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Published: October 9th 2007
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Baby Steps
Being careful not to break an ankle while moving from rock to rock, Gokyo Ri (17,688ft.) After making my way back from Pokhara to Kathamndu, the next few days were filled with general laziness and a plethora of relaxation. I attempted to gain back some of my lost-weight by eating 3 to 4 meals a day, napping in between, and enjoying whatever HBO had an offer by way of mindless entertainment.
On the 19th I was unfortunately woken up at the ungodly hour of 4:45am to board my short flight to Lukla, starting point for the 20-day Everest trek. To my delight the start of the trek began at a much higher altitude than Annapurna did, approximately 9,370ft. On day 2 we ascended nearly 2000ft. to the surprisingly large village of Namche. It's pretty cool to be following in the same footsteps as all the climbers who've summited Everest, including those unfortunate ones who have died trying to reach the top of the highest mountain in the world. At the risk of sounding repetitive , I'll once again say how absolutely stunning it is to be in the presence of the world's highest peaks. It's hard to believe that the Himalayan range is simply caused by the Indian sub-continent sliding its way under Asia. THANK YOU
Everest and Nhuptse
Incredible view of Everest from Kala Patthar. India for creating the most fantastic mountain scenery on the planet! The virgin beauty of the Himalaya, including Everest at 29,198ft. and its sister mountains Lhotse at 28,053ft., and Makalu at 27,967ft. has once again left me speechless. Nowhere else on earth have I so intimately been touched by the raw power and fragile beauty of nature at its finest. I've honestly never been so thrilled in my life to get up at 6:30am on a daily basis. Knowing that each passing day brings an entirely new set of majestic scenery and wondrous surprises, it's hard not to be excited all the time. It's as though the Himalaya have instilled a renewed sense of inspiration in the beauty of the natural world. Compounded upon my already profound love of nature, I feel like its reached a level that's impossible to express in writing. Simply put....it's awesome, I can't think of anything else to say... I hope that some of my photos have the potential to visually express that which I'm trying to convey with the written word.
As part of my desire to create a greater challenge during this trek, I opted to carry my 44lb. pack, having my
A Glorious Day!
Celebrating our return from Gokyo Ri, happy to have made it down in one piece. porter carry my photography equipment, snacks, and water bottle. It was pretty funny trying to explain to him why I'd be carrying the heavy pack during the trek with having the lighter one. He was almost offended by the proposition (the Sherpas are very tough and proud people). In the end, after we cleared it all up, he was really delighted to understand he was getting paid the same amount of money to do less work.
I chose to start and finish this trek a few weeks before the official "trekking season" actually began. Because the Everest region is so popular with trekkers from all over the world, I wasn't interested in encountering traffic jams and crowds of people as I made my way along the trails. However, doing the trip early also subjected me to some less than ideal climactic situations. Several pretty intense snow storms left us stuck in a lodge for 2 days, powering through knee-deep snow on another, and our trip to the Everest base camp in a blizzard left my face severely wind-burned, which cause my nose and cheeks to practically peel completely off in the subsequent days. O well...a small price to pay
Taking on the Trail
Pretending to look mean and tough as we work our way over Cho La Pass. for getting to the Everest base camp and meeting the members of the 1st ever Thai expedition preparing to reach the summit in the first week of November. Luckily for us, and I mean we were really lucky, the days we headed up to the top Kala Patthar (18,315ft.) for stunning view of Everest, and the day we climbed Gokyo Ri (17,688ft.) we had absolutely gorgeous days with hardly a cloud in the sky. This resulted in hundreds, actually thousands of photographs of Everest and the surrounding landscapes. With such gorgeous views it was impossible to not just fire away in an attempt to capture such surreal scenery. I feel very fortunate to have had such good luck.
Because we were 6 days ahead of our proposed schedule, we ended up staying and relaxing in Namche Bazaar for 2 extra nights, capitol of the Sherpa people. We arrived in Namche after hiking down from Gokyo, some 20.5 miles and descending roughly 6,336ft. All of us severely exhausted, we figured the natural thing to do was have a few drinks and relax away. This resulted in the over-consumption of chang (homemade millet beer) and a disastrous headache/hangover the next morning.
A Day at the Office
If this is what working is like for a nature photographer, SIGN ME UP!!!!!!!!!!!!! There's a photo taken documenting the beginning of the end for me on that particular night. Namche is located at an altitude of 11,352ft. so you can imagine what happens when high elevations and homemade alcohol are mixed together. The next day I hardly moved an inch. Pounding headaches and sore muscles from the hike down from Gokyo, we spent the day playing cards and doing as little activity as possible. From Namche we eventually made our way down to Lukla, where I was able to catch an earlier flight back to Kathmandu. I remain in Nepal until I fly into Paro, Bhutan on November 13th for more trekking and exploration of the remote Himalayan kingdom. VERY excited about this next part of my trip!
For anyone that's interested, here are the rough statistics of the trek:
9/19:
Lukla(9372) - Phankding(8613)
4 miles (-7590)
9/20:
Phakding(8613) - Namche Bazaar(11352)
6 miles (+2739)
9/21:
Namche Bazaar(11352) - Thamo(11526) - Khumjung(12474)
11 miles (+1122)
9/22:
Khumjung(12474) - Pangboche(12969)
10 miles (+495)
9/23:
Pangboche(12969) - Dingboche(14553)
6 miles (+1584)
9/24:
Dingboche(14553) - Nangkar Tshang (16500) - Dingboche(14553)
5 miles (+2027)
9/25:
Dingboche(14553) - Lobuche(16203)
Climbing up Kala Patthar
Headed up toward an amazing viewpoint of Everest, altitude over 18,000ft. 6 miles (+1650)
9/26:
Lobuche(16203) - Gorak Shep(15807) - Everest Base Camp(17701) - Gorak Shep(16203)
13 miles (+1498)
9/27:
Gorak Shep(16203) - Kala Patthar(18315) - Gorak Shep(16203) - Dzonglha (15939)
11 miles (+1353)
9/28:
Dzonglha(15939) - Cho La Pass(17589) - Dragnag(15510)
11 miles (+1650, -2079)
9/29:
Dragnag(15510) - Gokyo(15807)
2.5 miles (+297)
9/30:
Gokyo rest day, short walk, snow storm
10/1:
Gokyo(15807) - Gokyo Ri(17688) - Gokyo(15807) - Namche Bazaar(11352)
20.5 miles (+1881, -6336)
10/2:
Rest day Namche
10/3:
day hike in Namche 5 miles
10/4:
Namche Bazaar(11352) - Lukla(9372)
11 miles (-1980)
total mileage/time: 119 miles, 16 days
highest elevation: Kala Patthar (18315)
lowest elevation: Lukla (9372)
total elevation increase/decrease: +8943, -8943
largest 1-day increase: Phankding - Namche Bazaar (+2739)
largest 1-day decrease: Gokyo Ri - Namche Bazaar (-6336)
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Caitlin
non-member comment
Wow!
That's all I can say, wow.