Trave l mount everest base camp With altitude sickness, you don't know when you have reached your breaking point or how much further you can safely push yourself without it becoming dangerous. Everyone experiences some symptoms, so again it was hard to know when and what was too much. By this stage of the trek, most of us hadn't slept in days and almost everyone had headaches and shortness of breath with exertion, so by the next day, everyone was on Diamox. The next town after Lobuche is a place called Gorakshep, which at 5,140 metres, is the highest town on earth! It is not so much a town, rather a couple of buildings with accommodation, food and a helicopter landing pad. Gorakshep was the point from which we were to do a day trek to base camp. Getting to Gorakshep from Lobuche was incredibly emotional. At about 3am that morning I realised that I was sick, but I had set myself a challenge that I was determined to achieve - I wanted to reach Everest Base Camp. On the path, I passed a European couple with the lady lying on the ground. She was crying. I walked over and asked if they were okay. They simply shook their heads and said, "we have to go down”. They were so close to base camp, but she couldn't go any further. I helped her up with tears filling my eyes and I cried with them. It was a good feeling to finally arrive at Gorashep. We stopped for about an hour-and-a-half to eat and acclimatise before we made our final one-two hour trek to base camp. Everyone was in a similar boat. We were all feeling sick but we were determined to get there - we had to make it to base camp! As expected, getting to base camp was hard. It wasn’t that the walk itself was hard, because it really wasn’t that difficult. But the altitude just sapped your strength, and even though you felt physically strong, you simply were not able to move faster than at turtle’s pace. And the headache just didn’t go away; with every step, my head throbbed harder. Just after lunch, we finally made it - we arrived at Everest Base Camp. Yewwwwww! It looked like another planet. The only colours were white, brown and differing shades of grey. It is an intense place with dramatic scenery. It is set on top of a glacier, and at 5,364 metres, walking over the ice was yet another experience! I had nothing but admiration for the sherpas, porters and mountaineers, who climb higher than this point - they are absolutely incredible people and I respect them so much. I had made it through the lack of sleep, the sickness and the emotions along the journey - and it felt amazing! The challenges had been huge but the sense of accomplishment was exhilarating and I wouldn't have it any other way. pindaramagazine.com.au Pindara Magazine 67
Pindara Private Hospital Magazine - Issue Four
To see the actual publication please follow the link above