We knew what
was coming when we woke up on the 12 of October – that terrible hill which
haunted us since our failed attempt to climb it the day prior… My pace was that
of an 80 year old woman, stopping every few steps to catch my breath and looking
discouragingly at the summit. People descending were literally jumping downhill
and responding to their greetings was virtually impossible with the extreme panting.
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| Nearly reached the top |
Reaching the
top of the pass at 4840m, a huge sense of relief and pride overwhelmed me. The
boys greeted me with claps of encouragement (I was the last one to reach the top!).
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| The six of us have made it to the summit! |
Around us
were multiple prayer flags as well as a large number of memorials to the
climbers who didn’t make it back down Everest. Amongst those remembered there are
Babu Chiri, a very famous Sherpa who summitted Everest 11 times, but died in
2001, and Scott Fischer, a legendary climber who was one of the eleven who
perished on that fateful night in May 1996. Here I stood, totally worn out and unworthy
after climbing a simple hill, in what is effectively a graveyard to the greats
of mountaineering. In total, 162 people have lost their lives on Everest. We
took some time to walk through the site and read the memorials, as well as
admire the incredible view from the top in yet another
gasping awestruck moment!
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| Tibetan flags surround was is effectively a cemetery for famous climbers |
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| If you haven't read 'Into Thin Air' yet I highly recommend it. It tells the tragic faith of Fischer and 15 others that died on Everest in 1996. |
From here on upwards the walk changed
perspective quite considerably. We were now in the main part of the Khumbu
valley itself, with miles of moraine (debris, rock etc) from the glacier as it
originally was. It was stunning, and we were now in the shadow of even more
staggering peaks. In front of us loomed Pumori, at 7165m, and on our right the
towering mass of Nuptse (7851m). We were now looking directly at Tibet, and around
every corner everything got simply better and better.
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| Flat trail after the tough hill |
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| We're really starting to feel like we're up high in the Himalayas now! |
We reached Lobuche in 2 hours only and we were now at 4930
meters high! The town was much smaller than I expected. Chris felt unwell and
went for a nap while I caught up with my book (Seven Years in Tibet). We got a
visit from the Doctors again regarding the AMS survey and my oxygen level was
now only 70% which was a little bit worrying. The worst part of the day for me
was the impossibility to sleep! I literally stayed awake all night. It was my
first time experiencing such insomnia and it was quite strange. I had a million
thoughts going through my mind, heard every single person walking to the toilet
through the corridor, tossed and turned… I wasn’t particularly anxious about
it, but when the alarm rang I was stunned that all those hours had passed
without me shutting an eye! Needless to say, I was a bit worried about my energy levels for the
following day…
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