Weds 11th April 2012 Everest Base Camp 5300m
Rest Day
Awake to frost all over the inside of my tent. My sleeping bag is wet on top. Despite having vented the tent the temperature dropped to about -9 Deg C. The walls are wet near the bottom and frosty at the top. It gets light about 5am although we don’t see the sun until 8am. So it’s wet and cold from about 5am until 9am when the sun rises and by about 9.30am it’s unbearably hot in the tent.
Today we are having a medical to see how well we are acclimatising and are going for a 60 min stroll though the melee of other tents to the start of the Khumbu Icefall route.
It is obvious that we have the most luxurious set up on the mountain. It’s probably no coincidence that Himex have the best success rate of about 80% and all their clients have returned safely. Russ ensures we acclimatise properly; we eat well, keep healthy and keep comfortable. All helps to maximise our chances of success and minimises our chances of disaster.
The Icefall route is one of the biggest challenges as there are some 40 crossings across crevasses which are hundreds of feet deep. Many are crossed using aluminium ladders with up to three lashed together to cross the wider spans.
It’s a nice morning out, good to stretch the legs and then back in time for my medical.
Blood oxygen saturation is at 80%, at sea level they would be between 96 and 100%. My resting heart rate before I came out was about 46 bpm, here it’s about 60 bpm.
After lunch I have a nap. I have bought a half bottle of whiskey with me. It’s impossible to resist a slurp, with the medical out of the way. Great assistance for an excellent few hours of reading, music and kip.
I finish my second book detailing various misadventures on Everest! Trying to learn by others mistakes. If you are not on the summit by 2.30pm or it’s a bit windy....... Go Down!
Tonight Russ gives us slide show on his career as a mountain guide and expedition leader, complete with ridiculous achievements and very narrow escapes.
The guy is nuts. Very happy to continue to put ‘Company Director’ as my form of employment.
WWTW are sponsored by Glenfiddich. The first of many bottles is cracked open. I am offered a dram, which resembles a triple and is quickly quaffed.
I haven’t slept at all well the last two nights..... Tonight I sleep like a baby. 7 straight hours and an hour and a half dozing.
No photos until next week due to technology issues!!
Mark,
ReplyDeleteGreat blog mate keep it up. Sorry i have not been around to post any comments but have been in Chamonix enjoying myself too much. Sounds like you have passed the trekking bit with flying colours. Now for the climbing bit! With a resting heart rate of 60 at base camp you have nothing to worry about.....at 5300m your more than half way!!!!! Well maybe not....