Our Trek - Days 8 & 9

13th April, 2008 - Last night we slept well, no funny dreams, but I awoke once with a pounding head and needing the toilet!!!! Seems to be the norm at the moment! When morning came we both felt reasonably well rested but again a slight headache was bothering me. Anyway Dawa had planned for us to take a 3 hour walk up to Chhukhung at 3734m in height after breakfast as another way to acclimatize us for what was ahead. It was the coldest part of the climb that we were to endure. After reaching Chhukhung, having magic views of Island Peak and grabbing a bite to eat, we quickly made our decent back to Dingbuche where on arrival, Brad and I went straight to the room and slept for 3 hours solid. We were completely whacked by the climb and the cold. Didn't do a great deal in the afternoon, just tried to chill out in preparation for our climb tomorrow.

14th April, 2008 - Today was a hard slog, particularly with the harsh, cold winds and craggy surfaces we were to climb.....at one stage we were on Khumbu glacier where there was plenty of ice to be seen and hints of snow from the evening before. About half an hour out of Lobuche (4930m) our destination for today, my fingers, hands and arms began to swell at a rapid pace. Dawa said it was probably due to the cold, but I did become frightened as all I could think of was my blood pressure and the fact that I still had a slight headache. Once we hit the lodge, both Brad and Dawa massaged by arms until the swelling started to reduce. I also took an extra Cartia tablet (which I had already been taken daily anyway) as a precaution which helped increase my urine output and reduce swelling. The headache seemed more like just a pain in the back of the head at this stage and was controlled once again by panadol and the addition of coedine. Today although a difficult walk, was a very interesting one. We were now at the serious stage whereby there were memorials scattered about, honoring those who died whilst trying to summit the mighty Everest in the past. We also saw lots of snow.....the roof of the tea house even leached a little bit of snow. The tea house was overflowing with people hovering around the fire (actually pathetic excuse for a fire really). The burning of dried Yak patties just weren't cutting it in this freezing weather!!!!!!!!!!! It took a while to warm up after sitting around for a couple of hours in down jackets/sleeping bag, yak scarf, hot water bottle etc etc.......but FINALLY we were warm enough to retire to our freezing cold little room upstairs. Prior to going to bed though we managed to trade a chocolate bar for some more panadol, as we had run out and my head was still hurting.