At Pheriche, we stayed at the same lodge as the American climber Rob Hall on his
fated expedition to the summit of Everest in 1996, where a total of 9 climbers
(including himself) tragically died. I felt better after the immediate descent, but it was still a very dangerous altitude here (4,243m). The porter looking after us complained of headaches too. This prompted a visit to the Himalayan Rescue Clinic at 9.00pm at night. The duty Doctor told us he had got AMS symptoms, and prescribed Diamox - the only known drug to supress it. |
Extract from diary: Woke at 7.00 am. Both of us actually felt a little better. Went outside to toilet, saw a stretcher with a dead body on it being carried to a helicopter. Later learned from the Himalayan Rescue Post a climber had died here from advanced AMS. We watched with disbelief. We then saw another porter arrive with a bag - it belonged to one in our group. Only half an hour later, another helicopter flew overhead high into the mountains. We thought someone in our group had collapsed. It was chilling. Thankfully, in the distance we saw Maria, a young Doctor from Oslo arriving with another porter. She had suffered the worst effects of AMS, and had to be carried down part of the way on a Sherpa's back after falling unconscious. Thankfully, she was alive. Cathy, a tall, fit, young Canadian had to be brought down too. She was gutted.. |