Dingboche blues

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Had a real low when I woke up this morning. Didn't sleep well as it was so freezing and woke to sore throat, wretched cough and running nose. It was a really grim awakening. I really wondered what the hell I was doing here. I couldn't see any end to this discomfort and had to question whether I was up to it.

When you feel like this the best medicine is to go outside and look at the mountains for a bit. That reminds you why you're here. I sat in the sun, gazing at Ama Dablam and eating my breakfast and began to feel better. It's tough and that's why its worth doing. I knew it wasn't going to be easy and I just have to toughen up a bit. It's just hard when you're struggling to stay warm, feeling like hell and just barely coping with looking after yourself, keeping hydrated, taking vitamins, trying not to get a tummy bug, surviving.

After this low start, the day really picked up. We decided to walk up the huge hill behind Dingbocke for altitude training. Si and I got up really high and I was feeling pretty good. Walking is after all one of the big raison d'etres for being here. There is a knack to walking up a hill at altitude, If you try to go fast or even normal pace, you end up struggling for breath and unable to go on. You have to walk really slowly (bistari). I call it 'yak speed'. When you get into your rhythm you can keep going for ages. It also feels good to challenge your body at altitude and see what it can do.

This experience is a real lesson in how your body works. You see it for the machine it is. You put food in and your body burns it up - then you get cold or tired so you put some more in and you get warmer and have more energy. Simple really. It is almost impossible to eat enough here as well. We're all eating 3 big meals a dayand still losing weight. It's the constant battle to stay warm that really burns it off.

It has occurred to me what this reminds me of. I feeli like Frodo inching towards Mordor burdened by the ring and it becomig more and more difficult. Except we're heading for Base Camp and our ring is the altitude. Everything is becoming less green, more rocky and more harsh. And that's not going to change for quite a while.

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