Day 5 - Tengboche to Dingboche

Dingboche 4300m.

at another internet cafe. truly incredible i can still get connected this far up.

before i begin, an update on dad; he is doing really well. he is mostly over his bug and is eating things again. mostly fruit and granola bars. the thought of any nepali cuisine makes his stomach turn. but he is keeping everything down and working hard at drinking enough water. he walked with his own pack the whole way, and kept slow. now that we have him in dingboche we are confident he will make it all the way. tomorrow is a rest day, no climbing. so by the time we hit the trail again he should be 100%.

today was a good hiking day. less up and down like it has been. just a steady climb with only a couple places we had to descend. it has gotten cold. at this altitude we have to be wary and keep our chest and heads warm. the wind is chilly because its coming off all that snowy mountains. it started off very overcast in the morning. but it cleared enough that we could see Ama Dablam. that mountain is very cool. we could also see Lohtse again, and Everest behind it. from where we are Lohtse looks bigger, but it is deceiving.

nothing to extraordinary about the trail today. we ascended above the tree line. the landscape is very rocky and barren, with only shrubs for greenery.

there isn't much to do in dingboche, so we may be a bit bored on our rest day. sylvie and i just spent the last hour showing pictures of our kids and of canada to our guides, Gyanu and Guness. Guness doesn't speak english very well but is eager to visit and see things from canada. we've also been playing games on the iphone with them. anything to pass the time.

my fingers are swollen from the altitude and from swinging them by my side all day. it is making typing difficult. i have sausage fingers.

we have a few more "up" days ahead of us, then down. unbelievably it will only take us 2 days to descend.

i have been feeling the altitude a bit more. last night i had trouble breathing. nothing serious. just feeling like i can't get a full breath of oxygen. so instead of slow shallow breathing i've adopted a more quick deep breathing technique. especially for night. it is hard work at this altitude. my 20lb pack makes my body work as if it were a 50lb pack. it is harder to catch your breath. but still no major distress. my legs don't burn, and neither do my lungs. do you like how every post i give you an update on my cardio condition? hahaha, this is a big deal for me. my cardio was crap before i started training for the trip, so every day i am in awe that i haven't keeled over to die.

anyway, not much else to report. the nights will be cold from here on out. maybe -10C.

MOM-are you watching the royal wedding right now? there is a Brit sitting next to me in the internet cafe who is getting his royal wedding update.

thanks for your comments, it's nice to know people are actually following along. that reminds me, does anyone know if Rob knows that i'm doing this on my blog? i'm not sure i even mentioned it to him that i was doing that before i left.

anyway, i'm sure i'll update again tomorrow, just because i'm so bored when we have to sit around and wait.

we've been gone from canada a week! it feels like a month!