Treks and travels: Everest base camp, day 7: Acclimatization day at Dengboche

Dengboche was a beautiful place. But the cold weather kept us indoors for most of the day. Thanks to Kindle loaded with books, I never had a boring time. Wi-Fi came at NPR 600 per hour, was only available after 6PM. I made a deal on per minute basis to call my Home via Skype. Mobile signals had not yet reached Dengboche.

My appetite had gone from bad to worse as I started hating the food. I was fully convinced that it was not altitude but type/quality of food that made me to lose appetite.

On acclimatization day, most people headed to Nagkartshang Gompa, a name which I could never pronounce properly. I also followed the majority people to climb 1,000 feet to reach the Gompa. Subbu was tired and hence he decided to rest at the hotel.

As I climbed, I noticed that most people in front of me were headed towards Lobuche. They were one day ahead of us. I had a long look at the route towards Lobuche and then continued towards my destination, the Gompa with a difficult name.

It took me 45 minutes to climb up. It was easy but too windy to stay long at the top. The bonus of this walk was the view of Makalu, fifth highest mountain in the world. With Makalu, I now have seen 8 of the 14 eight thousanders from land. They are Everest, Kanchenjunga, Lhotse, Makalu, Manaslu, Annapurna I, Dhaulagiri and Shisha Pangma. Cho Oyu is one peak I am yet to see (I can include it as I have seen it from Mountain flight but that is a boring way to see a mountain!!). The remaining five (K2, Nanga Parvat, Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II and Broad peak) are in the part of Kashmir not controlled by Indians and hence out of bounds.

When I come back, Subbu was surprised that I returned so quickly.

Later that day, a big Spanish group checked-in to our hotel. By evening the restaurant was bustling with people creating a party like atmosphere.

In the meantime, Subbu’s condition had not improved. Even a walk to restroom made him breathe heavily. If that was the condition, how can we climb up remaining 4,000 feet? The end of our trip seemed nearer.