Tue 29/1/2019 - Tengboche to Dingboche (4400 metres) .....today we woke to everything frozen. Water bottles, toothpaste, baby wipes and even my roll on deodorant. Today’s walk wasn’t too cruel just the altitude to battle with.
Quote of the day goes to Tess. We walked past a local home and a mother was helping her maybe 2 year old take a leak. In full view Tess comments “gee Josh, he has a bigger one than you”. Poor Josh is copping a bit.
The team still walking strong, Gary and Lauren feeling a bit blah today. We had sent our porters on to secure rooms on the sunny side of our lodge. Boy does this make a difference. Our rooms are actually warm. The lodge is quite busy tonight. Everyone will be fighting for space around the fire once it gets lit.
Wed 30/01/19 - Acclimatisation day - Dingboche to Chukhung (4745 metres). Gary still not 100% and said he was feverish all night. He hasn’t eaten much in the last 48 hours. Lauren seems to be better after a nights sleep and Rhonda not 100% today.
We started our acclimatisation walk which is a 2.5 to 3 hour walk up the valley to a village called Chukhung. Gary got about 45 minutes into the walk and lack of energy turned him around with one of the porters. Everyone else continued on feeling the altitude with every step. The sun was shining and warmth was in the air. Lunch at a lodge before a quick descent back to Dingboche to get the last of the sunshine pouring into our rooms.
Thur 31/01/19 - Dingboche to Lobuche (4900 metres). Still no WiFi or local carrier.
Today seven of us left Dingboche but only five made it to lobuche. Lauren slipped on an icy section coming up into Thukla. She felt her knee pop out and although popped straight back in there will be swelling and pain over the next few days. Sadly she was struggling to walk and knew she would have to call it quits. Rhonda made the hard decision of not continuing on and staying with her. Thukla has no WiFi or phone carrier. We knew lobuche would at the very least have a satellite phone if nothing else working but being around 12 noon and knowing the weather starts to close in around 2-3 and rescue helicopters won’t fly we had to make the painful decision of leaving them in Thukla while Shishir and I upped the pace to get to Lobuche with the others not far behind to try and get a chopper this afternoon. Sadly we couldn’t communicate with them so had to tell them if one doesn’t turn up this afternoon they need to wait it out until the next day. We were told a rescue helicopter turned up at around 2.45pm for them but we don’t know anymore at the time of writing this.
Note - as soon as a helicopter was booked, Shishir ran back down to Thukla to let Rhonda and and Lauren know. Then came back up to Lobuche. This would take a normal person 5 hours return..!
Fri 01/02/19 - just arrived in Gorek Shep and about to head to Everest Base Camp.
Later. All five of us plus Shishir have just returned from Everest Base Camp. I won’t say blizzard conditions but not far off. The prayer flags were released and we are now sitting back down in our lodge around the heater that rarely gets lit before 5pm but I think they are feeling sorry for us.
Communication from Rhonda says Lauren is still in hospital waiting for an MRI. The team will decide tonight if they do Kalar Patar in the morning but I think EBC was higher on their priority list.
Sue
Quote of the day goes to Tess. We walked past a local home and a mother was helping her maybe 2 year old take a leak. In full view Tess comments “gee Josh, he has a bigger one than you”. Poor Josh is copping a bit.
The team still walking strong, Gary and Lauren feeling a bit blah today. We had sent our porters on to secure rooms on the sunny side of our lodge. Boy does this make a difference. Our rooms are actually warm. The lodge is quite busy tonight. Everyone will be fighting for space around the fire once it gets lit.
Wed 30/01/19 - Acclimatisation day - Dingboche to Chukhung (4745 metres). Gary still not 100% and said he was feverish all night. He hasn’t eaten much in the last 48 hours. Lauren seems to be better after a nights sleep and Rhonda not 100% today.
We started our acclimatisation walk which is a 2.5 to 3 hour walk up the valley to a village called Chukhung. Gary got about 45 minutes into the walk and lack of energy turned him around with one of the porters. Everyone else continued on feeling the altitude with every step. The sun was shining and warmth was in the air. Lunch at a lodge before a quick descent back to Dingboche to get the last of the sunshine pouring into our rooms.
Thur 31/01/19 - Dingboche to Lobuche (4900 metres). Still no WiFi or local carrier.
Today seven of us left Dingboche but only five made it to lobuche. Lauren slipped on an icy section coming up into Thukla. She felt her knee pop out and although popped straight back in there will be swelling and pain over the next few days. Sadly she was struggling to walk and knew she would have to call it quits. Rhonda made the hard decision of not continuing on and staying with her. Thukla has no WiFi or phone carrier. We knew lobuche would at the very least have a satellite phone if nothing else working but being around 12 noon and knowing the weather starts to close in around 2-3 and rescue helicopters won’t fly we had to make the painful decision of leaving them in Thukla while Shishir and I upped the pace to get to Lobuche with the others not far behind to try and get a chopper this afternoon. Sadly we couldn’t communicate with them so had to tell them if one doesn’t turn up this afternoon they need to wait it out until the next day. We were told a rescue helicopter turned up at around 2.45pm for them but we don’t know anymore at the time of writing this.
Note - as soon as a helicopter was booked, Shishir ran back down to Thukla to let Rhonda and and Lauren know. Then came back up to Lobuche. This would take a normal person 5 hours return..!
Fri 01/02/19 - just arrived in Gorek Shep and about to head to Everest Base Camp.
Later. All five of us plus Shishir have just returned from Everest Base Camp. I won’t say blizzard conditions but not far off. The prayer flags were released and we are now sitting back down in our lodge around the heater that rarely gets lit before 5pm but I think they are feeling sorry for us.
Communication from Rhonda says Lauren is still in hospital waiting for an MRI. The team will decide tonight if they do Kalar Patar in the morning but I think EBC was higher on their priority list.
Sue
