April 10 (Wednesday)
In order to make our bodies more used to the thin air, we went on an acclimatization hike to about 15,500 ft (about 1000 ft higher than Pheriche where we were staying at the moment). I should mention here that we had a mix of American guides and Sherpa guides on the trek. American men were always going a ‘normal’ pace but the Sherpas seemed to think that we were all mountain goats and made us run up the mountain. Unfortunately that day a Sherpa was leading so we all had to race up the hill. I started getting a headache (typical side effect of going too high too fast) so one of the American guides told me to slow down my pace. I did which helped out my headache, but as a result I fell behind the rest of the group. So naturally I got upset. All kinds of doubt crept into my mind: ‘if I’m so slow now then they will surely turn me around on the summit day’; ‘I suck’, etc… There really was nothing to worry about as my guides reassured me, but today was the first time this mountain kicked my ass! And we’re only at 14,000 feet! Twice that to go!
Gosia Treks 
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