Woke up at 4.30 am. Now we'd heard that most of the people head for the sunrise view. Hence need to be there by sunrise . Which means need to depart by 4.30 atleast. My trekmate got out and went out into the dining area to get something to eat before we left. Everyone was fast asleep. So guess nobody leaves early after all. Back to sleep we went. Left by 6. I started the climb. But my head started thumping and the fact that I would have to come back downhill and then downhill to Tenboche- i decided to excercise prudence and to skip this one (read "bail") Trekmate went ahead.
( One of the many hills that you need to cross to reach Kalapathar peak. If you can strain you're eyes, you can probably see a little orange speck on the right trail- that was my trekmate goin up. Just so you know the scale of this picture:))
I went and sat reading in the lodge. Had pancakes. The Indian guy and his porter burst in and sat quietly around the fire. I joined them after about 20 mins. Apparently they'd left early am to Kalapathar but 80% to the top and the porter felt the oncoming AMS and Gautam's hand froze numb and started paining too. Said it took him 20 mins near the fire( or was it 30) to feel them again. gulp. Am glad i didn't go. Trekmate came in exhausted around 8.30-9. Had an early lunch and was around 11 by the time we left. Its over and still not over.
Scrambled on rocks. One part had caved in and formed a landslide. Trekmate jumped across that chasm. I was debating whether to jump across. The alternative would be climb up and walk down. I thought and thought and pondered. Some Frenchmen shouted from above asking me to come back up again. Looked across the chasm at my trekmate who said, you can do it. But if you're scared rather go up. i waited for a while, threw my bag across and jumped.Phooey.THAT was stupid. :).Anyway was a pretty uneventful and barren walk back to Lobuche. Were tired by the time we reached Lobuche around 2.Called my ma- for 200 bucks a minute and had some hot chocolate. then started down to Dughla. Reached there around 4. Lesser and lesser people now. Slipped on the hill just before reaching down to Dughla- there was so much scree. Boy was i thankful for the walking sticks!We didn't stop here except for the loo. We decided to go to Dingboche since we'd already been to Pheriche. Kept walking and walking. We were late already. Darkness and cold would descend anytime now.We HAD to get in before. Somehow that didn't happen. Even the flutterings of the gompa between Dingboche and Pheriche wasn't visible for a few hours. It grew dark. Saw Pheriche. I was tempted. Was so much closer. There was NOBODY around now. But for the last hour we were joined by these 2 guys who were patrolmen at the Basecamp- prevented people without permits from climbing and such stuff. Interesting talks with them. They too went way ahead of us. Finally came the little flags. There was a shadow of a person. WHY would anyone be out in the cold in the dark was hard to imagine. Probably to meditate in the quiet said my trekmate. We didn't get out the flashlights yet. Finally saw the ridge that would take us down into Dingboche. Dingboche was definitely bigger and more houses and fields and animals than Pheriche. Just got into the first lodge we came across. Was full. First placed our order of Dal Bhaat and then went to the room to dump the bags. Quite a few people in there. On their way up all of them. ( I still don't understand why people choose Dingboche on the way up when its so much higher than Pheriche.) Anyway the dangerous sounding dry hacking cough that i'd developed since I started trudging upwards from Dughla tobasecamp still persisted. It only died down when i had a good meal and a warm bed. Chewing on Lozenges helped. Plus my nose kept flowing- without any real infection. Again stopped when i stepped in, out of the cold. Had a nice meal and a nice chat with the people and headed to zzzz. Next day was all the way down to Namche. I could taste the chocolate doughnut at the bakery there...yummm...
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