Trekking to Everest Base camp
Trip Start
Dec 31, 2006
1
27
52
Trip End
Jul 31, 2007
Himalayas,
Nepal
Monday, April 30, 2007
Yes it is me back in the land of the living, after spending 14 days trekking 120 kms into the Himalayas to see Mt Everest in all its glory as well as visit Everest Base Camp.
Sasha has compelled me to give a lengthy account of my travels up to Base camp however on seeing the length of her dissertation ( is that the right spelling - I have to question this as I am assuming that there are a bevy of English teachers reading this blog and my grammar is bad enough without making simpl speling mistakes as well ) I thought that a shorter version might be appropriate.
Well ..... the short version is that we ( that is I and my nepalese guide Dil ) flew from Katmandu to Lukla which took about 30 minutes. The plane could politely be referred to as a flying tin can and the air hostess was very pleasant as she handed out a toffee for the air pressure and pieces of cotton wool to put in your ears for the sound.
Lukla was cool at 2800 m above sea level ( both literally and figuratively ) with the runway having being carved out of a hill , It was not flat but quite steep ( planes landed up the runway ) and had to stop quickly before they ran into the ominous looking rock wall at the end of the run way. Still we arrived un shaken although the young lady in front obviously hadn't enjoyed her croissant and coffee she had for breakfast . It looked fine to me as she kindly placed her breakfast in a bag for anyone else to have half way thru the flight.
Everest
The first day was a 3 hour trek , where I met an English family who warned me of the things to come. the second day was a killer 7 hours including 2 hours straight up the side of a mountain to Namche Bazar which is a cool market town at 3400 metres. We stayed for 2 days to acclimatize which was fine as they served baked bean toasted sandwiches for breakfast . I also went shopping for more high altitude gear because although the weather was stunning it was well under 0 degrees every night.
After that it was off to see the Yeti skull ( had to ring the prayer bell to wake up the old guy who insisted on a voluntary donation before unlocking the case where the skull was kept) then we were off up the valley to tengboche - the site of a famous boddhist moastery. tengboche is at 3800m or about 12000 feet up ( About the same height as Mount Cook for you kiwis ). then over the next few days we trekked up ever increasing hills toGorak Shep where we left our gear and trekked another 3 hours to Everest Base Camp. It was fantastic , there were over 40 expeditions at Base Camp all preparing to climb Everest this season so there were about 2-300 tents. There was even a bakery which I just had to frequent.
The next morning we were up at 5am to climb up to Kalapattar whioch at 5600 m or over 18000 feet was the highest point in our trip we had great views of Mt Everest , although it was a tough climb it was well worth it /. I met heaps of people in small and big groups along the way and constantly bump into them in Katmandu.
Everest Base Camp
I ran into an Intrepid trip of 13 who hated the trip ( half of them had altitude sickness and were throwing up all the time ). But heaps of people incl myself had a fantastic time every step of the way.There were some interesting sights , porters carrying up to 100 kilos of beer or water or wood on their backs and climbing up paths that I could barely make up with a 5 kilo day pack. Also as per our title description I have indeed managed to discover some very ordinary ablution facilities indeed. I think there are a lot of earthquakes in the region because every time someone seems to want to have a dump there is an almighty quake and they inevitably miss the rather large ghole provided by the locals ( never experienced the quakes myself but that is the only conceivable explanation that I can think of to expalin the perponderance of scabby bogs) . The toilets were mostly western syle , thank god , although once or twice there were the infamous "squat toilets". I have finally realsied why hindu and buddhist gods in nepal are often shown with 4 arms . In a squat toilet , having used one arm to keep my trousers out of the effluent on the floor , another arm to hold onto the wall or door to prevent myself falling over , I inevitably find that I am at least one arm short to perform certain hygenic functions. Still one manages , and its all part of the experiece.
I was also very careful with what I ate and drank on the trip and didn't get crook at all which I was very happy about. I am now looking forward to football next year as with all this trekking I like to think I have been undergoing a rigorous conditioning programme to the point where I have lost almost 15 kilos in 4 months and can now beat a speeding tuk tuk over 50 yards. Unfortunately I have lost so much weight that after 50 yards my shorts generally fall down of their own accord so I am off to buy a new belt or two to try and keep them up for future athletic events.
Well thats all for now , hope you are all enjoying getting up early , going to workday after day after day.
Bye
Comments
Weight loss
Sounds like you'll needa few mallowpuffs on return. Don't worry too much about wieght loss...I am gaining enough to make up for it!!