Death march and the great decent

11/25/19

It was pitch black, both Ben and I were snuggly wrapped in our warm and soft sleeping bags when out of the darkness rang my alarm. 5 am, we were set to start our death march to this mysterious viewpoint. In the darkness and bone chilling cold we arose to prepare, each small sound echoing like a trumpet in our little plywood room. We fashioned on our head lamps, donned our winter jackets and multiple layers while trying to push the invasive cold from our bodies. The inn was silent except for every movement we made amplified by thin walls and creaking doors. The bathroom floors and our waters had frozen overnight. We met dad who looked equally enthused to be awake and out of bed at this hour. We swallowed some Luke warm coffee then turned on our head lamps and headed out. Let me just say now, I may get negative for a bit but in the history of me, this was the most challenging/worst/god awful/kill-me-now hike I have ever attempted. It was two hours of straight uphill in the dark and cold. It was also at the highest elevation of our trip a whopping >18,000’. Imagine sprinting a marathon while breathing through one of those coffee mixing straws. I finally found my physical limit about .25 miles from the top as I started to become lightheaded and I was seeing spots. I was sure I had a 70% chance of just passing out.  Luckily I had Ben who was super supportive and coaxed me toward the finish line. We made it to the top and low and behold, Everest was covered in clouds. This would be interesting as it started to snow just as we left signaling the end of the season. But we were now on our way back down. The sphincter tightening decent was also a pure joy as part of this early morning jaunt. Once down we were too fatigued to eat but set off back from whence we came. It was a huge net down hill today -1400’ and with each step it became easier to breath that sweet, succulent, and tantalizing oxygen. Gone were the days of gasping for air. It was also warming up slightly though behind us we witnessed the mountains being blanketed with snow. The rest of the trek was reminiscent of Game of Thrones and walking behind the wall. Ben didn’t understand why, at random, I would whisper, ”you know nothing Ben Snow”. Today was long and at times it felt as if our bodies would revolt because we were using all new muscles for going down hill. It is like going to the gym doing a ton of squats and not being able to walk the next day except here it was all in one day.  With our bodies screaming, “what the hell are we doing?!” we trudged onward. The final portion of the journey took us through a glacier cut valley with 100’ walls and flattened land in the center. We arrived and as usual I collapsed in bed sore, but relieved we made it. For all you sea-levelers take a deep breath... don’t ever forget that sensation.  Shortness of breath secondary to low oxygen is a very unsettling feeling. That’s it for now.

Stay tuned.