This morning we got up at 4.30 and immediatly started the climbing of Kala Patthar.
The climb was not without its dramas – after 15 minutes we passed Mory an american girl that was feeling very bad and couldn’t see clearly.
I asked my guide and a nepali guy to take my flashlight and to follow her down into safety. I waited in the darkness, and once my guide came back we carried on with the accent.
After a while I realized that something was not right with my guide – it was clear that he was now suffering from altitude sickness. I kept insisting that he should go down, but he refused – bless his soul – he is like a nepali father to me, never willing to leave me out of his sight, always taking care of me. After a while and a little bit of raising my voice, I convinced him to go down.
On the way up I saw some people had been spitting blood on the ground(!!). A bit later on Clara a german, was luying on the ground completely knocked out by the cold. Some people had given her chocolate, coffee, and some nepali guys and her boyfriend was rubbing her feet to warm her up – I gave her my down jacket to keep her warm.
After she was warm again, we all continued our accent. And around 6:15 we reached the summit – 5545 meters altitude. The weather was extremely cold – the ground had some snow on the summit. But we where extremely fortunate with the weather.
I cannot describe the feeling – I was so high on adrenalin and happiness.
After that we spend the rest of the day on the road to decend as fast as we could. We are currently at 4270 meters altitude.
My body is very tired and exhausted, but my hearth and soul is full of joy!
Wow! We climbed Snowdon this weekend… it wasn’t without drama, but it wasn’t anything quite like that 🙂