Today started even earlier than yesterday at 4.40 and woke up to a chilling -4 in my room! In all honesty I was pleased to hear my alarm as I only had an hour sleep!
At 5am it was time to start climbing Kala Patthar who's peak stands at 5545 meters.
It was by far the most difficult thing I've ever done! It seamed to go on for ages and because of the lack of oxygen it was just tiny step after tiny step! In all fairness I couldn't have done it with out Ollie there pushing me on! I felt so so sick!
The best way to explain how it feels is, imagine you have an hour or so sleep, and when you wake up you have a soar throat and migraine, then get told to climb a mountain in the freezing cold, hands are beyond painful and every step you take makes you more ill! Ow right yeah, and there is 50% oxygen so not only are you struggling to breath quick enough but the pain in your muscles takes longer to go away! Not a nice place to be! Which is why I got to the top, took a few quick pictures and got as low as I could as fast as I could! But even that was hard. As soon as the sun came up it made the place boiling! I had to stop to gather myself, delayer and rehydrate before going any further!
When I got back I asked to have breakfast early rather than wait for the rest of the group to return, I quickly packed and went to bed to recover before trekking down all the way to Pheriche.
'Jam jam' is the Nepalese for 'go' and has been used constantly by one of our guides Pemba to signal the end of a break. On the way up it was more often than not followed by a sigh or two. But now it's followed by sighs of relief as everybody just wants to reach lower altitude! I can't wait to not have a headache or soar throat! Going to feel great!
We've also started a bit of a cycle of momo sharing, they are kind of dumplings with different fillings! They are lush but you wouldn't want to eat just them for food, so me Sam and Pav are rotating and sharing the plates! Keeps us happy! Just craving Pringles now!