Day 5: May 23, 2018, as told by student Rachel Chiricella

Name: Rachel Chirichella

Age: 21

Home town: Berkeley Heights, New Jersey

Area of Study: Health and Exercise Science pre PT track

Year in School: Senior in the fall

I joined the Everest Base Camp Expedition because… On my first day of my exercise physiology class with Professor Brutsart, he talked about this trip and i was immediately interested. From there on, he always tied in this trip to our class lectures, which made me more interested. Once the application opened up I applied and was later accepted and could not be more excited. But I really wanted to be a part of this trip because of the experience of going to base camp and seeing, first hand, how incredible this mountain is and all the people who make it up are.

I’m involved with the SU research studies by… I am partaking in the daily measures conducted by the Mount Royal University team, as well as the “daily plus” measurements which include the collection of salvia and blood samples. This study is being conducted by Ainash, a PhD student from the University of Michigan who is going to use the samples for her epigenetic research, where she is going to see if short term exposure to altitude will affect DNA (read her blog post for more details, she’s a very smart lady). I am also a participant in the brain blood flow study conducted by Dr. Wes Lefferts, a recent Phd graduate from Syracuse University. In this study he is examining the changes in blood flow of the carotid artery while undergoing a test that was created to induce slight stress and target various executive functions.

My favorite part of the trip so far has been… Honestly, the sleep I am getting on this trip has been the best sleep I have had in a while. I fall asleep in five minutes and am in a deep deep sleep till I wake up again. I love altitude. I also love the atmosphere of this trip and all the people here. Everyone here is so easy to talk to, making introductions and new situations much easier. I have also enjoyed learning about the people that live within these mountains. I have never been exposed to this type of lifestyle and i am loving it.

 

 

 

The worst part of the trip so far… the hard boiled eggs this morning. We have truly been spoiled with the excellent food provided by Nima, his family, and the lodges we are staying at, but those eggs this morning, quite literally exploded. Other than that, I am really have the best time on this trip, learning a lot and taking in the culture and the breathtaking views of the mountain.

A few things I’ve thought were interesting… We have had two guest speakers so far, Andrew Burton, who discussed his photography career and Dr. Wes Lefferets who shared his PhD work on the effects of hypoxia on light exercise. I found Andrew’s talk interesting because I don’t know that much about the photography industry, so it was cool to learn more about that. He also shared with us some of his work and the stories behind his photographs which were just beautiful to see and learn about. Wes is a very good public speaker so it is always fun to listen to him speak and i found his talk intriguing because it related to topics we’re learning and studies I am participating in.

One thing most people don’t know about me… My dream job is to help write one episode of South Park. It is one of my favorite shows and I feel I have a lot of good ideas, so if the writers of South Park are reading this, hit my line.

Daily Recap

Today we had a long, 7 hour, trek up to Debouche at 3820 meters, which is almost 400 meters more than our previous location, Namche. Leaving Namche, we welcomed one more guest along our trek, a cute little stray dog, who had many different names along the way. We didn’t think he would travel with us for very long but ended up trekking with us all the way to Tengboche. Unfortunately he was barked out of town by some other stray dogs (we miss you, pup).

 

 

 

Overall today was another good day. I feel like I have been really lucky because I haven’t felt any of the symptoms they warned us about, going into a higher altitude. The views we saw today were interrupted by some clouds, but the walk up was different than we had experienced the past few days. We walked through the Rhododendro forest, which had these beautiful trees filled with bright pink and white flowers.

 

 

 

The overall trek was not too bad, the worst part was the three hour gradual incline to Tengboche, but with the pace we were walking at, it was not too painful. Something that I have taken note of on this whole trip is the porters and Sherpas. These mountain natives carry trekker’s luggage up to each point they stop in, carrying upwards to 60 pounds. I commend these men and women and have nothing but respect for them, especially when I start to complain about carrying my 12 pound day-pack!

When we arrived at our lodge in Debouche, everyone had a huge smile on their face after the long day. We got our room assignments and looked around to find there was only one shower for the 30 of us. It was a race to hot shower, but luckily everyone who wanted a shower, including myself, got one before it was dinner time. Dinner time is the best part of the day because we are closer to going to bed. As the days go by I get more and more excited to see the famous Everest Base Camp, and remember how lucky I am to be on a trip like this.

 

 

(All photos by Andrew Burton, © 2018)