Interesting situation... 2 of 4 porters are showing signs of AMS

Hello,

Dunno when I'll brave the elements next, but I thought i'd share this. Babu (or Mzee which mean "grandpa" or "old man" respectively, because he's 43, real name is Gerald) has a strong headache and a desire to do nothing more than sleep. Simon is not as bad, but has a throbbing headache. Simon was willing to take my aspirin, Babu still resists. Since we will have dinner soon, he wants to see if that makes him better. Heh, in a funny role reversal, it's the muzungu who is insisting that the porters drink more fluids - warm water or tea (warm because its freezing and I don't think we should waste energy warming cold liquids in our stomachs).

Babu decided to show he is fine by doing a water run - its about 8 minutes away to the runoff from the glacier which should be making water still since we've occaisionally seen sun on the upper reaches of the mountain. Ahh, he made it back... And brought water with him.

Just btw, I feel great. When I arrived at Arrow Glacier Camp, I developed a slight headache that immediately subsided with two cups of tea. I'm quite surprised how little effect the altitude is having, given how messed up I get at 14k ft in California. I guess I owe it all to Diamox, the best drug ever!

Babu feels better after eating, but we'll see how things go tomorrow. I suggested that anyone not feeling well should meet us not tomorrow, but the day after (lower altitude, they'll be able to sleep in porter huts), and we'll just take pre-made food (lunch boxes) up to the crater.

More tomorrow, I suppose!

Hmm, bored, sitting in the tent with the porters. One of the porters called his girlfriend of over 3 years (damnit, vodacom has way better signal than zain) and a dude answered. The porter (name withheld for his sake) asked 'who are you' (duh, in Swahili) and the guy hung up. The porter said he trusts his girlfriend, and meanwhile, the rest of the crew said no way, she's cheating. So he called back and she answered. She explained that she left her phone out and some stranger answered it (err... Come up with a better story, sheesh). Here in the tent, his sim ran out of money, so he scrambled to transfer credit from one of the other guys. A quick call back and the dude answered again. Another call back and the girlfriend answered and my crewmate said 'have fun with your boyfriend, we're over.' She laughed at him and said she was already spending her time with her new boyfriend.

Kinda sucks to happen while you're 16k ft up... What makes it worse here in Africa is the prevelence of AIDS. The crewmate is now concerned about his own health. Also, the dating process takes on a strange new ritual because of this disease. First, the guys have a 6-month break rule so they don't rush into something stupidly. Then, you get to know a girl well enough that you feel confident that you understand her sex life. If it seems safe, then you go get tested for AIDS together...

OK, last night my plan was to search for signal before heading to my bivy (found it last night, read mail, but couldn't send this for some reason...) and crawl into my vapor barier (over wool clothes, which I did until I was completely sweaty from the waist down... Warm at least, then slid the barrier down) and stuff the down jacket in my biggest drybag so worst comes to worst, its dry and fluffy.

Well, the problem with the plan is my head. I went to bed with a wool hat and a nylon hat but my face froze. I made the always regrettable decision to favor immediate warmth over dryness and zipped the vent mostly closed. Not enough. I pulled the drawstring on the bag all the way to 1" open, and the air coming in that was too cold. Argh. So I curled up a little, making my head come below the shoulder girth of the bag. This woked for warmth but gave me some claustrophobia responses... I also ran out of good air and had to cause cold air to enter the bag every couple hours.

Hmm. I need to learn what others do in such extreme cold, because people sleep in much colder places than this! How do you heat the face air? I think the bivy is part of the problem. There is no warmed air around me - right above my face is the only vent. Last night, anything wet we put in the foyer part of the tent (covered by the rainfly but outside the very breathable tent) froze quickly, but water, even small amounts, inside the tent (3/4 season LaFuma 3-4 person tent, woefully inadequate for the rain - had they known it would rain that first night, they said they would have brought the much heavier waterproof tent they have) stayed liquid. Mayhaps the bivy should remain an above freezing device? But it's also not a great rain device. So above freezing and good weather device? Might as well get a lighter bivy...

Joel, getting out of bed now, will look for signal to send this...