Sunday 28th March 2010 - Tengboche to Dingboche

Sunday 28th March 2010 - Tengboche to Dingboche

I wake today feeling like crap. I have barely slept a wink, I am cold and now extremely tired. It was just a restless night. Today we are trekking to Dingboche at 4400m, the walk is meant to be relatively straightforward but Prackash told us that this is where most people experience difficulties with the altitude so it is just another thing to worry about today.

Asif woke me at 05.30am this morning to look out the window, he knew I would appreciate waking up to a view of Everest outside my bedroom window. What a beautiful site to see first thing in the morning. I don't feel right today however, my mouth is dry and my lips chapped and tingling, I am finding it hard to warm up also but there is no sympathy to be had, especially not by myself so I get on with it. After my porridge and coffee we get ready to go for 08.30am. Again we walk about three hours of relatively easy terrain before we stop for lunch, we know what is coming however and it seems they plan these treks very well indeed, easy morning and hard work in the afternoon. Not long into the morning walk however I start to feel pins and needles in my thighs, this is so unusual for me and it soon moves into my toes. It lasted maybe ten minutes and as the day goes on I realise Scott experienced the same thing not long after starting either. We put it down to cobwebs from the nights sleep, Prackash thought it was maybe mountain sickness but I don't agree. We will keep an eye on it however, we are not stupid after all.

We stop for lunch in Orsho, a remote area with literally the one mountain lodge and restaurant. We will be staying here on the way down apparently but today is just a lunch stop. More garlic soup is on the menu (I am getting so sick of the taste of garlic but needs must) along with fried macaroni. At home I would be worried about the oil and fat content in the food but here it is vital to your energy needs. Around the time we get to Orsho we notice something, the terrain has changed dramatically. Gone are the conifers and alpine feel only to be replaced by a lunar like landscape. Hardly any vegetation surrounds us. It's like we have been transported to a completely different planet. It's obvious to notice too that we are all dressed in a lot more layers than in previous days. The air has become much cooler and I am glad now I insisted on carrying multiple layers with me in my pack everyday.

Arriving in Dingboche at 2.00pm our guide tells us we are going too fast and need to slow down. We arrived in Dingboche an hour ahead of when we were expected to. The sixteen have become almost three separate groups, there are the quick, the average and the slower walkers. I am glad however that they allow us to go at our own pace and not abide by the policy that you are only as fast as your slowest member. I find it difficult to get into a rhythm walking too slow so I did appreciate being able to push it on a bit when I felt like it. You can really tell the difference now in altitude. Not only the terrain but also the temperature. Lower down we would only put on our additional layers at night when sitting around, on arriving in Dingboche however I throw them all on almost straight away. It's freezing here and we still have over 1000m higher to go.

Some of us go for a walk around Dingboche, this will be our home for two nights so it will be nice to know what is here for our acclimatisation day tomorrow. I manage to locate an Internet house, only here it is 600 rupees for thirty minutes. It doesn't matter though, I just want to check my emails and send a few emails to them at home letting them know how I am getting on. I feel guilty for not emailing yesterday from Tengboche even though I could not. For dinner I break away from the garlic soup and onto mushroom soup, its such a treat for my taste buds. Vegetable Momo again for main course, boring yes but I know it is safe and not likely to make me sick again.

Jamie has been complaining almost since we started trekking about the lack of clean toilets so you can imagine how he feels about the squat type toilet arrangement. After some joking about with Prackash about making his own toilet, a plastic garden chair and a white hot machete miraculously appear. By simply cutting a hole out of the chair abracadabra a Jamie Shields patented toilet is born. I will admit to using the chair, it worked a treat but after a few more tries of local style I managed to get the knack. It brought a smile to everyones face however which I guess is the important thing. By morning I reckon half of us had used his toilet seat.

As the evening has progressed I have developed a splitting headache. I take a couple of Ibuprofen to try and clear it overnight. If for the extent of this trip all I get is a headache I will be a happy trekker. During tonight's briefing with Prackash he said to us that we are now only two days away from Base Camp. With all the hustle and bustle of the last couple of days I actually forgot. I am now so close to my goal and that's the confidence booster I needed at the right time. Tomorrow we acclimatise, the following day we walk to Lobuche and the day after is Base Camp day. Being so close I now start to get a little anxious, I am conscious of how high we are and now developing a headache has me worried a little more. I cannot fail to get to Base Camp and Kala Patthar for I fear if I fail now I will never get to the top of Everest. Yes it was probably a bad idea to bring that worry with me now but you cannot help how your mind processes. Couple that with the very real possibility that the flight home may not take off from Lukla when it is supposed to and I feel like I have the worst worries in the world.

I push those thoughts out of my head and try to focus on each day as it comes. I remind myself that I am feeling physically strong, I have plenty of pain killers and I am more determined to get there than I have been for anything else in my entire life. Just get through the next two days and I am as good as there.