Team Cooper - Everest Base Camp - Day 8

 

Day 8 of our trek and finally we have a rest day...and despite feeling a bit funny during the night, I'm now okay and I definitely slept better last night as well.

Despite more mountains around us having snow on them, it's a sunny day and the snow on our tents is melting.

 

A view of Ama Dablam (6586m) from my bed

 



  There are lots of yaks around grazing and they were really noisy this morning, I don't think Alistair appreciated the early morning YAK up call!!  Heehee.  :)

We had a lie in this morning we did not get our wakey wakey call and  black tea until 7, and breakfast at 8.
We set off after breakfast for our short walk to get higher then back to acclimatise

 

Guide Roy and Pratap share a joke? and our tents below

 



 

Our climb this morning was good and Peter enjoyed throwing snowballs at everyone.

Across the valley

 

 

Ama Dablam

 

When we got to 4600m we stayed for about 20 minutes to acclimatise before coming down.

The gang and all smiling

 





 

Chris, me, Pratap, Roy, Ganga and Roy

 

 



 

 

 

   The rest of the morning was spent chilling in the sun

 

 

After lunch we went for a walk around Dingboche checked internet which is gettting expensive and slow up here before going for coffee and cake.
Dingboche is a popular stop for trekkers and climbers headed Mount Everest and Ama Dablam. Parties will typically spend two nights in Dingboche for acclimatization purposes.
The village relies heavily on tourists with lodges and tenting areas comprising most of Dingboche, there a re a few shops, cafes and a place for internet.
One of the characteristics of Dingboche is the kilometers of stone walls, built using the stones of different sizes that cover the entire Valley of Imja. These stones are removed in order to plow the soil and end up being pilled one over the other creating kilometers of walls. Most lodges close in the winter and the people return home lower down the mountains

We also went to a talk on mountain sickness by a Polish doctor which was really good, and very informative.  This was held at a information centre and worth going too.

 

 While there we heard of a couple of blokes showing signs of mountain sickness and they were advised not to go further unless it had improved in 24hrs

We went back for tea and heard a few of the gang were feeling the effects of the altitude.

Grant has now started to feel a bit rough and has now started taking Diamox as well, hopefully this should help.  :) 

Card games are a popular pastime with half the group and we are now going to our bed at around 8pm.
Tomorrow we head for Loboche