The Trekking Spine Doc Blog

Day 11 – Return to Dingboche June 1, 2009

A Fully-Loaded Sherpa

After a good night’s sleep in Gorek Shep, it was time to begin our return to journey down the valley. We would cover twice the distance per day as we had going up the valley. Nevertheless, it would not be easy as there were many ups and downs. It was particularly difficult for me since I still had not fully recovered from the brutal day before when I had attempted to get to Kala Patar via a “Sherpa Shortcut”. It was even more difficult for John Fera, one of our German colleagues, who had a particularly difficult time descending because of his knees. John had always been a trooper, not being the fastest trekker in our group, but being one of the most persistent. It was the distance and the downhill that was challenging for him on our way back down the valley. For me, this day was not one to take a lot of photos. I also had lost my appetite and literally had to force myself to eat. I also had caught a cold from one of our group and developed a persistent cough. The day started sunny, but typical to the pattern that we had experienced since being snowed in at Dingboche, as the day progressed the clouds moved in. We finally arrived at Dingboche, camping across the trail from where we had stayed for three nights on our trek up the valley.

Resting Yaks