"Human beings just aren't meant to be at this height," said Lise, sitting in front of our room at the Hotel Family, Dingboche, and gazing up at Yet Another Stunning View Of Ama Dablam.
She'd had a bad night, waking up several times in a panic, convinced that she couldn't breathe - a common effect of altitude.
Today's rest day was therefore agreed to be a genuine rest. A gentle 2hr amble up the valley in the morning took us to 4600m, where we scrambled up the start of the huge moraines leading up to Ama Dablam. Another effect of altitude, of course, is that everything looks closer in the thinner air, and though the mountain had looked close enough to touch, we could see that it would be several hours more before reaching the rock. We returned for lunch.
A peaceful afternoon followed, with lots of reading and sorting gear out for the ascent to Lobuche (4950m) the next day. There would be no more hot showers until we returned back to Namche, so we made do with wet wipes.
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