Everest Base Camp Trek

Kathmandu, Nepal, 5-6 September 2008
Everest Base Camp Trek, 7-20 September 2008

Mount Everest, also called Sagarmatha (Nepali: meaning Head of the Sky) is the highest mountain on Earth, as measured by the height of its summit above sea level, which is 8,848 metres (29,029 ft). The mountain, which is part of the Himalaya range in High Asia, is located on the border between Sagarmatha Zone, Nepal, and Tibet.

We arrived in Kathmandu (KMD) at 8am and had no issue with obtaining our visa. Outside we took one of the many hotel touts up on their offer of a free taxi ride into Thamel (the tourist hotspot of KMD). Everything was going so smoothly, it was great to be out of India. Once settled in our guesthouse we immediately set about organising our Everest Base Camp trek (EBC). The first thing we required were return flights to Lukla, the head of the trail (unless you are crazy enough to start from Jiri). After checking a few agencies it became clear the price of the flights were fixed so we we just bit the bullet and booked to leave in 2 days time (Sunday). Later we found out that we were very very fortunate because flights had been canceled for 2 weeks due to bad weather but thankfully were up and running again. Next we made our way to the tourist office where we collected a TIMS card, a requirement for trekking in Nepal. We had also hoped to collect our permit but the office was closed but we heard that we could purchase it at the start of the trail. With these two pieces of the jigsaw puzzle in place we could relax and simply enjoy being in a new country.

Thamel has it's fair share of touts but they are pussycats compared to those in Delhi. Some tourists find KMD too hectic but to us it was a breath of fresh air. We ate well and then walked the streets lined with outdoor stores and made a list of everything we would need for a successful trek to the foot of the worlds highest mountain. The next day felt like Xmas Eve and we hadn't a gift bought. We ventured out, collected sleeping bags then dropped them back to the room. Without a moments rest we were back out looking for Gortex jacket & trousers. Then back to the room... then back out again and so on all day. By the end of it we were exhausted but we were ready!

Our flight was at 6:15am the next morning & following a misunderstanding with the guesthouse staff re ordering of a taxi we found ourselves at the tiny Domestic Terminal of KMD Airport. It didn't actually open until 5:40am by which time a sizable mob had gathered outside. We had heard some horror stories about getting on your designated flight even if you have a ticket so we were eager to be at the head of the queue. It all went very smoothly and we were soon standing at the door of our 12 seater plane (Agni Airlines). Only problem was that there were 13 of us, no worries following a quick staff hussle an additional seat was sourced and fitted in no time at all. Our luggage travelled with us in the fuselage. The flight itself was surprisingly smooth given the size of the plane and afforded spectacular views of the Himalayas. 30 minutes later we commenced our approach to the tiny runway perched on the side of a cliff at Lukla. The pilot only had enough time to land then break hard before it was time to turn right and park up. Yes, it was a little hair raising.

The airport at Lukla is named after
Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Sir Edmund Hillary.

We had intended to stay in Lukla (2,850 metres) for 1 day to acclimatise but having had breakfast and walked the full length of the town by 7:30am we decided to put a few miles behind us. We had actually checked into a guesthouse in Lukla but the Sherpina Dawa Futi (her father was a Sherpa with Edmund Hillary during the first successful Everest ascent in 1953) was happy enough to organise a porter for us (Rai) and send us off on the trail. We stopped at Rai's house on the way out of town, so that he could pick up some essentials and tell his wife and 2-year old son that he's be gone for 2 weeks, and then we were on our way.

On Day 1 we put in about 5 hours trekking our way to Monjo (2,840 metres). As Monjo was at almost exactly the same elevation as Lukla we felt like we'd gained a day without jeopardising our acclimatisation program. It was an amazing feeling to finally be on this trail. Weather was perfect and scenery was nothing short of stunning. The deal with the guesthouses is that you check into one at a very cheap rate (1-2 Euro) but are then obliged to eat all your meals at that guesthouse. We were surprised both by the quality of the accommodation and the wide spectrum of food available on the menu (however as you moved higher on up the trail vegetable availability was nil & void). The nearest road was about a 5 days walk away, we had seen porters carrying loads on trails all over the world but without doubt the porters on this trail were carrying loads larger and heavier (up to 120 kgs) than anything we'd ever seen before.

Day 2 - we marched on to Namche Bazaar (3,440 metres) which is the largest town on the trail. The guidebook recommends spending 2 nights here in order to aid acclimatisation so that's what we did. Having checked a few guesthouses it soon became clear that we were hiking out of season as there really were very few trekkers about. While en route to Namche Bazaar we met a couple dropping back down to Monjo, the man had come down with serious altitude sickness and was unable to venture any higher. We would hear similar stories many times over the following days. So far we were not exhibiting any symptoms. On our second day in Namche we walked visited the local museum & walked up to the ridge.

The trail took us past small settlement villages with stone houses, terraced potato fields & "mani stones". Tibetan prayer stones or mani stones carved with the sacred Tibetan mantra, OM Mani Padme Hum, the venerated syllable OM, & the peaceful eyes of lord Buddha.

After two days of glorious sunshine on the trail on Day 3 the cloud descended and while we didn't experience any rain during the day any chance of snatching an early glimpse of the mighty Everest slipped away. After our 2 days in Namche Bazaar we walked along an excellent trail towards Tangboche where the largest Buddhist Monastery in the Himalayas is located. A signpost outside stated that women were not allowed to enter without the permission of the head monk (Lama). I, Dave, ventured in and after a few minutes had gained the necessary permission. Claire and I were then given a tour of the prayer hall before being allowed to sit at the back of their room where all the monks were deep in meditation. It felt a little intrusive but they didn't seem to mind. Every few minutes they would pick up their various musical instruments and create a racket. Outside again, we had only planned to walk on an additional 20 minutes to Debuche and stay there for the night but Rai (along with another couple we met) convinced us to keep going as far as Pangboche - they assured us it was 30 minutes beyond Debuche..... they lied.....Claire was starting to show early signs of altitude sickness so the additional 1 hour 40 minutes we had to walk beyond Debuche really didn't help. In Pangboche we stayed at the Everest View Lodge. Inside there were certificates stating that the Sherpa owner had been to the summit of Everest three times. Most impressive.

On Day 6 we walked a short distance (2 hours) to Pheriche (4,270 metres). Again, the guidebook recommended spending two nights here in order to aid acclimatisation. On Day 8 feeling adequately acclimatised we trekked to Lobuche (4,910). En route we passed memorials to those who had died on Everest. Claire had bought the book "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer while we were in KMD. It tells the story of how a storm on Everest in 1996 claimed the lives of 12 people. Reading the story in the book was one thing but actually passing the memorials on the trail was another thing entirely. Suddenly it was much more real.

On Day 9 we walked onto Gorak Shep (5,140 metres) which is the last settlement on the EBC trail. After checking into our accommodation we climbed Kala Patar (5,550 metres). The heavy mist meant visibility was down to about 50 metres but knowing how quickly the weather can change in the Himalayas we trudged on regardless. On this particular occasion the weather decided to remain steadfast. Claire got quite emotional when we finally reached the top of Kala Patar and we couldn't see a thing. Apparently on a fine day you will not get a better view of Everest than from the top of Kala Patar:

"9 days of hiking with only two hot showers (nights 1 & 2) , few (if any) nights sleep & a diet based on rice and potatoes and we can't even see the tiniest piece of Everest - we deserve better".

And it was a hard slog because at 5,550 metres there is only 50% of the Oxygen in each breath than there is at sea level and boy do you miss that extra 50%. The following morning (Day 10) we'd intended to walk to Everest Base Camp but as conditions were good we decided to give Kala Patar another chance.... and it paid off. We finally got some excellent views of Everest, now we could go home happy. Mission complete. Well, almost......

A lot of people don't make the effort (5 hours return) to visit the base camp as you cannot really see any of the surrounding mountains from there. For us however, it didn't make sense for us to come this far and not make the extra effort to see where all expeditions vying to climb to the summit from the Nepalese side kick off. Most expeditions take place in April/May but we were fortunate that both a Korean and an Italian team were present and preparing for the heady task when we arrived. It was a tough walk (Day 11) over uneven glacier moraine but well worth it, it really was the end of the road. If you wanted to go any further you were going to have to start mountaineering.

Claire was feeling run down as she had developed a nasty lip infection and a head cold. The nearest medical facility was in Khunde - 2 long days of hiking away. The following morning (Day 12) we bade farewell to Gorak Shep.

We walked back down to Pangboche stopping off briefly for lunch in Pheriche. So, what had taken us three days walking up was an easy going one day walking down. Day 12 wasn't so easy going. Downhill to Debuche, uphill to Tangboche, downhill to Funke Tengi, uphill to Khunde. "Phew, that was a long day". We stopped off in Khumjung while on the way to visit the Sir Edmund Hillary school. I think it's fair to say that Hillary is revered like a god in the shadow of Mt Everest, a mountain that he, along with Tenzing Norgay, was the first man to summit in 1953. At the Khunde hospital the resident Doctor admitted he'd never seen anything like Claire's lip before! He prescribed a course of antibiotics.

Day 13 - from Khunde we passed back through Namche Bazaar and then down, down, down to Monjo where we had stayed on our very first night. Here we enjoyed our first shower in 11 days and it felt so gooood. We'd originally planned to fly out of Lukla on the 25th but based on circumstances and the fact that we'd achieved our goal we decided to bring this forward to the 21st. We'd left our flight tickets with the lodge in Luka so Rai was able to call them and they had no problem making the amendment on our behalf.

As always seemed to be the case the last day (Day 14) seemed to go on forever. We thought Lukla must be just around the next corner... but it never was. It was murder. Finally, almost unexpectedly, we were in Lukla and our 2 week trek was over. We were greeted warmly at the Paradise Lodge (even though we had never actually stayed there before). On the morning of our flight the landlord (Ang Pasang Sherpa) insisted on bringing our bags to the airport and checking them in while we sat and enjoyed breakfast. Once we'd passed through security, if you could call it that, word came through that all Air Agni flights had been cancelled due to "technical difficulties". Luck was on our side though because Ang Pasang Sherpa was till on the scene and managed to get us shifted onto a Sita flight at no extra charge. Funny thing is that earlier we'd been looking at the Sita planes saying "would you look at the state of those rust buckets". Now we were clambering to be first aboard. If we didn't have our man on the ground in Lukla it was unlikely we would have managed to get out when we did. So once airborne we thanked our lucky stars we weren't part of the group still scratching their heads in the airport.

In the travelling game coming to a place for the second time is always so easy, so comfortable. Arriving back into Thamel we were able to direct our taxi driver all the way to the door of our hotel. Then it was, yes - you guessed it "operation recovery". Hot shower, clean clothes, good food etc etc.

We would recommend the EBC trek to anyone. It's more like a long serious of day hikes than one continuous trek. The fact you can get hot food every night and curl up i a bed warm and dry makes all the difference. When we think back to the "W" in Torres del Paine... now that was real hardship. Icy cold nights in the tent, no hot food, carrying everything on your back. Yep, give me the comfort of EBC anyday. Also, Rai our porter was second to none. He was always good humoured, always laughing & joking and would have offered to carry us on his back if we'd have let him.

The children of the Himalayas would greet us with "namaste" when we passed. When spoken the greeting is accompanied by a slight bow made with hands pressed together, palms touching and fingers pointed upwards, in front of the chest.

Tibetan Prayer flags. The sherpa people migrated from eastern Tibet to Nepal within the last 500 years.

Porters carrying loads to base camp

A sign on a door.... wise Himalayan people