Day 7, 8 and 9 of EBC

I am back with a few days break. The last 4 days I can say have been the most challenging ones for me on the trek. I gave you the updates until day 5. After that day 6 was acclimatisation, and there was nothing much. I did a short trek for acclimatisation and back to Dingboche. The real challenge started from day 7 till day 9.

We started from Dingboche to Lobuche, and the trek path was very rough. On this day, we had to gain an elevation of 500 meters. The air had already started getting thinner, the temperature was falling, and it was getting extremely cold. During the trek time, I would not feel much, but on reaching the lodge, suddenly the cold would start hitting me. On this day, I reached the height of 4910 meters. By this time, I was finding it very difficult to move ahead. This day was still ok because it was a sunny day.

Day 8, I wanted to completely give up without any doubts. It was an extremely bad weather day. The temperature in the day time was in minus degrees, and the visibility was extremely poor because it was getting foggy. I was in bad condition, so I decided to take a helicopter ride from Lobuche to Gorakshep, which was the next stop. I knew I was not in the state to trek up, and I did not want to be foolish. Not only that, the condition was really bad, and there were so many rescue missions happening.

By this time, I was not even able to take more than 5 steps at a time. At every 5 steps, I had to stop and catch up on my breadth. I broke down on this day and started crying, thinking why I had to do this trek in the first place. I was getting some of the weirdest thoughts, and my behaviour with my guide was also getting rough. Anything he would say, and I would get irritated with him. I was almost hallucinating by this time. I would have these few moments where I would come to my senses and then keep telling myself that this was all temporary and it would be all worth it in the end.

It was just not the right day for me. Because the weather had turned so bad, all the helicopter rides were cancelled.
So this increased 1 more day for me. It seemed like the longest day of my life. There were helicopters flying, but they were only rescue missions all throughout the day. And it seemed like there were too many casualties, and people were being flown down. In that moment I was relieved of my decision, because after coming all the way up just for the last 400 meters I did not want to miss it and nor did I want to become a medical casualty and flown down abruptly where I would not be in my senses to make any decisions.

The fun was the next morning, Instead of the heli taking me from Lobuche to Gorakshep, it brought me back to Lukla, which was right down from where I had started. And I completely lost it. I could not understand why my tour guide had to do that. I started crying, and I called up my hubby, saying that all my dreams and efforts have been shattered. These guys have brought me down to the base level.

Hubby then called up the tour guide to check what was happening, and the guide told him that they were planning to fly me to Gorakshep the next day because of the extremely poor weather. This was not acceptable for me. I had to do Gorakshep and then EBC the same day. I only had 2 more days at hand because I had my return ticket confirmed. And Lukla is the most unpredictable airport. You never know when suddenly they will shut down. There was no way I could keep it to such a last moment.

Hubby then argued with the guide, and then the arrangement was made for me to fly to Gorakshep on the same day. In half an hour time I took off and landed in Gorakshep.

After reaching Gorakshep, straight we proceeded to EBC. I will write tomorrow about my whole experience at EBC. Thankfully the weather at Gorakshep was clear.

I did not want to do an overnight halt in Gorakshep, but I was left with no choice in that moment. When I reached the lodge in Gorakshep after the EBC, I went to sleep in the dining area itself. The dining area was warm, so I felt better there. I had a soup there and then after some time I went to my room.

I was extremely happy by this time that I had completed the EBC trek, and at the same time, now I wanted to return down soon. This was planned from the beginning that after reaching the base camp, I will fly down.

The last 3 nights I could not sleep well and because of that I was having a heavy head. The air was thin. In Lobuche and Gorakshep, the toilets were outside the room. The condition was poor. There was no basin or any such facility. There was just a toilet and a big drum of water and a can. I was finding it extremely difficult to use the toilet. But I had to go, there was no other choice. I did not brush my teeth for the last 2 days. I used a mouthwash and wet wipes. For the last 3 days I could not take a bath, nor even change my clothes. I had lost my apetite with all the conditions, and I was barely eating. I had a runny nose, and constantly sneezing it had soared up. But I was mindfully keeping myself hydrated with drinking lots of electrolyte water.

Somehow, that night passed in Gorakshep. But let me tell you this one very beautiful experience I had at night. I was not getting sleep, and I happened to look out of the window. The sky was looking amazingly gorgeous with the stars. They seemed so close to me. They were shining extra bright. It was truly a magnificent scene. In that moment, I smiled to myself and said that I would have never ever had this view in my life if I had to not stay back that night.

I still have lots to write about this experience, which I will slowly gradually do.
Finally, on day 9, morning I flew down from Gorakshep to Lukla and from Lukla to Kathmandu with loads and loads of wonderful memories, some pleasant and some painful experiences.

Here are some pictures from the the 3 days. I could not take many pictures on these days, a few that I captured on the way.