Today was a very productive day because not only did I shower, I cleaned my tent and did some schoolwork!
As I have said before, showering is a big deal. Because of the lack of oxygen, everything is, really. But showering is a solid 45 minute effort. It was quite nice today though because Mum brought me some extra shampoo and conditioner so I didn’t have to ration like crazy. The tent got very very hot from the sun, plus with the hot steam trapped inside, I felt like I was going to faint. I couldn’t even open the tent for ventilation because I was.. showering in it. So after my shower I needed a 15 minute sit down break.
Trust me I feel fine and ready to climb but at base camp stuff can be hard!!
We then all had lunch – which is still very hard to eat everyday. Each meal has about 4-5 different small components, but every single lunch seems to have fruits/vegetables covered in mayonnaise. Yes it is disgusting.
I’ve stopped bothering trying to eat vegetables because it’s unnecessary chewing and effort to eat, for the amount of calories, carbs, and protein I am getting. I take vitamins daily anyways and I haven’t got too long left. I want to productively eat, so stuff that is high calorie or high protein.
Ben and I went to the coffee tent and played cards with others for a long time. We tried to eat some of his chalky protein bars to fuel up, as there are not too too many more days before we head up. But they were too chalky 😭
Dad and I will go up later than most, as he wants there to be no crowds. If there are crowds and we have to wait in line, the risk of frostbite is high and also the risk of running out of oxygen is high.
People that had initially gone for a summit push, have turned around due to bad weather, and are back at base camp waiting. If they wait up on the mountain their bodies will deteriorate fast from living so high, and not have any energy left. We all had dinner together and did some more crosswords.