Today was the day when we'd decided to do Kala Pattar by afternoon and resume our journey back to Periche. We knew it was gonna be pretty tight. This was a bad place in terms Before we commenced our journey to Kala Pattar, everyone of us started our journey to the way up @ 8 in the morning, which by itself might not be a great time to start. The ideal time to reach the peak would have been around 6, if it gets late, by 7. Before we kick off our journey, Kanchuki said she was demotivated, not willing to hike. Actually, that settled in my mind, I became demotivated. As I ascended the peak, not because I was running short of energy, somehow, I missed one pat on my back and said "Final Push". I had sound sleep overnight and had taken a pill to control, All was well, but no. This happened when I first saw the Everest smoking out after hiking 200m. I relaxed on a rock and Javed bhai followed me. Had I spearheaded the ascent which I did for the most of this trek, may be I'd have done that as well. An optimist view here, may be I'd ascent these peaks at later point in time. Time will answer my actions for sure, this was not just my day. Javed bhai and I have rested near the rock for at least one and a half hour till 11 in the morning. One after another suddenly disappeared from our sight, munched few masala peanuts. At around 11, we could sight Ali bhai and Kiran walking downhill, we eventually met them and it appeared that Ali bhai had aggravated his health even more from the last night. We slowly descended and reached our hotel by noon.
Ali bhai rested in the dining hall, Javed bhai and I ordered for a pizza. I bought a bottle of coke (500ml) for 220INR, for the first time in my life cold drink had cost me this much:). Never mind, the combination set the tone and my tastebuds have delighted with the pizza touch. Javed bhai was instrumental in making the decision to walk down to Periche just both of us as we knew that it was gonna take long. I had no choice to oblige his idea and we walked down to Periche. Javed bhai had led for the initial duration of the trek, after half an hour into trek, I found my rhythm and literally we hurried to the destination, having only halted at Lobuche to fill our water bottles and Thukla to find some Hot Lemon. After we reached Thukla, we had to go downhill to Periche which was long way across. I was confident and going downhill as if that was way to my home, Javed bhai wanted to make sure the way was correct. I saw a sherpa, 100m away, I went to him and confirmed that this was indeed the way to Periche. We followed him, we walked for an hour and a half to reach Periche. As it always happened, our hotel was at the other end of the village, Hotel "Nagarkot". Earlier, we met the lady from Denmark, who we met during our journey at Tengboche. Had a little chat with her and found that she had some breathing problems in Lobuche, hence she abandoned her EBC plans and marked her way back to Periche.
I said sorry to her and walked past. We reached hotel "Nagarkot" by 4 in the evening. We did it in four and a half hours, from altitude 5164m to 4200m, an altitude loss of 900m. I didn't have much to do, I freshened up and latched my hands onto the book, "Mein Kampf" by Adolf Hitler. Javed bhai started feeling the cold and fortunately, the heater in the dining hall went on @ 5. Javed bhai was waiting for the rest of the folks, he was guessing when would the other batch turn up. I hinted him, batch would turn up not before 6:30, of course this was just my gut feel. There was one firangi couple in the dining hall, in which that lady was constantly coughing. Clock ticked, and it was around 5:30 in the evening. Om Bahadur Ji turned up and said that everybody was walking down very slow, I guessed that they might have gotten very much tired of Kala Pattar ascent, which I failed to do, and they would take at least another couple of hours. Javed bhai was very much worried and tensed that how would they walk down in the tough weather, light was diminishing slowly and a constant cloud cover was passing through.
Earlier, our walk from Thukla to Periche was one of the remembered evenings, because, we tasted snow, clouds and drizzle all during the journey. We literally touched the clouds and walked through them, a pleasant feeling to have.Ramesh n Swetha had reached the hotel by 6 and informed us that Kanchuki, Sudhir and Aditya were behind by at least half an hour. We were all very concerned that daylight was
diminishing rapidly, and Ali bhai, Sachin, Abhishek and Paddy were yet to reach. Ali bhai had had few blood filled vomittings on his way downhill, and he didn't seem to be in good shape. We all prayed god that he would do all right by the morning, Kanchuki said she didn't have sleep as she knew this was not that easy. Abhishek and Sachin were the last to join @ 8:30.
Day 10 ends here.
Feels sad for you. The ideal start time for the ascent to Kalapathar is as early as 3:30 am (Yes you heard it right and this is definitely crazy because 3:30 am is terribly chilling outside.) if you have to witness that mesmerizing Sunrise from behind Mt.Everest. The rays are cut geometrically due to its height when the sun is still lower at the horizon on the other side. Check this photograph I took - http://www.flickr.com/photos/lsp/3652363449/
ReplyDeleteYou will in fact see the summiters doing warm-up climbing Kalatpathar in the morning (yes, they do come all the way from EBC everyday for acclimatization reasons)
That sounds good. In fact, I'd do this when I'm there next time around.
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