9- 15 Nov 2012
Days 9 - 11 were probably the hardest days of the whole trek. Day 9 we climbed to our camp which was at Yak Kharka, 4070m high. We got there at the usual time of 2.30pm and waited in the cold for camp to be set up so we could quickly jump into our tents and get warm. We lost the sun almost immediately which was becoming a regular thing, and at this altitude the temperature turned freezing as soon as it was gone. I really did like this camp site as we were more secluded then usual. We only had one little shack which became our dining room, thank god because the dining tent was freezing to sit in. There were yaks everywhere around us so I took some photos. I even chased a grey one down because his colour made him so different to all the other brown and blacks. Pity my pic came out blurry tho :(
We all struggled to get warm this night. We wore every layer we owned and got inside the sleeping bag and liner as soon as possible. It was too fucking cold to do anything. I couldn't even read my kindle because sticking my hands out the top of the sleeping bag to hold it would be too cold. I had started sleeping completely inside my sleeping bag by this point, head and everything. I know that would normally suffocate you but it was too fucking cold to even have my face sticking out. You would wake up with extreme sore throat and stuffy nose if you did sleep face out.
During dinner some locals who lived in the little shack told us that snow leopards were in this area. Oh cool! Too bad we'll never see them because none of us could stay outside long enough. It was straight from the dining room to our sleeping bags at 7pm and we all drifted into an uncomfortable sleep as you would in -10 in a damn tent.
As we woke up on day 10 to -11, our coldest morning yet, you could see the pain in everyone's face. Just packing up our sleeping bag and kit bags was extra hard as your hands were in agony doing anything. We eagerly ate our morning porridge and drank our hot cups of tea to warm up, but sadly that warmth didn't last long.
We started walking at the usual 7.30am but as we were now above 4000m, walking uphill was not just hard work, it was exhausting and difficult to breathe. Especially as my nose was still blocked from the flu. The cold wind against my face would burn on my stuffy nose. I don't understand how people cope with the flu in cold temperatures! It's so damn uncomfortable! At least Darwin is warm and your nose only hurts from you constantly blowing it. My feet took ages to warm up, my toes were hurting, my hands were hurting, my face, my nose... Omg I was one massive complainer inside my head! Of course we were all in the misery together so no one actually complained out loud. You just got on with it. Within the first 10mins of walking on this freezing morning I started to get massive aches and pains in my side and back. It was like I had about 7 or 8 stitches all up my side then the top of my back which was probably from all the weight I was carrying. I wasn't very smart as I had a day pack on my back then a sling pack on my front with my heavy camera equipment in it which was putting real strain on my shoulders and top of my back. I guess because it was so cold this morning that the pain decided to really attack me.
I didn't say anything and instead fell behind everyone as I struggled to take each step. Eventually Indra, our leading guide at the front, noticed and demanded he take a bag off me. I didn't even argue and gave him my daypack, instantly pressure was lifted and I was able to keep up with everyone from then on. We climbed about 400m before we reached Tharong Pass Base Camp, where we were to have lunch. Thankfully we sat in full sun but it was of course still cold. The walking track just before base camp was very rocky and narrow, one wrong step and you would fall straight down the steep rocky mountain to your death below. I didn't want to look down as I walked but you kind of had to so you could watch your step. My stomach turned a few times as I imagined myself sleeping. There were crazy mountain bikers that had been following us the last couple of days and I watched them in amazement as they rode along these skinny ledges. Last time I did that in New Zealand I fell down and ended up with crazy bruises.
Most trekkers stayed at Base Camp, but after lunch we climbed another 400m up to High Camp, our rest stop for the night. It took us about 2hrs and was damn hard. It was incredibly steep and with the high altitude we could only walk for about 2/3mins before we had to keep stopping to catch our breath.I got a massive headache which strangely went away as soon as we stopped but came back when walking again. It was incredible to be climbing so high, as we watched ourselves get closer to the snowy peaks. We took some photos of the magnificent views which I can't wait to upload to face book! Here's a sneak peak :)
When we finally reached high camp it already felt like an achievement. We were at 4800m high! We're almost there! Just another 614m to climb and then we're going back down, to warmer temperatures and being able to breathe again! We could not stop thinking about it.
This was going to be our highest camp and coldest night. So we prepared for the worst. Before getting into our warmer layers though, we decided to climb up to this view point which sat at 5000m and looked back over the way we'd come, showing the incredible snowy peaks which use to be so much higher above us. It was a steep 200m climb but man was it worth it. The views were even more spectacular then earlier in the day!
It was freezing tho, the wind cut right through you. Sam found a friend in this guy from Melbourne called Dan. They started chatting all about the trek so far and how we're heading to South East Asia next. He apparently climbed the exhausting 600m from base camp just to get use to the altitude and see the view before climbing back down to the lodge he's staying at, only to wake up before the sun is even up and start climbing back up again. We thought he was a little bit crazy. After about 30mins up there I was getting cold, so we decided to go back down to camp and get warm.
Before it got dark the clouds drifted over us and we were completed covered in the white fog. It was soo cool! we're actually sleeping in the clouds tonight!
wake up was at 5am this time as we had to start walking by 6.30. I didn't sleep well though, maybe it was the altitude, or the cold, but I was up from 4am. I could hear people outside our tent talking and when I got up to pee I saw the mass of head torches of all the people climbing up from base camp. How sad that they didn't get to see our awesome view when we climbed it yesterday. I'm so glad our guide Trin decided on that.
It was so damn cold this morning but I have no idea what the temperature was because my travel clock froze over and was stuck on -11. Trin thinks it got to about -15. None of us could get warm. It was miserable. The pain in our toes as we walked was almost unbearable. But because we were climbing higher and had to keep stopping to catch our breathe, we just couldn't warm up! My gloves I bought in Thamel were useless and I ended up stuffing my hands in my jacket pocket which helped. My legs were frozen because I didn't have warm enough pants and of course the little bit of my face that was poking out of my hood was frozen. The worst though had to be the feet, it was like walking on knives every step you took. We were walking past snow and the sun was so far away. Still, we kept going. No giving up here. On the way we passed a couple of people suffering altitude sickness.One was a porter and he looked miserable. I was so grateful I was not in their position. It didn't look fun. The more we climbed the more exhausted we became. It took us longer to go less of a distance then normal, just because of the lack of oxygen and trying to breathe.
About 10mins before reaching the pass I felt like I was suffocating and then thought I was going to vomit. Oh shit. Nausea is one of the worst symptoms. The weight of my camera bag and my day pack starting seriously weighing like triple the weight. Every step was like I was lifting my legs through thick sinking mud. It was harder then anything I've ever experienced. We all stopped and Trin asked if I was ok, I said I felt like I was suffocating and needed to vomit. So he took my heaviest bag off, the camera bag and wow! It was like a massive weight was lifted and I was free. I was able to get up that last little bit. We made it! We reached the pass! There wasn't actually much of a view like there was leading up to it, but we were all so wrapped we made it. It was about 9.30am and the wind was harsh. Taking your hands out of gloves or pockets to take photos with the sign was agony. But we did it! And who turns up just behind us? Melbourne Dan of course! So we're all hugging and congratulating each other and taking photos nonstop. The sense of achievement was like nothing else I've ever felt before.
Then it was time to go down, down, down! We were so excited! Down meant oxygen, meant breathing again, meant no more headaches or nausea, and WARMTH!! Omg to be warm again... What does that even feel like?
Dan decided to walk with us so he and Sam had a great time talking. It passed the time quickly as walking up you obviously can't talk at all. We climbed all the way down to a village called Muktinath at 3800m which was our camp for the night. Going down was very slippery and we all had a few stacks. Sam the worst. He went completely arse up and fell on his side. He was ok, just a little sore afterwards.
We reached camp about 3pm, but as we had been walking since 6.30am it proved one of our longest and of course toughest days yet. Walking through the village to our camp we saw a few bars, so Sam and I decided to go have a few beers as a reward for such an achievement. We left camp and said we'd be back by 6.30 for dinner. We found a nice friendly guesthouse and ordered our favourite 'Tuborg' premium beer. The warmth of being inside the guesthouse was incredible - is this what we'd been missing? Slowly the afternoon moved on, we got a tipsy and more trekkers filled the dining room ordering food. This one European ordered a 'Yak burger', which Sam had been craving for days now since we saw a sign outside a guesthouse in the mountains. We were so tempted, but then we said we'd be back at camp for dinner so decided to be good and stick to that. Sam wasn't happy of course. We had about 2 long bottle necks each and we were wasted by 6pm. Maybe it was the altitude, the 5.5% alcohol or the fact we hadn't had a beer in weeks. Who knows but we were finally warm and relaxed. It was a good feeling! The guy that worked there ended up bringing us a massive plate of popcorn, I guess because we'd been there all afternoon and ordered so many beers. (4 is alot to them). It was so funny because the smell of our popcorn filled the restaurant and these Americans then wanted some! So they ordered thier own plate and probably paid...lol.
We got back to camp at 6.30 and instantly we're freezing! Though we're quite drunk so we don't care as much. As we enter camp there were two porters standing there and Sam says drunkenly 'Good morning!... Oh I mean "Good Afternoon!... Oh "Good evening!"... Hahaha we started cracking up. They totally would've known we were drunk. We were pretty good once in the dining tent though, we were on our best behaviour. It was awesome we came back as well because we got yak momos for dinner! Our chef also baked us a chocolate cake for making tharong pass. It was really sweet.
The day after Tharong Pass was fucking miserable. It was even longer. It was mostly down and flat but the scenery was boring and we were all in agony from sore muscles of the day before. My calves, thighs and feet were so sore that every step down killed. Plus the ground was very uneven as we were mostly over rocks so it hurt your feet. Then on top of that the wind! It was hectic! You couldn't talk because it was so loud and it kept blowing dust and dirt into your mouth, eyes and nose. Sam had to take his contacts out at lunch because the wind had blown so much dust in them they were all agitated. We ended up making face masks and looked like ninjas! haha... The day was so long though and every muscle ache seemed to get worse as we walked forever. We didn't make camp til our latest time yet of 5pm. That night we were all slept like babies.
Days 9 - 11 were probably the hardest days of the whole trek. Day 9 we climbed to our camp which was at Yak Kharka, 4070m high. We got there at the usual time of 2.30pm and waited in the cold for camp to be set up so we could quickly jump into our tents and get warm. We lost the sun almost immediately which was becoming a regular thing, and at this altitude the temperature turned freezing as soon as it was gone. I really did like this camp site as we were more secluded then usual. We only had one little shack which became our dining room, thank god because the dining tent was freezing to sit in. There were yaks everywhere around us so I took some photos. I even chased a grey one down because his colour made him so different to all the other brown and blacks. Pity my pic came out blurry tho :(
We all struggled to get warm this night. We wore every layer we owned and got inside the sleeping bag and liner as soon as possible. It was too fucking cold to do anything. I couldn't even read my kindle because sticking my hands out the top of the sleeping bag to hold it would be too cold. I had started sleeping completely inside my sleeping bag by this point, head and everything. I know that would normally suffocate you but it was too fucking cold to even have my face sticking out. You would wake up with extreme sore throat and stuffy nose if you did sleep face out.
During dinner some locals who lived in the little shack told us that snow leopards were in this area. Oh cool! Too bad we'll never see them because none of us could stay outside long enough. It was straight from the dining room to our sleeping bags at 7pm and we all drifted into an uncomfortable sleep as you would in -10 in a damn tent.
As we woke up on day 10 to -11, our coldest morning yet, you could see the pain in everyone's face. Just packing up our sleeping bag and kit bags was extra hard as your hands were in agony doing anything. We eagerly ate our morning porridge and drank our hot cups of tea to warm up, but sadly that warmth didn't last long.
We started walking at the usual 7.30am but as we were now above 4000m, walking uphill was not just hard work, it was exhausting and difficult to breathe. Especially as my nose was still blocked from the flu. The cold wind against my face would burn on my stuffy nose. I don't understand how people cope with the flu in cold temperatures! It's so damn uncomfortable! At least Darwin is warm and your nose only hurts from you constantly blowing it. My feet took ages to warm up, my toes were hurting, my hands were hurting, my face, my nose... Omg I was one massive complainer inside my head! Of course we were all in the misery together so no one actually complained out loud. You just got on with it. Within the first 10mins of walking on this freezing morning I started to get massive aches and pains in my side and back. It was like I had about 7 or 8 stitches all up my side then the top of my back which was probably from all the weight I was carrying. I wasn't very smart as I had a day pack on my back then a sling pack on my front with my heavy camera equipment in it which was putting real strain on my shoulders and top of my back. I guess because it was so cold this morning that the pain decided to really attack me.
I didn't say anything and instead fell behind everyone as I struggled to take each step. Eventually Indra, our leading guide at the front, noticed and demanded he take a bag off me. I didn't even argue and gave him my daypack, instantly pressure was lifted and I was able to keep up with everyone from then on. We climbed about 400m before we reached Tharong Pass Base Camp, where we were to have lunch. Thankfully we sat in full sun but it was of course still cold. The walking track just before base camp was very rocky and narrow, one wrong step and you would fall straight down the steep rocky mountain to your death below. I didn't want to look down as I walked but you kind of had to so you could watch your step. My stomach turned a few times as I imagined myself sleeping. There were crazy mountain bikers that had been following us the last couple of days and I watched them in amazement as they rode along these skinny ledges. Last time I did that in New Zealand I fell down and ended up with crazy bruises.
Most trekkers stayed at Base Camp, but after lunch we climbed another 400m up to High Camp, our rest stop for the night. It took us about 2hrs and was damn hard. It was incredibly steep and with the high altitude we could only walk for about 2/3mins before we had to keep stopping to catch our breath.I got a massive headache which strangely went away as soon as we stopped but came back when walking again. It was incredible to be climbing so high, as we watched ourselves get closer to the snowy peaks. We took some photos of the magnificent views which I can't wait to upload to face book! Here's a sneak peak :)
This was going to be our highest camp and coldest night. So we prepared for the worst. Before getting into our warmer layers though, we decided to climb up to this view point which sat at 5000m and looked back over the way we'd come, showing the incredible snowy peaks which use to be so much higher above us. It was a steep 200m climb but man was it worth it. The views were even more spectacular then earlier in the day!
It was freezing tho, the wind cut right through you. Sam found a friend in this guy from Melbourne called Dan. They started chatting all about the trek so far and how we're heading to South East Asia next. He apparently climbed the exhausting 600m from base camp just to get use to the altitude and see the view before climbing back down to the lodge he's staying at, only to wake up before the sun is even up and start climbing back up again. We thought he was a little bit crazy. After about 30mins up there I was getting cold, so we decided to go back down to camp and get warm.
Before it got dark the clouds drifted over us and we were completed covered in the white fog. It was soo cool! we're actually sleeping in the clouds tonight!
wake up was at 5am this time as we had to start walking by 6.30. I didn't sleep well though, maybe it was the altitude, or the cold, but I was up from 4am. I could hear people outside our tent talking and when I got up to pee I saw the mass of head torches of all the people climbing up from base camp. How sad that they didn't get to see our awesome view when we climbed it yesterday. I'm so glad our guide Trin decided on that.
It was so damn cold this morning but I have no idea what the temperature was because my travel clock froze over and was stuck on -11. Trin thinks it got to about -15. None of us could get warm. It was miserable. The pain in our toes as we walked was almost unbearable. But because we were climbing higher and had to keep stopping to catch our breathe, we just couldn't warm up! My gloves I bought in Thamel were useless and I ended up stuffing my hands in my jacket pocket which helped. My legs were frozen because I didn't have warm enough pants and of course the little bit of my face that was poking out of my hood was frozen. The worst though had to be the feet, it was like walking on knives every step you took. We were walking past snow and the sun was so far away. Still, we kept going. No giving up here. On the way we passed a couple of people suffering altitude sickness.One was a porter and he looked miserable. I was so grateful I was not in their position. It didn't look fun. The more we climbed the more exhausted we became. It took us longer to go less of a distance then normal, just because of the lack of oxygen and trying to breathe.
About 10mins before reaching the pass I felt like I was suffocating and then thought I was going to vomit. Oh shit. Nausea is one of the worst symptoms. The weight of my camera bag and my day pack starting seriously weighing like triple the weight. Every step was like I was lifting my legs through thick sinking mud. It was harder then anything I've ever experienced. We all stopped and Trin asked if I was ok, I said I felt like I was suffocating and needed to vomit. So he took my heaviest bag off, the camera bag and wow! It was like a massive weight was lifted and I was free. I was able to get up that last little bit. We made it! We reached the pass! There wasn't actually much of a view like there was leading up to it, but we were all so wrapped we made it. It was about 9.30am and the wind was harsh. Taking your hands out of gloves or pockets to take photos with the sign was agony. But we did it! And who turns up just behind us? Melbourne Dan of course! So we're all hugging and congratulating each other and taking photos nonstop. The sense of achievement was like nothing else I've ever felt before.
Then it was time to go down, down, down! We were so excited! Down meant oxygen, meant breathing again, meant no more headaches or nausea, and WARMTH!! Omg to be warm again... What does that even feel like?
Dan decided to walk with us so he and Sam had a great time talking. It passed the time quickly as walking up you obviously can't talk at all. We climbed all the way down to a village called Muktinath at 3800m which was our camp for the night. Going down was very slippery and we all had a few stacks. Sam the worst. He went completely arse up and fell on his side. He was ok, just a little sore afterwards.
We reached camp about 3pm, but as we had been walking since 6.30am it proved one of our longest and of course toughest days yet. Walking through the village to our camp we saw a few bars, so Sam and I decided to go have a few beers as a reward for such an achievement. We left camp and said we'd be back by 6.30 for dinner. We found a nice friendly guesthouse and ordered our favourite 'Tuborg' premium beer. The warmth of being inside the guesthouse was incredible - is this what we'd been missing? Slowly the afternoon moved on, we got a tipsy and more trekkers filled the dining room ordering food. This one European ordered a 'Yak burger', which Sam had been craving for days now since we saw a sign outside a guesthouse in the mountains. We were so tempted, but then we said we'd be back at camp for dinner so decided to be good and stick to that. Sam wasn't happy of course. We had about 2 long bottle necks each and we were wasted by 6pm. Maybe it was the altitude, the 5.5% alcohol or the fact we hadn't had a beer in weeks. Who knows but we were finally warm and relaxed. It was a good feeling! The guy that worked there ended up bringing us a massive plate of popcorn, I guess because we'd been there all afternoon and ordered so many beers. (4 is alot to them). It was so funny because the smell of our popcorn filled the restaurant and these Americans then wanted some! So they ordered thier own plate and probably paid...lol.
We got back to camp at 6.30 and instantly we're freezing! Though we're quite drunk so we don't care as much. As we enter camp there were two porters standing there and Sam says drunkenly 'Good morning!... Oh I mean "Good Afternoon!... Oh "Good evening!"... Hahaha we started cracking up. They totally would've known we were drunk. We were pretty good once in the dining tent though, we were on our best behaviour. It was awesome we came back as well because we got yak momos for dinner! Our chef also baked us a chocolate cake for making tharong pass. It was really sweet.
The day after Tharong Pass was fucking miserable. It was even longer. It was mostly down and flat but the scenery was boring and we were all in agony from sore muscles of the day before. My calves, thighs and feet were so sore that every step down killed. Plus the ground was very uneven as we were mostly over rocks so it hurt your feet. Then on top of that the wind! It was hectic! You couldn't talk because it was so loud and it kept blowing dust and dirt into your mouth, eyes and nose. Sam had to take his contacts out at lunch because the wind had blown so much dust in them they were all agitated. We ended up making face masks and looked like ninjas! haha... The day was so long though and every muscle ache seemed to get worse as we walked forever. We didn't make camp til our latest time yet of 5pm. That night we were all slept like babies.
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