Altitude

Altitude sickness-headache,chest pain,lethargy,pulmonary and cerebral oedema. I get called to a young taiwanese girl who they think might have altitude sickness and became increasingly unwell as she approached ghorepani. She seems ok at rest so I give her a couple of brufen and arrange to keep an eye on her on the way up poon hill in the morning.
Morning is 4.45am and 500m up in the dark. Lots of people are struggling. Some young Indian school kids are falling by the wayside. My patient makes it slowly,slowly. I can definitely feel the effects of thin air. The legs get heavy and I feel a little sick but I make it. Matt is waiting with the most expensive but possibly the best masala tea I've had. The promised panorama is partially shrouded in clouds but still incredibly beautiful with the colours of sunrise and wisps of cloud.
Breakfast is 500m down again with ginger tea to settle the stomach.
We start trekking after breakfast in the rain and we make good use of our goretex gear. It's another 600m up and again I feel the effects of altitude but I forget about it in the excitement of snow. I'm trekking in the himalayas in the snow! At the summit the clouds break and the sun shines to reveal more stunning views, impossibly high peaks and plunging valleys.
The rest of the day is as crazy and changeable as the start. After the rain everything is crystal clear and shimmering. We follow mountain streams and tangled paths up and down through thunder and rain, sun and blue sky. We stop at tadapani at 2pm but since we started at 5am that's not a bad days walk.
I beat the altitude(which I was worried about) and the legs are feeling great.
Tadapani is beautiful and ringed by more beautiful mountains. Bry plays cricket with the local kids while I join the noisy throng in the tea house beside the fire. A large group of young Koreans, a Belgium family, Scottish birdwatchers and us.

Namaste Sandy