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Published: March 20th 2008
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After getting a flavour of life in Nepal and checking out some of the major sites in Kathmandu, we began our extremely brief planning session (a few hours late one evening) to prepare for our trek to Sagarmatha (popularly referred to as Mt. Everest). We researched routes, bought and rented supplies (iodine, maps, sleeping sacks, down jackets, snacks, etc), talked with knowledgeable folks, booked flights to Lukla, and stored our extra luggage…finally, just a few hours before takeoff, we were done with our rather limited preparation.
UPDATE: If you happen to be interested in a more detailed blog of the ins and outs of a trip to Mt. Everest Base Camp, check out the blog from my latest trip to Nepal: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/danielshortell/1/tpod.html At 5am, and for a price of 400 rupees, we caught a ride with a rather quiet and sleepy cabbie who had an impressive neon-glowing mini-shrine on his dashboard. We bumped along the empty streets of Kathmandu back to the airport to catch our tiny little twin propeller aircraft en route to the little Himalayan town of Lukla (the hopping off point for the Everest Base Camp trek). On board our flight of 20 was a group
of crazy Slovakians (complete with 2 cameramen), who were filming some sort of adventure documentary, as our aircraft skimmed the tips of the mountains towards the tiny Sherpa village of Lukla, elevation 2400 meter (7,874 feet). Our approached gave the feeling of immanent disaster as the only thing viewed through the cockpit window was the side of a mountain, however, at the last second, a tiny runway in the sky appeared and we slammed down on it to the applause and cheers of the Slovakians and the silent prayers of the Buddhists onboard. Welcome to the Himalayas!
After we alighted from the plane, we paused to consider the runway on which we had just landed…a bit unsettling with its business end dropping off a 1000 meter cliff. Nevermind…we went to the baggage collection/toilet area to snatch our bags and confront the onslaught of Sherpa men looking for employment as porters. We worked our way through the various proposals, declining them as we wanted to tackle the upcoming challenge in solo fashion. A few hundred steps through the small town and we were officially on our way to visit the tallest peaks in the world with a mixed bag of
Sherpa porters, dzooms (half yak, half cow), yaks, and other trekkers.
The Sherpa porters deserve a special tribute as the back-breaking work they do day-in and day-out would make your average Westerner (of much greater size) cry like a complete wuss. Carrying both essentials and non-essentials (bottled beer, Snickers, Coke, etc) on their backs with a tether to the head, these small men (and women!) carry weight up to 150/180 kg for miles across the most unforgiving terrain on earth. It is truly a spectacle to see a man no more than 60kg carrying well over 100kg on his back up a 35 degree sloped mountain in freezing cold temperatures in no more than a tattered pair of pants, t-shirt and a pair of worn sandals. Next time you have a bad day at the office, a customer treats you like crap or your boss slights you regarding a pay rise, be thankful you don’t have to do the work of an animal for the “great” wage of $8 USD day (The ‘great’ quote came from a 19 yr old Sherpa girl working in a lodge earning about $1 USD per day). All the while, the overwhelming majority of
the porters we rubbed shoulders with bore a smile, and, (even if exhaustedly) tossed in a “Namaste”. Their strength and fortitude are simply untouchable to those outside of the porter profession…my life is ridiculously easy.
Distracted by the incredibly huge porter loads and dodging dzooms on the trail, Rozy and I pushed on to greater heights as we made our way through little Sherpa villages such as Phakding, Monjo, and Namche Bazaar. The earlier parts of our trek were relatively simple at comparably low altitudes with short ascents, however, the approach to Namche Bazaar was a bit of a challenge. Along the way, Rozy had the good fortune of being passed by a kind Lama (honestly, is there any other kind of Lama?) who insisted she borrow his walking stick to aid in her summit of the mountain to Namche. A couple hours of very steep climbs at increasing altitude landed us exhausted in Namche some 3400 meters (11,154 feet) above sea level. We spent the following day exploring the little Sherpa village of Namche, visiting our Lama friend (and subsequently purchasing Tibetan stones from his uncle), catching our first glimpse of Sagarmatha, watching Sherpas hand-chisel stones to build
a house and acclimatizing for the next days’ trek.
The following day we pushed forward from Namche thru Khumjung and on to the day’s destination at Tengboche, elevation 3900 meters (12,795 feet). Unfortunately for us, Tengboche was as far as we could trek (about halfway to Sagarmatha (Everest) base camp as we only had a total of 6 days return for the trek). Even at Tengboche though, signs of altitude were kicking in pretty strong. Neither Rozy or myself were able to sleep well, shortness of breath occurred after any exertion, and, I had a headache for 16 hours straight, was becoming irritable and extremely uncomfortable. The altitude was a bear to deal with!! From Tengboche, the views were spectacular; Ama Dablam towered over us and Sagarmatha and Lhotse stood larger than life in the distance as the wind-blown clouds graced their peaks. Much smaller mountains crowded even closer to us and seemed unbelievably huge and intimidating as they dropped for thousands of feet into the ravine below. Frustrated that we couldn’t go any further and feeling the effects of the altitude, we began our descent back to Namche and on to Lukla the following day.
Overall, the
trekking was considerably more intense than any I have done in the past. The ascents were not only very steep, but, the altitude gains were substantial and some trails would switchback uphill for several hours. Descents were knee-pounding, and, without walking poles, a slight jog was necessary at points just to keep upright. The views and experiences were absolutely singular...fascinating Sherpa culture, ridiculously tall and jagged mountains, glacial rivers, and a hand to mouth existence playing out on one of the most famous mountain trails in the world.
On a side note, a moment of silence for the Tibetan protesters and Chinese shop owners killed in the protests in Tibet, Sichuan and Gangsu. Sad, it is all very sad. Why is the Chinese government blocking reporters? Why is there such a huge discrepancy in death and arrest figures coming from exiles and the Chinese government?
STATISTICS * Flights taken = 7
* Intercity trains rides taken = 9
* Intercity bus rides taken = 29
* Times lost = 11
* Total instances of diarrhea = 3
* Total number of requests for pictures with Daniel = 2
* Total megabytes of pictures taken = 17,235
MY DEBUT NOVEL AVAILABLE NOW!
Visit me at www.danielshortell.com for purchase information.
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