Maximum Altitude: 4,790m
Breakfast was at 8:00am. The group split today, some headed off to Cho Oyu base camp, others including me took an easy walk down the lakes and up to a viewpoint of the massive Ngozumba Glacier which we cross tomorrow, although not from our viewpoint, that route has stopped being used due to it becoming dangerous with the glacier movement.
Walking back up to the lodge I had my usual light-headed feeling. I'm really hoping it will go away, it's a little frustrating feeling like I am not walking properly. I do have that intermittent fast/slow breathing which seems to come at random times, although it is nothing to worry about and quite normal it can bring on an uneasy feeling. Ah the joys of being at altitude.
On our way back, we encountered a Sherpa lad clearly suffering with some altitude problems himself. He and his group had walked up from Namche Bazaar more directly than us so had gained height much quicker. Our Sirdar headed back to Gokyo Lodge to find a medical centre - unlikely I thought. I think the only solution will be for him to descend and recover at a lower altitude. The trouble is, this is their livelihood and they rely on this narrow window of opportunity to work before the tourist season ends.
There was some serious sitting around until lunchtime although I did do a bit of washing admin to try and keep some clean clothes - not an easy task! Lunch was sandwiches with fried potatoes which was actually quite nice. Not sure what was in the sandwiches though, it might have been egg. After lunch, we walked to the local bakery for cake and coffee; I elected to have a Latte and slice of Black Forest Gateau which did the trick, but for Re850 it should have been nice! If Nepal is a cheap country to live in, I've yet to experience it, although I guess we are tourists and charged accordingly. To Nepalese, we are all incredibly wealthy Westerners and of course can afford the prices. I guess £6 would be disappointingly expensive for the same thing in the UK, but perfectly possible.
The rest of the afternoon was spent sorting gear for tomorrows early start - basically everything on! Dinner came and went and we were all in bed by 8pm as we have a 4am start tomorrow for the ascent of Gokyo Ri and walk to Dragnag.
With constant packing, unpacking and repacking of gear, one mistake I made was to bring just one big waterproof bag to go inside my JG holdall. What I should have done was to use several smaller waterproof bags, ideally the ones with transparent windows. My gear is organised into zippable cubes which works well; socks in one, mid-layers in another, T-Shirts another, but everything has to then go into one huge bag which makes the daily packing painful. Lesson learned!
