Day 16 - Waiting AD BC

I feel pretty miserable when we get up and need to decide whether to go up the mountain with the group or rest. The two key factors are that there is virtually no chance of getting anywhere near the summit and that I am heading off to Antarctica soon for a month and am now prioritising that expedition over a couple of days on the lower slopes of AD. I have got a couple of niggles - a minor on/ off ear infection and a cold / cough which I am very keen to shake and camping at altitude in the cold won't help either especially as bad weather is forecast in a couple of days. It is also handy to have a bit of a break (especially as it is no fun being ill when cold and high) and to start looking forward to being in remote, cold places again. Therefore, whilst I could go up I have decided to concentrate more on the bigger picture  - I also still feel pretty poor late in the day and so would probably not really enjoy the trip in any case. 

The rest of the day is spent mostly in bed, when not dashing off, and as such lunch is just a bit of soup. I treat myself to a shower and wash my clothes in the afternoon but the clouds come in very quickly after that and the evening gets very cold.

I have supper (a bit of soup and rice) and a chat with the base camp manager and it seems that our descent is going to be complicated. Firstly, he thinks that for some reason we should be camping - I tell him that his is not the case and that he need to ring his boss in the morning to clarify this and that if his boss thinks that we are meant to be camping to call Adventure P eaks to sort things out - not that I would really mind camping it is just that this will take time to resolve and there are bound to be other implications which will need sorting out as well. Secondly, he doesn't think that the yaks can make the journeys we will be making in the same time as us and so we will risk being separated from our main bags for the descent and even worse, them not arriving at Lukla on the same day and so there being difficulties or risks in getting them back to Kathmandu. The solution for this is to ensure that the yaks get to BC early on departure day so that the yaks can head off as early as possible. There are probably a couple of other issues but we talk through these and what he needs to do over the next couple of days to ensure that things to smoothly. I am left with a bit of a sinking feeling about this which unfortunately is more than just my insides still churning!