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Saturday, 22 October 2005 |
Date: 2005-10-22 10:00:25
Geo Coord: 27.98123N 86.82788E
Altitude: 17005
Labouche to Gorak Shep: We had hoped that the large snowstorm would make our camping area in Labouche more beautiful. However, it had not the only thing the six inches of snow on the ground had done is make the trip to the latrine a slippery and dangerous one. Shawna’s knees have been hurting her after the long Cho La pass down hill climb. She took another  Motrin today and is ready to go. We waited for the snow to stop and our guide wanted to wait until afternoon to see how the next pass was. We saw most of the other trekkers packing up and getting ready to go to Gorak Shep. So we told the guide we wanted to go now just to get back on the road. As soon as camp was packed up the sun broke out and we were happy with our decision. My fingers are tingling allot while I write this because it is one of the side effects of Diamox. It is odd to have your toes or fingers start to tingle like they are about to fall asleep, however it is not painful. Because it is very cold I often have to wonder if it is frostbite setting in or if it is the Diamox. The tingling only lasts 10 minutes or less so it’s not that bad and even a little entertaining during the long trek in the middle of nowhere.
They have set up a dining tent that they boil water in to keep it warm. It is the only semi warm refuge we have outside our sleeping bag since we have been over 16000 feet. We all have coughs, including the Dengie the lead Sherpa. We keep trudging on the trail to to Gorak Shep which will take us 3 hours down a very scenic glacier river. The 4 guesthouses in Gorak Shep is the last village before Everest Base Camp. We approached the city from high above on the Labouche Pass which drops down to a dry lake bed which is Gorak Shep. From this view we could see Everest Base camp, a crashed helicopter at base camp and all the surrounding mountains. Due to the volume of trekkers, and the late time in the day, it was difficult to get premium camping sites. We had to set up camp in a very rocky mountain patch overlooking Gorak Shep. It was very cold so Shawna and I went down to one of the guesthouses in Gorak Shep to have some French Fries. The place was warm and had a spare room available for 300 rupees which is around 5 dollars.  Entering Gorak Shep
We were hoping to climb Kala Pattar (the 18200 foot mountain overlooking base camp) at sunset, however the heavy snow that was falling soon indicated that this would not be an option tonight. Shawna and I went to the dining area at the lodge to hang out for the rest of the day because our room was freezing. Rooms at guesthouses do not have any heating and have only two small bed mats in them for comfort. The bed mats were much thicker than the ones in our tent so it was a nice change of pace, even though it was no warmer than our tent. In the room was even colder that our tent because it did not let the sun bake us in the morning. We ate in the crowded lodge room filled with Japanese, Germans, UK, Israelis, Swiss, and a large table of Irish. It was nice having fresh conversation and ended up chatting the evening away with a Californian who owned a plastics company that made molding for houses and construction sites. Much of the conversation revolved around warmer vacation we had all taken. He recommended we go to the Galapagos Island for our next trip. The Galapagos sounded like a great idea and we sat in a freezing room with three jackets on, long underwear, and hats. I was still shivering holding my cup of hot ginger tea. I hope I can get this story out tonight, my laptop battery is about to die and the 3 days of snow has not allowed me to recharge with the solar panels.
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