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Lobouche
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Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Dingboche-Lobouche
Today we leave for Lobuche. It is going to be a long day, but the acclimatization hike of yesterday will help us out, making it a bit easier.
Along the way, this afternoon, we will pass by a ridge that has chortens, which are memorials to climbers who have lost their lives on Everest. The picture above is Scott Fischer's chorten. He was a western guide who lost his life during the now famous storm of May 10, 1996 in which eight Everest climbers lost their lives in a single night, and the lives of several more deeply affected. His body remains very high on the mountain. You can read about that season's saga in a book named "The Climb" by Anatoli Boukreev. It is a sobering thought that many strong and capable men have not returned home.
I already know, but during the puja ceremony a few days ago it really hit home that climbing Mt. Everest is not only a big undertaking for me, but also for the sherpas here, as none will step foot on the mountain until the blessing has occurred. It is a mountain that should be taken seriously, but that being said, I do feel as well prepared as I can be, and I am looking forward to starting the climb.
Along the way, this afternoon, we will pass by a ridge that has chortens, which are memorials to climbers who have lost their lives on Everest. The picture above is Scott Fischer's chorten. He was a western guide who lost his life during the now famous storm of May 10, 1996 in which eight Everest climbers lost their lives in a single night, and the lives of several more deeply affected. His body remains very high on the mountain. You can read about that season's saga in a book named "The Climb" by Anatoli Boukreev. It is a sobering thought that many strong and capable men have not returned home.
I already know, but during the puja ceremony a few days ago it really hit home that climbing Mt. Everest is not only a big undertaking for me, but also for the sherpas here, as none will step foot on the mountain until the blessing has occurred. It is a mountain that should be taken seriously, but that being said, I do feel as well prepared as I can be, and I am looking forward to starting the climb.
Dingboche - Is it cold or hot there?
Dingboche
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Today was an acclimatization day in Dingboche. We climbed up the ridge overlooking the town as a little hike. We gained 700m, and it took me 2hr20min. I'm not feeling 100%, but good enough to be about 30min ahead of the group. Domhnall left this morning for Lobuche as he is feeling good.
Some of you may be wondering what we are eating. Breakfast this morning was oatmeal and french toast. Lunch is usually tomato soup, then either fried rice or noodles. Once we had grilled cheese. Supper always starts with soup, garlic or broth, then usually a large portion of rice/noodles/potatoes etc, and after all that there is dessert. A few days ago we had lemon meringue pie! Fabulous. It is fun to watch as they serve all 29 of us at the same time. For beverages, we drink a lot of tea. It is served from a large thermos that holds about 20 cups, with hot milk on the side (powdered of course). For snacks we often eat popcorn, Pringles chips - because of the packaging they stay intact!! and of course some kind of chocolate bar such as snickers. I should have bought shares in the company.
Most of us are feeling good. There is a bug that has passed through most of us, but thankfully it's only lasting about 24hrs.
Cameron from St Edmund School asks Is it cold or hot there?
Well, the days that we spent in Kathmandu were very warm. As warm as our warmest summer day in Edmonton. On the way to Everest base camp it will get progressively colder. In the mornings right now it is cool, but by mid-day it is warm enough to trek in a light shirt. By the time that we reach base camp in a few days from now, we will be wearing down jackets at night, with toques and mitts, but during the day just a light jacket. On the mountain it will be very cold, and getting colder the higher we go. By the time I reach the summit, it may be as cold as -40C! It is for this reason that I have a down suit.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Question - Fluid intake
Today's question came from the Trochu Valley School.
You measured your fluid intake each day as you trained and we wondered why this is important and how that impacts your trek up Everest?
Lucille conveyed her explanation to me, Ted, and I will paraphrase it here.
Have you ever noticed that the air is a lot more dry in the winter than it is in the other seasons. Well, on Mt. Everest, the air is extremely dry. Every breath you take robs your body of a little bit of moisture, that is the fog on your breath as you exhale in the cold. Hopefully you don't work so hard that you also sweat a lot on top of this, because in addition to making you cold, excessive sweating is also additional loss of moisture.
Also, as you go higher on the mountain, and the oxygen gets thinner, your body produces additional red blood cells to try and carry as much oxygen as it can get a hold of, and your blood actually gets thicker. If you allow yourself to get dehydrated, you could develop blood clots as well. Those are not good for you.
To keep up with this loss of hydration, they will have to drink about 5 liters of water per day, and up high on the mountain, they will have to melt snow to get this water. Lucille has never been particularly good at drinking enough water as you noted in her training blog entries, and she has to remind herself to drink more to stay healthy on the mountain. In recording her fluid intake, she was reminding herself to try and drink more. If you didn't figure out the other acronym there "RHR", means Resting Heart Rate. She also measured her blood oxygen saturation, but I don't believe she recorded that on her blog. The combination of these factors would give her an idea of whether she was training properly, or maybe over training a little bit. She would compare all these readings with how she was feeling, and she continues to monitor all of these during her expedition.
You measured your fluid intake each day as you trained and we wondered why this is important and how that impacts your trek up Everest?
Lucille conveyed her explanation to me, Ted, and I will paraphrase it here.
Have you ever noticed that the air is a lot more dry in the winter than it is in the other seasons. Well, on Mt. Everest, the air is extremely dry. Every breath you take robs your body of a little bit of moisture, that is the fog on your breath as you exhale in the cold. Hopefully you don't work so hard that you also sweat a lot on top of this, because in addition to making you cold, excessive sweating is also additional loss of moisture.
Also, as you go higher on the mountain, and the oxygen gets thinner, your body produces additional red blood cells to try and carry as much oxygen as it can get a hold of, and your blood actually gets thicker. If you allow yourself to get dehydrated, you could develop blood clots as well. Those are not good for you.
To keep up with this loss of hydration, they will have to drink about 5 liters of water per day, and up high on the mountain, they will have to melt snow to get this water. Lucille has never been particularly good at drinking enough water as you noted in her training blog entries, and she has to remind herself to drink more to stay healthy on the mountain. In recording her fluid intake, she was reminding herself to try and drink more. If you didn't figure out the other acronym there "RHR", means Resting Heart Rate. She also measured her blood oxygen saturation, but I don't believe she recorded that on her blog. The combination of these factors would give her an idea of whether she was training properly, or maybe over training a little bit. She would compare all these readings with how she was feeling, and she continues to monitor all of these during her expedition.
Trek April 5 - Phortse-Dingboche
Lucille phoned me at home. She is having problems connecting to Gabcast as they changed their numbers over the weekend. I gave her the new numbers.
Lucille left Phortse early, and walked/ran to Pangboche and managed to catch up to the group in time for the Puja ceremony at Lama Geshi's house. He gave them each a Kota, the white silk scarf around their necks. There were blessings and throwing of rice, traditional in a Puja ceremony. He then gave them each a Sungdhis. This is a special red cord that has a special knot tied in it and they wear it around their necks. The idea is that you will never take this off until it deteriorates and falls off by itself. It is believed to provide you with special protection until you are no longer in need of it, at which time it chooses to leave you and falls off.
In the picture, you can just see short little Lucille behind Lama Geshi's right shoulder.As they were leaving Pangboche, Lucille ran into Domhnall, who was just going in to see Lama Geshi himself. They left, and got to Dingboche around 2:00. She says it is too cold after dark to stand outside and try and make a Satellite Phone call. It doesn't work well indoors.
Phortse
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Pangboche
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Dingboche
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Sunday, April 4, 2010
Trek April 4 - Namche Bazaar-Phortse
Although Lucille trekked to Phortse, and Dawa Sherpa's house, the rest of the expedition would have gone for a visit to the Tengboche Monastary, and continued on to Pangboche. Those are the two red squares on the map. We'll see how long it takes her to reconnect with the group.
Namche Bazaar
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Dawa's house? Or just the last track point? - Phortse
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Phortse
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Tengboche Monastary
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Pangboche
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Do you know anyone who has done this before?
Namaste everyone!!!! This is a common greating here in Nepal, and it almost sounds like 'have a nice day'. There are several different meaning for the greeting Namaste, but my favourite one is 'the light within me greets the light within you'.
Yesterday I ran into Dawa and he told me that the exterior of his tea house is built, but still needs to build the inside, 8 more rooms for a total of 10 rooms. I gave him the money that I said I would from the fund raising and he was very greatful, and thanks everyone from the Cochrane club who came to the slide show.
Yesterday I ran into Dawa and he told me that the exterior of his tea house is built, but still needs to build the inside, 8 more rooms for a total of 10 rooms. I gave him the money that I said I would from the fund raising and he was very greatful, and thanks everyone from the Cochrane club who came to the slide show.
This is a picture of my down suit that I had made in Kathmandu. I was unable to load the picture while in Kathmandu, so I have done it here today.
The next question is from Enrico from St. Edmund School who asks...Do you know anyone that has done this before? I do have several friends who have been on Everest, including Dawa. Everest is a difficult mountain to climb, and as I am told it is the mountain that decides if you will climb it or not. There will be many challenges along the way, and the weather is also very critical. The jet stream sits over top of Everest making it very windy at the top. It is only possible to climb when the jet stream moves, which typically happens for a few weeks in mid-May just before the monsoon hits.
I was talking with my guide last night and he told us that summiting is not the most important part of the climb, and it is for that reason this sport is called 'climbing' and not 'summitting'. What is most important is all the experiences that we have had that has brought us to where we are now, all the things that I have done, all the people that I have met because I am climbing Everest and all the experiences we will have on the mountain.
It is a long time until we attempt the summit, and until then we have to stay healthy, eat and drink properly, sleep when we can and stay mentally focused. Thanks to everyone for their positive comments, it is so helpful.
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