Day 9: Above the clouds

Start: Dingboche

End: Lobuche

Finishing altitude: 4930m

I woke up to the sound of gentle knocking on my room door and battled to emerge from the depths of my sleeping bag and the weight of the blanket pile. I opened the door to Hom who passed me a cup of tea and asked the usual questions, “How are you feeling Amy?” and “How did you sleep, warm enough?” I felt energised after a restful night of sleep and thanked Hom for the tea, asking him in return how he was and how he had slept. He smiled brightly and nodded enthusiastically saying, “very well thank you”. After breakfast we began the climb out of Dingboche, maintaining a slow and steady pace as we climbed the barren slopes. Half an hour or so into the hike, Dan nudged me and signaled for me to look to my left. It was Mr Diamox! He marched ahead of his guides, glancing down at his oximeter as he rushed up the hill. The guides set the pace for a reason, a slow pace that is fitting for the adapting physiology of hikers visiting from sea level, but apparently, he knew better. He barely could say morning to us as he gasped for breath. I glanced at his two guides and they looked equally baffled by his behaviour. After he overtook us, we caught up to him at the top of the slope where he’d stopped to catch his breath and starred at his phone announcing to the air, “I’m just waiting on a weather report”. I looked at Aadam who was already smirking and I couldn’t help but laugh. The conditions were perfect, he had experienced guides (I spent time with them yesterday and learnt they’d both ascended various 8000m peaks) – so why did he need to wait for a weather report? He was acting as if he was waiting for a weather window to actually summit Everest. I was thoroughly enjoying the entertainment.

As the morning passed views of different peaks unfolded before us, including Cholatse and Lobuche, as this spectacular landscape continued to deliver. The terrain was by far the most challenging of the route so far as we navigated through a boulder field and over a rickety looking bridge to cross an icy river. After a brief rest, we began the ascent of Dhugla Ridge which leads onto moraine towards the Khumbu Glacier. The ascent was steep and relentless, lined with large boulders and loose scree. Sunam was in his element, making the task appear easy as he danced over the boulders showing no evidence of elevated breathing, while assisting anyone that needed help on the technical sections. I focused on my breathing, put one foot in front of the other and eventually I was at the top.

After the climb, the land plateaued and was scattered in rock cairns decorated with prayer flags, many of which are dedicated to the memory of climbers attempting the high mountains in the area. I sensed a drop in the temperature, which is to be expected when exposed amongst glacial moraine. As I rested on my bag, I looked back at the route we had followed and saw that we had climbed above the clouds. A layer of thick cloud blanketed the land below as high mountain peaks emerged above. Aadam, Dan and Ray, the photography enthusiasts, spent time taking time lapses of the clouds and capturing this beautiful view. As I rested, I saw a familiar face appear over the other side of the ridge. It was Hom! He’d already carried the gear to camp but had jogged back bearing flasks of tea and biscuits, our reward for what was considered to be the toughest section of the hike so far. He waved to me with his usual wide smile as he approached, I waved and smiled back – very happy to see him, especially when I saw the flasks of tea! He poured me a mug of tea and handed me a packet of biscuits, before taking a seat on his pack next to me. We ate biscuits together while watching the clouds float through the valley below. He pointed at the ascent we had just climbed, saying “Steep?” and I nodded replying, “Very steep, I don’t know how you can run up these hills?” He laughed, topped up my tea and we relaxed in the sun.

After our rest, we began a short descent towards our stay for the night. Bikash informed us that at this altitude there is no fixed camp, so we would be sleeping in a private teahouse. Everything had changed at this new height. I compared this to the pine forests we’d climbed through only a couple of days ago. This felt like an entirely new land. An isolated frozen pocket of the world that exists only beyond the trees, beyond the clouds and sustains little life. It was captivating and comparable to no where. After an hour or so of gentle decent, we arrived at the teahouse where Hom had already prepared the fire and brewed even more tea. We all slumped down into our chairs and rested. The increased altitude was apparent. Everyone including myself had developed a headache, Lee had an increasingly concerning cough and Aadam’s appetite had not returned. Bikash worked his way around the table, talking individually to each of us and advising the best course of action for each of symptoms. He advised me to take a couple of Paracetamol and rest, then we would reassess later. I did exactly that. But this headache was different to the slight niggle I had felt the previous days, it was intense and the pain encompassed my whole head. Following a couple of hours rest, my headache hadn’t shifted and I decided to take a Diamox tablet in an attempt to reduce the negative effects of altitude. Bikash agreed this was the best course of action and the whole group began taking Diamox, if they hadn’t already. Our dining table began to look like some form of medical experiment; from Paracetamol to Diamox and Bikash had even started giving Lee Codeine every 12 hours in an attempt to reduce the intense cough. Everest Base camp was only a day away, so I was determined to do everything in my power to get there. However, within a couple of hours of taking Diamox I was violently sick and struggled to keep any dinner down. I spoke with Bikash and he was adamant that this was a reaction to the Diamox rather than altitude as I’d been acclimatising well naturally. I agreed, other than the headache I had no other signs of altitude sickness and a major side effect listed on the Diamox medication is nausea and sickness. He advised that I rested, reassuring me that it would pass and putting his hand on my shoulder saying, “You’re strong Amy, I’ll make sure you’ll be at base camp tomorrow, no problems – I promise!” I went to bed, exhausted from both the altitude and the sudden side effects of the Diamox. I felt intense tingles in my hands, feet and face, which was further exacerbated by the cold – this is a common side effect of Diamox and luckily, I knew to expect this. It didn’t cause any pain but initially the discomfort made it difficult to rest, until I made peace with this new sensation and fell into a deep sleep.