As basecamp fills, so does our clinic, having treated 16 so far for maladies ranging from pneumonia and hypoxia to urinary and respiratory infections and the ubiquitous gastrointestinal disturbances. No serious altitude issues yet, as it seems our climbing community and support staff have successfully acclimatized on the way up.
We did see a couple of bad cases of frostbite in trekking peak climbers on one of our stops on the way up. Climbers caught on a very cold night took much longer to summit than anticipated and two sustained what appeared to be full thickness frostbite to their fingers. The climbers were referred to the HRA clinic in Pheriche where they were started on ibuprofen and injuries were dressed with aloe dressings. Frostbite is serious business here and it can come fast.
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