The Trek To Everest, Part III - Everest Base Camp, Nepal
Everest Base Camp, Nepal
Monday 7th October 2013 (Gorak Shep to Kala Pattar, Everest Base Camp and Lobuche)
Pete was up early (4:30) in order to re-summit Kala Pattar! Max the Italian had spoken to the Professor at the Italian Pyramid (weather station) and said the weather would be clear today.
I decided to stay in the slightly warmer bed till around 7:30, packed up our stuff and waited for Pete to return, before heading over to Everest Base Camp. The wind was also blowing an absolute gale (it was a constant howling noise!).
Pete was back down by 9ish, after summiting in 50 minutes! He got even more amazing views this time round as the skies were completely clear of cloud! Our prayer flags had also been blown higher up the mast and were now flapping high up in the sky!
After breakfast, we teamed up with the Germans, Stefan and Jan, and headed out towards Everest Base Camp.
Headed along the edge of the Khumbu Glacier, we got some amazing views of the mountains, the glacier and several glacial melt lakes. After skirting the glacier for 1.5 hours, we scrambled over the glacier itself to reach Everest Base Camp (5360m).
Not much to see at base camp but some tents (currently 2 expeditions, one Italian and one South Korean) and a prayer flag memorial. The views however were the main highlight, including the Khumbu Ice fall and the Western Cwm (starting point for climbing Everest).
The mountains were also completely clear and we got some incredible views of Nuptse, Mt Everest and several others. At one point, we were less than 1km from Tibet, probably the closest we'll ever get without a Chinese tour guide!
Took the standard photo opportunities then headed back across and along the glacier to Gorak Shep. After veg fried potato lunch, we said our goodbyes to Stefan and Jan, then headed back to Lobuche (4930m), over the rocky Changri Shar Glacier, down the rocky slope and along the valley. This time round, we managed to get some good photos of the valley as there was no evil mist to ruin the view!
Checked back into the Lobuche NP guest house, then sat around the fire for several hours. Pete was tired as he'd walked for nearly 12 hours at around 5000m!
Ordered a massive pot of milk tea (again), had Sherpa stew, pizza and spaghetti for dinner, charged some batteries then collapsed in bed completely knackered!
Tuesday 8th October 2013 (Lobuche to Dzonglha)
Long, long lie in this morning (still tired from yesterday), read my kindle, had breakfast then headed down the valley and east across towards Dzonglha and the Cho La Pass (heading towards Gokyo).
Headed back towards Dughla before turning off before the memorials and followed the mountainside path towards the end of the Khumbu Valley. Were treated to some amazing views of the valley below, Ama Dablem, Cholotse (6643m), the Chola Glacier and Cholotse Cho (blue lake).
Continued on along and around the mountainside to reach Dzonglha (4830m). The skies were again crystal clear so we managed to get some good photos of the mountains, the surrounding valleys and the pass we need to take tomorrow.
Checked into the Mountain View Lodge, with probably the best view of Ama Dablem from the dinning room. Also met two Austrian guys (Sebastian and Dominik) who were really nice, so we decided to team up with them over the pass tomorrow.
Had veg fired potato for lunch before taking a shower. Pete then tried to take a shower but I had accidentally ran off all the hot water! He therefore had to have a cold, drip shower, plus it was freezing outside! (he was not a very happy bunny!).
Clouds had descended upon the valley by this point, some of the mountains looked like they were smoking / on fire, a close substitute for Mordoor and Mount Doom!
Relaxed in the dinning room next to the fire, Pete was still very cold and annoyed at me for ruining his first shower in a week! Had dahl baht / fried noodles for dinner, read some of Sir Renelph Finnes book before calling it a night.
Wednesday 9th October 2013 (Dzonglha to Tagnag, via the Cho La Pass)
Excellent nights sleep and woke at around 7am, had breakfast then set off towards the Cho La Pass with Sebastian and Dominik, plus an Israeli couple at around 9ish.
Started well with a gentle stroll up a grassy valley, could see several peaks at the end of the valley, some were jet black, like walking through Mordoor!
Climbed a very steep slope, scrambling over rocks and massive boulders to eventually reach, what we assumed was, the top of the pass after 2 hours. Were greeted by amazing views back down the valley.
Continued on around the mountainside and, unexpectedly, came across the Cho La Glacier! Had to cross over the glacier, which was really slippery in places and covered in fresh snow. After another hour, finally reached the Cho La Pass (5420m) with it's collection of prayer flags and staggering views into the next valley.
After a short break, began our descent into the Gokyo valley. Progress was very slow as the slope was covered in snow/ice/scree slopes and it was very dangerous at points.
Stopped three quarters of the way down to wait for the Israeli couple, who were nearly as slow the glacier itself! Played the "rock game", which involved throwing a rock at three bigger rocks on top of a boulder to knock them off! After the Israelis rejoined us, 45 minutes later, we continued on down into the valley, crossing rock falls and scree slopes.
Eventually reached a grassy hill, then followed a river valley down, down, down (forever) until we finally reached Tagnag (4700m) 7 hours later!
Checked into a lovely guest house (Cho La Pass Resort), had veg fried potato and another massive pot of milk tea for lunch then relaxed in the dinning room as the heater was on.
The Israeli's arrived half an hour later, then decided to stay at a different guest house (weird people).
Read my kindle, then had tomato pizza and chips for dinner before going to bed, once again absolutely knackered (nothing new there then!).
Thursday 10th October 2013 (Tagnag to Gokyo)
Fairly good nights sleep and a long lie in this morning, followed by a lazy breakfast waiting for Pete's camera battery to finish charging. Left at 9:15am with Sebastian and Domink following shortly afterwards.
Began walking along the valley edge towards a large prayer flag. Climbed up the massive lateral moraine of the Ngozumpa Glacier and saw a huge field of boulders, melt water lakes and the majestic mountains all around us.
Scrambled across the glacier itself, past several large melt water lakes, including ones that looked like Australia and China! Waited around at one particular lake for a large section to collapse (sadly it didn't).
Reached the other side of the glacier after 2 hours, then climbed out of the valley. Saw even more stunning views from the top, including Cho Oyo (8201m), the sixth highest mountain in the world, and Gokyo Ri (5360m).
Walked around the hillside for our first glimpses of the 3rd Sacred Lake (Dudh Pokhari), a beautiful, copper blue lake, plus Phiari Lapache (6017m) and the town of Gokyo itself (4750m).
Sebastian and Domink were not far behind so we waited for them on the hill above the lake, then checked ourselves into the Lakeside Lodge.
Relaxed in the dinning for the rest of the day, talking to other travelers, reading my kindle, eating veg fried potato lunch and dahl baht for dinner, then went to bed. Also noted on the menu that under beverages, it said "Cock" instead of "Coke" (lost in translation anyone!).
Friday 11th October 2013 (Gokyo to the Sacred Lakes)
Woke early to another glorious blue sky, had breakfast then set off with Sebastian and Domink towards the Sacred Lakes.
Began walking along the lateral moraine of the Ngozumpa Glacier, over rocky and grassy trails.
Reached the 4th Sacred Lake (Thonak Tsho, 4870m) after 1.5 hours, the lake was eerily quite and had crystal clear blue waters, surprisingly was not too cold either!
Continued on northwards and reached the 5th Sacred Lake (Ngozumpa Tshom 4980m) after another 1.5 hours. Lake was bigger than the 4th but still a crystal clear blue colour.
Hiked up to the very edge of the glacier for some amazing views of the glacial valley and surrounding mountains, including Cho Oyo and even Mt Everest, although the summit was shrouded in cloud (looked like a flying saucer had landed on the summit!).
Pete continued on north, heading towards Scoundrels Viewpoint (5000m), a collection of stones and prayer flags, before carrying on towards the 6th Sacred Lake (Gyazumba Tsho, 5419m) at the base of Cho Oyo (he was actually quite close to Cho Oyo Base Camp).
After Pete returned from exploring the 6th Lake, we had a very long walk back down to Gokyo, seemed to take forever but only took 2.5 hours.
Had Sherpa stew and veg fried potato for lunch, relaxed in the dinning hall for several hours, had pizza and chips for dinner then an early bed as planning yet another early start for the final challenge, Gokyo Ri.
Saturday 12th October 2013 (Gokyo to Gokyo Ri)
Up at 5:30am, weather was cloudy but slowly clearing, set off to climb Gokyo Ri (5360m) for amazing views of the lakes and valley.
Grueling steep ascent, seemed relentless but for every step we took, the views improved.
Reached the summit after 2 hours, arriving at 8AM, were greeted by absolutely spectacular views of the valley and mountains, including Cho Oyo (8201m), Mt Everest (8848m), Lhotse (8501m), Makalu (8463m), Cholotse (6443m) and Taboche (5052m), as well as the Ngozumpa Glacier below us.
Also saw the 1st (Longpongu Tsho), 2nd (Taboche Tsho) and 3rd (Dudh Pokhari) Sacred Lakes, stretching out down the valley below.
Spent 2 hours on the summit, surprisingly peaceful up there, when not overcrowded by tour groups! Headed back down to Gokyo in 1.5 hours, had a late "brunch" then relaxed in the dinning hall with Sebastian and Domink, the Israeli couple (Janathan and Yana), Mike from Canada and Carlos from Chile.
Discovered a local shop was selling our of date chocolate at stupidly cheap prices so proceeded to raid the place, bought half a dozen Toblarone bars and a few Mars' (Mike had swiped all the Snickers Bars!).
Had veg momo and veg fired potatoes for dinner (plus some more Toblarone) before calling it a day.
Sunday 13th October 2013 (Gokyo to Dole)
Lie in and late breakfast before setting off with Sebastian and Dominik back down the valley towards Lukla at around 10ish.
Weather had turned this morning, with heavy cloud blanketing the entire valley. This eventually tuned into snow, then heavy snow as the day went on, got considerably soaked throughout the day!
Walked past the 2nd (Toboche Tsho) and 1st (Longpongu Tsho) Sacred Lakes, along a rocky path. Eventually began to descend the valley, following the Dudh Kosi River (could hear it but not really see it as the cloud was so thick!).
Stopped in the village of Machermo (4410m) for lunch. Pete had "officially" the best veg fried potato ever, as it came with cheese and an egg on top!
The snow was coming down really hard by this point. Left the comforts of our lunch spot and trudged on along the valley, passing through the small villages of Luza (4340m) and Lhabarma (4330m),
After several hours of trekking, we passed back through the "tree line", completely soaked to death by now. The snow had given way to rain and the path started to get very slippery.
Decided to stop over in the village of Dole (4090m), attempted to dry some clothes by the fire, but it was being hogged by a tour group (grrrrrrr!).
Had spaghetti and dahl baht for dinner. Some clothes had dried out by this point but others were still drenched. Played cards with Sebastian and Dominik till around 9ish then went to bed.
Monday 14th October 2013 (Dole to Namche Bazaar)
Weather was still rubbish when we woke up, had actually been raining all night! Lounged around in the dinning hall as in no rush to go walking in the rain. Only 3-4 hours to reach Namche Bazaar from Dole so decided to take our time, spent most of the morning playing cards!
Had lunch in the guest house then set off at 12:30 in the heavy snow! Plodded along the mountainside path, descending in the snow/rain for an hour to reach Phorste Thenga (3680m) along the banks of the Dudh Kosi.
Continued on, eventually climbing up a very steep hill for what seemed like eternity, footpaths had become rivers due to so much rain, had to cross several waterfalls that crossed over the footpaths.
After another hour, reached Mong La (3975m), absolutely exhausted and soaked to the bone. Began our descent towards Namche, criss-crossing the exposed hillside and footpaths/rivers!
Descending towards the village of Sanasa (3600m), had to pass through a massive waterfall crossing over the footpath, got completely drenched by it! There were hundreds of waterfalls by now, looked even more like Jurassic Park.
After a thorough good soaking, followed the low pass around the mountainside to finally reach Namche Bazaar (3420m). Checked into the guest house that Sebastian and Dominik had stayed after previously, attempted to dry our clothes, and our sleeping bags as everything was wet through!
Relaxed in the dinning hall with the wood burning stove, had dahl baht for dinner then had a really funny spell. My vision went blurry, was light headed and I actually collapsed on the floor! All the blood had gone to my stomach to digest the dahl baht, leaving me all woozy. However, after some fresh air and a bottle of water, I was fine!
Both Pete and the guest house owner were really concerned at one point as I'd gone as white as ghost and my pupils were the size of flying saucers apparently! After the funny turn had passed, Pete put me to bed, then he followed suit soon afterwards.
Tuesday 15th October 2013 (Namche Bazaar to Lukla)
Felt much better after a good nights sleep (Pete's a very caring brother!).
Weather was still raining, over 48 hours non stop by now! Needed to press on towards Lukla for our scheduled flight back to Kathmandu tomorrow (if not cancelled due to the rain!).
Set off at around 8ish with Sebastian and Dominik, who were also flying out tomorrow, weather was a major hindrance on the path as it was very steep and slippery with mud for the first 2 hours.
Had to cross several waterfalls, including a massive one where we had to walk through nearly a foot of water! The path itself had also been mostly washed away, there was that much water! Ended up with very wet, squelching feet!
Once through the deluge, stopped for a quick rest at the checkpoint near Jorsale (battery, 2830m), then ploughed on through the numerous villages, crossing over the swollen river many times.
Stopped for lunch/card game session at a nice guest house in Benkar (2710m). Amazingly, the rain had stopped by the time we'd finished lunch so we pressed on to Lukla, reaching it by around 4ish, absolutely knackered!
Pete rushed off to the Tara Air office to confirm if our flight was going ahead tomorrow. It was absolute chaos at the office, worse than a "Russian train queue", in a sense that no one queued, everyone pushed in and was shouting! Pete eventually got our flight confirmed after a half an hour wait, checked ourselves into a lovely guest house run by an elderly Sherpa lady.
Once sorted in the room and the "Chinese Launderette" set up (the washing line I used to strap my drinks bottlers to my bag), we headed over the road to the Everest Bakery. Shared a cheesecake, apple pie, chocolate cake and forest gateaux between the four of us and watched the BBC news for a hour or two.
Had dinner back at the guest house, a lovely assortment of salami pizza, chips and spaghetti (couldn't face anymore dahl baht!), watched Underworld Awakening on the TV (pretty rubbish film) then went to bed as needed to be up early to catch the plane!
Wednesday 16th October 2013 (Lukla to Kathmandu)
Developed a sodding sore throat overnight, which kept waking me up every 2 or so hours. I'd also managed to loose my sleeping bag liner (left it in Namche) so will need to buy a new one in Kathmandu.
Up at 5ish, packed our bags then headed over to the airport. Airport was very ram-shackled and was, like the Tara Air office, completely chaotic during check in and going through security (Nepali's don't know how to queue and the tour groups got priority!).
By complete chance, we ran into Wil (with one L) and Cliff at the airport, obviously they'd made it past Bhandar!
Waited in the airport for ages, watching planes land and take off. The runway was nearly at a 30' angle! I was slightly nervous boarding the plane but the pilot revved the engines to the max and set off down the runway. He just managed to get the plane to take off, looked like there was barely any runway left when we took off!
Despite the cloud cover, we got amazing views from the plane of the mountains and valleys below us. After 45 minutes, the plane landed safe and sound back at Kathmandu Airport. We picked up our bags and caught a taxi back to the Red Planet Guest House in the Thamel district.
Had breakfast, took our very dirty clothes to launderette and spent some hours on the computer. Grabbed a quick lunch from a nearby pizza shop then popped into The Last Resort office to book our extreme sports weekend (canyoning, bungee jump, canyon swing and white-water rafting!).
By complete chance, we ran into Roy at a coffee house next door to the office, had a catch up chat with him before arranging to meet up for drinks on Friday night!
After looking in the mirror and seeing what resembled a yeti, I felt the need to smarten myself up, so I went for a cut throat shave! The guy was very good and did a bag up job, plus it only cost me 2 quid!
Tried to meet up with Sebastian and Dominik at their hotel but they weren't there and hadn't checked in (may have missed their flight or it may have been cancelled!). Went back to the Big Belly restaurant for a nice curry dinner. At one point, the police arrived, armed with shotgun! Turns out they were attending a robbery case at the guest house next door. After that, we went back to the guest house and bed.