Up early due to the pounding noises of the tour groups departing at some ungodly hour (4:30 am) for some unknown location. So off we set in near darkness for Kala Patthar and the "highest point" of the trek ... 5550m, and additionally, a reasonably good view of Everest!
The trek to Gorak Shep (5,140m) has two parts - a relatively flat section, then a very dusty set of ups and downs through the glacial moraine. Gorak Shep now has 5 or 6 large lodges in front of a large sandy area that would make a gorgeous beach if there were some water and if it were a bit warmer. It certainly has seen some changes from when I was last there, when it had a grand total of ONE lodge (see picture).
The climb up Kala Patthar was NOT easy. I had forgotten how long the climb was, though I still vividly remembered having to crawl the last 10 m up to the top when the altitude took all of my remaining energy. This time we could see the top early on, but it took forever to get there as the altitude made every step up a massive chore. About 150m from the top I was pretty sure that we would not make it. I was stuffed...but Sara kept plodding along ahead and somehow I pushed on to follow her lead. We broke the remaining climb into 5 sections with rest breaks, and eventually we got to the top. (Noticed how wiped we look in the picture.)
The views were magnificent, as just like last time, there was not a cloud in the sky so we could see every surrounding mountain. We ended up spending about an hour at the top, just soaking it all in and relishing being at 5,550m.
Sara was doing fine ... until. The first night we were in Lobuche - no problem at all. She was fine all the way to Gorak Shep despite her cold and the higher altitude. Then somewhere on the Kala Patthar climb she really started to get hit by something (altitude?). Together we made it to the top, but she had a very hard climb down. We stopped for lunch then started heading back but she was really, really tired. We ended up taking quite a few breaks, even on the flat part of the trail. We finally got back about 3:30 but Sara was still not feeling well with both a headache and a bit of a stomach ache. Luckily a doctor from an altitude study stopped by with a small tester and confirmed that it was not altitude causing the problem (There was an ongoing test of ibuprofen as an anti altitude sickness medication going on while we were there).We then had the surprise of the day. An oriental girl came in and had a Chinese book with her, so I started talking to her in Chinese. She was thrilled to be able to talk Chinese for the first time in since she had been in Nepal and Sara and I had a great time talking to her. Then she disappeared for a couple of minutes and came back with a Tibetan apple (the last one she had from a stash she brought from Tibet). Sara said it tasted really, really good and magically it seemed, her headache disappeared.
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