Had a horrible night of headaches and general discomfort - particularly as id drunk too much hot chocolate and had to run around to find a squat toilet that wasn't frozen in the middle of the night! Tis crazy to be sleeping at an altitude of roughly 5000m!
We were woken at 5am, the plan being to climb Kalapathar before brekky. Of course we were all late and so had breakfast before we even left! Dorothy had been a bit delirous during the night - asking for maths textbooks to teach the porters at 1am! So her and Marjorie were joining Rodger and Olivia on the morning trip back down. It was a little disheartening as they'd been so strongly determined the whole time! Their reasoning was that they'd set out for base camp, made it and now just wanted to get back in one piece!
It had snowed heavily overnight so it was freezing cold as Paul, Om, Robyn, Karma and I shuffled our way up Kalapathar. At 5,550m it is a considerable peak worth climbing - especially for the views. By the time we reached the top we were so damn tired we could only lie on the snow-covered rocks as Om took a picture of us! The view of everest was great and it was even more satisfying to know that we can now say we have climbed a 5,550m mountain!
The trip down was obviously a great deal easier than the way up, it took less than a third of the time!
It was a breathtaking ascent for a breathtaking view and I dont regret it though I was slightly envious of the others as we rushed head-on into wind and snow to descend 1200m from Kalapathar to the village on the way back down! Thankfull the cold spurred us on a little, arriving at about 5pm. My water is frozen and I am left wondering what the temperature is outside; at least -10C despite having descended.
The last hour of walking down to the lodge was one of the best so far. Mainly because it was a blessed flat but also because it felt like we had gone back in time to a medieval village! The little stone houses and foggy weather gave it an eery but adventurous feel.
Dororthy and Marjorie weren't faring too well on the way down (Rodger and Olivia had left them behind with the Sirdar, Moneyraam). Dorothy was still delirious and sat down in the middle of a stream, Moneyraam having to get soaked trying to save her! Everyone is a little worried for her but she should be ok as we go further down. Karma said if she does get worse she may need to be evacuated!
