Day #13 - Everest BaseCamp
Thursday, March 3, 2022
Itinerary - Gorak Shep to Lobuche
Elevation: 16,962’ to 16,207’
Coming to you live from my bunk in Room #107 of the Pyramid Inn in Lobuche. For the first time on this trip - I feel more relaxed and comfortable. Why? I successfully summited Kala Patthar today - at 18,204’. Outstanding!!! Both goals I had coming into this trip - Everest BaseCamp and Kala Patthar - have been completed!! 16/20 people in our group made Everest BaseCamp and only 5/20 made Kala Patthar.
Physically I’m just hanging on. I have a cough, congestion, diarrhea, headaches, and major fatigue — but I’m still standing!!! No worries - I would say just about everybody has stuff going on. Jennie had such severe symptoms of altitude sickness - she had to stay at Lobuche and didn’t even make the trek to Gorak Shep. Tons of us have GI and cough/congestion issues. This trip has been an amazing experience - but we’ve put our bodies through major stress - with the extreme low temperatures combined with the altitude and physical demands each day. Luckily, we have a doctor (Jennie), an OR nurse (Priscilla), and a pharmacist (Ann) on the trip - along with the training from our guides and Sherpas.
Because of what I just mentioned - everybody opted out of the Kalla Patthar hike this morning but myself. (Greg, Liam, Korby, and Ann did it yesterday). Dawhi (Sherpa) and myself started our trek at 7:40am. It took me 2hrs, 20 min to summit. It was a long, slow grind. The last half mile I took about 25 steps at a time - then I had to rest a couple minutes. I just wasn’t sure I would ever make it. Upon arrival - I was blessed with the best views of Mt Everest I had on the entire trip - amazing!!!! After a ton of pictures, I made my way back to the hotel. Total hike was 3hr, 30min.
Greg was at the hotel when I arrived. He chose to sleep in and not go for the Performance Trek. He, I and Dawhi had some tea and then set off for our 2 hour hike back to Lobuche (where I’m at this evening). Coming out of Gorak Shep we had a good bit of climbing for the first 3/4 of a mile. I was so fatigued- I had to stop a number of times. The course leveled out however and we were able to make good time the rest of the way.
I was greeted with congratulations by the group as I walked into the lounge. We sat and talked and had some lunch - it was still only 2pm. John, Priscilla, Jan and myself decided we would play cards at 4pm. I got my room situated and then headed back to the lounge. We played cards for 2 hours until dinner. We played Hearts - a game I played frequently in college. It was awesome - drinking tea, eating popcorn, getting the competitive juices going - all good stuff!
After dinner, we talked some more and I was back in the room around 8pm. Finishing the blog now - time for rest.
Tomorrow- we head down the mountain. We’ll be at 12,664’ tomorrow night - where hopefully we’ll all see some of our illnesses subside.
Goodnight from a happy, content, partially sick fella on the road to Everest BaseCamp. Keep the Faith out there!
Congratulations!!!
ReplyDelete