Day 8: Gorak Shep

18 April 2007
Gorak Shep, 5,170m, 4.00pm

It's been snowing since around 2pm and all the roofs of the lodges are covered in a sheet of snow. There were quite large patches of snow on the way here too.

I think it's been my slowest day so far. I took about 3 hours, 45 minutes to get here. I found the moraine quite daunting, even though there weren't any sharp ascents or descents. I think this is because of the altitude; the headache returned on the trail. This seems to be a pattern since Dingboche--I develop a headache around lunchtime, on the trail, which then dissipates after I've had some refreshment at the day's destination.

At one point on the trail I almost went into the I-don't-care-anymore-zombie mode. In any case, the headache seems to have gone again, but it's freezing in the kitchen. The kitchen's the warmest place here. I'm also a bit worried about eh hike in prices. Ican't afford dhal bhat anymore, so I've switched to fried vegetable noodles. Here's a sample of prices at Gorak Shep:

Milk tea: 50 Rupees
Toast with jam: 250 Rupees
Dhal Bhat: 250 Rupees
Setamed vegetable momo: 180 Rupees
Mars bars: 250 Rupees

I'm hoping I'll regain my strength and stamina in the next day or so, so that I can do Kala Pattar and go to Lobuche on the same day. I can then go across the Cho La pass into the Gokyo valley, where things are cheaper. I can then also cut short the trek by 3 days.

Yesterday, Lobuche, I gave an interview to a Polish filmmaker--I blabbed on for quite a bit, but not really sure about what, as I was recovering from the headache. Elvira--that's the name of the filmmaker--came all the way to Lobuche without any acclimatisation stops. I was shocked but she seemed bubbly and fine. But this morning she'd got the headache. I met her on my way here; she was descending down the route without having climbed Kala Pattar and looking really bad. But she had a long day ahead of her as she was going all the way to Periche.