Up at 6, all the camps were on the move this day. Ongchhu said the tough section of trail has improved since he was last here in 2005, but it’s still a rather interesting bit of 2nd class terrain with a bad run out. No problem for those with moderate loads and decent boots, but Ongchhu lent a hand to a particularly sketched out porter from another group whose shoes had no traction and were sliding around on the icy trail. We later saw the porter giving Ongchhu a blessing for his assistance.
We got out in front of the other groups, so we were down onto the glacier and heading up the valley as the rest of the groups bottlenecked behind us. I didn’t sleep well last night and had a headache all day. I tried to stay hydrated, had some caffeinated Gu, and started wondering if I’m not breathing deeply enough while sleeping and that is making for the headachy, rough mornings.
The trail wound its way up an incredible, steep walled gorge and with the rocky trail covered in about 6” of snow it made for slow, slippery progress. We rolled into our next camp around 1pm. It was nice to get there while it was still sunny. Chheten had some AMS symptoms and went on Diamox. I casually asked Ongchhu if we really have a Gamow bag, which is basically a pressurized body bag someone with severe altitude sickness can be placed in to reduce symptoms, since Furwa said we’d be carrying one. He said we didn’t – that Furwa decided it was too heavy and it never left Kathmandu. This was one of a few cases where we certainly couldn’t fault the fellows we were traveling with, but we didn’t exactly appreciate that decisions/changes were made about our trip without our input.
...the next day
link to all the photos
We got out in front of the other groups, so we were down onto the glacier and heading up the valley as the rest of the groups bottlenecked behind us. I didn’t sleep well last night and had a headache all day. I tried to stay hydrated, had some caffeinated Gu, and started wondering if I’m not breathing deeply enough while sleeping and that is making for the headachy, rough mornings.
The trail wound its way up an incredible, steep walled gorge and with the rocky trail covered in about 6” of snow it made for slow, slippery progress. We rolled into our next camp around 1pm. It was nice to get there while it was still sunny. Chheten had some AMS symptoms and went on Diamox. I casually asked Ongchhu if we really have a Gamow bag, which is basically a pressurized body bag someone with severe altitude sickness can be placed in to reduce symptoms, since Furwa said we’d be carrying one. He said we didn’t – that Furwa decided it was too heavy and it never left Kathmandu. This was one of a few cases where we certainly couldn’t fault the fellows we were traveling with, but we didn’t exactly appreciate that decisions/changes were made about our trip without our input.
...the next day
link to all the photos
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