Doing silly poses while we waited for the sunset 
Everest in the rear left and Nupse standing tall to the right
Sunset came and Everest glowed it was a magnificent sight
The lower Khumbu valley set against the pink streaks
Today was a rest day so we planned an acclimatisation hike up Kala Phatar. Most people go either during the day or early for sunrise. Although the weather was iffy in the morning, snowing and cloudy. We lounged around in the dining room, the rooms are far too cold to be in unless you are in your sleeping bag. I took the chance to do my blog. The WiFi was good so we all just made contact with loved ones and did Facebook lol. Bob and I watched a documentary on his iPad about when Orson Wells did his CBS radio show on a take of War of the Worlds and America went a little bit crazy for couple of days.
It appeared that we were going nowhere and the dining room was getting colder so I went and did a little wet wipe wash in my room and put my pyjamas on a puffy down jacket and returned to the dining room with my kindle only to be met by Bethany saying, right we’re going up.
Our little group consists of Me and American Bob, or Baaab as it’s pronounced in his ‘Texan like’ Arizona draaawl, we are the two climbers and American Craig Van Hoy who is our base camp manager and will coordinate everything on the mountain and be in contact with us all the time wherever we are. He is somewhat of a superstar up here and knows pretty much everybody. Also his 19 year daughter Bethany who is only staying at base camp couple nights and then going down. She came for the trek in, lovely girl, very sociable and strong like her Dad, always up front while me and Baab dawdle behind conserving our energy. Our man behind the scenes is Babu from Kathmandu who organised everything on the Nepali side, our porters, yaks, cooks and climbing Sherpas. We also have his daughter Pema who is also a lovely girl, like the Nepalis always smiling although it appears that Dad Babu has sent her on the trek in to get a little exercise. It certainly doesn’t appear it was under her own volition but credit due she has stuck it out and grinned throughout, sometimes arriving hours after we have, exhausted but still with her beautiful smile.
So anyway, Bethany informed me we’re going up. Back to the room, quick change again, pack hard shells and warm clothes, take phone for sunset photos and go into the dining room to get water. I have a Steri pen to cleanse the water as we can’t drink the water here. Nepali people are immune to it but it would make us gringos really sick. If you use tablets you have to wait 30 mins before drinking but a Steri pen, uses UV light which doesn’t kill the bacteria but it scrambles their DNA so they can’t reproduce. And you can drink it instantly.
I am informed there is no water. The pipes have frozen with the cold.
Oh well, the hike should be a three hour round trip.
It’s quite a bit of ascent up to the top of Kala Phatar and I am in my big Olympus Mons boots which are clunky over the boulders at the top. But we are rewarded with such amazing views at the top. We can see the whole range stretching all around us, Ama Dablam, Nuptse right in front of us, Lhotse tucked behind but peeping out to the left and Mount Everest in all her glory. We take loads of pictures of us doing silly things until the sun sets and then the face of Everest glows so orange it’s like she is on fire like a red hot glowing ember. The peak of Lhotse is also on fire whilst the lower range are white tops set against a pink streak. The waves of colour are amazing and this was well worth the big hike up here. I certainly have a new screen saver now. It took couple hours to get up and 35 mins to get down. We descended with head torches. Fast.
This evening we get the good news that the icefall doctors have been hard at work and fixed the icefall already for us. Fixed ropes and ladders are all in place between base camp and camp one. This year there are only ten ladders to cross, this is great, it means the icefall is in good shape to cross. Except no one can set foot up the hill yet until the puja ceremony has been performed. This is to respect the mountain gods and ask for safety on our travels. The Nepalese are very superstitious and no one can go up until we take part in this ceremony. I am only to happy to appease the gods and ask for safe travel.