I've been coughing for days now - and nights. I even caused sparks to fly coughing in my sleeping bag! I'm tired and my muscles ache but I'm doing everything I can to get well. Shovelling antibiotics down my throat, sucking Strepsils and Cepacols, drinking hot water, walking with a scarf around my mouth to stop the cold air irritating my throat...
You see, I'm desperate to be well enough to climb Gokyo Ri. This will be my third visit to Gokyo and I've never climbed the 5360m peak! The first time, in 2003, I had already tackled Kala Pattar and not quite reached the top. Took one look at Gokyo Ri and said "Sod that!" Then, in 2004, I had a fever and was too ill to get out of my bed. Smithy made it to the top though and brought back a little rock for me. So I'm determined to get to the top!
We have glorious days of brilliant blue skies and sunshine as we trek from Mon La to Dole to Macchermo and on to Gokyo. At Macchermo we provided some entertainment for trekkers and porters when Pasang and his crew spent a couple of hours fitting crampons to our climbing boots, causing quite a bit of speculation about where we were going! For our part, we were creating our own entertainment with a fluid, ongoing game of 500, gaining new recruits from group members as the trek went on. We ended up with 10 out of 11 members being able to play!
By the time we reached Gokyo, the list of casualties has grown. David's still feeling delicate, Danny is poorly and Peter and Elaine are rather crook too. My cough is starting to abate but Smithy has a suspicious tickle in her throat. Ash throws up overnight and decides not to attempt Gokyo Ri. So, Hamish, Cathy, Nick, Anthony, David, Smithy and I set off with Phuri, one of our Sherpas, for the top of Gokyou Ri.
Now, at first glance, Gokyo Ri looks like no big deal. It's just a 600m "hill" rising up from the lake. Yes indeed, but one's starting point is 4760m above sea level. You're already puffing from the slightest exertion and now you're going to go virtually straight up the side of that "hill", breaking through the 5000m mark along your way! So, the only way to tackle it is slowly, slowly. Which is just what we do. Unfortunately, Smithy drops out - the exertion is putting too much strain on her lungs. But the rest of us forge on up one step at a time - oh except for Hamish Cathy and Phuri, our mountain goats. They virtually skip up the slope. The rest of us puff and pant our way to the top. And as we get higher, Everest looms bigger and bigger on the horizon. The views are fantastic from the top. Gokyo's three lakes look like turquoise jewels, the Ngozumpa Glacier is enormous as it snakes its way down the valley. Everest's massive triangle dominates the skyline. Prayer flags snap in the breeze.
We all spend about an hour taking photographs and having hot lemon drinks and biscuits before heading back down. Before we leave, I take a few minutes to find a couple of little rocks as mementos for Smithy and me. Going down is nearly as tough as going up. The path is steep and slippery and puts a lot of strain on the knees. To my own surprise, I'm the first one down and am congratulated by Ash and Smithy who had come out to meet us all. Huge Brahminy ducks are swimming on the lake as we make our way back to the lodge for a well-earned lunch.
I'm feeling euphoric. I did it! I got to the top of Gokyo Ri! And I did it on my Dad's 70th birthday!
There's one person feeling not so euphoric and that's the Frenchwoman suffering from pressure behind her eyes. We're playing 500 that evening when our Sherpas come in and start moving the furniture around. We think they want to get ready for bed, but No, no no says Phuri. Instead, out comes Peregrine's GAMOW bag and in goes the Frenchwoman. These bags are like mini decompressure chambers and you can use them to stabilise people with severe altitude sickness before sending them down. As the doctors at the Macchermo Rescue Centre had said, once you go in one, your trip is over. Turns out this woman had ascended too fast and only drunk two cups of black tea and a cup of water - the recommended average per day is 3 litres. Her response when Pasang told her that people died from altitude sickness was "Oh, does that really happen?" Anyway, she spent about 4 hours in the bag and was well enough to walk down to Macchermo where we hope she got a severe tongue lashing from the doctors. She was damned lucky we were still in Gokyo as our team was the only one with a GAMOW bag. She would have been in serious trouble without us and could potentially have died.
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