Everest Trek - Week 1

  Kathmandu, Nepal
Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Trekking to Everest Base Camp was one of the big goals of my entire trip so I was looking forward to getting stuck into it early on my travels. In Kathmandu I met Stef, a German girl who was planning the same trek. I didn't want to go through an organised tour group or hire a guide so was nice to have company from day one of the trek.

Stef on one of the many suspension bridges

 Most people aiming for Base Camp fly from Kathmandu to the small airport in Lukla, 2850 metres up in the Himalaya. Stef and I decided to do it the old fashioned way before there was any airport at Lukla, using the path Hillary and Tenzing Norgay took in 1953!

We took the bus from Kathmandu to Jiri on April 2nd. The supposed 8 hour journey took 12 hours thanks to two punctures, a timing belt change and a problem with the suspension.

One of the 4 breakdowns

 The roads in Nepal would make potholed rural roads in Ireland look as smooth as motorways. You can also expect to spend any bus journey in the company of pots, plants, bags of rice and at least one farm animal i.e. goat or chicken. Jiri marks the end of the road for motorised vehicles. The only way forward from here is on foot.

The first few days of the trek were tough! At the relatively low altitude of 2000 metres the weather is hot and humid. It was my intention to complete the trek while carrying my own bag. The first few days of carrying a 17 kilo load under the warm sun, up and down steep valleys for 8 or 9 hours a day had me wondering if I needed to check into an asylum. Stef didn't help matters by being a P.E teacher and part time snowboard instructor i.e. superfit! Of course being a mans man I didn't question the blistering pace she set and pushed on through the pain barrier!!

After a few days I got used to the weight on my back. We put in some huge days in the first week to make great progress with no rest days needed. This week was perhaps the toughest on the trek. We needed to pass through countless valleys to make our way further into the Himalaya and closer to Everest. Each new valley we came to usually meant descending to the bottom of the valley, crossing the river and then ascending to the next village high on the other side of the valley, often 1000 metres or more above the river.

Steep descent to the village below

 This led to contrasts in the weather from day to day - sweltering sun one day, snow and ice the following.

The first week of the trek brought us into contact with some of the poorest people in all of Nepal. Some of the villages we passed through saw very few tourists. In the first seven days we only met two other Westerners. Our only contact was with locals.

Stef showing the kids their picture

  They may be poor but they are the some of the friendliest and most generous people I have ever met. As soon as any childres saw us they came running out of their homes to greet us with a "Namaste". Simply taking their photo and showing it to them made them laugh and smile uncontrollably. I haven't even mentioned the scenery! Spectacular is all I can say. I'll let the pictures do the talking...

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