Dole: 4067 m
Machhermo: 4394 m
Distance: 5.8 km (47.9 km total)
It snowed overnight – probably 2-3 cm on the ground in the morning, but the dawn was clear. We were on our way by 8:15, starting with a short snowy descent, crossing an icy bridge, and a considerable climb out of the valley. This brought on my usual headache, which refused to budge even with ibuprofen. It made it really hard to enjoy the walk. I had to keep reminding myself of the Bible verse, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’ It’s only by God’s grace – His unmerited favour in my life – that I had the opportunity to go on the trip and experience all the amazing glory of His creation. Even in a country where Christianity has had very little impact, He was still with us every step of the way.
We arrived at the campsite about 1 pm, changed into warm clothes and had lunch. The cloud started coming in shortly afterwards.
At 3 pm we went to visit the porter shelter and rescue centre where they had a talk from one of the doctors about the work they are doing helping porters and also about the symptoms and treatment for different severities of altitude sickness. It was very informative and for a 100 Rs donation we could have our oxygen sats measured. Raewyn’s was 93% and mine was 86%.
Afternoon tea was at 4:30 and the fire in the dining room was lit at 5:00 so we laid out some wet clothes along the table near the heater. It is powered by dried yak dung and a little kerosene to get going, and produces quite a lot of heat! Dinner was spiral rice snacks, spaghetti, tomato sauce, spicy sausage, rice, potato hash browns with yak cheese, chocolate custard. I started taking Diamox at Machhermo; Raewyn started taking it back at Namche.
Next day
No comments:
Post a Comment