We had a pretty relaxed start today, leaving base camp at around 09:00, by which time I’d managed to wash (in a bowl again), eat and sort out my kit.
There was a small amount of blue sky when I crawled out of the tent but the change in the weather that Andy first spotted from the summit of Lobouje East has continued today. The blue sky disappeared pretty quickly and the walk down to Pheriche was pretty cold, then after lunch it began snowing. It’s been very light all afternoon but began properly dumping once we’d arrived in Pangboche and were safely inside our lodge. The fir trees now have a layer of snow on them and it’s beginning to settle on the ground, but nothing too serious to affect our little walk yet. The only question is whether the airport in Lukla will cope…
I seem to be suffering from a weird form of jet-lag, caused by regularly getting up in the early hours for summit attempts and going to bed when it gets dark (around 8pm). Last night I had about 7 hours of great sleep, but woke up around 02:30 and haven’t really slept since then.
Yesterday evening was pretty quiet, even by our team’s standards. As soon as we’d got our drinking water/hot water bottles after dinner we all hit the sack.
After setting off around 02:30, we hit the false summit at about 08:00 then Dowa, Mark, Andy and I reached the real summit at 08:35.
After another incredibly clear and starry night, the wake-up call found us warm and cozy. Despite the clear skies, it was surprisingly warm - below zero, but not as uncomfortable as sometimes.
I’d slept well so it wasn’t too hard getting up, but somehow I still managed to be the last one ready. The porridge arrived at 01:30 and all I has to do was eat, get dressed, clean my teeth, squat over some rocks behind the tent, then get my kit ready, but this seemed to take longer than everyone else so I set off at the back of the group near Thomas and Nima Temba.
Yesterday afternoon, Dowa climbed up to put the fixed ropes in, and reported back that the route was in good condition and that the summit should be possible. Andy was non-committal when he told us, but I’m sure he’d like to get there too.
We had the usual pre-summit meal in our tents last night: soup and prawn crackers, a rehydrated meal in a bag (salmon and dill sauce this time) then a slice of fruit. While we were eating, the Sherpas filled our water-bottles with boiled water, so we tucked these inside our sleeping bags to keep our feet warm and crashed out at about 19:30.
The walk up from Dughla to Base Camp yesterday afternoon took about two hours and, apart from the intial climb out of the settlement, wasn’t particularly strenuous. On arrival we rigged up a zip-wire for Ted, Andy’s teddy-bear, then sorted out the kit for High Camp and drank as much water as possible.
Last night was possibly the coldest night we’ve had so far. Although Rich and I didn’t seem to suffer too much with ice inside the tent, it was the first time I’d slept with my sleeping bag fully done up, with the hood round my head. This morning wasn’t too cold though and we had a pretty relaxed start, with breakfast at 08:00 then some final preparations before setting off for High Camp at about 09:30.
After days avoiding the crowds, we were back on the Everest Base Camp trail this morning, and I realised how lucky we’ve been the last few days. We’ve paused for lunch in Dughla, a settlement which consists simply of two lodges, feeding about six million trekkers (Acute Mountain Snobbery again).
The route from Dingboche to Dughla took us over the shoulder of the ridge that comes off Pokalde, separating the Imja Khola valley (where we’ve been for the last week or so) from the Lobouje Khola (which leads up to the Khumbu Glacier and Everest Base Camp). As we reached the top of the ridge we passed a little stupa and had our last look back at Island Peak. Someone commented that we could see Lobouje East up the other valley, but I could only see enormous summits with huge rock faces, so assumed they were joking and ignored them. Andy has since confirmed, however, that one of the most ominous-looking is indeed Lobouje. It looks pretty terrifying from what we’ve seen so far, with a huge south face of rock and snow. Several of us have asked Andy about the route, assuming it’s somewhere we haven’t seen yet, like up a nice grassy slope round the back, but it isn’t - it’s straight up the south face.
Yesterday we dropped down from Island Peak Base Camp, through Chukhung and back to Dingboche. The lodge we stayed in last time was full, so we checked into one with a very welcome warm shower - the first time most of us had had a decent wash since Namche Bazaar ten days ago. This time we even managed to convince Andy to have a shower.
We had lunch sitting outside the lodge, then spent the afternoon relaxing, sending the odd email from the Dingboche internet shed, and making use of the shower.
Yesterday morning I wrote before we left Island Peak Base Camp. In the afternoon we climbed up to Island Peak High Camp, then this morning eight out of nine clients summitted at 6,189m. We’re now back at IPBC, utterly exhausted but hugely proud and satisfied.
The walk up was flat as far as the “real” IPBC which is situated by the enormous Imje Tsho lake (we used a lower camp, about an hour short of the main one, because the main one is apparently even colder than ours). From there it was a steep climb up to High Camp, which is at about 5,460m.
It feels like the calm before the storm at the moment. We’re waiting at IPBC, bags packed, tents down, and the team is filling in time before we set off on the walk to High Camp.
One of the strangest things about this trip is the time spent waiting. Even disregarding the first few weather-affected days in Kathmandu, we’ve still spent the majority of the time sitting in lodges and tents waiting while our bodies acclimatise. Sometimes this time can be spent usefully preparing kit for the next day or rearranging bags for High Camp, but a lot of time is spent chatting, reading and playing games to wile away the time.
I’m feeling a lot better today, both physically and mentally. Today we dropped down from Pokalde Base Camp to Chukhung (4,730m) for lunch then began the climb up towards Island Peak. We’re now at Island Peak Base Camp (4,960m), which is at about the same altitude as Pokalde Base Camp where we were this morning. The camp didn’t feel nearly as cold today as it did two days ago - there was still a layer of frozen condensation on the inside of the tent, but there was no snow outside, just a little frost.
I really don’t like AMS. I’ve had a headache and stomach problems since we arrived at Pokalde base camp two days ago, and would love to be down at sea-level right now. I’ve actually been questioning whether I really enjoy this kind of thing as much as I thought - I can’t honestly say today’s ascent of Pokalde has left me with any positive emotions, other than relief that it’s over. I’m certainly not feeling inclined to book any more higher or colder expeditions.
In keeping with the standard practice weather, the skies cleared yesterday as evening turned into night, and I had another go at capturing the starlit mountains. This time it worked rather better - the first photo shows Lhotse and Island Peak under the stars.
The skies were still clear this morning and the views were stunning, but the cloud gradually rolled in as we spent the morning practising the rope techniques we’re going to need later in the trip. We focussed on using the Jumar to ascend a fixed-rope, but also covered abseiling back down and roping up for a glacier-crossing. Most of the stuff was do-able, but Andy seems to expect previous experience of it - I’m quite glad we’re going to have another go tomorrow as I’ve never used a Jumar before. Tomorrow they’re going to be making sure we’ve all go the message, which is reassuring.
The sky finally cleared last night, and even under the light of the moon, the views were amazing. For the first time, we saw the iconic shape of Ama Dablam, and I spent ages trying (not entirely successfully) to get a decent long-exposure night-time photo.
This morning it was still clear, the beautiful blue sky raised everyone’s spirits. We set off with fantastic views of Ama Dablam then, during the morning, the cloud further up the valley cleared, and we finally saw the highest point on earth.
Yesterday afternoon we wandered into Namche city centre to have a look round the shops. Most of it was the usual Nepali tourist stuff – yak-wool socks, singing bowls, etc – but there were a couple of decent gear shops so I bought a hat and another hand-warmer for summit days.
We wiled away the evening with more cards then went to bed early – we’re gradually getting used to early nights and early mornings, in preparation for the ridiculously early starts we’re going to have to handle on summit days. Unfortunately I hadn’t drunk enough last night so woke up a few times with a headache, but that’s gone during the day.
I spent yesterday afternoon relaxing in the lodge while some of the group visited the shops down in the village. I had a lovely shower, then played some cards and had a frustrating game of Scrabble. We had a very good buffet dinner in the evening then carried on playing cards, though I seem to be useless.
Having passed and then been passed by one of the other Jagged Globe teams, we ended up in the same lodge as them last night in Namche. There was a healthy rivalry and some competitive banter out on the trail, and now we’re fighting to get to the buffet before them, but they’ve been hogging the tables closest to the kitchen, so only Mark has been successful so far!
The most popular Nepalese beer with our group so far is called Everest. There’s a special edition out at the moment with a picture of a Sherpa called Nima Gombu on the label, celebrating the fact that he’s climbed Everest twelve times. His brother, Nima Temba, is our sirdar (chief Sherpa) and he’s also been up Everest. In all, their family of seven brothers has summitted Everest forty-seven times.
I’ve been wondering what Nima Temba makes of our little trip – it must seem a bit dull after going up Everest. I guess it’s probably similar for Andy though – trips like this are the bread and butter, with treats like the 8,000’ers being much less common.
Today began pretty slowly as everyone got to grips with our new lodge-based lifestyle, after the luxury of the Summit Hotel. Washing this morning was limited to a bucket of warm water on the wall outside the lodge, or the cold tap inside the building.
We had breakfast about 07:30 and after a certain amount of faffing we left at about 08:30. Having spent weeks walking with Klaas learning to improve my time-keeping to meet Dutch Army standards, I’m now sharing with Rich, who’s another ex-soldier. He’s ridiculously tidy and efficient, so we were both ready to go at 08:00 – tomorrow I may be a bit more relaxed!
Well the other Jagged Globe groups may have left he hotel yesterday, but they came back later, and they weren’t happy. They’d spent the day at Kathmandu airport being promised flights that never materialised, and they were blaming Jagged Globe’s agents in Kathmandu.
When it became obvious that we weren’t going to fly, we tried to arrange yet another night in the hotel, but discovered we couldn’t all fit. We were only booked for Sunday night originally so six of us had to move down the road to the Greenwich Village hotel, which wasn’t quite as nice as the Summit but had the bonus of free wifi.
We were stood down at about 3pm yesterday afternoon, when it became clear we weren’t going to fly. Lukla was open yesterday, but there’s now such a backlog that it may take days to catch up,
and since our flights were on the third day of delays, we’re at the back of the queue: they fly each day’s scheduled flights first, and then start on the oldest part of the backlog.
…and the wait goes on. We gave up in the middle of yesterday afternoon and Rich (my room-mate) and I walked to Patan Durbar Square, one of the seven Monument Zones that make up the Kathmandu Valley World Heritage Site. The square is full of temples but seemed pretty similar to Kathmandu Durbar Square, so Rich and I adjourned to a bar overlooking the square and sampled some Nepal Ice beer.
A small group of us went out for some food in the evening, and Andy told us a few stories from previous trips he’s been on. I came away thinking that I don’t want to be one of his future horror-stories, so had better put in a good effort when we start climbing!
Arriving in Kathmandu I was very grateful that I was part of a group. Andy, the leader, told us that we shouldn’t tip anyone, which has already proved useful advice – as we pushed our trolleys towards the bus we were approached by “porters” who asked “Are you part of the Jagged Globe group?” then whisked our trolleys away, only to demand payment a hundred metres later at the bus.
I’m currently waiting for a tube at Hammersmith. I’m feeling quite nervous about the trip, but I’m not really sure why. It’s not because I think I can’t do it – I’m pretty confident that if the knees survive then I should be OK.
I think the nerves are more to do with the fact that in under an hour I should have met the nine other climbers that I’m going to spend the next four weeks with. There’s going to be precious little contact with anyone outside them and the supporting cast of guides, porters, cooks etc, so hopefully we’ll all get on…
