Day 10
We woke up around 05: 30.
It’s still snowing outside. The snow is everywhere. I suffer from a terrible headache. I’m taking an aspirin. We’re in a dilemma here. Finally, seven and Christos (8) decide under snowfall and light fog to advance to Lobuche (4928 m). We pass a few small streams, an uphill and a wooden bridge and arrive at Dugla (4620 m).
I’m dressed warmly in a Gore-Tex jacket and a kagul*, so the backpack won’t get wet. Only my eyes are exposed. In my hands, I wear gloves. Fortunately, I have a cane from a tree branch that Christos gave me before Namche Bazar **. It would help if I had a baton (cane for climbers). I will make sure that I will buy a 3-piece snap.
Dugla is not a village. It includes only 2 or 3 lodges. From Pheriche to Lobuche there’s snow.
As far as Dugla goes, I‘m doing all right.
After Dugla, up to Lobuche is uphill, I walk slowly and with difficulty. I have such intense palpitations and think about going back sometimes.
We began at 09:00 and reached at Lobuche at 13: 30. The jopkio * * * had already come and our luggage was already here.
The Lobuche includes 3-4 lodges. We ended up in the first one that was big enough. He had beds in bunk beds, and his great merit was that in the chamber where the beds were (and served at the same time as a dining room) he was continually burning a stove!
Sure, it was smoking, but better been smoked than frosted. But the toilet was the worst I have ever seen. No one was going there, and we preferred the countryside with overnight snowfall.
I fell back on the bed like almost everyone else. On the way (at 11:00) I had a second aspirin because I suffered an intense headache. Gently and Tuesday at 14:00 and I covered in the sleeping bag which, fortunately, throughout the route did not disappoint me.
Heart rate was about 120 at rest.
When Gregory was turning in the mattress, I was getting dizzy. The terrible headache would never go away. Hot lemon tea couldn’t make me feel better. At the same moment, I felt sick. All the symptoms led to the conclusion that I appeared the Mountain Sickness**** medium form yet.
I discussed it with Christos and concluded that the best thing to do if I wanted to see my children again, and not to risk pulmonary or cerebral edema (the next stages) was to go lower.
Christos suggested to me go down to Dugla and return the next day, but I knew better, and I prefer to go back to Pheriche and never return. How right I was in that decision was shown by the fact that it took me two days to recover.
With the help of Christos, I found a porter and I came back, with snowfall always, running almost to Pheriche.
We started at 17: 00 and reached at 17: 30. In the end, it was murky outside, so I used the headlights.
Fortunately, my porter had taken apart the POLO bag and backpack, so I went down without a load.
Finally, I consider that we had to prepare for a mountain excursion in the winter rather than trekking. Fortunately, most of us, disobeying Christos, took winter jackets, boots and other winter clothes with us.
This morning, Sotiris went to the Australian doctor and gave him antibiotics and cough medicine. Of course, now he’s going up without a backpack and also, with a medical report. In my hurry to leave, I left POLAR’s winter jacket in Lobuche, which Grigoris fortunately found and brought to me later in Dingboche.
I reached at “Hotel Himalaya” where the 3 remaining trekkers had stayed. Of course, its title fools everyone. It was just a little more bearable than the previous one. The moisture in the layers was the same!
I fell into Sherpas stew and various soups and after about an hour I came to.
I gave the Porter 300 rupees. He had asked for 250.
* Kagul: a waterproof coat that becomes a tent also.
** Namche Bazar: the capital city of Sherpas ( people of the Himalaya)
*** Jopkio: are animals like yaks and live in this altitude also.
**** Mountain Sickness: The higher we go, the more our body adapts with our breathing getting faster and deeper. It means the air pressure is low when we‘re at high altitude. With the breath we take less oxygen, so hikers suffer from altitude sickness because they don’t have an extra day to acclimate while they’re at high altitude. The altitude is beginning to affect us from 2000 meters above.
The below photos are from the whole journey!
Some of the souvenirs he brought from Nepal were some religious musical instruments, a small wooden pagoda, a prayer Mill, a mask and of course a statue of Buddha.
A few words from me:
I hope you found these passages as impressive as I did. Of course, the conditions there are different after all these years, but the mountain remains imposing and dangerous. For me, it’s a dream to walk in these areas. For years I‘ve seen the picture of Everest hanging on my living room wall. I hope that I will be enough close to see it. That’s enough for me.
Everest…8848m…the top of the world…