Mount Everest Base Camp: Day by Day…..
Khumjung to Dole (9km. Starting at 3940, finishing at 4110m. Elevation Gain (Not Difference): 740m. (Moving time: 2hr50min) – 
Everyone’s Strava is giving different data!
Today’s trek was tough but not as demanding as I expected…. the real challenge will simply be that day by day we’ll have less oxygen! Oh…. and it’s getting COLD!
My biggest challenge today was the stopping/resting & waiting for our group to come back together…. not because I want to race but simply because I get so hot walking & then absolutely freezing when we stop!! I could throw layers on at the stops but that doesn’t help too much with a soaking wet sports bra & singlet underneath. Tomorrow I’ll have to take all the undershirts & T-shirts I have with me in my backpack!
I’d prefer to just keep plugging away really slowly and then stop for 1-2min to take photos. Our guides are just concerned that we’re ascending the altitude too quickly – time wise. They wanted us to take at least 6hrs today but we walked it in under 3hrs (moving time).
We had sunny hot moments today and also moments of snow and, at one point, close to our finish…. I was cold walking uphill! I had to put my jacket & gloves on!
I wear A LOT less clothes than anyone else when we’re walking.
When we got to the lodge I directly asked if they had a hot shower I could pay for…. it was around 10 euro for 10min max but it was a disaster. It was outside of the lodge in a backyard shed and the air was freezing cold. The water was not hot… it was painful running the water over my body, I was getting colder but wanted to at least feel clean – so I endured about 4 minutes scrubbing myself rapidly to ensure I didn’t reach hypothermia. The floor was concrete so my feet were freezing!
I’d taken my clean clothes into the shower, in a plastic bag which I hung on the window. I’d rented a towel so I didn’t have to use my small micro-fibre towel but the towel I rented was damp!! I can’t describe how difficult it was to get dressed in there. The floor was all wet, I was shaking, my towel wasn’t drying me and my balance on one foot wasn’t great! I had one leg of my leggings in my mouth while trying to balance & get my damp leg into the other side of the long leggings! Just imagine it… I couldn’t hold or 
balance on a wall as it was a tin shed that would have fallen down if I pushed on it!
Anyway, I’m now wearing 5 layers on the top of my body, leggings & warm track pants, long skins compression socks, long thermal socks & boots with a fluffy inner. Beanie on!!! I still have cold feet & a cold nose but while my hands are typing… my fingers are not too cold.
I’m typing on my phone which has a little bit of charge left however my MacBookAir is completely dead and my solar battery won’t charge it. No electricity available in the lodge.
The meals have been ok… I expected worse. Mostly rice, noodles, eggs etc. I’m eating egg macaroni for dinner & porridge for breakfast. Might even have a pancake for breakfast too!
We lost one of our team this morning to altitude sickness – she’s an ex athlete (Lucie), looks super fit & has trekked Mount Everest Base Camp before. The sickness this morning was a shock to her & everyone…. she had some oxygen and stayed the day in the lodge (no walking). She will descend to Namche tomorrow & then greet us somewhere on our way back down.
Another of our team (David) arrived after dark this evening so I’m not sure yet how he’s feeling. I think he’s a fighter & hope he kicks on again tomorrow.
I feel healthy now with only some slight sinus pain – which everyone is complaining about. Hopefully it’s just due to the dirt tracks and will ease off after we exceed the tree line tomorrow and hit the snow.
It’s just about time for dinner again (7pm) so I’ll go catch up with everyone in the common area and then straight after dinner I’ll come up to my room and stretch a little – wishful thinking?!
Tip: Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) was the key to me getting healthy again. If you ever attempt EBC…. make sure you start drinking plenty of ORS from day one!
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Tuesday 30th October 2019 (Fourth day trekking)