Day 6 Highlights
- We had our first glimpse of the Beauty - The Everest
- Getting closer to the goal
DAY6 Travelogue
It’s a beautiful morning, the sun is out and more importantly the views are clear. What that means is that we are looking at the Amadablam range behind which the Beauty is hiding. This is our first glimpse of the Everest but the thing about Everest is that it never looks Grand as it is always hiding behind other mountains and one could only see the tip of it. The scene is beautiful but not as impressive as it would have been with a bigger view. But here we are with Everest just behind us in several pictures we took. It’s sort of the dream come true view cause it has been in the To Do List for a long time and now finally it has become a reality.
The tip of the Beauty
After the breakfast we are already on the trek that is going down for the last some time. Again the formula is to descend to cross the river and ascend to gain the lost altitude plus the one for the day. Today’s target is to reach Dengboche which is another mandatory two night stop for acclimatization. It’s another long way today. We can hear the river roaring down on our left hand side and are nearing it to cross the hanging bridge. We just crossed the river and the trek has started to ascend as expected, we are as slow as we are everyday but making progress for sure. Now the river is on our right hand side and the trek is leaving it way down. The steep is not great but a steady gain at a smaller angle but going up takes toll anyhow and the body machinery is used to its full potential. Muscles are really used here, strength is tested here and all the more the will power is being tested the most. Hence we have been tested in everything possible, but our will power has been the strongest of all other attributes and has been pushing us so far. After crossing this small village the trek has started to go up steeply. It goes on and on and on and so do us slowly but surely. Dengboche is not even in sight after hours of hike but our guide tells us it is near now. The hike is killing us now as the continuous steep is not finishing, any hiker that we see on the way, is exhausted and is moving very slowly to reach today’s destination. We met a few who were coming down after finishing their trek; they had sun burns on their faces but were smiling as they were going down. The trek is going through some green fields, some rough tracks, and some extremely beautiful scenery. But one could feel the gradual gain in altitude with the cold increasing and breathlessness. When we started our trek we were in four layers and then when the sun came out we started to take off our layers and were barely left with one or two layers. But as soon as the shade comes it becomes chilly, a sign of high altitude because when we are walking in the sun our bodies heat up and we sweat and that causes us to remove layers and when we sit down for a while it becomes very cold, our bodies cool off quickly and start to absorb the cold. This is the time to be careful and do not remove layers unnecessarily.
We had views of the Everest when we crossed the river last time and after that Amadablam’s has been dominant in the Eastern skies and we are moving around it so it is changing faces. There are other pretty mountains around us also but they keep changing as we keep moving towards Everest. Our energies are really depleting now as its been several hours since we left our last hide out and there are no signs of ending our misery for today at least.
Mountains are such amazing places because when you are hiking there, there are many instances when one would think that this is going to be my last hike but when you come out of the mountains and cherish the memories collected out there you would plan for another trip. So we are going through the first phase of it as we are very tired and hungry. The lunch that we ordered earlier in the afternoon was totally pathetic and we couldn’t eat it. This has been a problem with us, we have not been able to eat properly and that has really dented our energy levels. The amount of hard work being put during this trek definitely needs food to build up the lost energy levels to some extent, however we are not keeping up with our required in-take. We do not feel hungry even after a day’s hike and this has been a big problem for us. We’ve not been able to find a solution to this issue as we keep going on the trek burning our fat and muscle. We have tried different dishes just to see if something would suite us but it has been a vein effort. Anyhow we are keeping our target in mind and keep going even with depleted energies because the morale is still high.
On the left side of the photo there is a small tip visible over the mountains - that is Everest
Finally we are entering an open valley where we could see some dwelling on the far side. Though the trek is still going up and even after we have seen the village it’s taking forever to reach our tea house. Our guide and porter are way ahead of us. We have been too slow for them and they usually have been at a distance unlike other porters and guides who remain with their group all the time. This is kind of good for us as we keep going towards them.
We have reached our place to stay at Dengboche, which is a basic hotel with small rooms those can barely fit in our wooden beds. There is a shared bath room in the out, the seat is broken and it’s very difficult to use it. The dining room is big enough to accommodate 15 – 20 tourists. The view is great on either side of it. We are given a room whose door is broken and we cannot close it, means we’ll have to carry our valuables all the time. We took out our shoes and have put them under the sun and are also trying to get some heat from the sun as we remain in 3-4 layers. It seems that the night is going to be very cold. No wonder we are at 4360 m (14388 ft) above sea level. This is going to be my highest night stay. Though we have not experienced any breathing issues or any sign of high altitude so far and are keeping our fingers crossed. After taking some rest we are sitting in the dining room just chatting with other hikers. The Canadian group that stayed with us in Namche Bazar is also staying here along with the 3 British girls, one of them does not feel cold and is sitting in the dining room in a sleeveless top and shot shorts. On the other hand we are in few layers. The Spanish couple who hardly talks to anybody is also here. So our place is quite busy for today. This whole group has been staying with us off and on and has given good company so far. I just made another friend; he is from Holland and a fun guy - Ray.
Tomorrow is a rest and acclimatization day at Dengboche and we know what that means by now. Rest day is going to be another hike to higher altitude and then would have to come back down to stay the night. In this way the bodies get used to the high altitude and that’s what the climbers do, as they take a number of runs to high altitude and then come back to their base camps to adjust their bodies to the altitude and environment. This is the second of the mandatory stops along Everest trek, though it is recommended to take more. We gained about 500 meters today and now over 4300m and the altitude thingy starts to catch up here. There was a free presentation by a doctor here but we missed that somehow. Basically the talk is about the high altitude and its effects and how to protect ourselves from such diseases. The Canadians just told us about it a bit, one of them is under the sickness attack already and he has started to take Diamox which is the most common medicine for Acute Mountain Sickness. The proper fix is to come down in altitude to adjust your bodies. One could lose life if not complied, so it is a serious matter when you start getting headaches, start to throw up etc. and it should be taken very seriously. We are doing alright so far and do not plan to take medicine unnecessarily, however many start to take medicine as a precaution at this stage of the trek.
Evening is falling in and it’s really cool to see the mountains changing colors because of the sun going down. They produce beautiful shadows sometimes and at other times horrible ones. Mountains become more magnetic during these times and the evening falls-in quickly up here. The sun hides behind the mountains causing the night to come early. It has become very cold now and we have to add a layer of jacket on top of our other layers if we are outside. The cow dung powered heater has been switched on and all the guides are sitting around it, the dining room has warmed up so we need to remove a few layers and need to put them on while going outside or to our sleeping areas which are not heated. There are small energy saver bulbs hanging in the dining room and these are lighted up by the batteries charged during the day by solar power. These are producing very dim light and are creating a dramatic effect in the dining room. The Canadians are playing some board game and are enjoying themselves. The whole group has been traveling together for the last several years and they are mostly from Montreal and Ottawa Valley areas. They are all retired but physically very fit. One of the old guys has brought his son along who is not too happy as he is missing his TV, couch and what not. They started their trek 9 days earlier than us as we flew to Lukla from Kathmandu but they trekked from where the road finishes, and it took them 9 days to reach Lukla from Jiri. However we just spent 40 minutes in the plain to reach Lukla. They crossed some dense forests and faced rains and leaches all those days. No wonder the young man is not too happy with his Dad.
Dinner has been served around 6:30 and everyone is eating it properly except us due to our own issues. We are not too hungry again but just trying to take a few bites to gain some energy.
Everyone has started to leave the dining room as they finish their food to go to bed. It is very cold in the room and we just made our beds with three layers and are trying to warm it up. I’m going to try to get some sleep. I took some notes for the day while in the bed and now I’m trying to sleep.
