Himalayan Odyssey(11)

Wednesday, 10th October, 2007

(O2 88%, pulse 52)

Today was fairly restful being a planned acclimatisation day in Dingboche. Dominic and I went for a walk up as far as the Chorten on the track towards Dughla and Lobuche.

Dingboche looking South-west from the start of the Dughla track

The Chorten sits on top of the ridge leading out of the village and provides a good place to assess the view around 360 degrees.

Dominic in fron of the Chorten on the ridge
above Dingboche leading towards Dughla

I felt that my breathing was pretty good at this altitude and my aching quads tell me when it is time to stop and have a rest. After a couple of minutes break things are back to normal and time to carry on again. The hypoxia or whatever is still affecting my vision however.

The village was quite picturesque viewed from the Chorten as shown in this view. The Sherpaland Lodge where we are staying is the U-shaped building right in the centre with a slighter darker blue roof.

Dingboche from the Dughla track near the Chorten

Since Barry and Shirley had a rest day yesterday they have gone off up to Chukhung which is on the track leading east to Island Peak. They arrived back at the lodge at around 1:15pm. Barry would dearly have loved to get to the Island Peak base camp but Ang Nuru had persuaded him that it was not doable on this trip.

The third child of the lodge owner is a very energetic and mischievous girl of around 12 years old. She delighted in teasing Dominic and I by surprising us at the window as we sat reading in the dining room. This was on here way backwards and forwards between the field at the back of the lodge and the front of the lodge carrying a heavy basket full of dried Yak poo to a stack from which it can be brought inside to fuel the fire.

We had a chat to a couple of Swiss guys who had left Gorak Shep that morning. After climbing Kala Pattar they had then headed down all the way to Dingboche.

Later in the afternoon I had a drink of juice made from the fruit of the Sea Buckthorn which grows on the hillsides. Apparently there is a movement to farm and use this plant which is reputed to have some very good medicinal properties. (See the Sea Buckthorn Research site). The lodge had an advert up on the wall for it so I decided to give it a go. I was mildly surprised that it was served up hot but it had a not unpleasant taste and went down OK.

Another early night to read and listen to MP3 player to prepare for the slog up to Lobuche tomorrow. The original itinerary that Dominic had worked out would have had us going only as far as Dughla and then face the 300m ascent to Lobuche the following day. However, Ang Nuru had told us that there was no suitable accomodation in Dughla so we were to to the full Dingboche to Lobuche leg in one go.

At bedtime, O2 84%, pulse 54, Pedometer 2000.