Three Passes Trek Day 9

Three Passes Trek - Day 9 (nov 6). Dingboche to Nangkar Tshang (return).

Bit of a "sleep in" today, got going about 7am to climb the nearby peak of Nangkar Tshang (5325m), first time we've been over 5000m on the trek, as part of the acclimatisation process. Fantastic view, but climbing over 1000m was challenging, often stopping to catch our breath. By the end we were stopping every 100 steps as the air grew thinner and our endurance and stamina came close to exhaustion.

Breakfast at the top of chapattis and eggs, then a more rapid descent, passing the first of the upward going groups around 30 minutes into the descent. Lovely hot showers when we got back, a bit too hot actually, almost scorching. At least we felt clean afterwards. Gelloo, our tea house manager, has arranged a porter for us tomorrow. My recurring shoulder injury has started to reemerge and Sama also has developed a pinched nerve (hopefully temporary) so the porter will be timely. As the oxygen things, the relative weight of things also seems to be much heavier. We met the porter today, a 40 year old Sherpa called Purih. He will be accompanying us for the next 14 days charging Rs2500 per day. (US$25 approx). This sounds quite cheap for someone to lug a 12kg bag while carry less than 5 kg each, but it's actually the top rate for a porter, and from his point of view quite a light load. He will also get quite a few rest days along the way while we make side trips. But from our point of view it will make some of the longer days more achievable, especially when going over the 3 high passes. The THIRD most important piece of technology to pack is multiple pairs of good quality walking socks, with padding in all the right places and including' inners', the 2 layers reducing friction. Neither of us have had even a hint of rubbing, friction or blisters so far.