Day 15 - Waiting AD BC

As we are having breakfasts the leader from another group pops by for a chat. Basically the conditions in the mountain remain dangerous and so everyone is coming down. There is very little expectation that they will improve sufficiently in the next week or so and a number of teams are making plans to leave. We discuss this and the new plan is to head up the mountain as far as we can (probably camp 1 and camp 2) and then head back - once you can't summit, the enthusiasm really wanes and we are also hearing that there are problems with the flights at Lukla so we want to be there as early as possible to ensure that we can get back to Kathmandu in time for our flights home. 

The problem is that a large amount of snow fell late in the season. That has left a thick powder layer of snow and over the past couple of weeks the top has formed a crust. That crust is preventing much change to the powder layer. This layer is very dangerous as it is difficult to walk in or fix anchors for safety but there is also the possibility of avalanches when one layer of snow is not binding well to the layers around it. 

Our climbing practice rock

Me on it

Rock climbing (listening to music and climbing in the sun) and lunch - salad, beans and toasted cheese sandwiches. Pretty good really. The news at lunch is that there has been bad weather at Luckla for a few days and so no flights have been coming or going. This seems to be the cloud that comes up the valley each day hitting us in the early afternoon. This seems such a stable pattern that there is concern when this will lift and Luckla will operate again. There is also a large backlog after such stoppages so it is usually a number of days before it is back to normal - hopefully this will be about the time that we will be getting there but if not we will still have a few spare days as we are not climbing AD. So nothing to worry about now but it could become a problem if the closure lasts much longer - Lukla is normally closed for over a week once a season and this has not happened as yet!

The Puja. At about 4 pm we are called to the mess tent to perform the apparently very significant Puja ritual of blessing to seek safety from the gods on the mountain - we have already paid about $100 for this and then found out that the llama can't be bothered to come up to BC for it. 

The Sherpas have been down to Pangboche to organise this and present what they have brought - some cheap material in a plastic bag that they need to borrow a knife from the kitchen tent to cut up into suitable lengths and 6 bottles of coke. Each person is solemnly given a length of material round their neck and a bottle of coke.

There is a bit of giggling when they realise that there are only 6 bottles of coke and 7 of us so one of them runs off to the kitchen tent and comes back with a small pack of mango juice to make up for it! They try to explain that Pangboche has run out of coke but this is a clear, barefaced lie as we only left there a couple of days ago and all the shops had plenty of bottles of coke then and there are nothing like the number of tourists in the area to go through that amount of coke in the meantime. 

It then comes out that the Llama has said that one of the Sherpas should not climb to the summit and he laughs it off saying that he never listens to the llama in any case. So far we are pretty annoyed. We are only going through his ceremony for them and then for them to have such little respect for us is really annoying some members of the group whilst others are just laughing at the stupidity of it all. Things deteriorate as it becomes clear that the Sherpas have been drinking which explains where some or much of the money went to. 

We start to talk about the next few days which are a little tricky as set out above. The Sherpas, clearly looking forward to a 'fun' night tonight, don't want to do much tomorrow and so are keen on only going to what is called 'Yak Camp' - a camp site that is rarely used as it is only a couple of hours from base camp. For us this is a waste of a day and so I ask why. The response is that it is better for acclimatisation to which the response is that we are already acclimatised as we have just summited Island Peak - which they know. There next reason is that in order to summit it is better to start slowly to save energy for the tougher days ahead. Whilst this is true, it is wholly irrelevant as they know as well as we that rather than summiting the mountain people are coming off it and going home so there is very little if any chance of us going for the summit. I lose my temper at this point as it is very irritating to have the painful topic of the summit, which we have only recently found out that we can't go for, used as an excuse for their laziness. He then goes onto a long, rambling and drunken monologue about some of his climbing experience. On another occasion and if understandable this might be interesting but now it is just annoying. Finally, Paddy pretty much physically removes him from the tent and takes him back to the other Nepalis who left some time ago.

The whole affair has left us pretty fed up and it will certainly be interesting to see how the rest of the expedition goes - I have very little patience left for the Sherpas now. 

We retreat to our tents for reading / writing until supper which is a rather good yak curry and apple pie. The last session of the Puja is Mustang (probably misspelled) Coffee which is coffee, sugar and some local wine and we have arranged to have that after dinner. The Nepalis come in for this as well and our friend the drunk Sherpa decides that this is the appropriate time to demand a fourfold increase in his tips - especially the summit tip!! After a couple of circular discussions it becomes clear that he is either incapable or unwilling to listen so Paddy takes him outside for a bit of a talking to. Despite the sensitivity of the topic, I feel more disposed towards him as it is clear that he is just a young man who has had too much to drink. Normally the Nepali teams will have a Surdah (big boss) who would be the person to step in, grab him by his collar and send him to bed but our group doesn't seem to be structured that way. Anyway, a bit later he and a couple of others come back for a chat and he is all smiles again.  

Just before bed I get a few rumbles in my stomach and the beginnings of a sulphurous / eggy taste in my mouth. This doesn't bode well and sure enough I am up most of the night - as are the Nepalis who carry on dinking and dancing all night.

The party is still going strong at 3am!