Showering at 5700m - not for the faint hearted….!

I’ve gone on quite extensively about ‘Advanced Base Camp Hilton’ that we are quite comfortably occupying here at 5700m.  With it’s 5* high altitude kitchen, 5* tent accommodation, 5* ‘lounge’ room, and 5* toilet facilities it’s worth paying special mention to the 5* shower… yes, in spite of the temperature range between -5 and +15 we do have a particularly luxurious shower – complete with hot water, luxury spa products with which one can ‘lather up’ and a high altitude sauna (aka, the lounge room).

Showers on previous expeditions (if showering was an option) included the very basic ‘gets-the-job-done’ potato-pan and an ingenious (but perhaps slightly inefficient) system whereby one of the kitchen-staff stands on a large rock next to the shower and holds a garden-hose through which he pours luke-warm water…

Here at ABC not only do we have an array of spa products from which one can choose to wash away that high-altitude ‘build-up’ after days of suffering sub-arctic conditions, we have a shower (JUGS Sport Shower) that you can use ‘on the move, anywhere’…. Even at 5700m in the privacy of your own base camp.

The showering… errrr…. Spa system is of the ‘pump’ variety. A plastic container which resembles a giant plastic gas-tank is filled with luke-warm water in the kitchen. The pump and ‘shower head’ is then connected, carried to the shower tent and then ready for use..! One full container will be enough for a luxurious 5 – 7 minute shower – more than enough for a deeply nourishing lather, rinse, repeat.  Several notes of caution – avoid cold gusts of wind, frozen zippers, and don’t lose track of time as it’s not a place where you’ll want to run out of water!

For the ‘piece de resistance’, after one is showered, primed and powdered, one can then go into the bright yellow, sun-attracting dome tent, close the doors and windows and have a sauna…

Seriously… could it get any better than this?