TA Loeffler's Adventures that Move

I received my fourth toothbrush of the trip today from Raj’s wife. They’ve taken me into their home to give me respite from hotel life and food as I try to recover enough to make a plan.

I still needed to sleep all afternoon but I think, I may have turned a wee corner today. My cough is a bit more present/happening again but I think I only have one or two nights left where my lips will glue themselves shut and that will be a great relief.

So I’m on the mend…albeit much slower than I anticipated just a few short days ago.

The above article, front page news, saw the route to the summit should be in place in the next day or two and we’ll likely see summits the night of May 12. My team is likely heading up to summit shortly after the first window.

After my nap, I spent much of the afternoon/evening with Raj’s daughter. What a treat. Her English is fabulous and, bless her, she worked hard to teach me all the Nepali words for body parts. I might remember one or two. The word for tongue sounds like zipper and the word for nose was fun as well. I showed her the few photos I had from home and from my expedition as well. She has not yet seen Mount Everest. She had lots of questions about life in Canada and I was impressed when I found out that she is learning Nepali, English, French, and Chinese in school.

Her younger brother, about the same interval as my younger brother (I.e. about 6 years difference) enjoyed having me around as well. With my short hair cut, he kept calling me uncle (fine by me) and once again, I saw my skill in getting kids revved up and then giving them back.

It was great having a bit of distraction for the day!

I brushed my teeth with my third toothbrush of the trip this morning. For awhile, I couldn’t remember why I needed a second but it just came to me, my bags were initially delayed when I got to Kathmandu.

I was brushing with my third toothbrush in he Norvic International Hospital this morning. I was tempted to type hotel because my room is as quiet as comfy as a hotel room. A hotel room that comes with benefits like respiratory therapy, vital sign monitoring, and medications to help me get better.

They are discharging me today. I got some sleep last night, first time in weeks as the treatment cut the coughing jags in half. I’ll be on meds for a few days and I got cleared to return to 5000 metres. This is terrific news as I have friends trekking to meet me at Mt Everest base camp and maybe, just maybe I can trek there with them.

So that seems like a win when I could perceive all losses. I can’t think ahead to 7000 or 8000 or almost 9000 metres. It’s way to early to think of that. First, I’m grateful that my teammates and I are safe (that they made it through the Khumbu Icefall and me over it). I’m also grateful that this is my first hospitalization in 15 years and that I have little interaction with health care ( ie I’m pretty darn healthy). I’m grateful that this experience is novel not familiar.

Second, though this may ultimately mark the third attempt rather than summit of Everest, one never knows. Already, I see signs of improvement. I’m moving more. I’m more alert. I had my first shower in two weeks (Did I mention that it was divine and offered both hotel and Everest Base Camp ( i.e. Bucket options)? I’m wanting to get out. I’m grateful for a one night stay/ experience rather than a two week or two year one ( and I know so many friends who’ve endured/survived/ overcome much much tougher health crisis than I ever will.

Finally, the sudden removal from the situation has given the gift of reflection that is difficult to manage from within it. The circular patterns of thinking have been broken, giving both levity and perspective. Odometer moments abound. Like the moment above where I set a new sleeping altitude record for myself. 7200 metres. How many other humans slept at that that altitude that night? 30? 50? Likely 100 max in the whole world and that’s pretty cool.

Or this step? When was the last time you took a step like this one? Tethered or not?

Or like this one?

I’ve always said, of my first two attempts, and likely my third (but it’s too early to be a realist), that if I wasn’t willing to risk disappointment, then I would be leaving too many life enriching experiences on the table. Too many odometer moments unclicked or unnoticed.

Instead, having “expeditionious interuptus” has given me even more fight and will to persevere if I hadn’t. Funny how when they are going to take something away you love, that you hold on with all of your might.

Speaking of loved ones, Happy Mother’s Day to my mom and to all who consider themselves mothers. Thanks for all the love and nurturing you spread throughout the world.

I’m being discharged at noon. Ill be doing everything I can think of to get strong and healthy and I’ll keep sharing this mountainous path and all of its odometer moments with you.

Please keep me, the people of northern Alberta, and all those who suffer in your mind today. We can all use your care and compassion. Thanks.

This was my view from early this morning! Awesome view of Pumori, eh?

This was my view a few hours later. Bottom line. I’ll be fine. Bottom line, I have no idea what this will mean for the bigger picture and thousands of little pictures in between.

I’m guessing hindsight will show that the conditions for HAPE (high altitude pulmonary edema) and a bit of HACE high altitude cerebral edema) were set with me pushing to my limits too reach Camp Three and with me nursing a nasty cough since April 1.

I had a horrible night with super bad headache and coughing. I was hoping I could outplay and outlast both. We made it to the top of the icefall and descent wasn’t helping much. It was going to take double or triple the amount of time to get me through the icefall given difficulty breathing during any exertional ie slight uphill challenge. Given the extreme risk and tech difficulties, I wasn’t willing to ask my teammates and staff to face extra hours of life risk and so asked to be evacuated from just past Camp One.

I’d hoped to be flown to base camp for treatment but the Everest ER docs thought it best I be flown to definitive care.

So bottom line, I’m in Kathmandu and I’m not sure yet what will unfold. It’s hot. It’s noisy. It’s about a world away from where I want to be and still hold out some hope of getting back to. I wanted to tell all of you at once so rumours wouldn’t circulate. I’ll keep you posted. I am as you can imagine a bit discombobulated and devastated by it all. Thanks for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers.

We’re all safely back in base camp…

Just the other day, Hugo and I remarked that it had been very quiet at base camp in regards to avalanches. In past, we might have heard 5-6 per day but we hadn’t heard any…then of course, things changed and we’d been hearing them more often.

Last night was no exception.

Traditionally, there have been frequent slides off Nupse, some off the West Shoulder, some off the flanks of Pumori, and some that reach the icefall route. Up until last year, it was rare for a Pumori slide to reach base camp. Last year, after the earthquake, a massive slide off Pumori destroyed parts of base camp and killed many people so now any slide from Pumori brings people out of their tents. Our base camp is positioned below an ice wall to protect us from Pumori slides.

Last night there was a large slide from Pumori. There was also a large slide from Nupse. The spindrift snow from that slide reached base camp and coated everything with a dusting of white. Soon after that slide, was another from higher up on Nurpse that released snow onto the icefall route. We watched the lights of climbers already up there disappear in the spindrift and then reappear. As far as we heard, no one was injured by that slide. It was about 2:30 am and we were just heading out.

I awoke at 1:45 before my alarm and got dressed quickly. I always try to preserve “bed warmth” during alpine starts. Getting into my climbing layers, getting last minute items packed, and getting into the mess tent for a coffee. Sometimes I struggle with a twitchy stomach/gag reflex with alpine starts but last night was perfect. I’d decided to have digestive cookies dunked in coffee as my early morning breakfast and they went down swift and easy. I’d planned to take a sweet milk coffee “to go” in my baby Nalgene to use to keep warm while I waited for departure and to sip on getting more fluids in. That strategy also worked very well. I finished it at crampon point (where we stop to put crampons on our boots).

We came close to meeting our departure time target which was fantastic given it was out first go at it on this expedition. We burned some juniper at the Puja alter and all walked through the smoke as we departed camp. Within moments, the avalanche hit the ice fall route. As I described above, we saw the head lamps disappear and then reappear-a very good sign. We kept going.

Starting out is always a bit tough until your engine warms up. Trying to keep up with Karma Sherpa was challenging but I did a good job and hanging tight and not pushing too hard at the start. The early route in the icefall is a gentle slope between the ice waves and the tracks of all who’d gone before were easy to follow. Before long, we are at crampon point and I got my crampons on easily, finished my to-go coffee and Hugo encouraged to get going, so I did. We were nicely positioned in the middle-the early climbers were up ahead and we weren’t yet caught by ones coming behind. This space allowed me to find my rhythm and I was moving well on the fine line of breathing just right.

I felt good. I felt confident. I was moving well. The moon, just setting, bathed the icefall in a calming light, and I enjoyed the climbing. What a treat! Just what the doctored ordered…just the boost I needed. A diamond morning for me…John Denver’s song suggests some days are diamonds, some days are stone.

Mine was going great diamonds when we reached the initial steep sections of the icefall and we began to meet descending climbers and sherpas. It took awhile to understand what was happening and then it became clear through an advanced game of “telephone ” with those on the downward wave explaining that the morning’s avalanche had destroyed a portion of the route and some new ladders were needed. Suddenly, it was raining climbers and sherpas from above and we joined them.

It was like the reversing falls in New Brunswick with the tide turning from up to down in an instant. I moved even better going down and was quickly back to camp. I got a hot drink and set off my Spot tracker so folks would know we were back at base camp. The rest of the team trickled in and we went back to our sleeping bags to catch a few winks and wait for the sun to warm up our world.

Rumour has it that the icefall doctors have headed up to repair the route and I suspect we might try to go up again tonight but it’s early in the day (only 9 am) so I’m sure the plan will unfold.

It was a great dress rehearsal for me and the rest of the team. Disappointing, of course. I’m grateful the snow came down early and not an hour later. We’ll continue to evaluate conditions, the risks, and the route while making plans and decisions. I enjoyed the morning’s romp in the icefall and am basking in being able to clearly perceive the depth of my skill and experience.

I’ve just finished a bowl of ra-ra noodle soup with vegetables and I’ll try to wander about and find a wireless signal to send this. My sat phone is buried somewhere in one of the sherpa’s packs so hopefully that can be found so I can call off an update later today.

TA
Latitude:28.00377
Longitude:86.85580
GPS location Date/Time:04/28/2016 21:15:37 NDT

Message:Everest 3.0: This is TA’s location on Everest. Send warm wishes & good thoughts. To the summit & safe return!

Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://fms.ws/WWF-b/28.00377N/86.85580E

If the above link does not work, try this link:

TA

You have received this message because TA has added you to their SPOT contact list.

Ready for Adventure
FindMeSPOT.com

This is the view from my little blue house. Everything inside has a slightly blue cast. During the day, you can crack open the door and let more naturally coloured light into the space. It reminds me a bit of the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy and company drew back the curtains on the wizard.

This will be a bit of a roaming, reaching post. One triggered by a question from Kiana, a grade five student at St. Matthew’s Elementary School in St. John’s and by a series of long, dark nights. Kiana asked, “Do you ever get cold, and if so, have you ever wanted to stop?”

I do sometimes get cold but it’s usually a situation that can be addressed through exercise, eating, or adding clothing layers. Cold doesn’t often make me want to stop.

Here on this climb, what makes me want to stop, is the long dark nights. Because of the cold, (funny given what I just said above), we head to our sleeping bags about 8 pm for a 12 night. I put on a podcast to listen to and fall asleep rather quickly.

You may have heard the quote, “It’s darkest before the dawn” and that is true here for me these past nights. About 4 am, I wake to wrestle with doubts, fears, and other dragons of the mind/icefall. It is then that I am most homesick missing family and friends. It is then that I doubt whether I am tough enough to persevere and pull almost every foot step from the deepest part of my being. It is then that I fear getting hurt or killed and leaving a mess for dear folks to clean up.

I am not alone in these hard nights (well except that I am alone in my tent). Ask most high altitude climbers in the right moment and they will also pull back the same kind of curtain. They will tell stories of restless nights where the sirens of lower altitude call to them almost incessantly to descend, to leave, to turn your back on the mountain.

Pema Chodron, the North American Buddhist teacher, wrote a book called, “The Wisdom of No Escape” where she takes about the value of taking away our escapes, our traditional coping mechanisms, our usual responses by running towards the biting dog instead of away. Some expeditions naturally have no escape due to remoteness or cost of evacuation. Everest is rife with escape. Given the multitude of helicopters flying to base camp these days, one could decide on escape and be back in Kathmandu the same day. Those sirens of escape live in the icy shards of the icefall that slides downhill each day as well. It’s a job not to jump aboard and chose comfort over discomfort, couch over struggle, loved ones over isolation.

So what helps me resist escape you might ask…how is it that I get through to dawn when the light changes everything? That question can be answered along with a question from the students at Bonne Bay Academy from Woody Point…they asked “What inspires you to climb?”

You all inspire me. The students and teachers who are following the expedition inspire me. The challenge inspires me. Wanting to be and do my best inspires me. Trying to find the sweet spot between over reaching and boredom inspires me.

Commitments I’ve made to myself and to others inspire me. Knowing everything including high mountain summits and dark deep night pits are impermanent inspires me.

Wanting all to live an inspired life inspires me to do what I can to assist…

And really, bottom line, I’m making this all up…I’m hanging in, I’m wanting to quit, I’m wanting to climb high, and I’m wanting to come home safe and sound…and in the interstitial spaces between night and day, I ponder it all and so wanted to share what was behind the curtains/tent doors.

Food is packed, gear and clothing are selected and stuffed into small bags, and it’s time to close this update for now…have some lunch, tidy my little blue house, and try to get some sleep before our 1 am wake-up for a 2:30 am start. I will make an audio call when we reach Camp One and are safely through the icefall so we can all let out a collective sigh of relief. Thanks for all the notes, comments, and texts of encouragement…they help more than you can know.

Upward!

It is great to hear from so many schools that they are learning about and making prayer flags. They captivate with their bright colours, connections to the elements, and beauty in natural settings. Prayer flags are an important part of Buddhist and Sherpa culture and you see them flying from mountain summits, mountain passes, on stupas, and almost any windy place that people travel.

Prayer flags mark the entrance to the route through the Khumbu Icefall and they also mark the exit. Icefalls are areas on glaciers/mountains that breed fear into the hearts of mountaineers. They are avoided if possible but sometimes, the only route is through. We try to minimize the exposure to the falling ice dangers by moving as quickly as possible. For a first passage, through the Khumbu Icefall, it will take 6-8 hours. Sherpas do it much faster. This season, the government of Nepal allowed climbing teams to fly the rope and hardware for fixing the rope past camp two by helicopter to camp one. This reportedly saved 85 sherpa trips through the icefall. The 2014 tragedy where 16 sherpa were killed by an avalanche into the Khumbu icefall is fresh on everyone’s minds. The route is now more central to lessen the risk of such avalanches reaching the route. The route through the icefall is maintained by a group of sherpas called “The Icefall Doctors.” They are hired by the national park and each climber pays a fee to use the route.

If you look closely at the picture above, (you might have to zoom in), you can see climbers and sherpas descending the route. I watched them all morning during the Puja. I counted 12 perhaps, you can see more. The icefall scares everyone and we will climb through it in the cold of night to also help mitigate the risk. In my book, I call it a “horrible beautiful place.” Living here beside it once again, those words still stand through and I’m hoping my passage and those of all others are marked by beauty not tragedy.

This morning, after breakfast, we had our Puja at base camp. The entire team attended the Puja including all climbers, climbing sherpas, and kitchen staff. The Puja began with two our our Sherpas chanting together from the dharma (teachings of Buddha). A short while later, there were joined by a Lama from a neighbouring team (it’s not unusual for a team to have a Lama since many Sherpa families send one or more children to spend some time studying in a monastery or nunnery. Once the Lama arrived, the Puja proceeded in similar ways to past ones with more chanting, rice throwing, and terma cake and buckwheat flour (tsampa) eating/tossing. Terma cake is made by mixing tsampa with butter and sugar. As part of Buddhist rituals, terma cake is moulded into elaborate forms. Tsampa is one of the staple foods of Sherpas and Tibetans. They often carry a small sack of the flour and mix it with water into balls they eat with vegetables. I like tsampa best as pancakes or terma cake.

At one point in the Puja, the Sherpas raised a few more strings of prayer flags. It’s windy today so the prayer flags (or windhorse or lungta as they are called) went immediately to work.

The Puja closed with snacks and beverages. Different than past Pujas, the atmosphere was less party like and more somber. It also lasted about twice as long as in past years (about 3 hours).

After, we took pictures of the entire team all dressed in our puffy red jackets and I presented all of the staff with their Recreation Newfoundland and Labrador Find Your Fit Buffs. The buffs are bright orange and should complement the puffy red jackets really well.

We’ll spend the rest of the day sorting and packing our gear, having a briefing on our cooking stoves, and on our oxygen systems.

Here Climber Smurf is posing with the Khumbu Glacier, Khumbu Icefall, the West Shoulder, and the summit pyramid of Everest. For those who remember Michael Smith, this is where in 2007 and 2010, I build an inukshuk for him and his family. I thought of them all roundly today.

I don’t know if yesterday’s text/picture update went out. Hopefully it did. I was briefly able to get a wireless connection on the way back from our acclimatization hike today and saw many wonderful messages of support from the arrival at base camp post. Thanks for those.

I continue to struggle a bit with what feels like slow acclimatization (for me). I’m usually a great acclimatizer but so far, I’ve had a bit of a hard go with headaches, nausea, and slow pace. I was up most of the night with a headache, struggled to eat and then promptly threw up my breakfast the moment I entered the “pooper” tent. Alas, tomorrow is another day and perhaps today’s hike will prompt so of those miraculous physiologic changes so I can get more comfy up here at 5000 + metres. Our goal for the acclimatization hike today was Pumori advanced base camp at approximately 5400 metres. I stopped shy by 100 or 150 metres but enjoyed my time sitting in the sun, taking photos of Climber Smurf, and gazing at the summit pyramid of Everest. I’d been up that way a few times in the past so I also enjoyed thinking of past expeditions and climbing teammates.

I continue to try to be positive and focus on taking the expedition one day at a time. It’s hard not to drop into a pit of doubt & despair but I’m doing my best. Thanks for all the encouragement. I had a great phone call yesterday with St. Matthew’s School and that really buoyed my spirits. I called in on the sat phone which they put on a speaker phone and piped over the school intercom. It was a first and I think enjoyed by all.

I’m going to keep this brief in case that helps it get out to the world. I have to hike up high into the neighbour’s camp to get a wireless signal.

Climber Smurf above, poses with Lhotse (4th highest peak in the world) as well as Everest and (dark black pyramid in back) and Nupse (right hand side). He and I enjoyed hanging out at this spot for a few hours enjoying the view and (hopefully) prompting some acclimatization.

Our base camp Puja has been moved to tomorrow. Catch you from there and then.

You’re looking down on our wonderful, comfy cozy base camp. My tent is the closest blue one you can see. Hugo and Dendi pioneered the use of bigger “tiny home” sized tents in 2012 and they are wonderful. They are roomy and you can stand-up in them. We can keep our wet climbing gear in the vestibule and the floor inside has insulation and carpet so it’s very posh living.

Today was R & R…rest, relaxation, and re-organization. Most of us went to bed with the items from our duffel bags strewn about our tents. Now I have my things into piles…stay/eat in base camp, go/eat on first rotation up the hill, go/eat on summit rotation, and items for the trek out.

I also enjoyed my first shower since Kathmandu. We have a blue shower tent where we hang a classic solar shower in. The kitchen folks heat water for the bag and you take a shower by kneeling below the bag. It felt great to clean up. You want to shower in the morning because it’s warmer because the afternoon clouds haven’t come up valley and shaded camp.

I also spent part of the day wondering through base camp trying to capture an Everest Extreme wireless link. I managed to climb high enough in the neighbour’s camp to get signed in. Through various machinations, I got yesterday’s written update to go. So-there may be some variability to when written/photo updates can get posted, when I can reply to questions and comments, etc. Right now, there isn’t NCell service in Gorak Shep or base camp but rumour on the street has it that there is a 3G tower coming and that would be awesome for both audio and data updates. As I was wandering about, I ran into Alan Arnette and his Sherpa climbing partner, Kami. It was great to meet to Kami after hearing so much about him.

I’m definitely feeling some better today. I was headachy off and on all night and some today. I’m able to move more easily around base camp and so hopefully my acclimatization proceeds quick enough to match the pace of our climb. I’ll get more feedback tomorrow as we hike to Pumori Advanced base camp around 5400 metres.

I also sized my crampons to my big mountain boots, checked out my new sock combinations, and revisited my ascender system…all good. So…a fine productive day here at BC filled with eating, drinking, and getting things ready.

I would be lying if I said today’s trek to base camp was easy. In fact, it was one of the hardest days I’ve had in the mountains. I felt, as we say in Newfoundland, that the arse had come out of me. I nursed a small headache, any incline had me out of breath quickly, and I was a bit dizzy and clumsy. I guess my body was a little unhappy with existing on half as much oxygen as at sea level. That said, I still made pretty good time getting here and Dendi kept a close eye. Finally we walked into base camp and we could appreciate the beautiful base camp our Sherpa team has built.

It had snowed a wee bit over night so the rocks and peat were a little slippery to start. All of the trekkers in the lodge had set out in front of us and we gradually overtook them. The early walk was gradually up until we needed to climb the glacial moraine.

Through the day, Pumori got bigger and bigger overtaking more and more of our view. We stopped for a snack in Gorak Shep and got our fifth view of Everest. We could see only the summit pyramid. Can you pick in out in the picture below?

We crossed a flat plane that leads over to Kala Patar, a side peak of Pumori and then dropped onto the moraine beside the Khumbu Glacier.

The glacial ice is covered in gravel but you can see the small patches of white ice showing through. Near base camp the glacier is steeper so it is the more expected, white/blue ice. The glacier flows downhill and the icefall is like a rapid in a river with large tumbling blocks.

At long last, Climber Smurf and I arrived at the prayer flags that mark the beginning of Everest Base Camp. Base camp stretches over about 2 kilometres. Lakpa and Pemba met us there with hot orange drink to fuel us for the seemingly long slog to our camp.

There was a lenticular cloud over the summit of Everest as we arrived. It’s been a little windy and cloudy since we arrived. We all basically opened our duffel bags and started to organize our gear though most of us gave into naps throughout the afternoon. With the crowded lodge last night and the jump to a new altitude, none of had slept particularly well. It’s almost dinner and I’ve enjoyed a few cups of ovaltine for hydration. My spirits have risen with a bit of rest and so now, we’ll keep making steps towards keeping everything focused on the up and up.