to be awe-inspiring. The sky was so blue that some of my photos look fake. EBC itself is really nothing too exciting, a bunch of tents at the bottom on the Ice Fall, the first (and some say the most dangerous) challenge that climbers going to summit encounter. There is a bakery at EBC and we had some amazing apple pie. I didn't stick around for very long because I still felt horrible and it was a 2 hour walk back to Gorak Shep.

Day 10-12 we spent racing "down" the mountain to Lukla to catch our flight back to Kathmandu. This was actually more physically taxing than walking up because we were going 8 hours a day and walking down is hard on your knees etc. Also, quite a bit of the"down" part was actually hiking up, very annoying. The last hour of the hike to Lukla was all uphill and we spent most of it cursing the mean person who built the path.

All in all the hike was unreal. The views were phenomenal and we lucked out with amazing visibility for most of the hike. I did lose my Ipod on the hike up to Kala Pattar where it fell out of the inside pocket of my coat which was most unfortunate, but at least it was in the highest place I had ever hiked. I will try to upload some photos when I find a fast computer with a USB.

I leave Kathmandu tomorrow for Bangkok where I meet up with B for the last leg of my trip in SEA. Looking forward to some beaches and sibling bonding!

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