Up to Chukhung Ri 5535m

After setting our alarms for 6.30 am we had breakfast which consisted of porridge, mixed omelette with garlic and toast. We set off at 7.30 for our first Nepalese summit, reaching it two hours and fifty minutes later. 

Now I could leave it there and let you think that everything was fine. I've got this dilemma: do I give you a sanitised view of life on this trip or do I give you the 'warts and all' version. I suspect you'll find the latter more interesting although possibly more alarming for my family. The other problem I have is that to date I've been able to send a daily post and I'm not sure how long this will continue. I'll do my best to try and send you something interesting each day but don't be alarmed if I miss a day. I say this as when I made my own way down to ABC on the north side from Camp 3 I was so exhausted I didn't have the energy to send a text to my wife saying I was down safely. You can imagine the distress this caused! 

So back to today, the first 700m went ok and I was able to keep up with the rest of the group (there were six of us as Nick had decided to stay at the lodge) however I really struggled with those last 100m. So much so I even thought about not going any higher but what sort of signal would that give to David. I continued up a few paces at a time struggling to set up any type of rhythm which I knew would be vital if I was to get to the top. Instead all I could hear was my heart beat thumping between my ears as my body tried to extract much needed oxygen from the air. Occasionally I felt dizzy and was stumbling which I knew was bad. Thankfully the top appeared in sight just 20m ahead and on reaching it I collapsed on to a flat rock for some much needed rest. What was strange was that once I was stationery I felt fine. I just had no energy to climb any higher. Even though I was only a short distance behind the group I told David how I was feeling and then three others pipped up saying how hard they had found the last section ! It was reassuring to know I wasn't alone. The lack of oxygen meant I forgot to set off my Spot2 gps messenger. I suspect this won't be the last time! 

So we had climbed up 800m to where the air pressure is 480 millibars (roughly half that of sea level) - no wonder we were struggling. After an energy bar ( why do they always taste of cardboard) we dropped back down to our lodge for lunch. 

I'm pleased to say I'm feeling much better now at a level of 4750m and I've hardly coughed at all today which is great. Nobody said this was going to be easy!!

Up to Chukhung & the dreaded Khumbu cough strikes

Since my fever I have had a blocked up and runny nose. It seems to be more of an allergic reaction rather than a cold. Up until yesterday I had prided myself on going sufficiently slowly to breathe through my nose and had hoped to maintain this strategy up to Base Camp. I've also been wearing a buff (a tube of material worn around your neck a bit like a small scarf) over my nose and mouth to try and keep some of the dust out of my lungs. 

Today I had no choice but to breathe through my mouth and by the time we reached Chukhung I had developed a dry hacking cough! It's extremely frustrating as we are only one week into the trip and I know from past experience that it will only get worse. People have broken ribs from the constant coughing higher up. 

The walk up took us one hour and fifty minutes to walk the 5 kilometres and 400 m height gain. 

Most of us felt lousy and quite lethargic on reaching the lodge 'Yakland' - it's ok Disneyland need have no worries. 

Four of us decided to push on up for another hour and 150m as tomorrow, subject to the weather, we plan to climb up to 5500m. At the turn around time the cloud descended and we returned in a full blown snow storm. It was just like being up in Scotland! 

What I did notice during this bit of the walk was that my cough stopped and I put this down to breathing through my buff. So I now look as though I'm about to hold a bank up as i'm wearing inside the lodge - I may look odd but I'm not coughing! 

After lunch I retired to our room and gave Bruno a fit of the giggles as I put on a builders dusk mask that I have brought out with me. Like the buff it must just raise the temperature and the moisture content of the air I inhale. 

So we are now waiting for dinner and I've got a typical mild AMS headache. Hopefully it will be gone in the morning. As you can probably tell not feeling great at the moment.