Lobuche Base Camp

We left Pheriche early this morning on our way to Lobuche Base Camp, which is an additional thousand or so feet higher.  This base camp is only used by IMG.

IMG prefers using their own base camp because the village of Lobuche is, notably, a place where some have become sick in the past.  Generally, tea houses are clean and the food is pretty good, with a variety to choose from.   IMG chooses to start using their own cooks and to start tenting at this point to try to avoid any health-related problems as climbers get closer to EBC, where good health and abundant energy become so important.  It was just this morning, as we started our trek from Pheriche to Lobuche Base Camp that Judy had that unpleasant rumbling in the bottom of her abdomen telling her something was wrong!  Her Imodium was in her duffel and already tied to the back of a yak, but fortunately one of the IMG guides, Emily Johnston, who is an ER doctor, was able to help since she had some with her.  We stopped within another half hour or so for a little bit more which seemed to do the trick, and Jude didn’t have another problem after that.  The unexpected Imodium breaks did put us a little behind so we had to do a little catch up to reach the rest of the group.  I think this extra effort caused us to become a little winded, somewhat out of breath, and low on energy.  We ate an energy bar and mixed some Nuun tablets with our water to help with our hydration and to replenish our electrolytes, and in no time we were feeling energetic again.  From this point we slowed our pace a bit and before we knew it, we had caught up with the rest of our group and actually were one of the first ones into camp.

Judy was apprehensive about staying in tents, but we were pleasantly surprised to find the tents large enough to be quite comfortable.  In fact, they are easier to keep warm once body heat or the sun warms them up.  This would be practically impossible in a tea house room.  The dining tent is large and comfortable, as well. It’s double walled and also gets warm quickly with 20 or so people.  Camp is usually situated in a beautiful meadow, but with the snow it has a different feel.  It is, however, beautiful!  We plan to acclimatize here for three days before we continue on to EBC.