Everest Base Camp Trek

Flew to Lukla to begin our (final....sniffle) trek to the Everest Base Camp. Exciting flight in a little-ittle plane onto a little-ittle runway on the side of a mountain.

Grateful for the sight of a runway having emerged from a nervous few moments passing through cloud. To quote a Nepali pilot "you don't fly into cloud because in Nepal there are rocks in the clouds".

Had arranged to spend a couple of days here before the start of the trek because the flights can be delayed due to weather. Not a whole lot to do in Lukla, a little village that basically exists to serve the airport and arriving tourists. Spent quite a lot of time watching planes come and go on the short and sloping runway, giving marks out of 10 for style and noting which airlines not to fly with.

Interesting wee slope on the runway.

Planespotter O'Neill, camera in hand.

Much like launching chicks from the nest - you either take flight or fall off the edge of the mountain.

 Also reading Mallory's account of his first Everest expedition to get in the mood. A jolly good read with ripping tales of the time his pipe got knocked out of his mouth, fell down quite a steep incline and had to be rescued.

Finally set off on the Everest Expedition!

CR, our very over-qualified (had to turn back near the summit of Everest when his client got sick) guide.

Dhula, porter by day, boy-band by night.

 Ok, trek. First day – a whopping two hour trek to the next luxury lodge. But we're enjoying the relaxation while we can. Mallory's first rule of mountaineering (genuinely) “Be as comfortable as possible for as long as possible”. The waitress was blathering away to our guide in Nepali but I was able to distinguished enough words to get the gist “blah blah blah happy hour blah blah blah Irish coffee blah blah blah”. So we had a pretty good evening.

Important to remain within 3 foot of the fire at all times to avoid hypothermia.

Next, the famous (if you've become addicted to mountaineering books) Namche Bazaar – staging point for Everest expeditions including Hillary's. Nice little town. Irish pub. Steep streets. Expensive beer but Karl actually bargained a woman down for a couple of cans of San Miguel.

Schoolgirl, Namche Bazaar.

I developed the Kathmandu Flu on the way up and I don't recommend climbing up when everything aches. We had already planned a rest day here so I got to recover and I must say it was a pretty good view from my sick-bed.

Pile of dry yak dung (fire fuel) at Namche.

Laundry time, Namche.

 

One of many pretty valleys.

Water powered prayer wheel. Bettered only by the dashboard-mounted solar-powered prayer wheel.

Onwards and upwards. The best shower above 4000m award goes to the one in Dingboche – hot water and a hot room. The solar-powered hair dryer was pretty effective too (aka the window).

Traffic jam on the trail.

Walking through a stunnningly beautiful valley, had just decided this was definitely my favourite valley in the world ever, turned the corner into a new valley – even more stunning.

As it gets higher it gets snowier and more mountainy and more what-on-earth-are-humans-doing-trying-to-live-here.

It's not everyday you get a view of Mt Everest from your bedroom window.

It also gets colder. The worst moment of the day is getting out of bed – leaving the cosy warmth of the sleeping bag for the sub-zero temperature of the bedroom. Inside of the window covered in frost and ice, last evening's laundry turned crunchy overnight and the huge clouds of your breath reminding you just how cold it is. Getting dressed in the cold – nasty. Packing in the cold – yuck. Then you get to go downstairs to the warmth of the fire and get a nice hot porridge in your belly. Second worse part of the day – starting to walk before the sun's made it to your side of the valley – brrrrrr. Numb toes, numb fingers, runny nose, eyes fixed on the line of the sun. Then, joy, you meet the sun and all is wonderful! Beautiful scenery, strolling through valleys, stop for some tea, walk some more, get to the lodge by lunch, lounge in the sunroom for the afternoon, dinner and a flask of hot orange by the fire and finally tucked up in your sleeping bag.

Socks stand up by themselves after a night "drying" in the bedroom.

I'm never going to use the phrase “ice cold” or “freezing” water again unless there's actually ice in the water. Forming, not melting.

Ice is not a barrier to doing your laundry, you just break through the top and work around the lumps.

Ice on the toilet seat gives your bum iceburn.

Leaving a water bottle hanging around overnight makes good slushies.

No matter what the original grading your toothbrush will be “firm” for the first thirty seconds in the morning.

Ice crystals can form on your laundry on the way from the bathroom to the bedroom despite being wrapped in a towel.

Getting more inhospitable. Also, Karl seems to have grown taller.

We have stuck to our traditional one “reward” beer each afternoon much to our poor guides horror (a bit of a no-no as regards increasing your risk for altitude sickness). It's getting much more expensive the further we go from Lukla airport (as it's portered up from there, no mean feat). It's now reaching levels that put it in contention (relatively speaking) for most expensive beer I've ever consumed, a record safely held to date by the Cafe De Paris in Monte Carlo (euro30).

Came across the most useful child in the world at one of the lodges, a boy about 12, the son of the owners. As soon as a desire entered your head he appeared with it – tea, food, extra blankets, whatever. He was constantly attentive and ready for action. As useful as a small pot. Half thought about smuggling him home.

December 8^th, start of the Christmas season, what shall we do......go to Everest Base Camp!!!!!

Karl by the Khumbu glacier.

It was brilliant. The route up the lateral moraine of the Khumbu glacier has beautiful views of Everest, Nuptse and the enormous glacier. Then you pick your way down the moraine and onto the edge of the glacier to where basecamp would be if it was the climbing season.

Onto the glacier.

 It's just rocks on ice, it makes the worst campsite you've ever had look like the fluffiest pillows. From here (for mountaineering nerds) you can see across the glacier to the Khumbu Icefall coming down from the Western Cwm. It's just immense. Immense. You also catch a tiny glimpse of Everest around the South Summit and it looks so high and so far away it's impossible to imagine standing here at basecamp, looking up and thinking “Yeah, I can do that”. So I left a white scarf tied to the chortens and prayer flags and scuttled off before Karl starting thinking it might be a good idea to climb it (he gets these ideas into his head you know....).

Tying a kata to the chorten and prayer flags. Khumbu glacier and icefall in the background.

Channelling Tenzing.

And then slowly making our way back down. My luck ran out and I got hit with gastro at the coldest lodge in the world at nearly 5000m altitude so progress stalled. The “Kara situation” got our guide so worried he started talking about helicopter evacuation – I felt so bad even a dodgy flight to a dodgy Kathmandu hospital sounded like a good idea. But then he changed his mind and decided I was “strong” (incorrect) and “able to walk” (partially correct) so no helicopter for me.

Alas, not coming for me.

Spot the smiley face Karl has made of my pills.

The next couple of days crawling back down to where the air is warmer and thicker weren't so much fun for me (and therefore not for Karl either) but things are slowly improving. The gastro/altitude weightloss plan works even better than just the plain altitude plan.

Tough locals just get on with it.

If you want firewood, you carry it up.

Seems we got lucky with the weather, on the way down the clouds have been rolling in by the middle of the day making for wonderfully atmospheric misty mountainsides but I imagine if you hadn't already seen the view you wouldn't be so enthusiastic. Also, getting really cold now. The (admittedly possibly dodgy) thermometer outside the last lodge declared it was minus 15 at breakfast.

Clouds closing in, down jacket deployed.

We have a couple of days of trekking left but have arrived in civilisation and right now I'm tucked up in bed, with an electric blanket, having just had a hot shower (it had been quite a while) in my very own ensuite bathroom. I have a hot whiskey by my side (medicine for the gastro, obviously), there's Christmas music playing and all is good.

Heaven.

Worryingly, Karl's turned into an American tourist.

So another quick stop in Kathmandu and then home for Christmas! To everyone at home – see you for pints by a fire soon. To all the Brisbanians – Happy Christmas but don't have too much fun without us!