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Published: November 19th 2019
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Sleeping at:Khoburche
Sleeping Altitude: 3795m
Trekking Distance: 16.6km, Ascent 640m, Descent 220m
Day: 14
The trekking days have a rhythm to them (no matter where the trek is really, there are just the subtle differences). Up early, try to leave early, get more than half of expected kms under your belt by lunch time to allow for a shorter afternoon. Arrive into camp, say hi to everyone who is in ahead of me (most of the group), be greeted by our porters and shown the tent for the night, clean up as much as possible and meet for an afternoon snack and hot drink. Relax for a while and then have dinner, a chat and an early night.
Today followed that plan, but the scenery....... WOW........ we got onto the Baltoro Glacier, we trekked through massive ice towers and started to appreciate what the glacial moraine was all about. The sheer scale is astounding. Looking ahead on the trail people look absolutely tiny. The noises have changed- little pings and cracks have entered the sound vocab. Early in the day Juma was really excited to show us the spot where the Trango Towers were reflected in
the glacial melt- tick- awesome! I found the trekking today was pretty hard and I was often thinking about whether I had bitten off more than I could chew. Every uphill is a real slog and I knew it would only get harder. But .... I plodded away, took small frequent breaks and intermittently marvelled at the unfolding journey (marvelling is an excellent distraction). Lots of solo walking today. Got into camp before 14:30- approx 6.5 hrs including lunch, was very pleased because the estimates were 7-8 hrs. Maybe I can do it...
My nurse role comes back into play this afternoon- a "porter clinic" of sorts. Juma brings me a series of guys with various issues- mostly skin infections, RSI, cuts and a burn. Dutifully dispense ointments, dressings, bandages, various medications (fingers firmly crossed that there will be no adverse reactions!) and plain old soap and sunscreen. Juma has a bag of medications left behind by various trekking groups that come in handy- Ian translates the Chinese instructions. My tourist consults all centre around gastro- the Irish group are mostly all sick- Azithromycin all round!
Tonight's tent was the dodgy one- weird smell, weird stains - aka
the "pooh tent". Juma assures us that it isn't what we think it is (hmmm). The concept of personal porter is introduced- the same porters each day are grabbing our bags for us now. Hopefully our personal porters will realise that we've had the pooh tent a couple of times now and find us a non-pooh one tomorrow. Mary has had her first day on the horse and has really enjoyed it.
The campsite is more open here, behind us is a massive slope with a bit of greenery still visible. ABSOLUTELY stellar views of Paiju Peak (6610m) and the Trango and Cathedral Groups. The scale has changed. It's a bit colder tonight.
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Dancing Dave
David Hooper
Reflections
A fantastic pic. What makes trekking in wild mountains so worthwhile. Gotta be one for the pool room!