Annapurna Base Camp

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October 26, 2008 Sunday ABC Day 6

We woke up at MBC (Machhapuchhare Base Camp) at 6 a.m. for Bruce to take pictures. It was perfectly clear, not a wisp of cloud. Bruce got sunrise pictures. We had breakfast (rasti with 2 fried eggs on top - sort of like a large plate of hash browns with eggs) and left for ABC (Annapurna Base Camp) at about 8 a.m. The walk was easy - a climb in the beginning and then a gradual ascent. I was feeling the altitude and went very slowly, arriving at about 10 a.m. A little cloud was moving up the valley towards us, so Bruce went up on the ridge which has many chortens, including a memorial to Anatoli Boukreev (a mountaineer who perished in an avalanche on Annapurna I in 1997), strung with prayer flags to take as many pictures as possible. We met David (who had gotten up at 4:30 or 5 a.m. and walked up with Helen and Ian from Australia) and took group pictures.

I feel good, very slight headache, but the air is so crisp and cold and pure it feels great. David (and Helen and Ian) descended - They’re headed to Chamrong - Jane will meet up again with him in a few days. He’s carrying his own rucksack since he and Jane have only one quide/porter. Jane, Bruce and I had lunch (potato soup and half a cheese sandwich for me,) then we decided to take a walk. Bruce and I walked up the ridge on the south side and then walked to the ridge by the river valley and then back up the trail, eventually walking up to prayer flags. It’s about 3 p.m. now and Bruce and I are sitting outside; the sky directly overhead is blue but otherwise we are pretty well socked in. There's not too much to do till 6 a.m. tomorrow. We’ll read a little, talk to guests in the dining hall (which is empty right now), have supper and go to bed. It was about -10 degrees C last night at MBC and will be colder tonight. Then we’ll be going down again and in 2 days it will be hot and muggy.

I don’t know where Jane is. We all went to take a walk but I think we headed in opposite directions.
The two young women from Australia who we spent last evening with (in the MBC lodge) are in the lodge opposite us. We talked to them before lunch at a table outside. (Lodge etiquette requires one to only use the dining room of the lodge you are staying at - otherwise you are charged an unholy amount for your night’s lodging). But no one is in our dining room yet. I think I’ll go in there anyway and read. With a cup of hot tea, of course.

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