5 April – Phortse to Pheriche

Overnight low in our room: 42F. Starting altitude 3845 metres (12600 ft), ending altitude 4240 metres (13900 ft).

Sitting now in the lodge in Pheriche, which is a very nice place, having running water and soap available, and hot showers. It also boasts WiFi, which I and several others have paid the equiavalent of USD 5 to use for the evening. This boast is turning out to be something of an embellishment… As I write this, I have as yet been unable to post the blog post from 4 April. In fact, I can’t currently get enough bandwidth to ask google to convert metres to feet so as to boast our current altitude. The lodge next door boasts an “Internet Café”. What are the chances their connection is stronger? Ha! We shall see.

As we progress onward toward base camp, things are, understandably becoming more and more primitive. Available running water with soap and a hot shower may sound like trivial things – things to be expected – but this far up the trail they are luxuries. Here is a thought experiment for you: I have not showered in six days. Now, imagine sitting next to me during dinner.

You’re welcome.

Tomorrow, I shower.  Mmmmmmmm! Shower.

Here is a picture I took last night. With one exception, everyone in this photo plans to summit Everest. The second and third in from the right are Himex climbing guides; they plan on going to the top. At the far right is Bob. He is the base camp chef. I have hiked with Bob. If I were to ask Bob why he wasn’t going up Everest, and if he were to answer me with something like “I could if I wanted to, but I just don’t feel like it”, I would believe him. Without question.

Every individual in this photo is a beast

I have occasionally started a day’s hike with what I refer to as the ‘lead element’ which usually consists of one of the guides and a handful of those on the summit team.  On the downhill, I can keep up, but barely. On uphill, fugeddaboudit. On the level, I can hang right in there, but only because they choose not to break into a light run, which I fully believe they could do if they wanted to. On today’s first leg, I started out with them, and hung in there even through some uphill stints, but eventually my reserves gave out. I will sleep well tonight.

I begin to fall behind the peloton

Some in the group pulling away from me are in their 60s or late 50s. I find them inspiring. I believe there is likely a genetic component to their abilities as opposed to mine, but I also feel certain that whatever my own actual limitations may be, my limitations as I currently believe them to exist are illusory and a crutch/excuse. When this is done and I am home, I intend to spend some quality time with Shaun T.

Today’s weather is overcast. Ordinarily, our route today would be treated to some further astounding views of Ama Dablam, but those are obscured. We are now above timberline, and the predominant flora are lichens and shrubs that somewhat resemble juniper.

On the way to tea, just under the cloud ceiling

There is a sort of austere beauty to the surroundings, though with the exception of the river, the colors are muted dark greens and browns.

As has been previously established, there are yaks here. I thought these were pretty photogenic. They were large and shaggy, and had curly horns – which indicate to me that they were Elder Yaks. They were also standing in the middle of a trail that was roughly one yak-width wide. They were not accompanied by a yakmaster.

Freelance yaks

The approved method for getting by a yak in this circumstance proved to be to stand aside and just wait for it to walk by. That took a little time, as I am still developing my Yak Whispering skills.

Although the scenery outdoors may be getting less and less colourful, the same cannot be said for the scenery indoors. When we stopped for lunch, the lodge proprietor’s daughter ambled out to inspect the goings on.

No caption necessary

We had another couple of hours of hiking to do after lunch. By the time we arrived in Pheriche, I was pretty wiped out. What sounded best was to lean back in my chair in the dining room, rest my eyes, and have a nice drink and a snack. In the state I was in, what seemed at the time to be the best thing to do was to indulge in some strawberry crème Oreos and some Johnny Walker Red.

This is a thing that I have now done

Tomorrow is an acclimatization day. We will spend a second night here – our last night in a lodge – before hiking up to Lobuche Base Camp. I believe there will be no internet access at Lobuche BC. Not sure what the bandwidth will be like at Everest BC. I will post more as soon as I am able!