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Published: December 8th 2012
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My guide leader had given me the choice of leaving with the group – in 30 minutes or following on afterwards, with “Gopal the Gude” accompanying me. It didn’t seem much of a choice, as I think I knew deep down the day would be much harder if I left later.
In 30 minutes, I stocked up on water, took another anti-sickness pill and readied myself for the 7 hour trek ahead of me. I set off at around 0900 at the tail end of the group retracing the steps I had taken the last 4 days to make. Whilst overall on the days trek we would descend around 1200m, the first part of the day towards Lobuche was difficult as there were various inclines and declines to negotiate over rough terrain. I recall little of the journey to and past Lobuche, other than expressing an internal thought that this was to be the last time I would ever set foot on the Khumba Glacier.
Reaching the Everest Climbers memorial stones around 1100 marked the start of the steep decent of the Thokla steps and down into lands more rich with oxygen. At this point I had only descended
some 300m, and was keen to get as low as possible to rid myself of the sickness and headaches from this altitude.
Negotiating the Thokla steps took me down a further 200m, but the pain on the wreckage of my knees meant I winced with every step downwards. A further 100m down and the trail led into the valley where the Chola khola river course ran and towards our lunch stop – Pheriche. The gradient was easier and the ground softer and the pain in my knees eased a little.
The valley was long, and for what seemed hours, Pheriche remained in the distance – never getting any closer. It did of course, and very tired, I hobbled into the village and the lodge for lunch which inconveniently was located at the far end of the village. I arrived late lunchtime at least 30 minutes behind all the rest of my group, who were busy enjoying drinks and chatting and charitably welcomed me in when I arrived.
Lunch was a slow affair and I welcomed the longer than usual rest. I ate at most ½ bowl of soup, a couple of cups of black tea, and along
with the company and a change of socks my morale improved sufficient to tackle the afternoons walk to Pangboche. Thinking the loss of 900m in altitude by this time should have improved my condition, I chose not to take any more anti-sickness tablets.
The trek down to Pangboche was less steep than the morning, and with the improvements in oxygen level I managed to keep up with the group – albeit at the back for most of it. Arriving in Pangboche around 1630 – not long before dusk, was an immense relief. I had been trekking for close on 12 hours today, in a weakend state, and had truly amazed myself I managed to not only get to and from EBC, but also complete the trek down to Pangboche. All I craved at this point was to climb into my sleeping bag and sleep – a lot.
Struggling to keep myself awake, I ordered an omelet for dinner and waited for it to arrive along with my water bottles to be filled with lovely hot water.
Dinner arrived around 1800. I took one small mouthful of the omelet, wretched immediately, then dashed out of the dining room just making the squat toilet in time. Given I thought I had been carrying round a practically empty stomach with me for 3-4 days, I was amazed with the volume of the contents that laid spatted across the toilet floor in front of me. The handily placed jug and water bucket helped to eradicate the evidence and on leaving the scene of the crime I immediately felt so much better than I had in days.
My companions all looked at me quizzically when I arrived back in the dining, and I gave weak assurances everything was OK. They were too polite to say otherwise, but I suspected they knew the reason for my urgent exit.
With an empty stomach and some hot water bottles I finally climbed into my sleeping back around 1830 – pretty much fully clothed, and felt immediately to sleep. I had conquered Everest Base Camp and survived my day of days.
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