by Phill Michael

Camp Dingboche with Taboche in the Background

A day of rest and acclimatization in Dingboche. It's nice to be at this altitude and feeling decent. The sky was totally clear last night and I was in awe of Ama Dablam and her starry jewelry. She loomed over me during my midnight plant watering session. I am going to reach her summit in the not so distant future.

I was having crazy, vivid dreams of being a man/dolphin and riding the bow wake of huge sailboats...as well as being my human self being dragged around by some monster game fish while on a 'SeaDoo'. I despise those noise making 'Seadoos'...but it seems like fun. What does it all mean?! Regardless, they were awesome dreams and each time I awoke, I wanted to go back to sleep and be back in the ocean.

It was also very clear at 5:30am, so we managed to snap a few pictures of our surroundings. We could see Taboche (6367m/20884ft) to the west...Ama Dablam (6856m22488ft), prominently, and to our southeast...Lhotse (8516m/27932ft)  and Island Peak(6189m/20300ft) to the northeast...and the Tengboche valley to our southwest.  Everest is to our north  and hiding behind a large rocky slope. I guess we'll see her as we hike up towards Loboche. I can't wait!

The Northwest Face of Ama Dablam

Looking North East from Dingboche

We took our bio data this morning, with our handy-dandy Altitudetech equipment, and came up with the following:

Dawa
BPM 78
o2 sat 88

Phill
BPM 91
o2 sat 88

Alex
BPM 92
o2 sat 92

Chris
BPM 114
o2 sat 70

BPM=Beats per minute i.e. heart rate

o2 sat= oxygen saturation in percent

Dawa was running around early this afternoon...and in his element...while Alex and I played scrabble (and I typed when it wasn't my turn). Alex had a pounding headache...and for some reason...I felt great. Strange but true. Chris was fast asleep...as he has been for most of the day. If Chris' general health doesn't improve by tomorrow, we will have to send him to a lower elevation. He's not too happy about that, but one cannot gamble with altitude sickness. Period.

Chris Sleeps in Dingboche

Our little Korean power generator was running very poorly since we started it up yesterday. While taking our readings this morning I had a bit of an epiphany. Maybe our little 750 Watt friend was also feeling the effects of oxygen starvation?! With the removal of four screws, a plate and an air filter...clean, continuous power was achieved. It's still going strong and now we are able to power and charge all our electronic gear at once. Joy.

The sat modem seems to be picking up a good signal, so I shouldn't have any problem uploading this update today. Double joy!

The Little Generator that Could

None of us were particularly hungry for lunch, but Gelu and Bhuwan just keep bringing food. Canned tuna, curried spinach, tortilla like patties, etc. It all looks so good...but extreme hunger has not grabbed us...yet.

Bhuwan and Gelu

6pm...and the clouds have descended upon us and so has some rain.  Here come the kitchen men with more tea and cookies. I am hungry again...so it's all good! Alex and Chris are wrapped in Yak blankets and snoozing away. Alex thinks he has the Khumbu cough...but I hope not. We are cozy and warm in a little tea house while the generator faithfully brings all our batteries back to full strength. Hopefully a good night's sleep will do the same for our bodies?!

Dinner was served around 9pm. Hot soup, baked beans and a vegetable quiche thing. I was starving and tried to eat as fast as Dawa. No chance...but I am getting faster since I am feeling very well. Alex wasn't hungry since vomiting earlier in the evening and Chris wasn't hungry at all. I was worried about Chris and watched him carefully. I told him that if he didn't start eating, I was going to spoon feed him myself. About 20 minutes later, he  was nibbling on some peaches and drinking the bottles of water I kept putting in front of him.

Dawa and I discussed what to do about Chris. We determined that if he hasn't improved by morning that we will hire a horse to take him back to Namche Bazar. Gelu (Dawa's cousin and the most attentive of all the staff) will accompany him and make sure that he is totally safe and sound. Namche is 1000m(3000ft) below our current location...so Chris should feel much better there. Altitude sickness is a tricky, unpredictable creature. Chris can cold chill in Namche and enjoy good food, a comfortable room and hot showers. If he starts to feel like himself again, he can try coming back up here. Regardless, we'll be able to communicate with him by radio/phone/email to see how he is doing.

It's 10pm...and it fells like time for bed...or some reading. I've been on the laptop for many hours. I think I'll upload this update right now...then upload June 10th and 11th tomorrow...after I get the images added to the web pages.

Tomorrow is another day...

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