Annapurna- Day 10
Today we planned to leave Manang having spent 3 nights there chilling out. Our next port of call would be Yak Kharka which our guide book and a local shop lady had told us would be 5/6 hours away! We decided to leave around 11am and have a sleep in/late breakfast because we had originally thought it was only 2/3 hours away. Rick left around 11 while Dave and I hung around the hotel trying to find the owner to purchase crampons for Daves crappy boots. The owner wasn't due back until later on as he was at a funeral so it was either go or stay, and neither of us really wanted to waste another day here although attempting to descend the pass with boots like Daves, was a death threat so we were torn.
After a lot of hesitation and asking around for anywhere open to selling crampons, we failed and decided to just be on our way. Needless to say we had not heard from Om at all considering we had no wifi, so we had no idea where he was. We headed off up and out through Manang which at first ascent, killed my lungs. I was breathing like an old age pensioner because the air was so thin up here. I had suffered from a severe headache a few nights before and had started taking Diamox pills to help speed up acclimatisation and my body was getting used to hiking again in this thin air. It wasn't long before my breathing regulated and it completely went the opposite way and my heart beat so slowly but yet I could ascend, even slightly run uphill without being out of breath too much. It was a relief!
We walked for about an hour before we met Rick and we all walked together before meeting a local man who told us Yak Kharka was only an hour away! So we went on our way, with the ascent over with and carried on straight along the snow trail until we reached Yak Kharka where we found our friends staying at the Gangapurna Hotel. We got cosy around the hot stove in the lounge and ate dinner, while chatting about tomorrow's adventure to Thorong Phedi 4400m above sea level. Right now we were up 4000m and considering 10 days ago we had started at 850m this was incredible. That night a few hours into my broken sleep I had all of a sudden woke up with a sense of nausea and also began to get the pre fainting symptoms ie loss of hearing and sight and intense dizziness with no co ordination. In the freezing room I m suddenly felt so warm and sat up trying to get our if my sleeping bag while taking my down jacket and hat off. Rick who was in the bed next to me, woke up and knew what was happening as he had climbed to Everest base camp before and was aware of Altitude sickness symptoms. Even though I was taking diamox, these symptoms still happen sometime just at a fast rate. I was so relieved to know that someone was there for me and telling me not to panic & that it would be over soon really helped. Thanks Rick!
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