Today was a day of rest, other wise known as an acclimatisation day.

We were getting seriously high up now and Ngima judged it was time to demonstrate the portable altitude chamber that was being carried by one of our yaks. In the event of a serious case of altitude sickness the poor patient would be put in the red tube which had a little plastic window in it. The tube was then sealed and pumped up with a foot pump. This increased the air pressure in the tube which simulated descending to a safe altitude. Nobody was in the bag for this demonstration which came with all sorts of health and safety warnings. Once at pressure, if the chamber was hit suddenly it could perforate the eardums of the occupant! Also it could get extremely claustrophobic inside the bag. But it could be, and has been in the past, a lifesaver. So we listened closely.

By this time Mary was getting very grumpy due to my snoring at night. She demanded, and got, a separate room. I think fellow trekkers probably were grumpy with me too as the walls were paper-thin in the tea-houses. But they were too polite to say so.

So, while Mary and a couple of others got a bit of needed rest, the rest of us opted for the acclimatisation day walk which was to conquer a minor peak overlooking the village called Nangkartshang Peak. Well, a minor peak by the local standards. But it was (at 5,083m, 16,667ft) higher than Mt Blanc, the highest peak in Western Europe.

It was every man/woman for himself/herself on the ascent. For the first time the night before I had really experienced the effect of altitude. I had simply rolled over in bed and woken myself up gasping for air. It was quite unpleasant. There were plenty of photo stops on the way up.