Mera Peak day 13 – The way down
12 hours in bed. Most of it asleep but I spent a couple of hours awake at around 2:30am. Listened to music, wrote some of the blog. Had 4 poos! The first one was completely black. Not healthy at all!
We had a late start, breakfast at 9am and we set off walking just after 10am. Set for an easy day, we were to descend what we ascended in two days. Those two were the easiest days so I was looking forward to an easy day down. It was a nice mornings walk, gentle downhill, a few rocks to navigate but nothing bad.
We got to our lunch stop and had some noodle soup. It started snowing. We waterproofed up and set off with the snow blowing in our faces. The is what you expect in the mountains - changeable weather. The snow didn't last that long. The trail was easy. A few slippy rocks. We were being led by the doctor which I thought was odd. There was a fallen tree that wasn't there on the way up. Lots of moss.
We ended up not getting in to Khote until 5pm. A relatively long days waking on this trail. I'm starting to get some ailments. There is bruising on my hips from the harness, my nose and my bottom lip are severely weather beaten and sore, my right foot hurts to the point where I think I may have a stress fracture, my skin is so dry and itchy on my arms and legs and my hair is gross and stinky.
When we arrived at Khote there was a mix up with the tea houses and there wasn't enough room for us, but the Nepalese people will always find a way and we were moved to another tea house.
We ate quite late but Dawa was cooking so the food was really good and hot! He gave me a Mera peak sized mound of rice which would have fed a family of 4, I couldn't eat it all. I don't think the doctor enjoyed his trip, he didn't attempt to summit and he said he just wants to be at home, which is a shame. We sat around and chatted. Listened to the rain outside.
The frostbite on Chets fingers seemsto be improving, it was recommend that he doesn't see a doctor in Nepal because their first response would be to chop the end of the finger off, regardless of whether it needed it or not!