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Published: November 19th 2008
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Well I have been away for about three weeks now and its the first really opportunity I have had to write an entry in this blog...its amazing how you fill you time everyday when you have all this time off!
After an interesting journey via Dehli airport transit (will fill you in another time - but not a nice experience and not looking forward to going back)... First stop Kathmandu - what a place - quite a culture shock at first. The place is crazy - just soo many people, so much traffic, absolutely no concept of road rules and noise (constant beeping of horns and just trade going on everywhere) ... the dust and pollution is terrible... but if you can put up with all that its quite interesting.. for me its a place I like in very small doses... I stayed in the tourist area Thamel - which is good for meeting other travellers and getting on a trekking trip but probably not the real taste of Kathmandu.. as soon as you leave the almost serenity of the guest house you get bombarded with offers of trekking trips, Nepalise Musical instruments, Buddist chant music (I am certain the
same tune is played on a loop in every music shop in the country), jewellery, hotel rooms, rickshaws etc etc this list goes on... and most frequently I get offered hash.. its very much full of either trekkers or hippies..what is good is that there a a mixture of ages here - and more of an older crowd.
It didnt take me long before I booked on a trip going to Everest Base Camp... I arrived on the Thursday - and the trek started on Sunday. I decided to join a group trip rather than do it alone with my own guide etc... there were 11 of us... I was lucky that 2 people had only just dropped out as it was full. I met the group on Saturday - 9 guys, 1 other girl. Mix of South Africans, English, Irish, Scotish and Australians. Youngest 24, oldest 62. We were also lucky as 3 of them were doctors...which certainly helped on the trip with all the various health problems we had! All a good bunch. Our tour guy Prem was also good fun...he has secured a place on an attempt at reaching the summit of Everest in 2010 -
will keeping a close eye on that.
The first stage of the trip to Base Camp is the internal flight from Kathmandu to Lukla. What I didnt realise (I must have been the only one not to know) was there was a plane crash on the same airline Yeti Airlines only 3 weeks before.. Good job I found that out after the flight.. other than that I think they have a good safety record... It was certainly an experience, on a very small plane, views of the mountains were amazing, upon landing though it looks like you are flying straight into them! You land on this tiny airstrip on a sharp incline.. so no room for error...very much the buzz you get when you are on a rollacoster ride...
It took 8 days to get to Base Camp, 2 of these days we staying in the same town just did short treks to acclimatise to the altitude.. we did about 6-8 hours trekking per day. Some of the trekking was hard - but generally I found it OK and enjoyed it - until we got closer to Base Camp. We had amazing weather - sunny and clear apart
from one day. It was very cold in the evenings and my expensive sleeping bag really came in handy.. at the higher alttitudes I think it got to minus 12 in the morning after base camp - it was so cold our water bottles were freezing etc..but like I said we were lucky only a couple of days before it was more like minus 20. You really cannot predict the weather on the mountains. The scenery was amazing...very difficult to put into words and the pictures really do not do it justice. As you move to higher altitude you go from trekking in dense green forests to more dramatic baron landscapes and the amazing peaks look close enough to touch...and along the trek you get various sightings of Everest.
On this trek I gained a new found respect for all those people who climb Everest...on the way up there is a memorial area for all those climbers who died and who are probably still on the mountain... its a beautiful place... but you just realise how bloody difficult it is... for me I started to really feel the effects of altitude on the Everest Base camp day...we first trekked
3.5 hours in the morning to get to the place we were going to be staying that night (5140m). Each step was an effort. I recharged my batteries after the short break..and continued.. it was going to be another 3-4 hours to get to Base Camp (5364m) and then the same on the return trip to get back to the lodge. I got a headache which just continued to get worse.. by the time I got to the edge of base camp my head felt like it was in a vice and I felt sick...the others tooks lots of picutres and stayed for lunch - I just had to turn back straight away and get down to a lower altitude... the doctors gave me some diamox which is supposed to help with alttitude sickness - but it didnt stay in me for long! Not a fun trip back... and crashed when I got back.
The next day we were suppose be going to Kala Pathar for a good view of Everest (5545 m) I got up at 5am to attempt it - but after walking about the width of a football field I was so out of breath I
had to turn back... 5 of the boys made it to the top though... in hindsight I think I might have taken diamox which might have got me up there...
After all this I couldnt wait to get down to a reasonable alttitude to be able to breathe again - a quick decent that day to just over 4000 m was just what I needed - its amazing the difference.
The guys who climb Everest acclimatise in the region for about a month, then stay at base camp for a further month (which is just a big area of rocks and ice) before making the attempt to summit in 3 weeks...all in much colder temperatures than we had...unbelievable....certainly not for me...
It took us only 4 days to return to Lukla...mostly following the same route... on the way down there were a couple of celebration nights!! I think Lukla we had the biggest celebration!! Would you believe there was an Irish pub there...there were some serious hangovers for the flight back...
Definately one of the most memorable experiences I have had to date...definately not for the faint hearted - but would recommend it...
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Nick S
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Fab!
How exciting! thanks for the news and photos, it's really great you're enjoying yourself :-) Keep up the posting, it's great to hear about your adventures! Nick