Everest Trek Day 6: Acclimitizing in Dingboche

  Dingboche, Nepal
Monday, December 3, 2007

Dingboche (4410m)

It was -2 Celsius in the room when we got up this morning. That was definitely the coldest morning so far in our trek. It can be so non-motivating to wake up to a temperature that cold as all you want to do is hibernate in your sleeping bag.

Usually I'm a good sleeper but last night I didn't sleep very well at all. I don't think it was the cold that affected me as I encompass myself in thermals and a fleece hat, cocoon myself in my down sleeping bag, throw a hot water bottle in the sleeping bag as well and then layer a couple of blankets on top of the sleeping bag. Actually if anything many nights I've woken up too warm.

I think it was the altitude that affected me more than anything last night. After all, not only are we at 4410m but yesterday alone we climbed up almost 600m in altitude. So I believe that really affected my sleep pattern last night more so than any other night since we began the trek.

Morning view in Dingboche

Fortunately though, today was our second scheduled acclimitization day of our trek and it probably couldn't come at a better time for both of us. I was hopeful that this acclimitization day would help me sleep better at night and Mazen was hoping it would help him as the very last part of the trek to Dingboche yesterday was really taxing for him.

So the plan was similar to our first acclimitization day in Namche Bazaar as we would do a day hike up to a higher altitude and then come down and spend the night in Dingboche.

Luckily we didn't have to travel far as there was a sizable hill named Nangkar Tshang (5100m) that neighboured Dingboche that would be a good hike. The weather was clear so it looked like another spectacular day for trekking.

The trail up Nangkar Tshang was reasonably well marked with rock piles and prayer flags so navigating the path was not much effort. What was difficult was hiking at this altitude. One could really feel the significant impact of less oxygen in the air making it challenging to catch your breath. This seemed to be really affecting Mazen.

Climbing up this hill we were awarded with spectacular views all around us as we could now observe glacier lakes and even some peaks that had not been visible from Dingboche below us. We could also see the clouds slowly roll in towards us from the south valley that we had come from one day earlier.

Clouds rolling in

Mazen was really having a lot of trouble catching his breath. He couldn't help but notice this yesterday while making our way to Dingboche and I couldn't help but notice his difficulties then and now. Before I had gotten to Kathmandu he had been recovering from bronchitis so we didn't know if some how that was affecting him now or if it was the altitude or perhaps some combination of the two. What was clear today though was that hiking up to the top of this hill might be too much of a challenge for him.

He suggested that I continue up. He would keep going up at his own pace but he felt that he may have to turn back before reaching the top. So I plodded onwards but kept looking back to see how much higher he challenged himself with.

It happened so gradually that I'm not sure when it happened but the clouds that were rolling slowly in from the south valley had begun fill in our surroundings and creep up the hill that we were on. So our previous views, that had been clear only moments ago, were now being hazed over.

Mazen going up

I could see Mazen below me taking some pictures of the surrounding views. Then he turned to me and waved. We were too far away from each other to yell anything intelligible however nothing had to be said for me to realize that he had reached his limit for the day and decided to head back down to Dingboche. I waved back and once he started to hike downwards I looked up the hill and continued upwards.

The clouds really started moving in faster and thicker now so not only was the view being further obscured but the path itself started to fade. Moreover, it was really starting to get cold and windy. This was quite unusual from what I observed on the other trekking days as it only tends to get colder and windier some time later in the afternoon and the clouds don't roll in until late afternoon itself. But now it was only late morning so this was quite unusual. More and more I was being engulfed in clouds and I was enjoying this hike less and less.

I decided to give myself a time limit. I would turn back to Dingboche at noon regardless if I were to make it to the top or not. It's one thing hiking with someone when a place gets fogged over but it's an entirely different game when you are on your own.

At 11:45am I reached the top. There were no views to enjoy except for a wall of cloud on all sides. I wanted to spend as little time up here as it was cold and windy and I was unsure how much worse things were going to get. Just gave myself time for a sole picture.

At the top

I descended as quickly as I could as the cloud cover was obscuring the path and the wind was really strong. Then it started to snow. At that point I starting descending even quicker. There was no way I wanted to be stuck in a snow storm on this hill at 5000m in altitude. I fell a couple of times just from loose dirt but I hardly let that slow me down.

Three hours 20 minutes up, one hour down. I was quite tired and hungry upon reaching the bottom. I got back to the lodge and Mazen had already been there for some time. On his way down he felt some hail coming down and saw that the hill was engulfed in cloud so he had started to worry. Apparently I was pretty filthy as well as he suggested I go outside and dust-off or something. I didn't move for a few minutes and then he suggested it again but then I believe I gave him a look that suggested to him that I wasn't moving. My energy had been completely depleted.

Anyways, I was happy to be back although the owners wouldn't fire up the stove yet because they felt it was too early in the day for that. That was not welcome news for us as we were both cold and misearable from the hike today and the warm glow of burning yak dung would have done us both some good. Well, fire or no fire the only thing I felt like doing that afternoon was just veg out in that lodge and just stare at the walls and just recover from the day's hike.

We got a hot drink at least to warm us up. Actually, we tried something called yak butter tea. It's a drink that is very popular in Tibet but fortunately I was able to try it here. It was gross. Just imagine a cup of hot water with a dollup of butter melted into it. Now try drinking it down. Ok, granted it may be yak butter instead of regular butter and maybe there is some salt or spice added but the most overpowering taste that I could detect was that of the butter. I think the saving grace for me is that it was hot and I wanted something that would warm me up at least a bit.

Today wasn't one of our best days. Between getting caught up in the storm on the hill and the yak butter tea I was glad to sleep for the night. The night before the night sky sparkled with a dazzling amount of stars. It was amazing how clear the sky was at night and with little light pollution you can just see everything. But tonight was different as it was still clouded over. In fact it was still snowing. Although it was a light snow it hadn't stopped snowing since earlier that day and it didn't look like it was going to slow down.

Anyways, it was -2 degrees Celsius in the room this morning. I was sincerely hoping that it wouldn't be colder the following morning.