Adventure

One of the #DailyWritingChallenge topics was "Adventure".  This is a bit of a cheat since its nearly 2,900 words long and was orginally written in 2005.  However, this piece of writing is one that I am not only really proud of but also wrote using an electronic device called a Personal Digital Assistant at a time way, way before smartphones or tablets even existed...  

Thursday 27 October 2005

Well, what an epic adventure that was.  I’m writing this at the moment sitting upright in a bed in room whatever it is of the Shangrila Lodge at Lukla Airport.  When I say Lukla Airport I mean the Lodge is right opposite the short take off and landing runway at Lukla.  The lodge itself is curious in that it doesn’t have any electricity in the rooms but has lights in parts of the hallways.  The Lodge itself is as far as I can gather a predominantly wooden construction internally where the rooms are lit by candlelight.

Although I haven’t written for a few days - well since last Saturday to be precise, the epic adventure is that despite the time restriction for getting to Base Camp Everest last Sunday, I managed to achieve that although not without incident.  What happened was that we as a group were told by the tour leader before Sunday’s walk that the plan was for an early start from Lobouche to walk to Gorak Shep where those who wanted or were able to would go on to Base Camp.  Because as I subsequently found out, the terrain was treacherously difficult it was necessary for the safety of the participants and the Sherpas accompanying us to be at Base Camp by two o’clock that afternoon to ensure all would return to Gorak Shep by five o’clock and sunset at the latest.

Because of the times that Vicky and I had been coming in at during the earlier parts of this expedition, effectively an hour longer than the suggested or advertised walk times, our strategy was that if it wasn’t possible for both of us to make it to Base Camp, at least one of us would.  As it turned out, that was me.

So, in order to achieve this I stayed walking alongside Vicky on Sunday morning out of Lobouche for as long as I could before moving paces ahead so that I arrived at Gorak Shep to allow myself sufficient time to arrive at Base Camp by two o’clock.  In the event, I arrived at Gorak Shep with sufficient time to have some noodle soup for lunch as the tour guides had organised before leaving as part of the group to Base Camp at just after a quarter to eleven for the three hour walk.

For the first part of the journey across the flat out of Gorak Shep and climbing up the Khumbu Glacier (which is a bit of a misrepresentation in itself as far from being a glacier its actually a very soft, sandy narrow ridge of crumbling rock) I was immediately behind the lead Sherpa and moving at a fairly cracking pace.  It wasn’t until about half past midday that I needed a toilet break and although I had told one of the Sherpa guides and as I thought a fellow trekker, by the time I came out of my toilet break continuing on this glacial ridge, with the next turn-off approaching I realised I was lost.

Fortunately, and quite incredibly a group of walkers - a couple of whom where middle aged Scottish ladies and a younger woman who I had met earlier on last week during the stage to Naamche offered their help and said they were heading for Base Camp and I could become part of their group.  At this stage, I was happy to do so and explained to them and their Sherpa that I wanted to be able to be reunited with the group I was expected to be with at Base Camp by two o’clock.

Well, the pace that my new group were going were as the younger woman explained certainly expecting to achieve that.  So I was kind of happy. Until by two o’clock and the reassurances of their Sherpa guide ten minutes earlier that we would have arrived at Base Camp the Sherpa then explained that Base Camp was still at least ten if not twenty minutes away.

As I then thought I would never be reunited with the group I was meant to be with and more importantly with Vicky, I just ran ahead over this hill of slippery and ice riddled gritty, grainy grey soft screed repeatedly shouting “Charity Challenge Diabetes UK” as loud as I could in the vain attempt of attracting the tour guides I should have been with and my fellow trekkers.  What I didn’t realise was that the ground I was standing on really wasn’t suitable for running in. A combination of the softness and the steepness meant that I lost my footing and fell over at least four times - at one point falling backward and into a bit of a roll downhill.

The time at this stage was a quarter past two and I managed to muster as much of the remaining energy as I had to continue my mad scramble towards the crashed helicopter that marks the site of Base Camp where I was gladly reunited with my fellow trekkers.  Unfortunately, by then I had missed the group photo opportunity and they hadn’t thought to hold on and include me in subsequent shots.  But I can proudly say and have the photographic proof that I have been to Base Camp Everest.  As Vicky reminded me today when we returned to Lukla for our return trip to Katmandu, in reaching Base Camp Everest, I have reached an altitude equivalent to half the summit of Everest itself.

Coming back to the risk of the Kumbu glacier ridge, it wasn’t until my slow and exhausted return from having spent every last amount of energy I had on my personal full on assault to Base Camp that the Sherpas guiding me back to Gorak Shep explained that it was necessary to ensure that all those who wanted to visit Base Camp returned well before sunset because the Kumbu glacier ridge, being less than three feet wide in places was highly unstable.  The rock and sand forming this ridge was so soft that being at the bottom of this former glacial ridge ran the risk of being crushed by rocks from above.  Being on top of the ridge ran the risk of loosing footing and having nowhere to go but following gravity to a sheer drop below.  When I was walking along the ridge I had no idea of these risks and am so glad that I didn’t beforehand.  I can well and truly say that I think I’ve overcome any fear of heights that I had before I embarked on this trip.  And whilst my experience to Base Camp wasn’t quite what I expected in terms of being able to have a proper “I’ve been to Base Camp” photoshoot I can proudly say I’ve done it and all in the aid of Diabetes UK.

The postscript to the story is that I think that the reason why I became “lost” from the rest of the group I was supposed to be with was because the Sherpa guides who were accompanying the tail end of the group walking behind me I can only assume turned back to Gorak Shep with those who decided that they would not be able to arrive at Base Camp within the designated time.  It therefore meant that with me being in the middle of the pack I must have suddenly become the back end as it were and unaccompanied at that.  Although it is nobody’s fault in particular, it emphasised to me how important it was to stay within sight of a Sherpa guide.

The other experience I had which made me stop and think was earlier on today when Vicky had gone on ahead with a couple of others after I was having a bad morning on the return leg from where we camped last night (whose name escapes me) on the slog to Lukla.  Despite having had a refreshment break at one of the tea houses en route less than half an hour earlier my body said I didn’t want to walk anymore in the hot sunshine.  So I sat down with the Sherpa guide who was accompanying me to eat one of the cereal bars I was carrying and to quench my thirst.  Because of this I was at least five if not ten minutes behind Vicky and the others.

By the time I caught up with those immediately in front of me, two of the guys who were with Vicky and had sat down for their own break explained that they had followed a different route from the one I took and had shared their energy bar supplies with Vicky as she had gone low sugar.  They were expecting her and the Sherpa guides accompanying her to appear from where they had walked from.

Realising that I was carrying Vicky’s sweet stock as well as all the cereal bars for today’s walk after waiting a few minutes and seeing another of the Sherpas go on to the lane where Vicky was supposed to have been, and the buzz of a rescue helicopter overhead, I decided to follow the Sherpa with nothing but the sweet and cereal bar stock that I had been carrying and ran after the Sherpa to where Vicky was.

I was glad I did for apart from being reunited with Vicky she was able to use the supplies I had brought her to bring her blood sugar level back to a point where she was able to continue with her walk.  What astounded me though was through the adrenaline of thinking about Vicky an her predicament I thought nothing of running along this narrow sandy ridge to where she was resting and trying to recover her blood sugar level.  As soon as she was back on her feet and making her own way along this narrow lane back to the main route we were following, accompanied by the two Nepalese speaking doctors working on our trek with me carrying her rucksack I realised the narrowness and softness of the route I had just run along.  Again with a sheer drop out of the corner of my eye it slowed me to a virtual cliff hugging crawl.  When one of the doctors realised this, he offered me his walking stick with which I regained the confidence in my legs to move a little bit faster to resume on the main route.

Other than that, without looking over the earlier entries I can’t think if there was anything much else to say except that over the last few days being part of this charity expedition in aid of Diabetes UK has been a real emotional and certainly physical challenge.  Now that we’re back in Lukla where the adventure started just under two weeks ago, I can say that it has been an amazing experience for me.  The parts of Nepal that we’ve visited particularly around Sagarmartha National Park and the perimeter “buffer” zone that has been established coming out to Lukla have been amazingly beautiful.  The Sherpas that I’ve met are some of the most amazing people I have had the opportunity to meet so far.  Vicky and I would have liked to have been able to express our gratitude for their support and assistance during our own endeavours over the last two weeks with more than the amount we were expecting and had allowed ourselves (as in budgeted with the spending money we brought out with us) to contribute.

As for our participation on the trip, I really had thought especially after the stage up to camp at Naamche Bazzar that Vicky and I would end up getting an early flight home.  In the event, we remained consistent with our standard and effort completing each part of the expedition within an hour of the suggested or advertised walk times.  There were points during the last two weeks when I really and truly thought that I wouldn’t be able to carry on or that being part of this trip was too frustrating in itself - particularly when I was wanting to move at a faster pace than we had been either because I was worried about not being back at camp by sunset or because of the onset of cold and inclement weather.  Although there was only one occasion when we didn’t make back to camp before sunset and required the Sherpas to guide us back by torchlight, I cannot believe even with that experience how much Vicky and I along with everybody else on this trip has been able to achieve.

On a purely personal level, and not wishing to count on other people’s misfortunes to think that ten percent of those who started as part of this trip were forced to drop out of which two actually required helicopter assistance to medical aid.  During the last fortnight the distance covered each day was at least ten kilometres if not more and the altitude gain during the “acclimization” phase was something like five hundred metres a day with the descent phase of over a thousand metres a day.  Apart from a little bit of a funny tummy when I first arrived I certainly did not suffer to the extent that Vicky and the others on the group suffered from the stomach upsets that they did.  Apart from a couple of mornings in the last couple of days with the breakfast routine I have largely enjoyed the food that we’ve been experiencing although I must admit I have been hankering after all the things I regularly eat or have access to foodwise at home - to the point that I found myself fantasising about them whilst I’ve been walking along earlier on this week.  I’ve certainly not experienced the ill effects of altitude sickness that we had been warned to expect and to try to avoid.  As for my asthma, that hasn’t even featured and I’ve not been taking any of the medication I had brought with me.  I had wondered on that score whether the cleaner as in non-metropolitan air was a contributory factor to my respiratory well being.

The only things I have been suffering from is this stupid cold that I seem to have acquired in the last couple of days with the runny nose and sore throat.  I wish I had also taken more care with the sun protection on my face and lips rather than going back to London with the flaky forehead, peely lips and nose.

I did or have during this trip reached stages where I have missed the creature comforts of home.  Being in the relative comfort of a lodge or the Nepalese equivalent of a hostel has made tonight easier.  But the fact that the toilets are of the “squat” variety and that the conveniences when we have been camping have hardly been convenient at all has been something I will not regret saying goodbye to and banishing to a distant memory.  The lack of comfort and washing facilities has had to take some getting use to.  As I was saying to one of the others on the trek that I would have thought more comfortable and convenient washing and sleeping facilities may have enabled fewer people to have been taken ill during the trek and more people to have included the excursion to Base Camp.  Sleeping in tents in sub-zero temperatures and staying in electricity free lodges that more closely resemble garden sheds with external toilet and shower facilities has not been my idea of fun or a holiday of a lifetime.

It also disappoints me too as I said earlier in this journal that the camaraderie of the group hasn’t or wasn’t as I expected it to be.  I realise from being on this trip that the amount of preparation for an experience like this and the physical as well to an extent the emotional abilities of individuals are very different.  For some, it has been a lifelong ambition to visit Everest.  For others, it is about combining the physical pursuit of following the route that we have with raising money for charity.  Some may see it as a life-affirming almost spiritual experience.  For me, it has been more about the physical challenge and its fund raising associations.  As I say, the last two weeks for me have been as much about a test of my own endurance in being able to complete the physical challenge of visiting Base Camp Everest.  To that extent, even if I do say so myself I am impressed with what I have achieved and what I have overcome to complete the challenge - especially during those times when I felt that I could physically not go on and was so “bored” and frustrated by the experience that I longed to be back in my routine rather than so far out of my personal comfort zone. 

What I have learnt from the experience has been the ability of physical endurance or being able to push myself beyond any level of physical endurance I have done before.  That Sargarmatha National Park is so beautiful.  Sherpas are the most amazing people I have ever met.