Saturday, June 12, 2010

Long walk down to Pangboche

May 10th

Tracey and I was up early in the morning for our long walk down to Pangboche. We were looking at about 7 hours but most of it was on the way down.

We started about 9 am as we left base camp, it was a very sad feeling but also a good feeling. I had been cold for 30 plus days and I was ready for some hot weather( BKK). As we pass by the many camps( mostly empty because everyone was down the mountain getting their body revived for the final push I couldn't help but wonder why I couldn't have just hung on a little little longer and tried to revive my body also but in my heart I knew I was finished. I had absolutely nothing left. I had pushed it as far as I could and it would just be a wasted effort to try to revive and go back up to the top. The camp had really changed as many people had gone home so it looked almost empty as now the camps had some space between themselves where everyone was on top of each other when I arrived.

We made our way out and passed so many people along the way that we had met when we were on the mountain. This was slowly turning out to be a pretty sad day for me so I was so ready to get down and away.

After about 5 hours we stopped in Pheriche and had a drink with some friends. We stopped to say good bye to Dr and we ran into Dave and Melissa Arnot the friend I meet up at camp 2. They looked so much better than when i saw them last and they were heading back up the mountain. We sat there an hour just chatting and wish them well( BTW they both made it but she did not do it without oxygen but this was here 3 rd summit in 3 attempts a monumental achievement and I believe it was 7th summit) and was on our last 2 hours of walking.

We met the oldest American who had summitted( 69 years old) on the way up with a large group of people and he was retracing his trail to base camp.

Anyway we finally made it back to Pheriche and it felt good. The walk was very long and actually was quite a chore for me. I kept thinking about the year before and the walk down and how easy it was for em to do it especially after your body is so acclimated but this year was so different but we did make it and I was taking the helicopter out and didn't really care about this anymore.

We stopped at Lama geshi's daughter's house for a few hours( ate and drank some) while the others made it down the mountain but they all began returning home.

We then made it back to Nima's house where w would be staying the night.

I had seen several of Wally's people on the way down so i knew he and Leila was down below us about 200 meters so I decide to walk down to see some old friends.

I went and visited them for while and it was good to see Leila and Wally for a few hours and the group of trekkers that they have. It was also god for me mentally as Wally and Leila treat me like their son and make me feel like a king especially in front of their other clients because I have traveled so much with them over the years and have been in many situations with them.

It was sad to leave but I wanted to get back up with my friends for dinner. We had a party and celebrated our time together and I mad ea promise that I would see all of them again in a few years as they were friends for life and definitely our paths would cross again

I laid down that night completely exhausted as the last few hours I had been going by my emotions and the feeling that this trip of a lifetime was finally over and while it was sad I knew my time would come again.