Local time: 12 April 18:10
Location: Gorak Shep
Altitude: 5150m
Weather: Sunny in the morning becoming overcast in the afternoon.
Hi Everyone,
It’s Paul, and today we have all hiked from Lobuche to Gorak Shep and then climbed Kalar Patar.
Getting to Gorak Shep
The sky was clear this morning, so we decided to get an early start to Gorak Shep. The track to Gorak Shep starts out reasonably flat, but then you have to climb a 100m hill. From there we got our first views of the Khumbu Glacier. In reference to the message from a few days ago, you can notice in some parts how much the glacier has reduced in height. However it doesn’t appear to have reduced much in length.
From here onto Gorak Shep we walked on moraine, and the going is much tougher. Having good boots is a big help here. It’s like a gigantic construction site, with huge piles of loose rock heaped in what appears to be strategically placed mounds ready for building a road. In reality it’s where the ice melted or advanced, either depositing all the rock carried by the glacier or pushing a pile forward like a huge bulldozer. If you look at Google Earth you will be able to see the moraine that we crossed just prior to getting to Gorak Shep.
Climbing Kala Patar
We arrived at Gorak Shep around 10am, and after a drink of tea and a rest, we begin climbing Kalar Patar. I had never climbed Kala Patar (last year when everyone else was climbing it many times, I was sick and rested instead).
Its a deceptively long way to the top of Kalar Patar, but slowly we made our way up. You should be able to see our track up to the top on Google Earth. The summit is a sharp rocky point, with enough room for 5 people – there was a sheer drop on one side. We were very lucky to get a great view of Everest, the South Col and the top of the Geneva Spur.
After we had spent about half an hour on the top, the altitude started to get the better of Dame, and he got a huge headache and started to feel a little dizzy, so we descended quickly. After a couple of painkillers, some drinks and a rest, Dame felt better. It’s nearly dinner time as I write this and Dame is up and about and feeling fine, has no headache and says he is hungry. All signs look good. Having come up from Pheriche yesterday and then climbing to the top of Kala Patar today, its a 1400m height gain which is a lot.
Throat is getting better
I have been sleeping with my Psolar mask on, and I am finding that my throat feels better each the morning. In fact its almost 100% better now. When we walk, I wear a dust mask, but it doesn’t filter all the dust – if it did, I wouldn’t be able to breathe at this altitude. Signs are looking up.
Tomorrow if everyone is well, we should get to base camp
Regards,
Paul
Your Messages
Thanks for your messages – we really enjoy receiving them. I have heard that TA is not too well, so if someone could pass my well wishes onto her. Remind her of how sick I was this same time last year and how long I had to wait before going up the icefall. I can’t remember the date exactly, but it was fast nearing the end of April.
Hi Corinna, Rudi has talked about his special schnapps, but I haven’t tasted it. Steve gave me some French brandy in Pheriche and to his disgust I gargled it to try to get it on my throat. I reckon it helped a lot. Rudi says Hi.
Hi Mira, Not sure what’s next for Meagan – she is not here with us as I write this, so I can’t ask her. I am pretty sure there will be more mountains though.
Ich freu mich so für euch, es scheint euch allen gut zu gehen!!
Aber bitte, das lässt mir jetzt keine Ruhe, was ist mit deiner Nase???!! Mir ist es beim letzten Foto schon aufgefallen, dass du offenbar schon den Sonnenschutz trägst. Hast du dich zu spät eingecremt, oder bist du gar verletzt?!!
Ich glaube du hast auch schon wieder einen Seelenverwandten gefunden mit Tshiring – stimmts? Er wird hoffentlich gut auf dich aufpassen!
Folgende Leute haben mich angerufen oder ich habe sie getroffen und wollen dir natürlich Alles Gute wüschen: Theo Fritsche, Sabine Wegenstein, Petra, Herr Rössler, Wolfgang Oberlik, Norbert und Traude, Heidi Köberl – ich hoffe ich hab jetzt niemanden vergessen!
Ich schicke dir wie immer viele Küsse und natürlich sag ich dir immer wieder, dass ich dich liebe (wer weiß was du in diesen Höhen alles vergisst 😉 )
Corinna
Congrats on reaching the top of Kalar Patar! What a great shot of you guys on the summit. My students felt all proud of themselves because they had already figured out that you had scaled it (based on the Google Earth info. which was available before your text update was posted!). You mentioned something cryptic about not knowing what’s next for Meagan – is she no longer planning to climb? Curious.
Glad that Damian is feeling better.
Cheers,
Liane
Hi from sunny Melbourne. We have had the best weather over the past week and Easter period since I can remember. The weekend at Queenscliff and Sorrento was beautiful plus we caught 22 whiting. I guess that’s some contrast to the Khumbu.
Congratulations on climbing Kala Patar. I remember doing the same in December 1986, and the relatively small summit – it was a cold and windy day yet clear views of Everest. For my traveling partner, he had acute AMS, and stayed at the hut at Gorak Shep, before we descended later that day to Pheriche.
I was wondering if any of you have had severe headaches from the altitude? The night I stayed at Lobuche it was like having an axe in the back of my head.
Paul, great news about your throat. How are you feeling mentally? Have you got any butterflys in the stomach? I’m sort of feeling like this as your trek draws you closer to the business end before taking on the icefall and beyond.
Take care all and be well.
I love the photo of all of you guys on the top! It’s very exciting that you will be at base camp tomorrow!
Paul, I posted your message on TA’s site. In her post for today, it sounds like she is felling a lot better and will try going up the icefall tomorrow for the first time.
Tim, please let me know if you are still not getting my sms messages. The number is correct, so I’m not sure what’s wrong. It was great to talk to you last night. Alena and Phil spent the night at our house before heading down to Florida today. Sveta an Stas we here too and they all are wishing you well and have been reading the website.
Love,
Inna.
Hi all
Congrats on the summit of Kala Patar! Not much room at the top. I wonder if there is ever a line to wait to step onto the summit on crowded days.
Paul, so glad your throat is almost 100%. It is amazing what experience can do and how it can help others. Your extra precautions are working!
Hope you guys get a good spot at EBC,
MC
“Lessons learned are meant to be taught.” mc
Hi Liane… I was asking about Meagan what is next for her… so this cryptic sentence is just was the answer for me;) no need to worry I guess there is a lot of mountains for Meagan to climb. I was just asking “what is next for Meagan? As beeing an aerospace engineer is she going to travel in space?” I was curious is she interested in travelling in space.
The walk in narrative and images are very interesting reading here each morning with my bowl of hot oatmeal and toast. The very best wishes to all in your group and hope that your arrival at BC is a pleasant one, saying hello to TA and having some good sleep and rest after that interesting trek in..well done – Fiona is doing a fine job with the Google Earth graphics in day to day location of the Adler Group as you move along the trails.
Continued good health and happiness….
wp
Hi Fiona, just a short question:
Do you have any idea what is on the right hand side? towards East? I have checked on GE their position logs and their is an orange line in very different direction (not towards Gorak Shep and Kala Patar) Are they trekking all around? Mira
Hi Mira,
I’m not too sure what the line to the right is. They might have gone for an extra walk across the glacier (quite possible but I’d have thought they’d be too tired having done Kala Patar today as well). Otherwise maybe there was a slight error with the GPS logging. When its turned on, it records a position every few minutes so I guess if one of those positions was wrong, it would assume they’d been over there and back. Hopefully they can answer this in the next day or so as I’d also be interested to know.
Cheers,
Fiona
Congratulations boys, a really great effort …. Mare and I are just so proud of what you have achieved so far. What a experience for three brothers, giving you priceless memories that will last a lifetime. On the more mundane front, back here at home we have seen perhaps two days of rain since you left, and even today the temperature is expect to be 25 C. I have beeen working at the apartment each day, the electrican finishes today and the carpet goes in on Monday. So all we need is a tenant for here and we are ready to move in! Yesterday we were booked for our baloon flight over Melbourne, and at 4.30am when they phoned to say it was on, the sky was cloudless! Alas, by the time we arrived at the departure spot, dawn showed low level cloud moving in and Air Traffic Control said, ‘Not today’ . Seems like a easier way to get a view than walking uphill for 12 days!! Lots of love Dad & Mare.
As I also belong to the GE and GPS fans I would like to know… Maybe the guys have so much energy;) Also curious how can you charge your satphone and PDA in EBC and especially on higher?:) no plug-in possibilities there I guess, do these devices use solar energy? Mira
Hi Mira,
The system we have automatically updates the GoogleEarth trail within a couple of minutes of Paul uploading the days data. This happens around 2:00 AM New Zealand time and it isn’t until I get up in the morning and have a close look at the data that I can remove the occasional bad GPS reading.
What you saw there was a bad reading which should be gone now.
Cheers
Gary
Oh, wow, thank you for letting me know. Some tech journalist guys here are really keen on all MyEverest.com thing (they had just a thiny experience with HumanEdgeTech) and they are preparing for a longer article (for nearly a week!) about all these kind of high-tech expedition technology, satellit comm, Thuraya systems, navigation, etc…I kept answering all week for the chief editor’s questions – this was one of them, thanks for your help, Gary, highly appreciated. This system seems very sofisticated and complex, good to know occassionally there is small black hole… (not just in my head:) when the GPS logger collects data and makes small mistakes. I guess it is depend on the downloaded Almanach a bit – positions of the moons, etc. then, an not on MyEverest
Paul, I’ve been following you and your team’s trek, and I’m very happy that you are doing so well. I hope you and your friends continue to have good health as you get to EBC. I just want to thank you and Fiona again for this website!! The pictures you have posted are fabulous. Pat Hickey is a friend from Columbia (at EBC now), and I can’t tell you how much it has meant to be able to track his journey to Everest and actually hear his accounts of the trek! Fiona’s use of Google Earth is wonderful! Thanks Fiona! Since I’m now hooked, I have to read about the adventures of not only Pat, but you and TA as well! May the mountain gods smile on you all!
Stay well!
Sandra from Columbia SC
alle Lieben, die Rudi die Daumen halten und meine letzte Einschaltung gelesen haben…
Ich konnte nämlich Gott sei Dank mit Rudi telefonieren und es geht ihm sehr gut! Mit seiner Nase ist auch alles in Ordnung, er ist nur sehr vorsichtig und trägt ständig seinen Sonnenschutz. Unter seinen Teamkollegen wird er bereits Rudy-Rednose-Reindeer genannt 😉
Liebe Grüße an alle die mit mir und Katrin “mitfiebern”
Corinna
Hi Adlers,
I logged on a few weeks ago and caught up on the news that there was a crew of you on your way to base camp to support each other and your Bro.
Just saying ‘Hi’ and wishing you a safe, happy and successful climb. I was so taken with your efforts last year Paul and Fi. I look forward to staying up to date…. and brushing up on the Deutsch while I am logged in!! Always educational in your company. Take Care you all. Sarah Gardiner
Greetings from the great land down under.
So pleased your spirit is aiming high and higher.
Let the forces of a noble and benevolent nature be with you all.
I shall toast you all with a little Pinot Noir !
A bientot,
Tamara
TARRINGTON VINEYARDS
Hi Paul, Fiona, Tim, Family and Friends
Your wonderful journey is such an inspiration to us all . Thanks so much for once again sharing your amazing experience with the rest of the world.
All good wishes
Cheryl and Malcolm Threadgold