Tall Steps to a Tiny Town

1:30 AM:  Up to use the restroom and drink more water.  I heard more activity in the hallway, but I kept my eyes shut because I knew if I opened them, I’ll stay awake.

5:15 AM:  Up again, this time I stayed awake.

6:00 AM:  Like clockwork, Sherpa tea and a bowl of wash water delivered.  After washing and packing, our sherpas picked up my duffel as I proceeded to the dining hall for breakfast.

7:00 AM  Breakfast:  Lentil and barley soup, toast and egg.

8:00 AM  Map review from Ming before heading out.

After some time ascending, I gave my pack to Dakar.  Both he and Kumar repeatedly asked if I were okay.  I was out of breath ascending stairs, so I used the rest step method of hiking up the stairs.  The stairs on the trek are fairly high, perhaps so there’d be fewer stairs to carve on the mountain face.  It is still surprising to me, because the Nepalese are short, petite people.  Some of the steps are about 18 inches (or more) –the height to my knee– so each step takes a lot of knee strain lifting of my body up to the next step.  Add the full camelback with day snacks and a change of warm clothes, there was a lot to lift.  Annie tried to demonstrate the use of trekking poles and setting my mind to glide up the mountain.  Ascending –even descending—steep stairs in high altitude’s thin air made it very hard for me to imagine gliding along this trek.

We passed streams, moraine, scree trails, glacier lakes and made stops at memorials.  I kept reminding myself to “go slow”, “breathe deep” and “one step in front of the other” — All to the tunes in my head of Bad Romance, Love Game and Alejandro (from Lady Gaga’s album, Fame Monster).

10:59 AM:  Arrive in Gorak Shep, a little rest stop set in the Khumbu Glacier valley consisting of a few buildings (lodge and restaurant), including the small building touting “Telephone Service, STD & ISD”.  We got a [juvenile] kick out of the sign offering STDs.  We took photos of this building as well as any glimpse of Everest.

I was assigned to Room 24 of the Himalayan Lodge.  Lemon tea was served on the patio.  After our group was assembled, group photos were taken with snow covered mountains in the background.  We even filmed a wave while we stood on the ridge of a small hill.  Several of the photos of our group were used in the Company’s newsletters.  

Lunch was served:  ginger tea and ramen soup followed by vegetable and yak meat mo-mo’s with a spicy red sauce.

We spent our free time shooting the breeze in the courtyard, basking in the sunshine with the panoramic view of the snow-capped mountains.  Horses training on the hill prompted some to video the riders.  The cloud cover brought the wind, so we made our way to our respective rooms before hanging out at 3:30 pm for tea and Pringles.

Randy’s watch indicated it was 41°F.  The cooks were wearing down jackets and beanies (toques, to the Canadians).

5:45 PM:  Management finally started up the yak dung stove.  Some of us made a circle of chairs around the stove to warm us up.  The heat from the stove made us widen the circle, but as the fuel dwindled, so did our circle.  Not a lot of conversation occurred around the stove.  Lily worked diligently on her scarf knitting.  I read.  Most of the guys stared at the fire.

Tonight’s dinner:  Chef’s Surprise!  Vegetable soup, yak stew (chunks of yak meat, potatoes, green pepper and daikon radish), tuna with rice, fried cheese balls, dough of cha shiu bau in a form of a flower.  We have an excellent chef.  One would never think to get this kind of cuisine in a three building town in the Khumbu Glacier valley amidst the Himalayan mountains.

Tomorrow’s agenda:  6 AM wake up, 7 AM breakfast; 8 AM head out for a 4 hour trek to… drum roll, please…Everest Base Camp!  Followed by lunch at the camp and time to check out the place with possibly the highest ballet class for the Guiness World Record before returning to Gorak Shep.  We should pack our “puffy” jacket, extra socks, ski gloves, throat cover (scarf) and rain pants.

8 PM:  Refill bottles/camelbacks with water and good nights all around.

I had a brief visit with Lily.  She showed me how she keeps her headlamp around her neck.  I tried it because I’m afraid mine will fall into the pit/squat toilet (remember the red cord necklace?).

Climbed into the cold bed after putting on my silk thermals in the dark, because my room didn’t have any curtains and it faced the courtyard.  Trekkers told me the windows were too dirty to see in, but I would think people would be able to see clearly activity in a lit room from the dark of night.

10:02 PM:  Thought about the kids, though I’m early.  Hope they’re doing well.  I prayed for their safety and well being.  No news is good news, right?

11:15 PM:  A knock on the door.  Lily needs Tylenol.  I gave her four.  I went down the hall to the toilet.  Annie was in the hall.  She asked me which room was Lily’s room.  I pointed and said, “Next door.”  When I returned to my room, Lily had moved in with her sleeping bag.

Earlier, Annie asked that we room together, in case one of us took ill.  Annie was concerned over Lily’s ankle and the colds that were going around our group.  We agreed; but when we were each handed a key to our own room, we didn’t question it.  Annie was angry that we didn’t room together, putting the responsibility on us to tell Ming that we were supposed to room together.

The incident blew over by the next evening and all was well again.