Pushing up from The small little village of Khare, I really started to feel the effects of the 5000m altitude. Here, we had only a third of the oxygen available at sea level. Simple tasks like walking up a small slope would have me panting and gasping as if I just completed a 100m sprint. Fortunately the acclimatization at Khare paid off. The altitude mountain sickness (AMS) began to wear off as I got used to the altitude.
Practicing our mountaineering skills
View before setting from Khare
As the route to high camp began to transition to snow, I had a good taste of what to expect for the push to summit. Snow, though it looks good on the surface can be your worst nightmare. Hidden crevasses and loosely pack snow can leave traps throughout the entire route threatening to engulf your body if you don't thread carefully. Many a time, I found myself waist deep in snow, struggling to recover myself, with each move leaving me deeper till I have to start digging myself out with my trekking poles. This was what was expected from here on, crossing the ridges of snow and ice. Any false step could have you tumbling down 50-100 meters into unknown territory, splashing into an ice lake or even down a cliff.
Msian climbers roped together, coming down from a failed summit attempt.
Slowly climbing to high camp we did as I slowly got used to the trekking poles, using it efficiently to climb the never ending snow paths. But as we got higher, the zombie mode kicked in, slowing down even more. The weather started to turn bad, as it usually did in the afternoons and heavy snow started falling. Fortunately we reached high camp (5800m) before it transformed into a snow storm. High camp was pretty cool because it was the rock formation in that area which wasn't white with snow. The tents were pitched at the side of it (also by some cliff) and it provided somewhat some wind cover.
Arrived at high camp around 3-4pm, some what abit too slow for our guide's liking. It was rest time here till about 0030hrs. The tents were quite spacious and we hid inside while the snow storm started to get worst. Our Sherpa, being the most awesome host made us hot black tea and my personal mountain favorite - veg noodle soup, serving us in the comfort of our tent. It was cold out there and once in the tent, I refused to go out unless I really had to. Perhaps then I missed out on some pretty sights, but at that moment I didn't care. I kept questioning myself why I put myself through such stuff.
High Camp
The funniest thing happened was that I woke up at 2230 thinking it was 0030 and fumbled around with my head lamp, cursing and swearing as I tried to put my lenses on, only to realize that I woke up too early and in that process waking Wayne up too! Oops!
The weather remained bad, with a snow storm raging outside. At this moment, it would be a sign that the summit would not be possible. To some miracle, the storm stopped 2 hours later, and our Sherpa decided to push out, risking the possibility that the weather might turn bad again. But it was a good call! We had perfect weather! It was the only small gap that an ascent was possible this season. A day before, there was a snowstorm and a group of 9 Malaysians were unable to summit. A day later and the full force of the monsoon will kick in, making us the last hikers of the season.
The ascent up seemed forever. It was like walking up a slope that lasted forever. First, you aim to make up the ridge line, the line that you see when you look up. The line that separated the starry sky and the ground, the horizon. However, when you reach that ridge line, you suddenly feel that the horizon just extended further. Step after step we went in the dark, relying solely on our head lamps, with my fingers and toes freezing under the -20 deg Celsius wind. Roped to each other, if we were lucky, we got to walk on solid ice where the crampons made it easy to walk, or else we had to thread through snow, often falling waist deep into snow, having to use an extreme amount of effort to either lift yourself out or dig yourself out with your trekking poles. Oh and the altitude, boy it does make everything harder. With a third of the oxygen of sea level, every single movement took an extreme amount of effort. This never ending cycle of dragging myself up the never ending snow and ice, at times so tired of lifting the heavy la sportiva snow boots from the snow that I trip offer myself and falling. Haha the purchase of the north face snow pants was definitely a good idea. It was the first time I was actually equipped so well for a trek, crampons, snow shoes, gaiters, waterproof snow pants, down jacket, merino socks, and mountain hardware gloves with hardcore -30 deg gloves.
As the sun started to rise behind, I began to see and appreciate the Himalayan mountain range behind. I began to realize, that was I was amongst the tallest mountains in the world. Everest, Lhotse, Cho Oyu, Nuptse and many many more. But looking forward, it was a long way more to the top. Having roped up to one another definitely had its advantage. As we pushed higher, my stamina began to suffer having the need to rest a little after 5-6 steps and with the steepness of the mountain face, I had to take a short break. Being the last person, sometimes meant that I couldn't use the steps the others took as with the rising sun, the snow started to melt increasing the chance of me falling in, leaving me to create my own route at times. With that it also caused me to lose my balance, falling backwards. But thankfully, I was roped up so, it pulls be back to balance at the expense of the guy before me. Oops :x. Also, because we were so exhausted and severely affected by the altitude, there were many times that the Sherpa and our climbing guide had to use the rope to pull us forward like yaks.
taking our rest while walking up
Sun rising behind everest
As the began to rose above the backdrop of mountains, the beauty of the Himalayan mountain range began to manifest itself before me. As I laid down on the steep incline, i witnessed the for the first time, the splendor of Everest and the other 8000m mountains before me. Above the clouds, the Himalayan mountain range started to reveal itself to me. But before I was allowed to fully appreciate this spectacle, it also revealed the path before us. More and more uphill climbs. And thus the climb to the summit started again. Now, with more determination, with the summit in sight, I climbed and climbed, garnering the remaining strength I had in me. At least with the sun out, warmth began to fill my body. No need for the extra gloves and the freezing feeling in the toes slowly disappeared. I was really afraid that I would get frost bite in the toes haha. The mountain hardware gloves were actually quite useful! Even though it was as thin as running gloves.
Aiming at the little tiny red flags that marked the route to the summit, flag after flag I aimed. FINALLY! At 10am, we reached the south summit. And I was so in man mode that I didn't even know that we have reached! Next up, a 200m 60 deg incline push to the base of the central summit, the peak of the mountain I sought to climb. It was a horrible push, I was so exhausted that our Sherpa had to keep pulling us forward because we kept losing our balance. Next up a 15m ice climb. Hahn this was actually the most exciting part of the climb, primary because we get to make use of the ice axe. One hand on the Juma, the other on the ice axe, up I went, ice axe up, anchored in the ice, crampons up and kicked into the ice, and Juma pulled up. Though it may seem like an easy feat on sea level, 6500m above sea level, it took quite a bit of effort to do it but reaching the top, it dawned upon me....I HAVE FINALLY MADE THE SUMMIT OF MERA! Woooooooooooooooooooooooo! 1030, 25 June 2014, on the peak of Mt Mera (6647m), stood a Sherpa, a Nepali guide and two young Singaporeans amongst the vast Himalayan range. Cues visuals *camera zooming out from where we are standing to the entire empty Himalayan range with the peaks sticking through the clouds. The feeling of standing amongst the tallest mountains was overwhelming and indescribable. It was a hard and shitty journey to make it where I was standing. The timing was perfect, the weather was holding up for us, the last climbers of the season.
View from south summit with my la sportiva snow shoes and crampons
Clipping into the safety line on Central Summit
View from the summit (with everest behind)
The weather, however would not remain kind for the rest of day. With an imminent snow storm expected at night, we had to return to Khare before that happened. By now, the snow was starting to melt and we had to make our way down as quickly as possible. With the thick and melting snow, descending was not as easy as I thought, though requiring less effort than climbing up, I couldn't run or slide down the ice slopes, I had to go down step by step hoping to avoid the ice crevasses again. It took another 4 hours to reach high camp and being roped up, the Sherpa was herding us like yaks again. It was quite a useful "motivation" tool so we couldn't take too long a break. The return was also a case of so near yet so far fetched. From far we could see the colorful rock of high camp, but it took forever to reach it. By the time I reached it, I was feeling weak, suspecting that I had mild dehydration, Wayne on the other hand was down with what I thought to be dehydration prolly cos of his massive shitting sprees along the way. He could no longer walk by himself and the porters had to carry him back to the tent. There we rested for about an hour where I desperately tried to rehydrate myself before picking up and heading back to Khare. The return was painfully slow as Wayne was severely weaken by the summit ascent and dehydration, not forgetting the waist deep crevasses that slowed us down tremendously. With the sun setting fast, time was of the essence. Past the snow, the kofla shoes was a chore to walk with on the rocks, nearly sprained my ankle numerous times. The journey became terribly hard as last light passed. As we walked, we started to see lights in the distance. As we ventured further down, we were greeted by the porters from the village holding hot black tea. It was a morale booster. I thought we had arrived at Khare. But the joy was short lived when the Sherpa said lets continue down. It was another hour down to Khare if we ran. Apparently the Sherpa activated the whole village to bring us back because of the imminent snow storm. Wayne was carried back by 3 porters and I was man handled by the Sherpa guide's younger brother, another Sherpa. With a firm grip of my right waist and left arm, he ran me down to the village. I'm quite marveled by their high altitude fitness and could not help but respect them in their field. Smaller than me, he ran me down at striding speed. I was finding trouble keeping up as my shoes were really not suited for the terrain. Snow began to fall as I saw Khare in the distance and as soon as I entered the tea house, the snow storm unleashed itself. It was such good timing.
Our Shag faces after returning back to High Camp
Relieved that we've finally reached back to Khare before the snow storm unleashed itself
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