Himalaya reloaded 2011-10th day-Kala Pattar

read here how it was yesterday

10^th day of trek, 22th of December 2010

Lobuche (4.910 m alt) – Ghorak Shep (5.140 m alt.) –

Kala Pattar (5.643 m alt.)

 When I look to a picture of a “killer mountain” it happens something strange. It looks deadly ... but I immediately think about a such of occur thing: "how I reach the amount of money for going there, doing this, trying this, climbing there?!?" ....

OK, I have to admit that I never dreamed about climbing Everest until now...... I always said to me that I couldn't breathe over 6.000 m or I would need 3 month of living over 5.000 m high. But something strange is still happening and I remember about my first ascent higher than 6.000 m, in Ecuador, 9 years ago: As I saw the climbers’ cemetery at the foot of Chimborazo, I felt crazy. No, I didn’t want to give up the climb, but only in that moment I realized the really exposure to the risks. And the local guide we had then and who paid something for us, said to us that evening: 

“So, people, I would like to have the money from all of you, as we start to climb at midnight.” Clear text: “And if one of you die on the route, I stay unpaid.” It was about one dollar from each of us and we were 5 people ….  Of course it is difficult to comment this, but I was shocked. The man had right actually and in a very pragmatic and almost rude way, he wanted to be sure about his 5 dollars. He didn’t think about the fact himself could die on the route.

Coming up here to Lobuche before yesterday, alone, reaching the Tukla Pass at 4.830 m alt. and seeing all the memorials to so many different people who died on their trail to different destinations of this area, of course including Everest mostly, I just took a break of 15 minutes to look around and memorizing everything I saw in that moment. I couldn’t stay longer in that amazing place, I just wanted to go forward, further and higher, I wanted to find my trail and to reach the 5.000 m alt. that day. I just find occur that you don’t feel as wanting to give up the entire story. You are tired, alone, I didn’t meet someone for about three hours, I even wasn’t sure at 2 p.m. that I follow the right trail, but the force which pulled me was much stronger. So …. Let you go with the wind is such a nice metaphore and becomes so real in this context ….. I am just going with the wind ………..

And yes, I described the trail of yesterday, going from Lobuche to Gorak Shep for the first time, but I didn't mention anything about the other memorial you meet just before climbing up on the Kumbu Glacier ..... you see? It seems not human sensitive, but after you pass along so many memorials and you read: 

"he climbed Everest alone and died on the return way" or "he was on his way to the top of the world" and so on, you  will stop looking at them, you will stop reading all those memorial words, you will stop taking pictures of them and you will finally ignore them .... think about the place of Pashupatinah in Kathmandu, where the death is almost a living subject and the people are looking at it every day and every night .... is the death just a part of our lives? What's so big deal about it?

Diary notes:

”Lobuche, 17:45

What a day! I’ve just get high fever again. I couldn’t sleep last night at all, at least five minutes! And this despite the better accommodation conditions. I had -15°C in the room over the night, this is meaning that last night in that summer and very old lodge were about -17°C. I was terrible tired and sleepy, of course, but today was a long and exciting day, Kala Pattar Peak – the original base camp for Mount Everest ascent - was on the agenda. 

So, at 7:10 I left my warm sleeping bag and started to be ready for the day, at 7:30 I ordered the breakfast and at 8:30 we left the Hotel. It was terrible cold outside too, but the sun just rose few minutes before and everything around was bathed in its beautiful light and warm. Wonderful day, perfect weather! We reached the settlement in Ghorak Sherp at 11  o'clock and stayed for about one hour inside, drinking tea and hot chocolate. We didn’t intend do be so late staying there, but then it came a terrible sand storm on the valley and we had to cross that white sand desert in order to reach the ascending path to Kala Pattar. Everything was flying in the air: plastic chairs and bags, cartoon boxes, papers, wood, just everything. The dinning room where we were taking a seat was outside, exposed like a sort of terrace, very nice and small, but made only from some wooden boards and we had the feeling it will be soon taken by the wind! 

The strong wind is coming from my left and from behind too,

so I had to have very fixed legs on the ground

  We started our walk at 12 o'clock. I was fascinated crossing the white sand plateau – this is actually an ancient lake bed, which now contains a small lake on the right, coming from the glacier, and a helipad -, incredible scenery. So empty, so deep between those rocky and icy giants, some yaks around and no people, some baskets in the wind. Absolutely fascinating. I was lying on the sand as you lie and make angels on the snow, if you know what I mean.

 The ascent makes its way up a series of steep switchbacks before leveling off somewhat as it traverses to the eastern side of the mountain. At the begining, for about one hour, it is a crazy steep zigzag which climbs from 5.164 to about 5.350, then it comes a down plateau, not so steep, very wide and exposed to the winds from all directions. Soft ground actually, but because so dry and frozen, quite hard this period of the year. In the summer I suppose is all only green high grass here. After about half an hour you start to climb on the dark big rocks. Khala Pattar is actually meaning „The black rock“. The main reason why many trekkers attempt to summit Kala Pattar is that it provides the most accesible point to view Mount Everest from base camp to peak (due to the structure of Everest, the Everest Summit cannot be seen from the base camp). The trail becomes steep once again until it reaches the wind-swept summit ridge. From there, a five to 15 minute scramble over boulders takes one to the top.

Magnificent Nuptse (center, sharp) and the Summit of Everest

Kala Pattar appears as a big brown bump below the impressive south face of Pumo Ri (7.161 m) and climbing on it you feel crushed by the greatness of the white giant behind which the Tibet is lying.

About 20 m away from the summit the wind became really creepy and dangerous, Andy, Claire and Peter stoped and returned. Difficult to describe, but the wind can give you a scary feeling indeed. It was 2 p.m.. The views from Kala Pattar of Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse are spectacular. In my madness I climbed a flat rock, on a higher lever, terrible exposed, I managed to take out my camera from the backpack and I filmed a few minutes. I had to keep my feet very stiff. With mine 58 kg per total were not great miracle to be strucked. I really struggled to keep filming, but after my fingers were totally frozen and I couldn’t keep balance anymore, I had to give up. I was alone, nobody behind on the mountain, the other three guys were already too long distance from me, so I packed my camera, looked around once again and started to descent.

Hardly to believe, but in 8 minutes I descended what I climbed up for one hour on the rocks!!! And in 30 minutes from the summit I reached the ancient river bed at Ghorak Shep (2 hours up and half an hour down).

 It was pretty late to leave Ghorak Shep at 3 p.m. – as we didn’t intend to stay over night there, because next day we plan to leave Lobuche and have the probably longest day of the trek to Gokyo Lakes Area -, so we had a strong march to Lobuche, which we reached in two hours. It was already crepuscule and terrible cold again, no sun, as we reached our Eco Hotel.” Let the video play with loud sound.

 So, this was the day of Kala Pattar Summit, no further descriptions needed. 
Only that I had a great Sherpa Stew for 320 NRP:

And only that being on the top my right eye suffered a burst blood vessels and for several minutes I had some problems, but every step descending in altitude improved my eyesight. Great day, I have only one desire: to sleep! Tomorrow it will be terrible long, so I have to get better over the night.

Bye-bye Pumo Ri, Kala Pattar and Ghorak Shep, 

see you next time!! 

COSTS of the day:  

breakfast: 840 NRP, 
Sherpa Stew in Ghorak Shep: 320 NRP, 
dinner: 900, 
room: 150 NRP 
                           =  2.110 NRP / 30 USD

read here the daily schedule of the entire trekking

READ HERE about the next day

N.B.

My first adventure in Himalaya can be read March 2009

and click here for the story in pictures 

Himalaya reloaded 2011 - 9th day - Ghorak Shep

READ HERE about the previous day 

9th day: Ghorak Shep (5.140 m) - to Everest B.C. (5.200 m)
6 hours, no lunch
 21.12.2010, 5:15 p.m., in Lobuche (4.910 m),

Himalayan Eco Resorts

 Although the first night – since one week – when I can say I could sleep for a while, I cannot say I enjoyed it. It was something strange, although warm inside my sleeping bag.  For the first time I spend the night with all my thick clothes on me: the flies jacket, the flies pants and the thermo socks!! And of course, the hat on. -15° C inside over night. I had high fever and practically I did not left my sleeping bag for 19 hours (!!!), from 2:30 p.m. to 9 a.m. today in the morning. Except the times I had to go to the frozen toilet. Such a weird primitive lodge, nobody inside, dark rooms, everything made from wooden boards …. So no wonder so cold inside, I suppose that in summer can be very nice and cosy here, but for sure not an accommodation place during the winter!

Last night some thoughts  flew through my tired mind: I am alone, at one of the Ends of this World, sick, have fever, starting to loose blood from my nose, I am tired, outside my sleeping bag reigns a paralyzing cold, the guy is in charge with the lodge doesn’t speak English and he is also not too clever, but very good willing actually, I think he is happy to have a guest in his lodge. So far I could make a dialogue with him, I understood it is not his lodge, he just work here, and on 20th of January to the 15th of February he will take holiday, going down in the far away village of his family, so 3 days walking. The lodge will be closed for that period of time. Living alone here, in these conditions, must be terrible difficult and this is why the tourists should show all the empathy and understanding they have.
Although I tried not to drink in the evening, over the night I had to go to the toilet three times, which is a terrible challenge. I didn’t go to sleep in the room I rented, I stayed over night in the dinning room, the idea of going in that tiny cold room just terrified me. The lodge is made from thin wooden boards, some plastic and tin plates, no isolation.

This morning at 7 no movement inside the lodge. Starting 7:50 I began to say “Hallo, namaste! Good morning!”, otherwise the guy seemed not to appear. Although the evening before I asked him if he make some fire in the morning and he said “yes”, at 8 o’clock nothing was moving there. Normally, when they have guests in their lodges, they wake up after 6 or 7. In  this case, I had no idea what “morning time” is meaning for him. So, he finally appeared after 8, but no sign about doing a fire, so I asked him for this. He filled the small stove with dried yak dung and then, instead to light the fire, he was very concerned and busy to sweep around the stove ….. so I felt stupid looking at him.

For breakfast, I asked for Sherpa Stew, as I’ve got used with this sort of local vegetable soup. I blocked him with my request. He said, it is not possible to cook Sherpa Stew in the morning because all is frozen and Sherpa Stew is actually for the lunch or dinner. I did not comment and I just changed my order. It was senseless to try to understand him or to try him to understand me. I asked for “french toast” (2 slices for 400 NRP), 1 liter of boiled water and an egg drop soup. I’ve got the water and the bread, then …. Nothing. I’ve ate the bread with my own honey and I asked him about the soup. He did not understand my order or he just forgot about the soup. Anyway, he apologized and in 5 minutes I’ve got the poor soup too.

I left finally my sleeping bag, it was almost 9 o’clock and I decided to move on for that day. I did not feel the fever anymore. To combat the cold and the high altitude, you have to eat, drink as much as possible, and keep moving. Otherwise, you die.

I wrote a note for Anna, telling her I go to Ghorak Shep / Everest Base Camp, maybe she arrives earlier and we meet on the trail.

I started my trek day very late, at 10, in a crazy slow step. I’ve got on my goretex pants, 3 thin shirts, the down jacket, the hat and the gloves, of course.

I walked past the Eco Hotel – big hotel, from stone, but I just had the feeling it is much to expensive -, past a small herd of yaks and the trail slightly forwarded on the valley, with generous open horizons in background, in various brown nuances. I was again on trail and I felt again inside of my natural world. I could walk, breathe, think and admire, advancing towards to a new unknown of this big world!

Far away in front of me an entire mountains range in white snow and ice. If I suspected that on my right side, over the dark brown hill, the long Kumbu Glacier was stretching …… My first meeting with it – about one hour later – was an absolutely fascinating feeling which I cannot describe.

After one hour of walking through the Kumbu Valley I followed a steep ascent on scree and boulder, then the trail slipped forwarded for another hour through a rugged desert of cobble (thinking a little to high Retezat Area in the Carpathians). All was very dry and dusty, but the sun was behind me and this is a big advantage. If you walk against the sun, you get problems about the visibility and get burned, until you have a good protection.

And, to a certain point, the revelation of meeting the huge mass of the glacier just exploded inside me!! Wow ….. wow …… woooow!!!! I’ve never seen before such a leak of ice waves, frozen and almost frozen lakes, all combined with debris, cobble, tons of dust, snow, ice, lakes with steep sides formed in different points of the long-long ice and snow snake …… wow is the only sound I could say.

Loud, even if I was alone! In front of this image was a high black rock, about 500 m away from my place, so I left the path and I reached that rock, climbing on it and filming or taking pictures, crushed under amazement and delight. At first I had to remember me to breathe again …. Every time when I feel overwhelming I forgot to breath and this can be dangerous :-)

In the picture above: the dark brown mountain is Kala Pattar ("the black rock") of 5.643 m alt., on which I climb tomorrow and the huge white guy behind, so imposing over the scenery, is Pumo Ri*- 7.161 m alt., bordering the Tibet. Everest and Lhotse are on the right (not on this picture). The landscape is overwhelming indeed, even if the pictures are not able to show it. It is indeed quite funny to see in this picture, how small and modest seems to be  the dark Kala Pattar on such a big contradiction with the white Pumo Ri. 

After a while I remembered to return to the trail and to go further on it, it was already too late. I forwarded having the image of the amazing glacier all the time on my right side, I lose the direction at a certain point, as I reached a rocky small valley full of rocks and snow and ice. I was on a part of living Kumbu Glacier actually and I knew that these kind of areas are permanently moving, so the trails are always changing. I saw a small bridge having no logic, a proof of this permanent phenomenon of moving ground. I have to say that because of being alone in such of place, I did not feel very relaxed, It is just too strange, almost creepy to be in a wild place, somewhere at one end of the world, loosing direction. I walked somehow right and I observed a sort of path climbing steep up. So I left the valley with the blue icy walls among the rocks. Shortly I found again the dusty path I walked on before loosing the direction. 

New up&downs for an hour, then suddenly the last human settlement of Ghorak Shep stand down in the sand desert, in front of my eyes. On the south side of Everest, this is the last chance to get accommodation and meals. On the Tibetan side, also the North side of Everest, the things are different, being built some tea houses even in the base camp.

It was too late for  keep going to the end of the trail and reaching Everest B.C., only rocks and cold shadow and the trail is so unsure, nobody around, so I return ed somewhere on the way,  going back on the safety of day light, to Lobuche and about 15 minutes before the high settlement I followed the sign to the “Pyramid”. Five minutes of almost creepy walk, I just had the feeling somebody is following me. I just wanted to see how is the Pyramid looking at the foot of Lobuche Glacier.

North of Lobuche, tucked into a side valley, “The Italian Pyramid” was built in 1990 by the Italian mountaineer Agostino da Polenza and the geologist Ardito Desio, who led the first ascent of K2 in 1954. Housed inside a striking glass pyramid, the research station was established to measure the exact hight of Everest and K2. Today is it used for scientific research of the mountain conservation, climate change, mountaineering technology and the effects of high altitude of the human body.

As I reached Lobuche again it was almost to the sunset and this is meaning, in those high places, much colder air and early dark. It was almost 4 p.m. No sign from Anna, so she did not come, as we established. For the second time very disappointed about her and I felt something is strange with her.

As I entered Lobuche, the first hotel on the right side is Eco Hotel and the manager from there called after me: “Is your name Anka? O couple is asking about you.” I was pleasant surprised to find out that the British couple asked for me, Claire and Andi and to see them again was very enjoyable, as we were the only tourists there for that evening. I asked how much it costs the accommodation, it was 200 NRP (3 USD). In my lodge “Above the clouds” I paid 50 NRP. I tried to negotiate for 100 NRP, as the price was per room and I was single, so it would be unfair to pay the exactly same amount at the couple did. The manager didn’t want to offer any discount, actually the first one who did  not offer a discount for accommodation, all others up to here were always glad to get guests and they asked for a symbolic amount for the room. The fact is the the profit is coming from the meals and beverage costs, not from the rooms. 
I stayed for a while chatting with Claire and Andi, I did not ordered anything to eat or to drink (“If I do not stay here, I do not spend money here, I go to my lodge.”) Before leaving to eat to my lodge, I went and asked again if they make any discount. “OK, you may pay 150 NRP.” Although I knew the standard was much more superior, I did not want to give up negotiating, so I took a room there for 150 NRP. Food and beverage prices were also higher and I knew I will order enough for their profit. So, I run back to my lodge, I paid the bill and let the guy some bonbons and a tip of 3 dollars (this is not mandatory, but I did all over the places, as empathy gesture), then I moved into my new location, instead to stay alone and lonely in that very simple lodge where I already spent a night in the dinning room. It was a good decision actually. I had less to eat, because of the prices, but I had not regrets. I even ordered my first bier! and the empty dose I carried with me back home, if you can imagine this!! It was 21^st of December in the evening and I thought about 21 years ago, as at that time I was on the streets of Bucharest, risking my life for a lot of things I enjoy today, event the right to think free, earn money and travel abroad!!

in the picture, my lunch&dinner for today: vegetables rolls. Tasty.

I hope to have a good sleep, as tomorrow in the morning we leave to Kala Pattar at 8,30. It was an amazing day and the joy of being here, feeling all these is worth to any kind of effort indeed! To be here, is a honor. Good night!
COSTS OF THE DAY: Breakfast 950, Dinner 750, room 150 = 1.850 NRP / 26 USD

see the story in pictures clicking here 

*Pumori (or Pumo Ri) is a mountain in the Himalaya on the Nepal-Tibet border. Pumori lies just eight kilometres west of Mount Everest. Pumori, which means "Unmarried Daughter" in the Sherpa language, was named by George Mallory. Climbers sometimes refer to Pumori as "Everest's Daughter".

An outlier of Pumori is Kala Patthar (5,643m/18,513'), which appears as a big brown bump below the impressive south face of Pumori. Many trekkers going to see Mt. Everest up close will attempt to climb to the top of Kala Patthar. The views from almost anywhere on Kala Patthar of Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse are quite impressive on a clear day.

 read here about tomorrow

My advice for such of trekking trips in Himalaya: 

Buy the services of a local travel agency. 

If your backpack is over 12 kg, hire a porter. 

Think about hiring a local guide. 

read here the daily schedule of the entire trail 

N.B.

My first adventure in Himalaya can be read March 2009

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and click here for the story in pictures