Late start today as we did not get going until about 8. I had to get up three times last night to go to the toilet. Oh well that's what you get at high altitudes...but it is a pain and makes it hard to get a good night's sleep. At least the toilet was inside, not somewhere down a dark path outside in the freezing cold. I'm also getting a low level headache, likely due to the altitude.
A relatively easy climb today of about three hours. We ascended from 3930m to 4410, so a sizable jump and as a result we will stay two days at Dingboche (the general rule is that you can ascend 300m per day with an extra day's acclimatization required after each 1,000m. Dingboche is at 4,410m). Our guesthouse today was chosen on the recommendation of our guide (who usually let's us choose). Definitely not our style as it is made for groups and is far from cozy. We looked around for an alternative, but did not have any luck. This place just looks set up for groups.
We decided to stay where we were and shortly thereafter were "treated" to the resident group returning from their day hike. It is definitely easy to see why the lodges like groups. In they come ordering cokes (at $3-4 bottle), bottled water, and loads of food with not seeming thought as to the cost. No wonder prices are what they are up here ... and no wonder there are so many guesthouses. The guesthouses don't even need that high an occupancy rate to make some pretty good money.It sure is an education to watch these groups operate. The "guides" are essentially servants, taking orders, serving food, and getting whatever the customer wants, when they want it. I guess it gives the guesthouse some extra labour allowing them to serve so many people at one time, but it is a bit uncomfortable to watch at times.
On the weather front, the afternoon clouds were on schedule and soon we could not see anything outside.
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