Everest Base Camp - Part I

Namaste everyone (Hello in Nepalise).

Mountains are my favorite place to be. Give me jagged peaks and long valleys over the beach any day of the week! I have never ever been unhappy whilst being out walking amongst them. In fact I find them inspiring and awesome to the point of spine tingles. Maybe it is because they are so huge or maybe as they are so inhospitable or maybe I just see them all as one big challenge.

Trekking is a passion that Kenny and I share. I think it is in our blood as we also share it with our families. Kenny's dad, Ken, is a keen trekker and has himself been to the Himalayas in the past and also once 'climbed' up Princess Street, in full kit, in Edinburgh for charity whilst at university (so I hear). His Mum used to spend her holidays trekking between Youth Hostels all over the country. My Dad loves nothing more than to pack all he needs into a rucksack and simply set off, usually in his favorite place 'The Lake District', for days at a time. Mum has completed many long distant walks and is now a leader for the 'Ramblers' and will be leading her first group on 'The Cumbrian Way' this May.

So we set off for Nepal with the sole purpose of trekking to Base Camp Everest. It takes 8 days to walk there from Lukla and sits at the height of 5365 meters still nearly 3500 meters below the summit of Everest which stands at 8848 meters.

If you haven't already guessed I have always wanted to go here. In fact, if we could have only done one thing on this trip trekking to Everest Base Camp (EBC) would have been my choice. Our travels have been dominated by trekking, we have calculated that of the 8 months we have been away so far, over 1 & 1/2 months have been spent on the hills and mountains.

Trekking to EBC is a dream I have had for many years, and now I am here about to set off!

Kathmandu really is crazy. I know I say this a lot about the cities we have visited, but here I really mean it. There are no pavements in Thamel (the trekker and tourist area), so cars and bikes often run you off the road. There are shop signs everywhere and merchandise spilling out into the streets. The place is full of pollution from car exhausts and because of this the locals are constantly spitting in the street. Not a discreet little spit - I am talking a bring it up from your lungs and spit it out at high speed from the back of their throats aimed at (but usually narrowly missing) passers by kind of spits!
Yes Kathmandu is crazy and I loved it.

One of my favorite sights was all the old Rickshaws. These ancient contraptions take you anywhere you care to go in the city but as we later discovered if they encounter any kind of an incline you have to get out and walk!

The food here is actually not that bad. We found good Thai food and lots of curries. The Nepalese eat Dal Bhat curry morning noon and night which is a selection of foods, rice, some sort of on-the-bone meat curry, lentil soup, poppadoms, curd and pickles.

It is fair to say that we stayed in a pretty basic hotel here. It had a bed and a bathroom of sorts and little else (apart from a TV that did not work. And even if it did, the electricity was only on for a few hours everyday, hours which changed depending which day it was. Sometimes the electricity was only on between 11pm and 3am). Thamel, the area where all the trekkers stay, is very noisy and we had our own private stage, right outside our window, that hosted bands (loud bands) until the wee hours every night. Sleep is over rated anyway and the room cost less than £9 a night so what did we expect!

6am at Kathmandu airport, excited and ready to go! To start the trek you have to fly to Lukla a small airport in the Himalayas.

We decided to hire a guide and a porter for the trek. On face value it may seem like a cop out but trust me it was so nice to be able to take some home comforts with us and not to have to carry them! Upendra, our guide, was a lovely young guy who I found through 'The Lonely Planet' website. He was only 22 but had been guiding for a good few years and his English was brilliant. Over the trek he always found us the best places to stay and looked after us very well.

Getting ready to fly.

You can probably tell from my face that I am no longer 'happy'. I am not a good flyer so getting into a tiny propeller plane is not my idea of fun. The pilots were sat right on front of us and we were all squeezed into rickety seats.
(I love flying, on the other hand, and enjoyed peering through the cockpit and out of the front windows, while Sarah kept her eyes closed next to me! - K)

I knew, but had chosen to ignore, the knowledge that Lukla airport has one of the most challenging landings in the world. After literally flying alongside mountains the plane suddenly climbs to fly over a mountain ridge. The pilot must then soar down at speed to the reach the runway (a very short piece of tarmac with a huge drop at one end and a wall at the top. Oh - and so that they can stop in time, the runway is sloped upwards. This means as you approach it it looks as though the plane will fly right into it! Which you can easily see as there is no door between you and the cockpit!). The flight lasted no more than 45 mins, most of which I had my eyes closed and was using all the calming and meditation techniques I could think of to stop having a panic attack! Click here for a video of Landing & Take Off at Lukla!

After landing safely my only thought was that if we do not make it to EBC I will never be flying back in for another go. The alternative 6 day trek in to Lukla sounds like a better option.

It really is an incredible airport. This is the runway. On take off from here the plane simply accelerates down the slope, and flies off the end of it! What joy for the way home!

Once my pulse and blood pressure had returned to normal, we were able to officially set off.

As we are so near to Tibet here, there are a lot of practicing Tibetan Buddhists. Made even more important by the fact that the Himalayas are seen as being sacred. This means there are lots of religious sites and offerings/prayers etc. This little hut holds a big cylinder on a swivel so it can be spun round and round. Always going round Buddhist sites clockwise the prayer wheel can be pushed ringing a bell on each revolution. The bell needs to be run 3 times for the prayer to be heard by the gods.

Another site this time the prayers are written all over the rock, one must walk round it clockwise once again in order to be blessed. (I must admit this was fun to start with but as I got more and more tired if the clockwise route happened to be long and tricky I choose to ignore the rule. After all, I am not a Buddhist!)

The path starts off going up the valley. It is very up and downy (or as Updendra called it 'Nepali Flat', since at the end of it, you are no higher than when you started, but have made many ascents and descents). The path crosses the river many times on these narrow metal crossing bridges.

I loved the whole atmosphere, everywhere is called 'Sherpa' this or 'Everest' that. I could not believe that after so many years of wanting to come here, here I was.

Kenny spinning a prayer wheel.

Our tea house for the first night. The first day we actually were lower than when we landed in Lukla (after many up & downs though!) We stayed in a little town called Phakding at 2610 meters (Lukla is at 2850 meters). The Tea houses follow the entire route up to EBC and are the hostels of the Himalayas.

It must be remembered throughout this blog that everything you see - Everything - has been carried in. There are no roads into this part of the Nepali Himalayas and only one tiny airport. Everything from the food to the wood to the toilets to the beds are all carried in, usually by men (although some by yak/donkey/cow). The hostels are as basic as it gets. Wood frame, single wood walls, foam mattresses and one metal stove in the main dining area which is lit on a night for warmth. There is no heating at all outside of the main area and often no inside toilet.

Incredible, everything here has been carried in. To make matters even more challenging, within the National Park is sacred land, so nothing can be killed or cut down within it. This means that all building wood is carried from miles away and all meat is slaughtered and carried in (meat can be carried for well over 8 days in some places with no refrigeration. It is a brave man who eats it after about day 2!)

Whole communities live here, supported mainly by the trekkers.

We have seen some fantastic mistranslations over our trip but this one is my favorite. Anyone for a 'Bum'?

I was fascinated by the porters. They are incredible and deserve way more than they get. The uncomfortable loads were usually carried on their backs, supported only by a strap around their forehead. They were paid roughly 10p per kilo per day. Most were carrying between 30 - 40 kilos (although we did see some carrying up to 80 kilos!). We think we have it hard back in the UK? Try carrying 40 kilos uphill for around 6-8 hours everyday for £4. We started to feel better having given our porter, Valkrishna, around 20 kilos. The trekking porters are also paid much better (ours got $13 US a day) plus we had promised ourselves to give him as big a tip as we could afford.

Yet another bridge (Carole - this place was your worst nightmare!)

Nepali flat he says! It is like this for the first couple of days, up the valley side, down the valley side, over a bridge. Why did they not just build the bridges at the top of the valley, instead of the bottom???

It was beautiful.

A train of ponies carrying gas bottles (remember for later how many they are each carrying).

Down the valleyside.

Over a bridge - well nearly, these cows stop for noone.
(Not even Sarah's childhood spent herding dairy cattle helped here! - K)

The ubiquitous prayer flags. These wonderfully colourful flags are strung everywhere. They each have a prayer written on them which is taken by the wind to the gods. It is like being at a village fete everywhere you go (without the cream tea, unfortunately).

This should have been our first sighting of Everest. Kenny had not being feeling well over the last couple of days and here his pale complexion gave him away.

So I sent sick-boy straight to bed! We had arrived in Namche Bazar (3450 meters) and tomorrow was an acclimatization day so he could take it easy.

Namche is the biggest town in the Nepali Himalayas, sitting in a horse shoe shape high in a valley surrounded by snowy mountians. Here is the first place where you can feel the effects of altitude and where some people have to turn back.

A very short walk up from the town is the Everest viewpoint. Our guide had bet us a beer each that we could not identify Everest. Who did he think I was! (I simply agreed with Sarah - K)

Can you spot it?

It is the little one hidden behind the snowy ridge, the little tiny peak to the left with the first lot of cloud streaming out to the right. (I never did get that beer). (Neither did I, but then I was plagiarising - K)

This platform is a great place to view all the surrounding mountains.

Everest again (a little closer). Everest is also know as 'The Shy Mountain' because it is surrounded by other mountains that hide its view.

I packed Kenny back off to bed but was keen to do some hiking around so Upendra & I climbed up a ridge to an old burial site for some better mountian views.

The streets of Namche were packed with stalls selling everything a trekker may need (as long as you do not mind 'North Fake' as apposed to 'North Face' kit).

Incredible to think that we are miles from a road and so high up. This place was a full town!

More trinkets & souvenirs.

Everest bakery. (I still cannot believe it.)

A Stupa with the all seeing eyes of the Buddha.

This little pony followed me all around the town.

Namche from above.

Off again.

Another Stupa.

The landscape started to change from green to rocky. The valley sides steepened and snow became part of the view. It also started to get much colder.

Yet another stop for a cow train. Just so we didn't feel completely useless we did carry some of our own kit!

Ah the Yaks! These beautiful creatures, all fluffy with horns, only live at the higher altitude and lower temperature areas.

Remember how many gas bottles the ponies were carrying? To save you scrolling back it was 2. Once again our hats went off to the porters. To make matters worse they were even walking faster than us!

I must talk about the toilets.
We have, over the last 8 months, been desensitised to the loos. A beautiful clean porcaline bowl with an attached seat, plenty of soft, dry toilet roll hung beside us, is something we only dream about. The loos on this trail were actually no where near as bad as on the Inca trail. Here is one of the worse Nepali ones. Hole in the floor down to the 'Poo Pit', do your business then throw down some hay to cover it up. The whole thing is actually very environmentally friendly as, once decomposed, the remains make great compost for the nearby fields.

A long, narrow bridge, last one in the valley.

Then the real climbing began.

But my word the views made up for it. (Just so you know most of the photos are of me because I walk with poles, and so it is incredibly difficult to take photos without stopping and going through the rigmarole of putting the poles down, getting the camera out, taking the shot...).

Ama Dablam (6858 meters) one of the hardest mountians to climb in the world. (And my personal favourite. It's stunning! - K)

We finally arrived at Tengboche (3875 meters) home of a beautiful Buddhist Monastery.

Inside the monks meditate and drink hot soup to keep warm.
(We were there in thermals and down jackets. They were only in their red robes! - K)

It was around here that things stated to get very basic and very cold.

Setting off the next day I had all my warm clothes on, as it had put down a fair bit of snow overnight.

The walk (yes back down the valley again before climbing up again) was beautiful.

Stunning.

Upendra.

The shots start getting arty, Ama Dablam & prayer flags.

And again.

Ok - so there were more bridges.

It was amazing to be walking amongst such incredible mountains.

Arty shot.

Another arty shot - I think Tobuche Peak (6367 meters).

Trust me Everest is hiding somewhere in this picture (all a bit 'Where's Wally?)

At around 3930 meters there is a school, established by Sir Edmund Hilary himself.

Just keep going.
(Can you see why this peak's my favourite? - K)

A lunch stop.

The valley flattens out to a plain and the trees are replaced by scrubs and dirt as we get higher and higher.

The views just get better and better.

Yak whispering.
(The Yak was thinking इ'म तेर्रिब्ली सोर्री, बुट इ दोन'त्स्पाक एन्ग्लिश, ओल्ड चाप, which is Nepali for "I'm terribly sorry, but I don't speak English, old chap." - K)

Answers on a postcard please - we think this is Lhotse (8501 meters).

Um - Lhotse?

Back down the valley.

Walking up the valley side the altitude starts to really kick in.

Wonderful.

Again not sure of the mountian name - we think something to do with Axes?

We arrived in Dingboche (4410 meters) and had another acclimatisation day (where you climb up higher in the day, but sleep at the same height for 2 nights).

Ama Dablam again.

Kailash (6638 meters)

Sat around the only heat source in the Teahouse.

Eerie night shot.

The standard facilities. No flush, no paper, floor covered in ice .............. no fun!

Breakfast at 4410 meters. Altitude effects everyone differently. I was glad that we knew what to expect after the Andes, but there is no way round it. I started to feel nausea after 4000 meters so eating became very difficult.
(Sarah's standard breakfast up here was half a bowl of Rice Pudding and a Hot Chocolate - K)

Our acclimatisation walk to over 5000 meters.

A stunning day.

Incredible.

Being higher up we could start to see further up the valley.

The many prayer flags.

Just keep going ................ very slowly.
The main advice for altitude is, drink lots of water, no alcohol and no sex. Well I can vouch for the first. The second is very expensive up there anyway. And as for the third, I challage anyone to feel fruity at 4500 meters +, in minus xxx degrees, on a thin foam mattress, in single beds!
(Tell you what - this Honeymoon thing's not all it's cracked up to be! - K)

Awesome!

A rare shot of Kenny.
(I always thought that this shot looked a bit like some arty band's album cover. In the 60's it would have been by Kenny & The Himalayas, the album being called "Peaked Too Soon". Any better suggestions welcomed - K)
(All Kenny needs is a rolled up carpet under each arm - S)

In bed for the night. We were now in very cold temperatures, below freezing with no heating. The cold was the thing that affected me the most as, apart from when I was walking, I could not get warm. Here I am in bed, under a thick blanket, in a 4 season down sleeping bag, with a fleece jacket on ontop of a down gillet, a walking top, t-shirt, merino wool long johns & long sleeved top, vest, fleece trousers, two pairs of socks, hat, gloves and fleece neck warmer! Still cold!

Sleeping at this height in these temperatures was difficult anyway, but I also suffered from a common sleeping issue. As the body prepares to sleep, breathing slows down. Since there is less oxygen in the air, as I was dropping off to sleep, my body sent emergency signals that I was not getting enough oxygen, and I would wake up gasping for air. This would happen 3 or 4 times a night.

It is no wonder then that I looked like this every morning!

Getting nearer to EBC we realised that we should have walked it for charity and asked for sponsorship. But now I think about it, if I am honest, I was doing it purely for me.

It just gets better & better.

What a day..............

What a place........... Kenny doing his magazine shot for Sherpa's Weekly.

As we were getting nearer and nearer, we arrived at a place where there were lots of memorials.

A beautiful spot.

With flags floating with the wind.

A very sombre place too. Everest is not only the highest place on Earth but is also one of the most inhospitable. 13 people died trying to get to its sumnmit before Hilary & Norgay finally managed it in 1953. Since then over 200 climbers lay within their icy graves somewhere on its slopes.

Those who choose to climb her have around a 30% chance of summiting, this achieved, there is a further 1-in-10 risk of death on the way back down.

This place is a memorial to the 200+ who never returned, whose bodies can never be taken home and are often passed by by other climbers with 'Summit Fever' on their way to the top.

This plaque is for Scott Fisher who died on Everest, whilst leading a group of clients, on the 10th/11th May 1996, the worst days in history on Everest. In total 8 climbers died that day after being caught in a storm, but (allegedly) after becomming too focussed in reaching the summit and leaving insufficient energy or time for a safe decent. Read the book or watch the movie "Into Thin Air" for the full, gripping story.

I would love to climb Everest but I know that I would probably die. One of the biggest differences that Kenny and I have learnt about each other is that I see the end goal as getting to the top, and he sees the end goal as getting back down again in one piece. When we climbed the mountain in Bolivia (Huayna Potosi), and had to turn back 50 meters short of the summit I was gutted, it felt like a total failure. Kenny helped me see that it was nothing of the sort, and that we had achieved something way above anything we had ever done before.

So I do not think I will be attempting Everest's summit (well, never say never!) as I would be the crazy climber, blinded by Summit Fever, stubborn enough to keep going but risking probable death on the way back down. And where's the success in that?

To Be Continued ...................................