Freezing my way to Everest Base Camp

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First thing first, I made it, brilliant!

But it was a bit more of a trial that it should have been for two reasons. I had bacterial diarrhea (as diagnosed by a Doctor who happened to be on the trip), the entire time bar one day. This basically meant that I had no energy as I was pretty much losing everything I ate/drank and I was struggling at the back of the group, completely exhausted when usually I would not be. Secondly it was freezing and I was not completely prepared for sub zero temperatures, even wearing everything I had in my bag … still cold. I will try not to mention these factors too much through the account of the trek, but as you can imagine my travel journal reads like a journal of motions and disgusting swat toilets. The frequency of my motions was a topic of conversation at the dinner table once or twice, to my absolute horror! That all said, I am sure I will look back (after some time has past) and only remember the trip fondly.

The trek got off to a shaky start, we were up early and raced to the airport to sit around till midday at which point we came back to the guesthouse in Kathmandu. There were no flights due to the cloud cover in Lukla. In addition the lead guide only had very basic English and there was no health and safety discussion. At 3pm we were all rounded up as they started running flights, however one of the group had gone off sightseeing, so we didn't go. This I was rather pleased about, as I was feeling decidedly bad that afternoon. We tried again the following morning and after only a 1.5hr delay we got in our little buzz plane and took off to the hills, the Himalayas! The landing strip in Lukla was genius, it was up hill, and it can't have been more than 200m long if that. So the planes landed very carefully and it became clear why perfect visibility is essential, thus the flights cancelled the previous day. We walked from the airport to a guesthouse to freshen up ( i.e. use the facilities), have breakfast, be introduced to the guides and the porters and then we were on our way. It was rather cloudy so it just felt like we were walking in a pretty valley, I didn't get a feeling of being surround by immense mountains. After a few minutes we came across a school established by Sir Ed Hillary, he is very much revered in the region. The pace was slow which was good, and we past by many villages and were able to take pictures of the folks going about their day. This was really the only section of the trek where we were walking through villages. It was only a short walk to Pakding where we stayed the night, 3hrs. I slept all afternoon, had dinner and went back to bed.

The next morning I started to take some tablets that was suppose to slow down diarrhea and had a liter of re-hydration fluids, thus was feeling much more chipper setting out to Namche Bazaar our first acclimatization 2 day stop. We walked along the river getting higher and higher crossing over 6 swing bridges, even the yaks/cows cross over the bridges. We got stopped by the Maoists who were trying to extracted a 2500Rp (approx 20 quid passing fee), our leader managed to talk his way out of it, all though the tour company had to pay when we left the National Park, but only 1000Rp each. After lunch we started a 2hr slog up to Namche, on arrival things took a turn for the worst for me and after a cold shower (brrrrr) I started taking Imodium Plus. Three of these later things got EVEN worse, dizzy, nauseous, asthma started to play up, my body was packing up basically. This is when the Doctor on the trip made the diagnoses and suggested I start taking antibiotics the following morning, which I did. On our acclimatization walk the following day we went up to the visitors center and then walked on to the Japanese owned hotel, basically clients fly in and stay a few nights, looking at Everest from the hotel and then go home … way easier than trekking in. The hotel was lovely and a few people had lunch and we waited but Everest didn't appear, too much cloud, but we got a peek at where we were walking to the next day and the tops of a few other mountains.

EVEREST! The morning dawned crisp with not a cloud in the sky and we walked around a bend to a spectacular vista, four mountains with Everest standing in the middle. We ambled along the side of the mountain slowing ascending for most of the morning, and then hit a heavy up hill where our lunch spot was at 3970m.There were fantastic views all around from this small village. The path was very busy for most of the morning, there are quite a few people doing the trek but after this day the number of people dropped as they went a different route. That evening we stayed in Phortse (3800m), thus after lunch we had to descend for about 1hour to cross the river then climb back up. Phortse is situated between two valley's this meant the wind was howling in, this I think was the coldest evening of my life, definitely sub zero by a long way. And at these lower points they were burning kerosene in the main dinning area, thus I could not breathe so I had to hang out in my freezing room. Luckily as we got higher they burned yak poo which didn't have the same effect on my asthma. Of course I had to frequent the loo numerous times during the evening so had to go outside in these freezing conditions, 'happy days'. I think this was my worst night of the trek. On a positive note this day I also saw a YAK!!! Obviously this was very exciting. They are great creatures; very nibble for their size, hairy and strong as you please. They also produce a lovely hard cheese, would be super with a deep red wine. I think this was the day, with the clouds clearing and the Everest sighting that I did start to feel I was 'on top of the world'.

There was plenty of swearing getting up in the morning, due to the freezing conditions and having to change, thus at some points you were not wearing much. So it took a lot of psyching up to do it. But it was another fabulous sunny plus extremely cold, wearing pretty much everything I owned, day. The views were stunning. We had a tea stop in a little village and our resident Doctor treated a kid who had bashed his face into something. This day was also when I few people in the group started to feel the effects of altitude sickness; headaches, breathing and vomiting troubles. The trek was really lovely up a valley with the tree turning autumn colours. We reached Dingboche (4400m) around 3.30pm and it was a lot warmer than the previous evening, thank god. This was our second acclimatization 2 day stop. The following morning after a lazy start, i.e. left at 9am, we set out on our acclimatization walk, the theory is to walk high sleep low. It was 2.5hrs directly up the mountain to 5050m! It was a labour intensive walk and breathing was hard, walking up 50m or so and stopping. We saw the fifth highest mountain in the world and a few lakes, but mainly it was about getting up the mountain. At the top we were welcomed with some yak cheese and crackers, delightful. So I made 5000m without any altitude sickness, and it was only 300m higher at base camp, so I was feeling confident all would be well in 2 days time.

Next stop was Lobuche (4900m), the walk up was fairly misty so there was not a lot to see. There was a section of the valley that was the home to many many memorials for climbers killed on Everest, very sobering walking past that. The teahouse we stayed at was at the bottom of the glacier that leads to base camp and we basically followed this up from there on in. The glacier wasn't that pretty, covered in gravel and stones. That afternoon in Lobuche it snowed, this was scary given tomorrow was the big day we where suppose to walk to Base Camp.

The teahouses we stayed in were basic but comfortable, built in wood; it was a small room with two beds. The toilets were down the hall, mostly swat and the bucket showers where cold unless you paid 2 quid, which meant a kind of warm shower. But it was really too cold to take showers so it was baby wipes all the way. Most people had colds by then so no one really smelled anything. Mind you it was so cold I hadn't really broken a sweat when trekking.

Everest Base Camp day! We woke at 5am; packed, pooed, porridge and we left by 6.30am. It was a frosty morning, even the poor yaks have frost on them, it must have been sub-zero when we set off. We again walked up the side of the glacier and them climbed up next to it. I had to use the little girls room behind a rock it was not until half way through my business that I realize everyone climbing could see my bottom, great. I trust they were too high-up to see too much. After that don't really remember much apart from left foot right foot. We made it to Gorakshep (5100m) around 9ish and had breakfast; this is where we were staying the night after returning from Base Camp. I can't say I was feeling tops at this point and I frequented the bathroom a number of times before departing for Base Camp. We were so lucky it was a picture perfect morning, not a cloud in the sky when we set off for our ultimate goal. After a brief stop a the sign 'Way to Everest BC', we were on our way. The walk was not very pretty, the terrain was rugged; rocks followed by a walking on the glacier. I was not expecting to walk on the glacier. The diarrhea and altitude was zapping my energy so I was pretty much at the back. We kind of had a false 'we are there' moment. The group stopped at a helicopter crash site, and the guides told us were there. However most of us were more interested in walking to where the tents, flags and signs were about 1k further on, so there was a mutiny and we marched off. Muttering about walking for 10 days and not having any signs or tents to take photos of. After some frenzied photo taking we have a small picnic of yak cheese and crackers, plus a mars bar. To be honest reaching Base Camp was a bit of an anti climax for most of us, there was not really a summit point (like when you get to the top of a peak), all feeling rubbish from altitude and we were concerned about getting back as the clouds were coming. And the concern was valid... it lightly snowed on the way back. The way back was the worst for me, I got an altitude headache, it hurts, it hurts alot. We were welcomed back to Gorakshep with a beautiful sunset the top of Everest was lit up like a candle. That evening I can't say I was feeling tiptop and in the morning woke up with a nasty head cold... something else to add to the list of aliments. Some cold and flu tabs later and we were marching down the mountain at pace.

There was an icy wind blowing up the valley as we walked down, but all was well since we were on our way down and the further you got down the better you felt. That evening we stayed at Orsho (4085m). The next day saw a few strenuous downs and ups we went a different route that we came up, visiting the Tengpoche Monastery. The track was very busy leading into Namche Bazaar; trekkers, yaks, porters, rubbish. The porters are amazing, they are all Sherpa's, the local tribes that live in the Himalaya's and are super super strong. They carry Westerns gear, camping equipment (including table and chairs), food, booze, meat, planks of wood and sheet metal. They go steaming past you wearing nothing but flip-flops and always with a big smile, I take my hat off to them! Hot shower heaven at Namche Bazaar, woohoo. The next say was our last trekking, it was the same valley we accented through. We arrived at Lukla late afternoon to stay over night at a very low standard guest house, rats a plenty. We had a dinner with the guides and porters, however I retired early as was feeling rotten, again.

The following morning, more bad luck with the flights.. after sitting around from 7am - 3pm we learnt all the flights were cancelled. The group protested about returning to the rat place so we checked into a nice hotel with private bathrooms, but still cold showers. Luckily the next morning was mainly clear and we took off just after 11am. Good news as Elke was waiting for me in Kathmandu.

It has been great having Elke here! After she recovered from some nasty food poisoning, we got into some sightseeing, my favourite so far has been Bhaktapur Dubar Square. We got a cab there and hired a guide, who we really couldn't understand that well. The square was full of temples, pagodas, palaces, etc. Surrounding the square were tiny lanes with red brick buildings on either side, it was great to see the inhabitants at dusk, the locals were out in force being Saturday evening. It was like stepping back in time, they have persevered it rather well. We also visited Dubar Square in Kathmandu and caught a glimpse of the living goddess, who looked like a moody 10 year old, which she probably was. Elke and I have also been visiting the numerous jewellery stores and I have picked up a few more rings (star ruby plus sapphire and smokey topaz), earrings (emerald) and a bracelet (sapphire), love it all and SO much cheaper than Europe.

We joined the Tibet group on Monday, 2 older couples and 4 of us young guns, so should be good. Did a spot of sightseeing with them as well. We went out to the holey river where cremations take place, it was an interesting place. It was were the royal family got cremated after the massacre in 2001. I also visited the international health clinic and after a few stool tests it was discovered I have Giardia... how delightful, apparently very common to pick up in this part of the world. I am now on 2 evenings worth of hard core drugs so should be cured by Wednesday, fingers crossed as don't want to be frequenting the loos too much in Tibet (if there anything like the ones in China, yuck!). I am now preparing to be cold again as I am going up to the same altitude as the trek, but I am buying more clothes this time.

I will try and post a few photos of the trek on my return from Tibet.

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Comments

[Curry Beat Box]

think twice about trekking himalayas...
Hi kylie, great blog..i was considering doing a similar trek, you've defo made me think twice about it though.. was it difficult? im not a climber, but a grand trekker...is it expensive to do? would you recommend your trip, or are there better tours to do it with?...sounds like a bit of hardship, was it worth it? good luck.