Up over 16,000 feet

The altitude has finally caught up with me. I woke up yesterday a bit congested. During our hike it wasn’t much of a problem. But shortly after arriving in Lobuche, elevation 16,100 ft [4,900 meters] I felt like I was about to collapse with fatigue. Every little effort is a struggle now. It is why, even with our hike to Gorak Shep later today, we will spend the next couple of days nearly at the same altitude. Our bodies need to adjust. 

But back to that hike to Lobuche. This was definitely a day to take it slow and just take it all in. The views were surreal, surrounded as we were on all sides by snow capped mountains. The terrain alternated between wide open expanses of land, steep ascents, and rock strewn meadows that required close attention on our parts. 

One of the most sobering parts of the hike however, especially in light of what’s been going on the last couple of days, was a memorial we came upon, set up to honor those who have perished in their attempts to summit Mt. Everest. Most we are told, died on their way down. One such casualty includes a well-known Sherpa who not only held the record for fastest ascent of Mt. Everest; doing so in under 18 hours, but also summiting twice in two weeks, and spending over 20 hours at the summit without oxygen. The mountain shows no mercy. Even to the most experienced. 

Time to break out the head lamp

Having left the last formal settlement behind, Lobuche is not really a village. Rather, it is simply a cluster of teahouses set up for trekkers en route to Everest Base Camp. The only people who live here are those who run the lodges, which are definitely getting even more austere, though perhaps not as bad as we expected which is a good thing. The main difference, is that because they are entirely solar powered, we must wear our headlamps for night-time visits to the bathroom. Thankfully, this still includes a Western-style toilet. It does not however flush on its own,  and so we must pour water in to manually do so. Honestly though, the most difficult thing to deal with is the cold. The higher up we go, the colder our nights become. The best example I can give you is this. Each night, our porters fill our water bottles and reservoirs with boiling water. By morning, they may as well have come out of the refrigerator. 

Off to get ready for the day ahead. I’ve now been unable to post these updates for three days, as we are in what is essentially a dead zone for cellular data. A WiFi network known as Everest Link is often down, and when it works, it’s only good enough to maybe get out some email and text messages. We’re told that will change today as we reach Gorak Shep. We shall see.