"get up, Let's finish this thing"
--that was me the morning we awoke in Gorak Shep. At some point... probably around Dingboche, going to 18,500ft stopped being fun, and became a goal.
Altitude sucks. You can taste it as you aspirate all your hydration away from breathing the thin air. You feel your pulse raise inversly to your energy level (my pulse went from 60 resting to about 89 resting from Namche to Gorak Shep... walking up Kala Pattar, I could measure my pulse in my ears... it was very high, although I couldn't concentrate enough to count it...). Digestion slows, and then basically stops... meals for me went from adventerous to toast. Joe's appetite ground to a halt. Not to mention, it also gets cold.
But, the views kick ass, so we woke up with the goal to finish this thing and climb to Kala Pattar (5590m, 18,500ft) for the best views your feet can take you to.
The climb up Kala Pattar was beyond brutal... 400 meters, two false summits... no air. You don't realize how out of it you are until you try to do something... case in point, I was writing a note to Rebecca, and I was having trouble spelling the most basic things (the most notable was "rebecca" -- true story). But, when you get to the top... wow! Amazing 360 views. For those few minutes you are up there, it is all suddenly worth it...
At least that is what we thought. On the way down Joe got really sick... Sure I couldn't spell Rebecca, but I had most basic motor functions. We decided to move as fast as we could down the mountain to get Joe (and me) lower, fast. After about 3 hours after we hiked a little past Lobuche, Joe snapped out of it and was absolutely fine. Amazing, one second a mess, the next good as new. We descended all the way to Pheriche (4252m) and caught up with our guide.
That night, when talking to the Himalayan Rescue Association doctors looking for cough drops (another joy of altitude), Joe found out he actually had High Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE). A very dangerous form of altitude sickness where your brain swells. If you fall asleep without going down... you don't wake up. As if to make the point, the next day an Austrailian woman died of HACE and her body was helicoptored out of Pheriche.
Scary. But the views did kick ass. |
