Day 15 - 17 The climbing team finally makes it back to Namshe Bazzar. We sleep over night, trek down to Lukla, and are to stay another night then fly to Kathmandu… if we’re lucky. Planes are cancelled in Lukla on a regular basis when the weather turns, sometimes several days in a row. When we arrive in Lukla, a group of trekkers at the teahouse we’re staying at are agitated. They keep getting bumped from their flights and now they’ve been waiting for a week to be boarded on

Day 8 We wake up and it’s snowing. It doesn’t feel too cold on the inside of the tent from our bodies warming it up through the night. And the funny thing is, I’m sleeping better than I’ve ever slept. But there’s still this darn cough. When we go for breakfast in the mess tent, we discover that the Americans have decided to leave. Greg is too sick to climb anymore and Herman’s worn out from his lingering cold that he gave to Greg. With Herman gone, I’ll be on my own on the

Day 7 We start out as flakes fall gently around us and soon there are no longer trees, just a tar-black rocky landscape mottled with layers of snow. Soon the men out pace me and once again, I’m left behind with Rob and Sherpa Neema. As the other men get farther away, their coloured coats look like small prayer flags strung across the base of the snow-covered mountain. Finally, the trail we’re on is now empty of trekkers, possibly because of the earthquake and embargo scaring

DAY 5 of Trek I wake at 5:30 a.m. and know that the other trekkers are sound asleep. I want to write, but can’t in our cramped room. I throw on my giant puffy down coat and walk outside. I can see my breath and it feels colder than when we went to sleep. It’s still dark and the yaks and naks are lying on the ground. The lead yak has his horns tied to a tree. The other yaks won’t leave without him. I stare at the yaks then notice the building below us is lit up. I walk down,

Day Four of Trek Today we start out as a group, at last all together. I trek with Herman at a slower pace. He’s the oldest of the group, in his sixties, and also the less fit. Back at Kathmandu, when we all met for the first time, he patted his robust stomach and said that “fat people” (his words) acclimatize better, and then made fun of his skinny (fit) buddy whom Herman assures us will be gasping for air. Now that we are climbing forever up again, Herman’s probably wishin

Afternoon of Day Three of Trek. Now that the helicopter is gone, I’m ready to climb the rock steps to our hotel. It’s way past noon and poor Besee is starved. We follow him up the steps to the top of the Bazaar. Stupid me, I try to keep up with Besee who grew up at this elevation. I forget the two-step, pause, two step rhythm I was using up until now and trek as fast as I can after him. I’m thinking, it’s not that far up. But it is, the Bazaar is on the side of a mountain

Morning of Day Three of Trek *Picture quality is poor due to limited data usage. Will replace once we have internet.* Today we are to trek to the Namche Bazaar. All uphill. Tim left a note for us, it read, “walk slow to go high”. There are no cars or bikes because of poverty but also because of the trails; they are only rocky pathways that go forever up. I take two steps up, stop for breath, two steps up, stop for breath. Supplies are carried on the backs of the Nepali men,