21 May 2024
This was going to be a long day. At least I had thought so. We got up at about 5 AM and quickly got ready to move ahead. Today we were to cross 5000 meters mark. Apart from that weather was going to be cloudy. That means it was going to be cold. We dressed up accordingly. At about 630 AM we started the hike.
First was the hill behind the lodge which we had climbed on previous day. This was pretty easy as we had already been on this route. Then the plateau that Ngima had showed us. It was not as plain as I had thought. We could see a settlement on the other side inside the valley from this plateau. Ngima said that was Pheriche and he showed me trail and said that we would be taking that route on our way back.
We kept walking and walking on that endless plateau. Girls were pretty fast and walking much ahead of me. I tried but I just couldn’t increase my speed. Ngima stayed nearby me almost all the time.
We saw a stream flowing. Ngima said this was Lobuche river and we have to cross it. I saw everyone ascending from here. Again, I thought if we were to cross the river why is everyone climbing. As per my ideologies I rarely go off the trail, hence I followed the suit only to realise that there was a bridge and everyone except few smart asses were using it to go across.
After the bridge, we took a short break at Dugla - Thukla, Ngima and Surendra had their lunch and we gobbled some soup.
When I had crossed the bridge, I realised it was a complete ascend and we were to gain some 200 meters of altitude in short span. We all kept hiking slowly and steadily. It took me almost two hours to climb that one kilo meter. I was frustrated with myself but I didn’t want to give up. Every sherpa friend of Ngima kept telling me “Bistarai Bistarai”!!! Here onwards, I am pretty sure Hanumanji was carrying me for entire time.
After this treacherous climb, it was time to get emotional… Not because I was tired or because I was on verge on AMS but because we had reached a place known as “Memorial for Alpinists and Mountaineers”. I read every memorial plate / stone carefully. Rob Hall, Scott Fischer and few more…
And then towards the end of the line I saw the one that left me in tears… Name was “Anjali Kulkarni”. We had hiked together on two occasions. Knowing her was being inspired by her. She and her husband Sharad sir had successfully completed Basic Mountaineering course on the turn of 4th decade of their life and had done so many other expeditions before Everest . Just that luck was not on her side on that fateful day. I somehow managed to get control of myself and suggested that we move ahead.
Now the route took us little downwards and then another straight endless plain. I was absolute quiet. There was hardly any sound around me and inside. This was after ages I had felt in tune with the cosmos. So much peace… within myself and everywhere around me. And I was walking, not seating not meditating intentionally just going on… and yet so much in tune with the universe.
Girls with Ngima and Surendra had reached far away from me. I took some small breaks for water and kept going ahead. There was cloud cover all along but winds were super chilly. Then finally, there it was… Some lodges… That meant we had arrived at Lobuche. I saw two local girls doing some familiar activity. They had installed a washing machine in the courtyard of a lodge and one was putting bed spreads in it and other one was watching water and electricity etc. I was spellbound… I wondered how that machine reached here.
When we took our break at Lobuche, I was hungry. Ngima said our destination was about another 45 minutes ahead. So just had some dry fruits and started again.
Ngima had mentioned that the name was Pyramid and I didn’t think that it will be Pyramid shaped. It was almost 3 PM when we reached the cottage. Here I saw some birds were foraging boldly near the cottage that I could’ve clicked their pictures with cell phone easily. They were feeding on table scraps. Since I too was hungry, I decided to leave photography for later part of the day.
I went inside and it was warm. I wasn’t exactly tired but just unenthusiastic about doing anything other than eating. Once the food entered the system and I had some water and good big hot glass of lemon ginger I was back to being myself.
We went to our room. Changed into more warm clothing and now I was trying to gauge where we were geographically. I went outside to click the pictures of the birds but it had started snowing lightly so I returned. We chatted about how it was going to be tomorrow, checked map on Amruta’s cell phone and all.
Seeing the map, there were a lot of things going on my mind. My first thoughts were to adhere to original itinerary of going to EBC and staying at Gorakshep. But then day after that we would walk quite some distance having ascended to Kala Pathar and then reaching to Pangboche. Other thoughts were everyone coming back to Pyramid to rest and having a good sleep and then head to Pangboche next day.
Gauri asked me about the charger she had lent me at Dingboche. And I realised how we were doomed as I had forgotten to take that from the counter where I had left phone and smart watch for charging earlier night. I immediately informed Ngima as I had forgotten not just Gauri’s Charger but even mine. So requested him to get those to Lobuche or Gorakshep or Pangboche. He said he’ll check what he can do.
Around three hours after our lunch, when I checked SpO2 levels of all three of us, mine was at lowest at 89. I was pretty sure that I didn’t want to spend the next night at Gorakshep.
On this day, for the first time, I opened the discussion of next day on the dining table. I asked Ngima if from EBC we could come back to Pyramid for night and choose not to stay at Gorakshep. I also pointed out that it meant I am planning on skipping Kala Pathar ascent. He wasn’t much happy but agreed to that. The weather report that my friend had sent the earlier day had suggested clouds and chance of snow. Hence, I wasn’t really keen to ascend Kala Pathar. I think on 23 May it was full moon’s day so that also was a factor affecting the weather. I would have loved to stay at Gorakshep but it didn’t make sense as we had an opportunity to cover some of our return journey and we could take good rest.
I am not sure if both the girls were okay with my decision but seemed like they agreed. The dinner was tasty Aloo Paratha with hot chocolate to conclude the day. Before signing off for day, Ngima told us to carry just one backpack with some food and basic medication and water. We decided to take Amruta’s backpack and sorted the stuff that we would need for the day. I decided to carry another small backpack with only water in it.
It was about 830 PM when we got into bed. And I immediately drifted off to EBC Dreams!
Stats for the day: 21 May 2024
End Time: 02:45 PM
Highest Altitude: 4994 meters ASL
Distance: 10.05 kilo meters
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