Local time: 20:00 10 Nov 2007
Location: Gorak Shep
Altitude: 5150m
Weather: 5cm of snow cover in the morning. - 7 C in our rooms, -13 outside. During the day sunny until about 2pm, then clouds and more snow

Hi there it's Cassra here.

Today we were rewarded for our hard trek 2 days ago, as we gained an extra day and were more flexible with our plans. A brilliantly sunny, but cold morning made us decide to climb up to Pumori C1 ( 5660 m ). Paul A had told us about the superb views of Everest and other mountains from this vista point, but unfortunately last time we tried it in May the weather closed on us.The angle from which one sees Everest from here makes it much more interesting than the climb up Kala Patar, which most trekkers choose to do.

The Trek up
Pasang took us a slightly different and shorter way, but it was a more difficult walk. We had to cross over many large and small rock fields and the route was not as well trodden. Never the less after a hard 3 hour trek and trying to wish the by now appearing clouds away we made it. It was hard, but as soon as we saw the views we all knew that Paul had been right and it was worth the pain.

The Views
It's difficult to describe how magnificent the views were. And for once the clouds stayed away. As C1 was quite sheltered and warm, we stayed there for nearly 1.5 hours and took many pictures. Lets hope we have managed to capture what we saw.
From up there one can see Everest base camp, the North col, North ridge, South ridge, South col, the Lhotse face and a major part of the Ice Fall. Other mountains such as Nuptse and Ama Dablam show themselves from different angles

The Descent
We took a slightly longer, but easier route down the mountain this time. We could see a small number of tents at Everest basecamp and later learnt through the Sherpa line, that the team made it up to 8500 meters and were about to leave basecamp tomorrow. We will probably run into them on our trek there tomorrow. We are hoping to go treasure hunting for a few hours, as there are many items that appear at the bottom of the icefall, from previous expeditions after many year.

Finally, just before we reached Gorak Shep, we saw a massive avalanche coming down the west shoulder of Everest, which only added to what really was a perfect day.

We arrived back at the lodge at about 2pm just as it started to snow and are now sitting in a packed, but reasonably warm dinning room playing chess, reading and writing updates.

Food and Sleep
Just would like to mention my experience of both the above.

The food in most lodges has been very good so far, but it is the same everywhere you go and I'm getting slightly tired of it already. Today on the way back I was dreaming of a Ribeye Steak with chips and some chocolate ice cream. I'm also beginning to miss Grazia's (my beautiful and gorgeous wife) cooking.

Regarding sleep. I haven't had a proper nights sleep since we arrived in Lukla. Many hours of twisting and turning and just being awake. Breathing is also very strange up here. Every now and then one wakes up gasping for air, although I have been told that this is quite normal at altitude. To prevent this I started using a drug called Diamox which helps you breathe deeper, however it has the side effect of making me go to the toilet about 5 times a night which kind of defeats the object. So I have decided to just start counting sheep and make myself fall asleep the old fashion way.

This is all for now
Cheers
Cas

Your Messages

Hi Siamac

I'm glad that your moms OP went well.And don’t be jealous, hopefully next time ( Grazia willing ) we can do something together

Hello Boys
Thanks for your lovely message. Luca bathing rules will change when I get home, but you won’t get away with one shower every 7 days :-). I'm very proud that parents teacher meeting went well and that you got good remarks in math.
Stefano well played and hope you do just as well on Saturday.
Keep the messages coming I really love reading them.( maybe mummy will write one, one day soon )
Lots of kisses and love
Daddy

Jimmy & Brianna
We are off to Everest Base Camp tomorrow so that will leave only one objective for us all. Island Peak....
The toilets are mostly long drops so Brianna should be ok with the hovering. About time you sent a message. Take Care.
Love Dave

Wayne Rogers.
We did another big day today which was equal to the Cho La Pass. Everest Base Camp tomorrow before we descend and rest for a few days in anticipation of Island Peak.
Take Care Dave.

Erin Bruhn.
Thanks for your message the guys enjoyed your light entertainment. We may need to leave out any dirty jokes as there are several school groups that read the updates. Missing you heaps. Love You and I will Call soon.
Dave

GlennaaaahhhhH!

Thanks for the message. Good to hear you are interested and reading our posts here. As for returning in time to vote, i dont really care, whoever gives me the biggest tax return is the mob that will get my vote anyway. Looking forward to getting into the canyons dont there at christmas, make sure you leave a few days spare for some epics! :)
Darren

Hi Liane, We have 3 Sherpas with us (2 guides and one yak driver). We have two Zopkus carrying our bags. I have met many of my Sherpa friends in Khumjung, which was great fun. I met two Sherpas that were on the summit of Everest at the same time as me (Mingma Nuru & Pemba). This trek and climb has been arranged through Asian Trekking, and so far everything has been really great. Paul.

Hi Shanda, Yes I am sure it was the same lodge that you stayed at. We didn't want to risk getting sick by staying there and as we were still feeling not too tired we carried onto Lobuje. So we didn't see the toilet at all. Cheers, Paul.

Hi MC, Yes, I think it's slightly more scenic this time of the year(less dust makes for better pictures), but it's much more crowded even at this late stage of the season. Rgds, Paul.

Hi Neil, Everything is going well - will get a photo with the Nak horn soon. Paul.