Pokalde

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.

We left Dingboche on Thursday in pretty good spirits, rested and with a with some clean clothes. It wasn’t a long day, as we’d climbed the 600m up to base camp (first photo) by late morning, and the climbing felt pretty easy too.

Lunch was very impressive, considering the altitude and the fact that it was prepared in a cave! After it, we did some more fixed-rope training. The porters rigged up a few anchors and we Jumar’ed up then abseiled down, until we and they were happy that we knew how to clip in and out as we moved past the anchors.

By the time we’d finished the training I was feeling pretty sorry for myself. I had a headache, and was feeling exhausted and also inexplicably annoyed! I lay down for a while and felt a bit better after dinner.

I woke yesterday (Friday) morning still not feeling 100% and struggled a bit with breakfast, but by the time we set out for high camp I was OK and quite enjoyed the climb, chatting with a couple of young American guys we met. Martin and Steve both commented how surprised they were that I’d been able to have a conversation while climbing, but I’d felt fine at the time. Soon after we arrived at high camp though, I began feeling rubbish, and just wanted to lie down.

There was no mess-tent at high camp, so lunch was served on a tarp, then dinner in our tents. By that stage we’d organised all our kit for the summit attempt and were wrapped up snugly in our sleeping bags.

The amount of kit we took up to high camp was a fraction of the total. We’d spent Thursday afternoon at base camp rearranging the kit as most of it stayed behind with the yaks. The porters were mainly carrying the tents and cooking gear, but also carried sleeping bags. The rest of the kit (climbing gear and extra layers of clothing) was carried by us, so was kept to an absolute minimum: we walked up to high camp in the same kit we were going to use on summit day, wearing fleece salopettes, plastic high-altitude boots, etc.

The climbing kit consisted of a harness with a Jumar and spare carabiner (each on a sling) for ascending, and a belay device of some sort for abseiling back down, along with a few emergency spares like prusik loops, another sling and another carabiner or two.

At base camp we’d had two people sharing a three-man tent but, to cut the kit down, we had three in the tents at high camp, so Mark joined Rich and me. We had some banter as we ate our boil-in-the-bag meals, but were all very conscious of the early start, so by 20:00 we were all trying to sleep.

It wasn’t the best night’s sleep, disturbed by the proximity of Rich’s feet and the need to pee during the night, but I successfully managed that without leaving my sleeping bag, so I was quite pleased with myself! Apart from gaining altitude slowly, the only defence against AMS is to drink more water than you think is possible. Unfortunately if you carry this on into the evening then your sleep is punctuated by toilet trips, but if you have a big enough pee bottle then you can avoid the need to put on all your layers and head out into the freezing night.

We were woken at about 03:30 this morning, and plied with hot drinks and porridge. I’m heartily fed up of porridge (which I’ve never liked) and ended up drinking hot water as I don’t like tea and coffee either, so it wasn’t the best breakfast I’ve ever had. I was also still feeling pretty rubbish, and wasn’t as enthusiastic as the other two about leaving the tent.

Eventually I’d pulled on almost every item of clothing I had, and ventured outside. I stuffed the remaining kit in my rucksack, paid a quick visit to the toilet tent, put my harness on and was ready to go. We all had head-torches attached to our helmets, so the traditional snake of lights set off from high camp at about 05:00, heading for the summit of Pokalde.

To begin with I didn’t feel too bad, but gradually got worse as we climbed. I dropped back through the group, feeling nauseous and slow, but luckily not too cold. The route was a mixture of rock and snow, but not enough that we ever put the crampons on. I climbed most of the way with an ice-axe in one hand and a pole in the other, switching hands at every corner to keep the ice-axe in the uphill hand. Every time we stopped it was a huge effore to get going again and I felt very lethargic, but we all kept plodding up and, at the end of a 150m of fixed line, I finally arrived at the summit (5,806m).

Pokalde’s summit was tiny, so we all clipped into a couple of slings at the top of the fixed line, and Andy took some photos. We didn’t hang around long, and set off back down the fixed line.

Jo and I, having arrived last, lead the group back down, pausing at the end of the rope to wait for the others. Luckily the sun was up and beginning to get quite warm, as we had quite a wait while the rest of the team came down the line, one-by-one. I was feeling rubbish by this stage and couldn’t be bothered taking any photos, which I suspect I’ll regret.

Shortly before I got back to high camp I was walking with Andy and Rich and began feeling even worse. As we were within sight of the tents I warned them I was about to be sick and sent them on, while I stopped to see what happened. Tom and Vanessa arrived just as I was throwing up, and Vanessa said she was glad to see that she wasn’t the only one feeling rough!

Back at high camp we were greeted with soup and hot lemon to rehydrate, then had an hour and a half to pack up out kit before we dropped down to base camp. Packing up was a bit of a struggle, as everyone was feeling a bit rough by this stage.

The walk down wasn’t too bad, but didn’t bring the improvement in health we were hoping for. Since we got back to base camp most people have just slept - Mark seems to be the only person who wasn’t affected by the climb. Martin didn’t feel up to it this morning, but I’m not sure how he’s feeling now as I haven’t seen him.

I’m gradually beginning to feel more normal, but I’m desperately hoping the other two summits won’t feel as bad. At the moment the beach in Miami where I was three weeks ago seems like a different world. What I really want now is a pie, chips, beans and a pint of Bombardier.