This being Easter Sunday was a day of rest. To be honest though, even were this not that particular Sabbath it would still have been a day of rest, or as we prefer to call it, an acclimatisation day. There are several reasons for this. Following the tragedy of Good Friday we are in a period of mourning during which the mountain is off limits and a sombre tenor is appropriate in base camp. Furthermore the future of the 2014 season on Everest remains uncertain and nothing should be taken for granted but while we remain here we need to take account of the altitude in order to remain healthy. Finally from a personal perspective our climb to Pumori ABC on Saturday followed by the return trip to Gorak Shep was a fair stretch.
So, having established my excuses for doing nothing on Easter Sunday here is what nothing looked like. I should add at this point that I must be doing something right as I have had none of the customary symptoms of Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS); cough, headache, or nausea. Amazingly my customary 'bête noir', insomnia, has not affected me either.
I was awakened in the early hours (yet again) by a pressing need to pee. This is hardly surprising on someone drinking upwards of 4 litres per day. It is far too cold to go to the loo tent so a spare bottle is used in the tent and the is very carefully replaced. Moving around in the tent needs to be careful too as due to the temperature outside (well below freezing) my breath freezes into icy droplets on the inside of the tent. If I am then careless enough to brush against it myriad little cold shards rain down. Given that I don't wear too much in the sleeping bag in order to gain the benefit of clothing when I get up you may imagine these little night-time icy showers are unwelcome!
The sun hits the tent at around 7:30 and the atmosphere within goes from icy cold to toast warm tending to hot in a matter of minutes. No alarm clock is needed due to a combination of 'get me outta here' heat and the call of breakfast at 8. Mind you, exiting the tent is a rigmarole in itself. fitting feet, legs, and torso into clothing which had been not worn but nonetheless in the bag to keep it warm all within the confines of that same bag is interesting to say the least. Then there is the need to find the various phones, charging units, and iPod also somewhere in the bag to avoid the cold draining all the batteries overnight. Finally on go the boots, sunglasses and peaked cap (the sun is already very bright and snow blindness a serious concern) and the tent is unzipped. At this point the magnificence of our surroundings never fails to impress as I lever myself upright with happy face in place ready to answer the questions that fellow climbers greet each other with every day. 'How are you?'. 'How did you sleep?'. 'How's the head?'. And so on.
Last thing before leaving the tent area: empty the pee bottle and set up the solar charger so as to have power to recharge the phones etc at the end of the day.
Breakfast in the mess tent was a joy. A long table graced with various sauces, cups, condiments and so on, lined either side by grubby hungry climbers with huge appetites. The appearance of the chef never fails to raise a cheer and when he lifts the lid on steaming smoked bacon, fried eggs, baked beans and warmed (if not actually toasted) bread the 'ooohs' and 'aaahs' along the table sound almost theatrical. They are not. The food here is a joy.
After breakfast I headed up the little hill behind my tent to try to send yesterday's blog using a new 'hot spot' service that costs £6 per hour and saves the need to walk to Gorak Shep (a round trip of over 2 hours). Despite the sun the wind is keen and cold and soon I'm looking like a little pixie shivering on a toadstool with tears of cold blurring my vision. Half an hour later and I've managed to answer all the comments. By the way all comments now need to be approved by me before they are published to avoid some ghoul or prankster making an inappropriate comment about last Friday and causing upset. I had also managed to upload the blog text. However try as I might I couldn't get the photo uploaded. After 45 mins I gave up and walked 20 mins to the antenna. 45 mins further, including reducing the size of the photo, still no joy. At this point I figured I (you) would just gave to manage without the photo.
Once back at camp it was time for a quick tidy-up of the tent, airing the sleeping bag, and a lie down to warm up, followed by recharging of the phone and iPad that had been severely depleted by the blogging efforts in the cold
Lunch was at 12, and another opportunity the complement the chef was presented. We had carrot and cauliflower in a white sauce, spicy German sausage, and rice. To follow: pomegranate.
Then I need to take my tablets each in their own way to assist hydration and to get the ma out of the food I eat: amino acids, magnesium, calcium, complex vitamin b, and aspirin to thin the blood.
The afternoon was spent washing some clothes and having a 'wet wipe' shower myself, followed by generally sitting around in the sunshine chewing things over with the other climbers. By around 3 the cloud arrived and it turned distinctly chilly. Repairing back to the tent I gave Clare a call and then it was into the sleeping back and in with the earplugs for a couple of episodes of 'Yes, Minister'. Amazingly I then dozed off, waking just in time for dinner at 6. Tough life innit? The fact is though that our bodies are working very hard just to maintain our health and physical well-being at this altitude and we have to allow it time to do so.
Dinner started with tomato and garlic soup, followed by spicy chicken, mixed vegetables and spaghetti in a bolognese sauce. After plentiful second (and third!) helpings dessert was served. You know what? I had actually dreamed about this a few days previously. Really! Dessert was fruit salat. Yep. Not fresh fruit salad but from a tin in syrup, Del Monte style! Outstanding. Talk about cheers for the chef!
After dinner some people made phone calls while others played chess. Such is the camaraderie of this group that after a while all other activities were stopped and, without allowing it to become to raucous given recent events, we played charades.
At around 9 it was gave over and we headed back to our tents, head-torches firmly in place, trying not to slip on the ice, either that newly formed since sundown or that always only just below the gravel surface. We are after all camped on a glacier, evidenced all too obviously by the cracks and graunches that we hear all through the night under our tents as they make their way inexorably, ever so slowly, down the valley.
Then the cycle repeats. Into the sleeping bag goes my phones, the iPad, my contact lenses and the iPod to stop them freezing overnight. These are followed by socks, trousers, pants, and base layer, and then me. Next to me, within easy reach go the head-torch, handkerchief, cough sweets (just in case), ear plugs, pee bottle, lip balm (the air is unbelievably dry), and bottle of hot water to slake my thirst during the night. If wasn't hot it would freeze by the morning and drinking even nearly freezing water is not good for dry throats.
Finally I stretch out my legs to find the bottle of hot water placed there immediately after dinner! Didn't I mention that? Ah, no. Well as they always used to say in my early military days; any fool can be cold!
Aaaah! Welcome to rest (I mean acclimatisation) at Everest Base Camp. But before I hear cries of 'easy life!' I would remind you that it was Easter Sunday after all and there was not a chocolate egg in sight!
We did however have a monster box of Haribo giant fizzy cola bottles!
He he.
This being Easter Sunday was a day of rest. To be honest though, even were this not that particular Sabbath it would still have been a day of rest, or as we prefer to call it, an acclimatisation day. There are several reasons for this. Following the tragedy of Good Friday we are in a period of mourning during which the mountain is off limits and a sombre tenor is appropriate in base camp. Furthermore the future of the 2014 season on Everest remains uncertain and nothing should be taken for granted but while we remain here we need to take account of the altitude in order to remain healthy. Finally from a personal perspective our climb to Pumori ABC on Saturday followed by the return trip to Gorak Shep was a fair stretch.
So, having established my excuses for doing nothing on Easter Sunday here is what nothing looked like. I should add at this point that I must be doing something right as I have had none of the customary symptoms of Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS); cough, headache, or nausea. Amazingly my customary 'bête noir', insomnia, has not affected me either.
I was awakened in the early hours (yet again) by a pressing need to pee. This is hardly surprising on someone drinking upwards of 4 litres per day. It is far too cold to go to the loo tent so a spare bottle is used in the tent and the is very carefully replaced. Moving around in the tent needs to be careful too as due to the temperature outside (well below freezing) my breath freezes into icy droplets on the inside of the tent. If I am then careless enough to brush against it myriad little cold shards rain down. Given that I don't wear too much in the sleeping bag in order to gain the benefit of clothing when I get up you may imagine these little night-time icy showers are unwelcome!
The sun hits the tent at around 7:30 and the atmosphere within goes from icy cold to toast warm tending to hot in a matter of minutes. No alarm clock is needed due to a combination of 'get me outta here' heat and the call of breakfast at 8. Mind you, exiting the tent is a rigmarole in itself. fitting feet, legs, and torso into clothing which had been not worn but nonetheless in the bag to keep it warm all within the confines of that same bag is interesting to say the least. Then there is the need to find the various phones, charging units, and iPod also somewhere in the bag to avoid the cold draining all the batteries overnight. Finally on go the boots, sunglasses and peaked cap (the sun is already very bright and snow blindness a serious concern) and the tent is unzipped. At this point the magnificence of our surroundings never fails to impress as I lever myself upright with happy face in place ready to answer the questions that fellow climbers greet each other with every day. 'How are you?'. 'How did you sleep?'. 'How's the head?'. And so on.
Last thing before leaving the tent area: empty the pee bottle and set up the solar charger so as to have power to recharge the phones etc at the end of the day.
Breakfast in the mess tent was a joy. A long table graced with various sauces, cups, condiments and so on, lined either side by grubby hungry climbers with huge appetites. The appearance of the chef never fails to raise a cheer and when he lifts the lid on steaming smoked bacon, fried eggs, baked beans and warmed (if not actually toasted) bread the 'ooohs' and 'aaahs' along the table sound almost theatrical. They are not. The food here is a joy.
After breakfast I headed up the little hill behind my tent to try to send yesterday's blog using a new 'hot spot' service that costs £6 per hour and saves the need to walk to Gorak Shep (a round trip of over 2 hours). Despite the sun the wind is keen and cold and soon I'm looking like a little pixie shivering on a toadstool with tears of cold blurring my vision. Half an hour later and I've managed to answer all the comments. By the way all comments now need to be approved by me before they are published to avoid some ghoul or prankster making an inappropriate comment about last Friday and causing upset. I had also managed to upload the blog text. However try as I might I couldn't get the photo uploaded. After 45 mins I gave up and walked 20 mins to the antenna. 45 mins further, including reducing the size of the photo, still no joy. At this point I figured I (you) would just gave to manage without the photo.
Once back at camp it was time for a quick tidy-up of the tent, airing the sleeping bag, and a lie down to warm up, followed by recharging of the phone and iPad that had been severely depleted by the blogging efforts in the cold
Lunch was at 12, and another opportunity the complement the chef was presented. We had carrot and cauliflower in a white sauce, spicy German sausage, and rice. To follow: pomegranate.
Then I need to take my tablets each in their own way to assist hydration and to get the ma out of the food I eat: amino acids, magnesium, calcium, complex vitamin b, and aspirin to thin the blood.
The afternoon was spent washing some clothes and having a 'wet wipe' shower myself, followed by generally sitting around in the sunshine chewing things over with the other climbers. By around 3 the cloud arrived and it turned distinctly chilly. Repairing back to the tent I gave Clare a call and then it was into the sleeping back and in with the earplugs for a couple of episodes of 'Yes, Minister'. Amazingly I then dozed off, waking just in time for dinner at 6. Tough life innit? The fact is though that our bodies are working very hard just to maintain our health and physical well-being at this altitude and we have to allow it time to do so.
Dinner started with tomato and garlic soup, followed by spicy chicken, mixed vegetables and spaghetti in a bolognese sauce. After plentiful second (and third!) helpings dessert was served. You know what? I had actually dreamed about this a few days previously. Really! Dessert was fruit salat. Yep. Not fresh fruit salad but from a tin in syrup, Del Monte style! Outstanding. Talk about cheers for the chef!
After dinner some people made phone calls while others played chess. Such is the camaraderie of this group that after a while all other activities were stopped and, without allowing it to become to raucous given recent events, we played charades.
At around 9 it was gave over and we headed back to our tents, head-torches firmly in place, trying not to slip on the ice, either that newly formed since sundown or that always only just below the gravel surface. We are after all camped on a glacier, evidenced all too obviously by the cracks and graunches that we hear all through the night under our tents as they make their way inexorably, ever so slowly, down the valley.
Then the cycle repeats. Into the sleeping bag goes my phones, the iPad, my contact lenses and the iPod to stop them freezing overnight. These are followed by socks, trousers, pants, and base layer, and then me. Next to me, within easy reach go the head-torch, handkerchief, cough sweets (just in case), ear plugs, pee bottle, lip balm (the air is unbelievably dry), and bottle of hot water to slake my thirst during the night. If wasn't hot it would freeze by the morning and drinking even nearly freezing water is not good for dry throats.
Finally I stretch out my legs to find the bottle of hot water placed there immediately after dinner! Didn't I mention that? Ah, no. Well as they always used to say in my early military days; any fool can be cold!
Aaaah! Welcome to rest (I mean acclimatisation) at Everest Base Camp. But before I hear cries of 'easy life!' I would remind you that it was Easter Sunday after all and there was not a chocolate egg in sight!
We did however have a monster box of Haribo giant fizzy cola bottles!
He he.