Whilst You Were Sleeping ? Summiting of Pokalde

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Monday morning. 7am. I wake up and look out of my tent door. No snow, only a gentle frost. 10 inches of snow had been predicted to fall overnight, which would have quarantined us to Base Camp. I wake Nikki, Jildou and Mark Wilson ? the trip is on. We have 3 consecutive days off, due to a trekking group being delayed at Lukla, so we can attempt a proper Himalayan peak ? Pokalde, 5806m.

After diary and breakfast, loaded with rope, harnesses and radio, we leave EBC with our Sherpa guide Pema-Tsering. As we walk down the Khumbu glacier, I speak to Pema-Tsering. His English isn?t great, my Nepali even worse, so I break the ice with some gentle chat. It turns out that we?re both the same age (25 yrs), but he?s already summited Everest 5 times, Cho Oyu twice, Lhotse once?We have the right guide for the job. We are all well acclimatized and reach a lodge at Lobuche (4940m) by early afternoon. En-route, we bump into a diminutive Westerner unusually carrying his rucksack via a namlo (head-strap, as used by Nepalese porters). It turns out to be Kit Spencer, manager of the Summit Hotel on his way to see our base camp. We also meet Rob Hall?s widow and 10 year old daughter on their way to EBC, to mark the 10th anniversary of his death. Rob Hall was the leader of 1996 Everest Adventure Consultants group that was infamously trapped by a freak storm above camp 4, immortalized in the book ?Into Thin Air?.

The next morning, we?re up at 4am. It?s already light, so we can walk without torches, although it?s still cold as the sun won?t reach the valley floor for another 3 hours. We cross the steeply undulating sandy glacial moraine, before climbing up to Kongma La (5535m), following the Kongma La high pass east towards Chukung. At the ridge we are greeted with superb views of the Nuptse glacier including Makkalu, Nuptse, Lhotse and Ama Dablam peaks (photo 1). We also see Pokalde?s summit (photo 2). Heartbreakingly after the steep climb, we drop down the far side of the ridge to the numerous frozen lakes which mark Pokalde high camp (5235m). We join the main East Ridge route and climb steeply back up the other side of the snow basin (photo 3) to reach the East Ridge. Here the snow ends and there is a steep, loose scramble to the summit cone. The summit itself lies atop a 15 metre vertical climb, so Pema-Tsering climbs ahead and puts in a rope (photos 4, 5 and 6). This is a necessary precaution as the rock is crumbly and the drop >1700m to Pheriche! We reach the summit by noon in perfect weather (photo 7), giving superb views over 3 valley systems. We hear over the radio that Pema-Tsering?s elder brother has become the first person in 2007 to summit Everest (from the North side), giving us something else to celebrate.

We abseil off the summit (enjoyed by some of the group more than others) before retracing our route back to Lobuche. We walked/climbed pretty much non-stop for 11 hours save for a short break to harness up and the occasional drink stop. Back in the lodge in Lobuche, we are all exhausted after >1400m of vertical ascent, but exhilarated at having completed such an enjoyable climb in perfect weather. We collapse into the lodge restaurant and tuck into some yak cheese pizza! Our initial plan to walk back to EBC is abandoned, in favour of a lodge bed. The next day we trek back to EBC, in time for a much needed shower. Overall an excellent few days off, although not much of a rest!

Jules Harvey

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