EBC Day 6 Dole – Machhermo

Today was a similar height gain, time and distance to yesterday with a very steep start out of Dole and then gradual upwards hike over terrain similar to English moorland before dropping down slightly into the tiny settlement of Machhermo at the end. The weather was a bit cooler and less sunshine than previous days. We are now above the tree line at 4400m and getting into snow territory. In fact this afternoon while we were sat in an altitude sickness presentation by the Mountain Rescue medics the clouds rolled in and there was a brief flurry of rain and sleet. Tomorrow should be interesting…

Ok – thought I’d put in a bit about health, which is a real focus area on an adventure like this. There’s plenty of material about do’s and don’ts regarding altitude acclimatisation – I’m not going to regurgitate all that, but here’s what I’ve done. On top of physical training I started taking a herbal mushroom powder supplement called Cordyceps about a month before travelling – the idea being that it would start to stimulate the ability to produce extra red blood cells which carry oxygen around the body. I’m now taking two of these capsules daily to give additional boost. On top of this I gave in to the temptation to get some prescription drugs called Diamox. As well as being a treatment for altitude sickness it helps to reduce the symptoms in the first place. Started taking these at the beginning of the trek and will continue until we are well past the highest point in about a week’s time. So far so good. On the downside, I had a dose of man-flu on the week before leaving the UK. Self-inflicted or not, whilst I shook off most of it, I have struggled to get rid of the blocked nose and niggly cough. Bring on the Sherpa remedy of ginger, lemon and honey tea (or GLH as we call it). This is like Lemsip without the paracetamol and appears to be helping slowly. There is no fever so I’m not unduly worried at the moment. Earlier start tomorrow for the hike to Gokyo and the lakes where we will spend 2 nights.

I am planning to write something about the baggage porters and also more info on the lodges. If there’s anything else you would like to know please leave a comment and I will respond.