April 18 (Thursday)
After breakfast we started out on an acclimatization hike to the base camp of Pumori, about 500ft higher than base camp of Everest. The purpose of this was to be active at altitude to acclimatize better to the height of Everest base camp. We retraced our steps to the beginning of Base Camp and towards Gorak Shep, and made a steep right turn off the trail onto the base camp of Pumori. The other girl on the team turned around early because she was feeling sick. One guy also turned around because he felt he was coming down with a cold. I pushed on.
to the left: west shoulder of Everest. To the right: part of Nuptse ridge. In the center, hiding from the view: the summit of Everest with the tell-tale jet-stream of wind and ice
Of course I was slower than everybody else in the group, the remaining 9 guys and guides. One of the guides really pushed me. He said not to even think about the walk, just do it. So I did. And slowly but surely I made it to the preset elevation.
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Everest summit is hidden in the clouds. The yellow specks behind my right shoulder are the tents of Everest base camp
Khumbu Icefall and its lip in all its glory; the mountain in the middle is Lhotse
We got back to camp where I found that my whole body hurt. The whole hike didn’t take more than 5 hours, so it was very unusual to feel like this. I did feel better after lunch though! I’d better… tomorrow we were supposed to ‘play’ in the Khumbu Icefall for the first time!
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