Kala Pathar is hard

5am May 25th...I am in the dining hall with Marcos, Renee (reney), Sarah and Kristen (krishna) waiting for the others. Its an early morning climb and I am ready. We decided to go and let the others catch up. Kala Pathar (KP) was an optional climb on our itinerary to see the sun rise at 5540m. So we set out..the others ahead...Marcos pretty much running and Sarah close behind. Krishna and up taking up the back. From the beginning it was rough...if it had been any more straight up we would have needed ropes and crampons. About a quarter or less of the way up, I looked back and Krishna had stopped. She said she was feeling crappy and I told her to take her time and I moved on. The next time I looked behind she wasn't there and one of the guides said Tina had come up and they had both gone down. Krishna was not well and it was Tina's 40th b-day...so why the hell would she want to do this brutal climb when it was finally the time in her life to do what the fuck she wanted to!

The climb was hard, the climb was hard, the climb was hard. My legs were heavy from hypoxia, my nail beds were blue from hypoxia, my heart rate was about 140 and resp rate about 40....dammit I wanted to turn around...so many times I wanted to turn around. I don't know...something inside me, a strength I didn't know I had pushed me...I was taking 5 steps and resting, 5 steps and resting. After 2 and a half hours I made the summit where Marcos, Renee and Sarah were waiting....I had done it...I had summited a Himalyan peak! We took some pics and saw Everest rising before us perfectly at 740am. Down was hard too...took me at least 90 minutes.

We got back to the lodge at Gorak Shep to find that our head guide Shankur had sent Gareth, Kristen, Tina and Jen down to Periche to get Gareth to a lower altitude and maybe seek medical attention....a 5 hour walk. We had breakfast, packed up and off we went...Sarah and Marcos ahead and Reney and I making our way. The five hours down rock falls and river beds went from sunny to cloudy to raining...pouring. I had my gortex on and a pack cover but was so tired I couldn't be bothered to take my rain pants out of my pack....by the time we got to Periche...soaked. I sat for a minute, and I couldn't get up....my legs were done. I hobbled down the hill to an internet cafe to update my facebook status and went back. ate dinner and bed.

Kala Pathar was hard.

PS My Whalian friend Gareth was feeling much better:)