Dispatch Sixteen: September 9th, 2009 |
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2009 Shishapangma Expedition |
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Day Sixteen: Paola Heads Down to Chinese Base Camp Today, Mario, Paola, and Gopal headed down to Chinese Base Camp. Since arriving to Advanced Base Camp (5,600m according to GPS measurement) Paola hasn’t adjusted well to the altitude and has suffered from excruciating headaches and peripheral and facial edema. She finally decided that she had had enough and would head down to the lower altitude of Chinese Base Camp to see if her health improved. If it doesn’t, she will take a jeep back to the border with Nepal and return to Kathmandu. Mario intends to return to ABC tomorrow and Gopal will probably stay in Chinese Base Camp with Paola until she makes her decision. If she does decide to head to the border, she will need to bring the Group Chinese Visa with her and leave it at the border with the CTMA officer in charge of Zhangmu so that Mario and I can also get out using the visa after our expedition. Left in base camp alone, I had the responsibility of guarding all of our equipment and food from the Tibetans, making food, preparing water, and all the rest of the responsibilities of the base camp cook. It definitely instilled in me an appreciation that we had Gopal, as completing all his tasks in addition to preparing loads and climbing an 8000 meter peak would be close to impossible alone. |
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