09/26/2009 4:28pm (KTM)
Happy Birthday Febe! Today was quite a challenge. I woke up at 4:21am and went outside to check the sky. If the weather was still bad, there would be no reason to climb Kala Pattar, at 18,000 feet, because there would be no view of Everest, Nuptse, or Pumori. When I went outside the sky was brilliant, with billions, and billions of stars. I woke Prem up and we decided to head out at 5:00am. I know it was colder than -25 degrees because that was as low as the thermometer went. There was a foot of snow on the ground, and drifts up to three feet deep. The snow on the rocks was frozen solid so it made climbing a bit treacherous. The two hour climb ended up taking four. There are two different peaks on Kala Pattar (Like most places) at 18,192 feet. There are beautiful sweeping views of Mt. Everest, Nuptse, Ama Dablam, and about 1000 other Himalayan peaks.Once we were back at the lodge we took a few minutes to pack our stuff, and we let Deil head out. I might mention Prem carried a pot of hot coffee with us up Kala Pattar. This morning I wore brown cargo pants, spandex under pants, blue Nike spandex shirt, Kavu sweater, 805 Fleece jacket, black North Face pants, Agile wind jacket, heavy socks, Asolo boots, Hollister Beanie, new buff, and black sunglasses. Once we got back to Gorek Shep, I took off the fleece jacket, and cargo pants, changed shoes, and 30 minutes down the trail lost the jacket! Our itinerary says we are to hike to Loubuche today, making tomorrow a very long day, but we are going to push all the way to Dingboche today, and have a nice rest day tomorrow. This would mean waking up at 4:21 am; climbing 18,192 foot Kala Pattar, hiking back to Gorek Shep, Gorek Shep to Loubuche, and Loubuche to Dingboche. We stopped in Loubuche for tea, and stopped in Thokla (Dughla) for lunch. From Thokla we head up the shoulder above Pheriche. You would have thought we were in England. It was very pretty and there were yak trails everywhere - not a bad hike. Tomorrow we trek to Chhukung where Prem will turn me over to Mr. Tenzing my climbing guide. It will be pretty steep. I went looking for a cyber café in the village of Dingboche, but there were none.
09/26/2009 5:52pm (KTM)
The clouds up the valley just cleared a bit and Island Peak just popped out! Very impressive! “Big Boy!”
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