This Shit just got REAL!

It’s 10pm and the van has pulled to a halt as I empty the what is left of lunch on the side of the dirt road. My head hangs limply out the window, I’m too weak to stand.

Three hour earlier I had returned from Mt Everest base camp, having just crossed it off the ‘before 30 list’, now I was in the support van being rushed to a lower altitude in an attempt to stop me from dropping dead.

How it all began..

Surprisingly day ten didn’t start as dramatically as it ended, in-fact it started with more dirt road and many complaints, mainly from me. The road to Rombuk, the monastery 8km from Mt Everest, is in bad shape. Its narrow rocky surface abused by the many Chinese tourists, all sporting bottled oxygen, that make the trip out in air-conditioned 4x4s.

We had none of this luxury. Our bikes bounce from stone to stone, jarring already tired arms and bruised backsides. The 30 odd km to our camp site took 3 hours but every bone crunching second was completely forgotten about 5min after arriving.

At the end of the valley stood Mt Everest. The sun, bouncing off the large deposits of snow on the north face. A group of naked Victoria’s Secret models could have walked in front and I still couldn’t have looked away from Everest. The mountain is larger than you ever imagine, more beautiful than any image on national geographic, and something everyone should see. The sky was a brilliant blue, the mounting sharp againt it. The wind ripped sheets of snow from the peak, the trail spooling from the top of the mountain in long stream of glimmering white. It was hypnotising.

I sat, transfixed, along side the 10 other riders. I felt smaller than I ever have in my life.

Eating lunch, our mess tent set up so we could see the mountain out the door, the group was ecstatic. Ten days of riding had led us here, ten days of dust, wind, potholes, 4x4s, dirt, and sore legs had finally lead us to be eating a meal staring at the highest place on earth. As we walked around our camp, waiting for the chance to go the finally 8km to base camp. Tour group after tour group came up to get photos with us. We were the crazy westerners, aged from our 20′s to 60′s, from eight different countries, that had ridden to Mt Everest.

The smiles on everyone’s face told the same story, we were all glad we where there, all amazed at the view and all proud of ourselves.

The Gang at Everest! Well almost everyone others were still transfixed behind me!

The hike to base camp was tough, I was struggling to put one foot in front of the other, but I was determined. After 2 hours of walking I was sitting on a small hill overlooking the expedition base camp. In 8km Everest seemed to have grown, I now had to turn my head, unable to fit the whole thing in. We spent nearly 30mins just sitting, staring at the monster before us.

ME!!!!!

Dan, our tour leader, told us of his attempt to climb the mountain, pointing out where he’d trekked, explaining the different camps and time it takes.

The ride back to camp, on the craziest bus ride in history, I started feeling ill. My head was spinning and my stomach began doing an Olympic gymnastic routine. By 5pm I was in my tent struggling to stop the world from rotating. I tried to take some Dioxen (an anti altitude drug) but one minute after swallowing the small white pill it was on the ground outside my tent alongside lunch.

It all starts to go wrong….

I’m put on oxygen as I lay on a sheet outside my tent. Staring at the sky I feel better. After an hour I’m off the juice and in the tent. The world has slowed and I think I’m past the worst.

I’m wrong.

As the group settle in for dinner a new wave of nausea washes over me. Scrambling with what little energy remains I manage to get my head out of the tent.

I’m shaking, I can’t stop. Dan and Pramod decide I need to get to a lower altitude as soon as possible. My face has lost all colour and I have the cold sweats as I make the 30m walk to the van, it takes the last of my energy. I’m scared, Dan goes over the situation and possible complications, We’re at 5100m and I’m being taken to 4200m, hopefully it will help. He checks I have some cash and explains I’m being taken back to a village we rode through. Most of it is a blur until he says I might have to go home.

‘I can’t, I don’t have a ticket’ is my feeble answer. I might not have a choice.

As the van pulls away I manage one last photo of Everest through the back window, I’m cold and alone in the back of dodgy van as the sun sets and Everest disappears from view.

My Last view of Everest as I'm evacuated 1000m lower...I was very sad at this point.

I’m not sure what’s making me sick, the altitude or the van ride. The road is worse in a car, the vans suspension rocking like a boat over the hundreds of bumps.

We have to stop 6 times during the two and half hour ride, I can’t keep anything down and I’m getting weaker. I slip in and out of sleep as the van bounces around the dark road.

The hotel is small, a woman with a candle meets us outside. My room is dark and smells of smoke. I’m told to drink some weak green tea and shown the bathroom. All I want to do is sleep but I can’t. I’m  too weak to keep throwing up, finally at 3am I get a few hours rest, the nausea has stopped.

I’m now alone in a village with $400US and no idea if I’m going to be on a flight back to Australia in the morning…….

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