Cold. Cold. Cold.

Just a quick update... for those of you that knew, I decided to hike to Everest Base Camp over my Christmas break this year. If you're wondering, I am not a "hearty adventurer" the words they used to describe people that were willing to do this trek during December. I am more the can't believe how cold it is and pretty sure I'm not going to make it... I'll write more and include some pictures soon, I'm currently still on my way down of this mountain and have four more days and three more nights of being so cold I am still trying to figure out how I have not just died. I spent a lot of time on the trek trying to figure out what made it so hard, they freezing cold/wind, the altitude, the actual up/down of the trail(for those of you familiar with Grouse Mountain in Vancouver B.C. it would be like climbing up and down that two times a day with some "Nepali flats" in between for 4-9 hours a day for 13 days in a row, the duration of the hike (13 days), or maybe just a combination of it all. I really do think it was the cold that is killing me. It is bitter cold, there are no words to describe it, even when you get to the teahouses, you are still not warm inside. You are actually colder because you are not moving. So, you keep on all your layers, add more and are still freezing. It's unbelievable! We met some cool people, played a lot of cards and ate a lot of the same food. We were laughing because they say you can drink the boiled water, but we added Iodine tablets to our drinking water, but then drank the tea and hot chocolate and soup without it... who knows. Just a few quick comments that I never thought I'd hear or say... Careful in the bathroom, don't slip on the frozen pee, I use the word bathroom lightly..., what do you think the beginning signs of frostbite are?, It feels so good to be back down to 4100 meters... what do they mean by "really bad" headache? The list goes on... It sounds like I'm complaining, and I guess in some ways I am, but I am so excited that I was able to make it. It was truly the most physically challenging thing I have ever done. I cannot remember a time that I wasn't sure my legs could take one more step and that's how I felt starting on Day 8, also I like to blame it on the altitude, but by then I was just in a bad mood and stormed off one day and cried another. Ram, our assistant guide wasn't quite sure what to do, we had just left Everest Base Camp, which really wasn't much to see, and all of a sudden I got this headache that I was pretty sure was going to instantly turn into whatever it is that happens and kill me. I started to cry and then pretty much ran, well as close to run as you can when you're on these rocky cliffs, back to the hut. When I got to the lower altitude, which was probably still above 5000 meters, the headache went away, but all I wanted to do was curl up and die. I was so tired! We're on our way down now and I wish we could just get there, we still have a ways to go... More later...

Next Christmas I plan on being with my family in a heated environment...