Day 10 - Gorak Shep (Kala Patthar) to Pheriche

Today was just a brutal day that kicked off at 3:45am to hike up to Kala Patthar.

We set off in the dark, my head torch giving up the ghost after about 15 minutes. The terrain was extremely steep and covered in snow which made it very slippery. My feet were absolutely frozen, couldn't feel my toes at all. It was about a 2 hour hike to the top going up around 400 meters to 5584m.

Dad struggled mightily but was ably aided by one of our porters who helped him up the hill. He could have easily just turned back and gave up but he plowed on and made it. Geez I was so proud of him, it was inspirational.

We stopped only briefly to take some photos, I had my gloves off only for a few minutes but that was enough for my fingers to lose pretty much all feeling. To be totally honest I thought we would see more of Everest but it was well worth the hike up there.

It was about -8 degrees when we set off from Gorak Shep and was probably around -10 when we got to the top. I was thinking about you lot in the lovely warm Australian weather let me tell you!!!

The way back down was interesting. At the start it was treacherous with ice covering the track. I fell over a couple of times but didn't get hurt. A little further down the hill off to the side was some lovely fresh powder so Nick, Anthony and I proceeded to run/ski down the hill. It was so much fun we were carrying on like kids!

We made it back to Gorak Shep, had some breakfast then started the long trek towards Pheriche. It was extremely cold coming into Pheriche as we hiked along a wide open valley with a head wind.