Day 19 - Namche Bazarr

Similarly relaxed day - until lunchtime. I am having dinner on the 'terrace' (dirt ground area outside the teahouse but with a superb view of the mountains surrounding Namche) when a local cow (?) decides it wants some of my lunch. The salad I can understand, but less so the chicken with rice. Unfortunately I am sitting on a rather weak white plastic chair and am holding my tray with my right hand just leaving my left free to fend off the cow. There is clearly a power imbalance here and, much to everyone else's delight, my chair doesn't last long and soon I am sprawled on the ground with the cow licking the remnants of my lunch off my legs - as usual I am wearing shorts and the cow's rasping tongue is not that pleasant although fairly ticklish which makes it rather difficult to mount any serious defence. Things get a little more serious when it spies some of the larger chunks on the far side of me and I am concerned about being trampled and so quite roughly force myself up. At this point one of the Nepalis come  out of the kitchen and heads towards us shouting 'bad' and there is a rather comical moment when the cow and I look at each other to see who the chap is saying bad to (this a strong Buddhist area and you are not meant to harm animals) causing another round of laughter amongst the other guests. The cow is lead away but not very far and comes back a few minutes later so everyone starts laughing again - this is doubled when one of the local crows lazily flies overhead and manages to land some guano on the cows head - perhaps there is such a thing as Kama and rather instantaneous Kama at that!

I have been trying to contact our base camp manager who will apparently be accompanying us out - there is only one route so it is more as the logistics man than a guide really - but have not been able to get through to him all day. Eventually I give up and decide to head to the bakery as the sun sets for some warmth and web time. Quite amazingly I find 2/3 of the rest of the group having cake there having just finished their walk down from base camp - and with quite a story!

Their plan on heading up the mountain was to walk up to camp 1, possible staying at the intermediate Yak camp if the group was too tired to carry on and then head up to camp 2 and see if they could get much further before coming back to base camp and then down to NB. Somehow, a mixture of the rather varied speeds in the group and some rather hungover Sherpas meant the slowest two ended up alone at Yak Camp by themselves - luckily there was a spare tent from another group there but they had no fuel or stoves to make any hot water (for hot drinks and for the freeze dried mountain food) and so had a rather chilly night and a supper of their lunchtime snack bars. The next day there was a bit of a retreat to base camp whilst a couple of the others went a bit further up the mountain before coming back to camp 1 and then back to BC the next day. 

Back at BC most prepared to come down to Namche whilst one of those who had only got to Yak Camp decided to have another go up the mountain. At which point out super Sherpas excelled themselves with two of them flatly refusing to go up with her - which was what they were being paid to do - again they had been drinking and were hungover again which contributed to their own laziness. Eventually one of them was told he was jolly well going to do it and eventually set off an hour or so later. 

The others in the meantime were waiting to head down, save for Paddy who was going to wait up at base camp, whilst the yaks were being loaded up but eventually set off as there was little sign of them starting.  Now at Namche there was little idea when or if the bags and our 'guide' would arrive. Anyhow, I showed them to the teahouse and introduced them to the lovely lady running the place where we had some supper and then bed. 

Day 18 - Namche Bazarr

Still feeling pretty ropey today - physically tired, dehydrated and pretty nauseous. I potter about and have a look in the shops - always in need of new gear! 

I spend a bit of time in the bakery (it is warm and has free wifi!) and it is interesting to see people about to set off on trips up the valley as well as those on their way out. The naively of those on their first 'expedition' and now trying to work out what it will be like and what they will need and the false confidence of those who have completed (presumably their first) and are now receiving plaudits for handing out advice unaware that they have been lucky or unlucky on their trip and that as a result their advice will be of limited use at best to those on a different type of trip or who will face differing conditions. 

The afternoon is reading in the sun and drinking in hopefully a non-futile attempt to rehydrate - food is still tricky but there is only one day of walking down to Lukla which should be manageable. And then an early bed. Recovery days aren't that interesting really. 

Day 17 - Back to Namche Bazarr

Unfortunately even the rice seems to have been a bit aggressive so I have another very poor night. I decide to head back to Namche today hoping that the more luxurious surroundings will be better for me. From memory, the trek isn't too bad so even in my current state I should be ok on the route. 

The cook sensibly won't take no for an answer to his offer of breakfast and makes me eat an appropriately bland noodle soup before I head off at about 08:30 - although my pack is a bit heavier than I anticipated at just under 20kg as I need to be self-sufficient for the next few days.

This carries me through the first couple of hours and the steep ups and downs past Pangboche up to Tangboche - I am feeling pretty good and make pretty good time - less than 2/3 of what our guide suggested without pushing it at all. However at that point everything seems to give way and the rest of the walk including quite a few steep hills becomes really rather difficult. I have no energy at all really; my ears, nose and throat all start to play up and rather then benefitting from the lower altitude I am continually short of breath (not struggling to breathe more that my breathing doesn't seen to do much good) which is a bit of a mystery as I am walking at well below the altitude I am acclimatised to and the uphills become a real challenge. I have a few, bland muesli bars and I decide to chance my stomach as this can't go on. Marvellously, they seem to kick in just as I reach the top of the final hill (about two hours after I eat them!) only leaving the half hour or so of flattish traverse to Namche. There is still time to have an encounter with a yak (who seems to be offended when I overtake it after it has passed me struggling up a hill earlier on) who stages a mini charge and his tossing horns very narrowly miss my chest and rucksack as I jump to the side and away up the hill. 

Namche is on a steep hill and the final few hundred metres to the teahouse (despite being downhill) are pretty painful as there is nothing left in my legs at all. After settling in, I pop out to find some wifi and catch up with people and the world, then back for some tomato soup (the only food I can stomach) and then an early (7pm) bed. Luckily I have a couple of days to recover before the rest of the group arrives and we head on down to Lukla and our flight back to Kathmandu. 

I wonder how much of my troubles, especially my breathing difficulties comes from the the fact that I am severely dehydrated. When I get to Namche I drink 4 litres of water in the afternoon and have soup and a coke before bed - all of which leads to only one small and very dark brown pee just before going to bed. 

This expedition has been rather bi-polar so far. Most days have been very relaxed and easy except for the summit of Island Peak and then today which were both really rather difficult. Although I suppose I could have gone a lot slower on both and found then much less of a struggle - but then that's not me really. 

Day 16 - Waiting AD BC

I feel pretty miserable when we get up and need to decide whether to go up the mountain with the group or rest. The two key factors are that there is virtually no chance of getting anywhere near the summit and that I am heading off to Antarctica soon for a month and am now prioritising that expedition over a couple of days on the lower slopes of AD. I have got a couple of niggles - a minor on/ off ear infection and a cold / cough which I am very keen to shake and camping at altitude in the cold won't help either especially as bad weather is forecast in a couple of days. It is also handy to have a bit of a break (especially as it is no fun being ill when cold and high) and to start looking forward to being in remote, cold places again. Therefore, whilst I could go up I have decided to concentrate more on the bigger picture  - I also still feel pretty poor late in the day and so would probably not really enjoy the trip in any case. 

The rest of the day is spent mostly in bed, when not dashing off, and as such lunch is just a bit of soup. I treat myself to a shower and wash my clothes in the afternoon but the clouds come in very quickly after that and the evening gets very cold.

I have supper (a bit of soup and rice) and a chat with the base camp manager and it seems that our descent is going to be complicated. Firstly, he thinks that for some reason we should be camping - I tell him that his is not the case and that he need to ring his boss in the morning to clarify this and that if his boss thinks that we are meant to be camping to call Adventure P eaks to sort things out - not that I would really mind camping it is just that this will take time to resolve and there are bound to be other implications which will need sorting out as well. Secondly, he doesn't think that the yaks can make the journeys we will be making in the same time as us and so we will risk being separated from our main bags for the descent and even worse, them not arriving at Lukla on the same day and so there being difficulties or risks in getting them back to Kathmandu. The solution for this is to ensure that the yaks get to BC early on departure day so that the yaks can head off as early as possible. There are probably a couple of other issues but we talk through these and what he needs to do over the next couple of days to ensure that things to smoothly. I am left with a bit of a sinking feeling about this which unfortunately is more than just my insides still churning!

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!

 

Day 14 - Waiting AD BC

I wake up very shortly before the bed tea arrives at 07:30 am. This is great in theory but does not work so well in practice. The cook boy (that is his job title - and stage one on the way to becoming a Sherpa) opens the two layers of my tent and gives me an empty mug which he proceeds to fill to the brim with boiling hot liquid. I now have open flaps letting the cold air in, am slightly off balance as I was having to reach for the cup and have a cup that I can't put down as the floor is unsurprisingly not level and the liquid will spill and get my gear wet and I can't drink any of the tea to lower the level as it is too hot. Quite an amusing predicament to find oneself in!

Anyway with slightly wet gear and a slightly burned mouth I head off to breakfast where we discuss our climb. It seems that the fixing team (the Sherpas who go up and fix ropes on the mountain for everyone to use) headed up yesterday afternoon and so the mountain will soon be open. The groups that we have talked to seem to be planning to go up to camp 1 and / or 2 and then back to base camp. This should give us the opportunity to follow them up and then stay up and summit when they come back down - this would be remarkably convenient if it pans out! Then we head out to the rock to do some more climbing practice before a lunch.

Close of view of AD summit

 

The afternoon is pretty lazy as well - I have a shower and shave which is pretty nice - and then we meet at 4 for tea and some rather good brownies courtesy of Mrs Alastair Burns. After that we read and chat until supper which is mushroom, garlic and pepper soup with pink prawn crackers and then an interesting mix of cheese, tomato and mushroom pizza, tandoori chicken and roast potato all served on a sizzling plate. 

We find out that our Puja has changed. Before each ascent of a mountain, the mainly Buddhist Sherpas want to get a blessing from the local llama to ensure their luck and safety on the mountain. This is a longstanding tradition that is popular with climbers as well and you normally give between $20 and $50 to the llama and Sherpas to cover the Llama's costs as well as some special food and drink for the ceremony. We have been discussing our Puja for some time given the delay of our start on the mountain and have just found out that rather than as we were told when handing the money over (admittedly a bargain at $15) that the Sherpas were going to into Pangboche to buy supplies and bring the Llama back with them, they are in fact heading in to have the Puja themselves in the Pangboche monastery. This is the monastery we visited a couple of days ago and were pretty unimpressed at the time.

Then after dinner we play cards for a bit. Despite not doing a great deal it is amazing how tired we are each night and how difficult that makes even easy things like arranging your hand in suits. 

Day 13 - Waiting AD BC

Off the back off a few 'tough' days we are having a rest day at AD BC - this was in the original itinerary but it looks as though we will be having a few more given the problems with the conditions. 

The cook crew had been keen to bring us some 'tent tea' so we all just lie in bed reading and dozing expecting to be roused at 07:30 but nothing happens and a few of us lose track of time making us late for the 8am breakfast - not a big issue but amusing. In fact I have been awake since about 5 am - not a great night's sleep but tomorrow should be better. 

Our Sherpas have been talking to their friends and it is still the case that no one has yet been above camp 2 but a group is heading up today to have a look so we will hopefully find out soon what conditions are like and then will start the horse trading to try and 'book' some space at camp 2 (which is a very small ledge on the ridge) later in the week. There are no rules for this and we are one of the most recent arrivals, however we are also partially acclimatised so should be able to move quicker through the lower camps. However as more time passes, more of the other groups are acclimatising on this mountain so it is likely that as soon as conditions clear, there will be a bit of a bun fight. We have a bit of spare time so probably won't be one of the first groups to go up but Paddy knows quite a few people here and has been involved on a few of these before so we should get a reasonable spot in the queue but that is likely to be after a few more days at least at BC. When things become a bit clearer we will probably head up the mountain to help acclimatise, drop off some equipment and not the least actually do something rather than sitting around waiting.

There are quite a few yaks wandering about camp as groups come and go

 

and some have taken a worrying liking to our drinking water supply

The weather here is quite frustrating. For 10 mins there isn't a cloud in the sky so you overheat and worry about burning then some low cloud and wind arrive and the temperature drops about 30c almost immediately. The morning is pretty lazy, hanging round camp and doing a few chores

but after a lunch of frankfurters with cabbage and beans (better than it sounds) we head off to a nearby rock to do some  more rock and ropes practice to prepare ourselves for the upcoming two towers - these are the large towers on the ridge that are both technically difficult and have about 1,000 mtr drop which makes tackling them pretty challenging. The skills are the ones that I have been using on some of my trips and it is pleasing to see that I still remember them and more so that I am becoming increasingly comfortable with them - although this is when the drop is 15m rather than the 1,000 mtrs when I will be doing this in anger slightly later.

View of Base Camp from our climbing rock

 

After a bit a really cold fog comes in and anyone not wearing a down jacket gets chilly pretty quickly if they are not climbing and so we start to head back to the tents to warm up and get ready for supper. As I walk over to supper the mist has really come in (photo)

 and both temperature and visibility have dropped even further. Paddy has been trying to make a call  a bit down the valley and commented on entering the mess tent how disorientating it is once you get any distance away from BC.

Supper starts with a rather large quantity of veggie pasta and once we have made quite a dent in that some dumplings arrive. There is not that much enthusiasm initially as we are all quite full but then it turns out that they are meat dumplings and perfectly good meat at that so we start to tuck in but struggle to so much justice to them. A couple of the chaps then decide to try and phone home so head out down the valley to try and find some signal. After about an hour someone jokes that they are lost but the prior conversation soon resumes. Another hour later a similar joke is made as they still have not returned and given the mist and the cold the possibility is taken quite a bit more seriously. We discuss what normally happens in such circumstances and the range of possibilities of what might have happened and it soon becomes clear that they have probably got lost and we need to do something. Paddy, being the guide and also next to the door and being dressed for the outside (having just come from there), ducks out to have a quick look for them. Time goes by and we start discussing what the next steps should be if they don't return soon. We think it unlikely that Paddy had got lost but if he is long either he has got lost as well or the situation is serious and needs help. We decide that in 10 mins we will go and get properly dressed so that if we need to do anything we will be ready to do it and start discussing what action we should then take - given conflicting issues such as the need for safety but speed, numbers but both language barriers and the fact that most people have gone to bed. However, with a few minutes to spare, Paddy and the others walk in; everyone has rosy cheeks but luckily the temperature has risen so in fact there is nothing that a good cup of tea won't fix. All in all, quite an exciting an amusing evening - especially for those of us who didn't quite need to leave the heated mess tent!