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Friday, 14 October 2005 |
Date: 2005-10-14 10:23:09
Geo Coord: 27.91980N 86.63939E
Altitude: 15569
Thame to Renjo Base Camp: The cold weather has definitely arrived; we had strong winds and it was DAMN cold when we woke up. We had to wake up at 5am  to get ready for the long day we had ahead of us. I woke up with my stomach doing flip flops. I luckily had a semi real bathroom to use (bathroom tent). I took several Imodium to try to bring me back to normal. The guide said it was going to be a gradual incline, and a very nice scenic view up the mountains. We stopped for lunch and were going to set up camp, however it had only been a few hour of hiking and we all felt like we could go much further. So far the hiking had been mild and we were moving at a good pace. Dengi asked if we wanted to press on and we all agreed. This ended up being a mistake because soon the mountain trail turned very steep as we tried to reach the Renjo Base camp by dark. We ended up moving up in altitude almost 3000 feet, which was one heck of a climb. The trick to it all is taking small steps. I don’t think my feet move any more than 10 inches at time when going up the steep trail. We ended up hiking for 4 more hours.
We got to a small village where we thought we were going to sleep, however our guides kept walking past it. It was very demoralizing because we thought we were going to stop, and what was worse was the even more steep mountain trail behind it. We struggled up the never-ending mountain for several hours. We were in heavy clouds which made the climb cold, damp and miserable. I had to give Shawna my set up gloves because her fingers had gone numb in her pair. I put on another set of gloves and was fine for the rest of the night. We finally crossed the steep peek to the Renjo Base Camp which is at 15538 feet. Due to the jump in altitude  Renjo Base Camp Shawna and the others have headaches and altitude sickness. Simon also has a terrible headache and Nicolas’s cold is taking a toll on him. I am feeling much better since the morning stomach upset, I had a mild headache but it went away as soon as I drank some tea and had an Ibuprofen. Shawna took her first Diamox today and went to bed early not feeling well. Simon also went to bed early not feeling well. As evening came I set up my tripod and took photos of the sunset. If people do not feel better in the morning we will have to stay at base camp for another day to acclimatize before we can cross the Renjo Pass.
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