The View From Kala Patthar

It was a very cold night and neither David nor myself could sleep. In the end I think we managed a couple of hours. In addition to the cold we are both struggling with this prolonged exposure to altitude which leaves you breathless in the night. At 4.30 am we had a knock on the door. ‘David, Papa, get ready, we are going to climb Kala Patthar, come look’. I opened the door, followed Nir down the corridor and out into the freezing night. The mountains were clearly visible and the Milky Way hung majestically above us. Behind the tea house Kala Patthar loomed over us at 18,500 feet.

‘Get ready Papa we are going up there’ said Nir pointing to the summit. The spirits had once again parted the clouds for us, and on this occasion had lifted them completely. We had to climb however badly we felt. Many trekkers see only the inside of clouds for the entire trip and we realised how lucky we have been.

It was bitter, to the extent that I put my trousers on!

As we climbed, the light grew around us and the big boys were showing off in the silvery dawn.

If you rest, do it under Everest.

It was very clear to us that this was a never to be repeated opportunity. You feel like you are gifted to see one of the most amazing sights in the world. The problem was that David, particularly, and to a lesser extent myself, were suffering from the altitude. Dav looked ill.

From this angle he looked a bit like Hitler just before he topped himself. Resigned, defeated, withdrawn, unwell, wearing a Southend United hat. Ha – little known fact. Hitler was a Shrimper. He led several charges against Colchester fans before the war. Caught them in a pincer movement with Bert Trotter and his three sons from Leigh on Sea coming in from the North Bank and Hitler, who was originally from Shoeburyness, coming at them from across the pitch. Even then he was a nasty piece of work.

And then………KAPOW! David was revived.

I told him there’d be side effects if he took those local painkillers.

We got up to 18,100 feet and couldn’t climb further. It hurt me, it was completely debilitating for David as he slipped towards altitude sickness and after last night we needed to breakfast and pow wow again. Back down to Gorak Shep.

See you later. X