not much to report today.
it is snowing, just started. big flakes.
MOM - dad is at 100%. you need not worry about him. and dad says to tell you "don't listen to alisa, i'm not going to have a brain clot."
CINDY - peter read your comment and just laughed. i'm not sure it motivated him enough. he says yes he is cheap. so cheap that he won't even buy lemon tea which costs less than 75 cents.
we got up this morning and did a little hike. just up and down to help acclimatize. i felt really good the whole time. i've finally gotten my walking legs.
one more day before the big day to everst base camp. we all feel like we've been away for a very long time. in one week and a day we will be flying home though. we've been talking about seeing our kids again. ian will get into cranbrook, he thinks, around 530am. he said he will just sit on the couch and wait till his girls wake up. it will be a nice reunion.
after our hike tomorrow we will have some very long days ahead of us. 8-10 hours walking.
thanks for telling Rob about the blog, glad you're up to date now!! can't wait to see the kids play together!
i guess that is all. no much happening in dingboche this afternoon. if there was a movie playing somewhere maybe i would go, but alas we are in the middle of nowhere. i'll have to go take a nap i guess.
oh yea, our guide has been calling sylvie "kanchhi baihni" which means "littlest daughter." he calls me just "baihni", meaning daughter. our guide sings a lot too. he is a good guide.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
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!
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!
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Day 4 - Namche to Tengboche
I am at at internet cafe right now, so no pictures with this post. Too bad too, because today we saw Everest!
Today was a longish day. We hiked out of Namche and headed towards Tengboche. We hiked for about an hour along side the mountain. Very flat and nice. but to get up to tengboche you had to descend all the way to the valley floor where the river is, then back up 500m to tengboche. it was steep, but not like the way to namche.
Dad had a hard day. he is not doing well, having trouble eating and if very tired because of it. peter and ian carried dads pack up the steepest part going up to tengboche, and that seemed to help. but we are all still in good spirits. a lot of joking on the trail and laughing. dad will rebound. we all made it together today. nobody went ahead. we all kept slow with dad. i think if we can get him to dingboche tomorrow that will be good. we have two nights in dingboche. the hike from tengboche to dingboche may be the easiest leg of the journey. not a lot of up then down then up again like we have had. not to worry though, we are all taking care of each other. no one else has felt sick yet or the effects of the altitude. mild headaches, but that is about it.
tengboche is a monastery, the highest buddhist monastery in the world. we just went in and watched them chant their prayers. different, but enjoyable to experience. then we went to the tengboche bakery. ian said his cinnamon bun was better than the one in namche. who would've figured? my chocolate croissant was pretty good too. we are going to try and get dad there later this evening to get some food in him.
we met a lady along the trail who was 70 years old coming back from her trek to base camp. randy was up ahead and told her to find dad. she came upon us on the trail and said "are you folks from canada? where is don?!" then proceeded to tell us her story and motivated dad to keep going. she suffered from the altitude as well, but made it. she was fun to talk to. then she told dad to "get his butt down that trail!"
we saw everest today too. it was a big motivating factor. seeing the mountain energized us. the mountains are unbelievable.
i feel like i've finally got my walking legs today. they still get tired, but they feel good most of the time. still no cardio distress for me. i've been lucky. ive kept my appitite and haven't had any headaches yet. i've been drinking about 3L of water a day, i'm sure that helps.
tomorrow will be a good day for hiking. not so much up and down, but a steady climb. i think i will like that better.
mom- randy would like you to call ardie and tell her that he's found himself a little phillapeno and is staying in nepal because he likes it here so much, and she can send him money each month. (she will understand what he means)
mom- don't worry about dad, we are taking good care of him. we won't let him do anything he can't.
i found myself today doing something that robbie would do. i was about 50yrds ahead of the group and came to a small bridge. i quickly ducked under the bridge and waited for the rest of the group to catch up and go over it. when they did i started to yell and roar!!! they weren't very scared. robbie would've done that exact thing, and i usually just roll my eyes when he does. but it made me smile for the rest of the day.
well, we are all still together so that is the most important thing. we take it very slow, but steady.
that is all for today. we will see if there is internet any farther up. i have been surprised to find it here, although it is twice as much to use as it was in namche!
NAMASTE!!
Today was a longish day. We hiked out of Namche and headed towards Tengboche. We hiked for about an hour along side the mountain. Very flat and nice. but to get up to tengboche you had to descend all the way to the valley floor where the river is, then back up 500m to tengboche. it was steep, but not like the way to namche.
Dad had a hard day. he is not doing well, having trouble eating and if very tired because of it. peter and ian carried dads pack up the steepest part going up to tengboche, and that seemed to help. but we are all still in good spirits. a lot of joking on the trail and laughing. dad will rebound. we all made it together today. nobody went ahead. we all kept slow with dad. i think if we can get him to dingboche tomorrow that will be good. we have two nights in dingboche. the hike from tengboche to dingboche may be the easiest leg of the journey. not a lot of up then down then up again like we have had. not to worry though, we are all taking care of each other. no one else has felt sick yet or the effects of the altitude. mild headaches, but that is about it.
tengboche is a monastery, the highest buddhist monastery in the world. we just went in and watched them chant their prayers. different, but enjoyable to experience. then we went to the tengboche bakery. ian said his cinnamon bun was better than the one in namche. who would've figured? my chocolate croissant was pretty good too. we are going to try and get dad there later this evening to get some food in him.
we met a lady along the trail who was 70 years old coming back from her trek to base camp. randy was up ahead and told her to find dad. she came upon us on the trail and said "are you folks from canada? where is don?!" then proceeded to tell us her story and motivated dad to keep going. she suffered from the altitude as well, but made it. she was fun to talk to. then she told dad to "get his butt down that trail!"
we saw everest today too. it was a big motivating factor. seeing the mountain energized us. the mountains are unbelievable.
i feel like i've finally got my walking legs today. they still get tired, but they feel good most of the time. still no cardio distress for me. i've been lucky. ive kept my appitite and haven't had any headaches yet. i've been drinking about 3L of water a day, i'm sure that helps.
tomorrow will be a good day for hiking. not so much up and down, but a steady climb. i think i will like that better.
mom- randy would like you to call ardie and tell her that he's found himself a little phillapeno and is staying in nepal because he likes it here so much, and she can send him money each month. (she will understand what he means)
mom- don't worry about dad, we are taking good care of him. we won't let him do anything he can't.
i found myself today doing something that robbie would do. i was about 50yrds ahead of the group and came to a small bridge. i quickly ducked under the bridge and waited for the rest of the group to catch up and go over it. when they did i started to yell and roar!!! they weren't very scared. robbie would've done that exact thing, and i usually just roll my eyes when he does. but it made me smile for the rest of the day.
well, we are all still together so that is the most important thing. we take it very slow, but steady.
that is all for today. we will see if there is internet any farther up. i have been surprised to find it here, although it is twice as much to use as it was in namche!
NAMASTE!!
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Lohtse and Ama Dablam
Day 3 - Namche Bazar rest day
Namaste.
Today was a rest day for us. We still did a short climb in the morning, but is was very short. The climb was up to a museum looking up the valley towards everest. The morning started off clear and the mountains were looming. As we came up to the point where we could see up the valley, Lohtse was just beginning to be obscured by cloud cover. Everest was completely hidden in the clouds. We think had we been an hour earlier we would've see everest in full view. But we have many days ahead to see it. We also saw ama dablam. The mountains here are formidable. You have to remember that we are already at 3440m elevation and the mountains are still towering over us.
After our hike in the morning we went SHOPPING!! I'm not much of a shopper, but I managed to pick up a few nice souvenirs that are very Namche. The markets are pretty nice. They all have a lot of the same stuff. A few things I wanted to get, but I know I can get them cheaper in Kathmandu so I will wait till the end of the trip to complete my shopping. Plus, anything I get here I will probably have to carry out myself.
Tomorrow we hike to tengboche. Tengboche is the highest Buddhist monastery in the world. Should be a 4-5 hour trek. As far as difficult hiking days go, the worst is behind us. Although our guide says that the say we hike to everest base camp will be the hardest. That is because of the altitude and it is a very long day. 8+ hours.
Dad hasn't been feeling well today. He figures he caught a bit of a bug. He is taking some antibiotics and we are all hoping it runs it's course quickly. He has slept most of the afternoon and is feeling better since taking a bit of medication. We will all be watching him and will be taking things very slowly for him. Send your prayers because we don't want to leave him behind!!
I don't know what kind of Internet access there will be as we gain more elevation. If there is any opportunity for Internet I will continue to post updates.
That is all for now.
-AV-
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