Day #15 - Everest Base Camp

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As the rest of the group had reached Everest Base Camp (EBC) the day before (I didn’t go with them as I was too unwell from Altitude Sickness), it was agreed I would go in the early hours and be back before the rest of the group set off to Pangboche and the journey home.



At 0400 I set my alarm, got dressed for the trek to EBC, and packed the rest of my belongings in my kit bag for the porters to take when I returned. At 0430 I waited down stairs in the main room for my guide to appear. It was very cold and very dark – and had not eaten properly for about 2 days. I wasn’t sure I even had the energy to make the 1.5 hrs trek to EBC.

At 0445 my guide appeared, and we set off. He used the moonlight to navigate the way, and I used my headtorch to follow his footsteps. I knew we should be at EBC around dawn, so there was nothing left to do but get my head down and trudge step after step in the cold and dark, and with around 50% of oxygen at this altitude, i wanst going to be going very quickly to EBC.



The first 30 minutes of the trail were straightforward – over mostly flat sandy terrain but increasingly over bigger and bigger rocks and boulders. All around me the mountains of the Nuptse wall towered overhead in the moonlight. It was like walking into a cul-de-sac of moutains. As the path became more and more difficult, rising and falling, with the unwelcoming glacial terrain to my right becoming more severe, I doubted several times if continuing was a good idea, and maybe I should just tell the guide we should turn back.

After about an hour, dawn was approaching and I could make out where the Everest Base Camp area was. It wasn’t the flat surface I expected, but looked more like a crater filled bomb site. It was extremely cold and with little energy I continued on with my guide ahead of me. We clambered over large boulders, and across areas of snow and rock that if I stumbled would see me fall 20ft or so into the glacial rocks below. Nothing about this part of my journey was inviting – it was just about achieving the objective of reaching Everest Base Camp, and I wondered many times at the merit in this foolish idea.

A couple of times the guide had to stop and look for the path to EBC, as it was not a fixed path given we were walking on the rocky Khumba glacier itself. This didn’t inspire me with confidence to continue.

Eventually, I saw the prayer flags and the location we were heading for. About another 15 minutes of navigating my way slowly across the glacial rocks and boulders, some the size of small car, I arrived at Everest Base Camp. Dawn had broken and all around me the mountains and glacier were bathed in a grey foreboding light – and it was probably the most inhospitable place on earth I had ever been to. In front of me was a loose white plastic sheet with the words “Everest Base Camp 2012” and a number of names scribbled on it, and lying on the ground and attached to the prayer flags were various national flags – Canadian, US, Japanese, British, Australian. It wasn’t much of monument to such a well known place.

I handed over to my guide my camera and asked him to take a photograph of my existence in this bleak place. He duly did, and I completed my brief 10 minute stop at EBC with some panoramic shots. I looked at the Khumba Ice fall several hundreds of meters away that the Everest Mountaineers have to cross first on the summit to Mt Everest, and wondered how on earth it was even possible that anyone would want to or even could do in a bid to summit Mt Everest. Feeling cold and lonely, save for my guide who didn’t say much, I indicated that it was time to return to my lodge in Gorak Shep. I think my guide was quite happy to comply, and then I trudged slowly after him, retracing the steps I had taken not so long ago.

Knowing the arduous journey ahead, and with little energy to achieve it, I shamefully contemplated several times the idea of asking for a rescue helicopter. However, when I had those thoughts I was reminded of a chance meeting with a pleasant Canadian the day before when he talked about the number of people (five) he had seen get airlifted at 8000 Euros per person from Gorak Shep because they were too tired to make the journey back to Lukla. His view was that they should “suck it up, get a can of Red Bull, and get on with it”. Whilst I had no can of Red Bull with me, unfortunately, the other pieces of advice he had given were sufficient for me to make my way back to Gorak Shep, arriving around 0830. Whoever you were Mr Canadian - thankyou.

I was enormously relieved to see the lodge and staggered in the front door. Most of my trekking group were up and having breakfast and greeted me with cheers and a warm welcome, having themselves completed the same journey the day before, on top of summitting Kala Pattar - a feat not many do in the same day. It was an emotional return for me and thankfully Dirge our guide leader sat me out of the way for a while to help me sort myself out as I was in quite a state. He gave me the option of staying at the lodge in Gorak Shep for a few hours and traveling with the guide to Pangboche, or leave with the rest of my trekking group in 30 minutes at 0900. I knew if I had any chance of walking back out of Gorak Shep I would need to leave with the group, and I chose that option. Packing some additional water in my daysack, and exhausted and cold from my 3.5 hrs round trip to EBC, I readied myself for the journey to Pangboche which would finish some 7 hours later. This was to be my longest day.

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Comments

[Jason]

tough days...
...always turn out to be the ones you remember the most, just for getting through them. 'sucking it up' is easier said than done - good job mate. Looking forward to hearing it all in 2 weeks. Enjoy.

[John Wenz]

Marvellous effort Chris
Welll done, you'll look back upon this in years to come in amazement at what you achieved. thankfully gradually forgetting the suffering it took. Well done! john