There and back again: a 'Chom'olungma tale

I’m back from my Mt. Everest Basecamp trip and am having some much needed respite from the crazy streets of Delhi’s Pahar Ganj neighbourhood in a nice coffee shop with killer lattes (hallelujah!). As usual, click the title for pics :)

Approximately 16 days ago I set out with 6 other people to check seeing the highest point on Earth off of my bucket list. Our ambitious group included a Dane, a Kiwi, an Aussie, a Jersey girl and a Torontonian-cum- NYC-er.  Over the course of 11 days we challenged, motivated and entertained one another on our way into the clouds.  Known as Mt. Everest in the English speaking world, the mountain is called Sargmatha in Nepal and Chomolungma in Tibet.  Our goal was to make it to 5324m above sea level to witness the spot where some of the greatest adventures on Earth begin.

This trip was not for the faint of heart.  Our walk to base camp saw us cover 118km over 8 days of both gentle and steep ascents and descents.  Each night was colder than the last, culminating in a 4am march up Kala Patar to see the sunrise.  Never have I been more grateful for the existence of down, thermal underwear and blister tape. 

I took detailed notes of our journey in my daily journal this post will be guided by some excerpts. Before I begin, I will say that as anticipated, this trip was an emotional one for me.  Never mind the culmination of one of my life’s dreams; the Himalayan mountain range is one of the most spectacular things that I’ve had the fortune of witnessing.  None of my pictures will do it justice.   And with that, to Base camp!

Day 1: Kathmandu 1300m (flight to Lukla 2800m – walk to Phakding 2600m)

• Words cannot describe the ‘blind landing’ into Lukla airport.  You literally think you are going to crash into the mountain side before realizing that the plane plans to slow down on a landing strip that can’t be longer than 100 feet long, thus awakening the same fears with respect to yet another mountain side!  I urge you to check this out on you tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqop17wUiDk&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqop17wUiDk&feature=related

• We walked for 3.5 hours to settle in for the night at an altitude lower than where we started.  Along the way we had our first view of the porters who bring everything into the mountains.  These men carry upwards of 90 kilograms on their backs, up mountainsides, often in flip flops!  It was immediately humbling for me, shuffling up the hills with my walking sticks, day pack and hiking boots!  What a marvel, the things that people do!

“Right now the hills are lush, the rivers are foamy light turquoise and the clouds drift aimlessly across the sky.  Every now and then the scenery is punctuated by the peak of a mountain and I think – good lord, we are actually heading into the sky!!”

Day 2: Phakding 2600m to Namche Bazar 3440m

• This walk culminated in a steep, 800m ascent into Namche Bazar.  Up until the last push, the trail was beautiful; in fact, it looked a lot like Canada with bubbling streams, blue pine trees and rocky paths.  I asked a young Nepali girl her age and could have sworn that she answered ‘too old’, but those who dispute it will say she said ‘12’.  I prefer the funnier answer myself.

• We stayed at Kala Patar Lodge, where there was literally no heat and you could see steam rising from our backs and breath when we arrived.  At this point, I described myself in my journal as feeling “acutely alive”…

Day 3: Namche Bazar Acclimation Day

• After writing smugly about feeling acutely alive, I woke at 4am to the chanting and horn blowing of a contingent of monks also staying at the tea house.  They were conducting prayers to commemorate the one year anniversary of the proprietor’s mother’s death.  The astonishingly cold temperature of the guest house kept me in bed until the last possible minute.

• Unfortunately for us, our day plan involved ascending 400m to a hotel that boasts views of Mt. Everest on a day where it was so foggy that we could barely see 10m ahead of us.  At least they lit a fire at the restaurant, so we got to experience warmth for the first time in days!

• After getting back to the hotel, two members of our group fell ill.  Let’s go back to that acutely alive bit one more time….

Day 4: Namche Bazar 3440m – Phortse 3800m

“Where on Earth to begin? I’m at 3800m mainly via will power.  Last night I succumbed to something two other trekkers got earlier in the evening: severe vomiting and diarrhea.” (I know, tmi, deal with it)

• This morning, I honestly had no idea how I would complete the day’s hike.  If I were at home, it would be the kind of day that I spent in my bed, watching Titanic and willing myself not to die.  Instead I walked for something like 7 hours, fueled by hard candies supplied by Tony, electrolytes mixed by Stine and an i-pod provided by JP.

• This day also marked our first glimpse of Mt. Everest.  Despite my being completely destroyed, it brought tears to my eyes. 

• Because of the risk of altitude sickness, we spent our days forcing down water and food in a constant battle against waning appetites.  Exhausted, I ended this day by forcing in liquids and resolving to make it to base camp.  A number of us spent the night in the tea house common room with the stove on all night to recover from the deep chill of the previous two days.  Sweet relief.

Day 5: Phortse 3800m – Dingbouche 4000m                                                                                       

• A much better day than the preceding one.  The walk wasn’t nearly as difficult as day 4 and our guide Kamal helped by carrying my water bottle.

•  Some reflections on the experience at this point:

o   I have never seen so much shit in my life (of the yak variety).

o   The water running off of the glaciers is truly the colour of beauty.

o   Despite my lack of religious leanings, I keep hearing in the back of my head ‘stand and look upon the face of god’ (go figure).

o   Each time we go down a hill we’re confronted with going up another.  Each time I think to myself ‘one foot in front of the other’.  Miraculously, each time it works.  I know there’s a life lesson in there somewhere J

Day 6: Acclimation in Dingbouche

• A steep 400m hill brought us to the lake at the base of the Ama Dablam glacier.  The effort was definitely worth it, the lake was stunning.

• Unfortunately, by this point I am having an increasingly difficult time sleeping owing to an inability to breathe through my nose coupled with a stomach that refuses to calm down.  I also have a hacking cough that manifests itself whenever I stop moving.  Did I mention the nights are freezing? Thanks to all the water and Diamox, an altitude sickness preventing diuretic, every night involves an internal battle that inevitably culminates in a visit to a freezing squat toilet!

“The more I’m up here, the more I appreciate the feat of humanity.  It is uncomfortable, you are cold, dirty, sick and feeling things you can’t explain.  You can’t eat enough.  You can’t drink enough.  You can only go.  And every day we do, but people go so much longer.  Mt. Everest seems even further away, the closer we get to it.”

Day 7: Dingbouche 4000m to Labouche 4910m

• During our 5.5 hour walk we scaled a seemingly never ending 200 metre hill which ended in a memorial for many who have lost their lives on Mt. Everest.  It was stunningly beautiful, surrounded by mountains on every side and I thought to myself “what spot could be better for those that lost their lives called by the pursuit of them?”

• For kicks (i.e. acclimation) we walked up another 100m after lunch and caught our first glimpse of Base camp and Kala Patar (a mountain with an excellent view of Mt. Everest, which you do not actually get at Base camp!)

Day 8: Labouche 4910m – Gorak Shea 5160m – Everest Base Camp 5364m – Gorak Shea 5160m

• After getting up at 5am we walked for 3 hours to Gorak Shea, had lunch and then walked the 3 hours up to EBC and 2 hours back to Gorak Shea.

• One of the paradoxes of the mountains is that you can often see where you are going, but as you move closer to it, it seems to be moving further away from you! Up the hill, down the hill, up the hill, down the hill.  Thin air, hot, then cold. Luckily, Mt. Everest afforded us a couple of glimpses of her as incentive as we pressed onwards towards base camp.

• The first thing that we see is the magnificent Khumbu ice field.  With sheets of ice literally 12 stories high, it is the gateway to Mt. Everest and the first of many grueling challenges for those who dream of summiting.  It is both enchantingly beautiful and foreboding. 

•  Insert more walking and then, miraculously, we were there.  Base camp is really quite a bleak place; it’s hard to imagine spending weeks on end there as those who summit do.  There is a rock that says ‘Everest Base Camp’ and then a number of stone, inukshuk looking things.  Beyond that, it’s pretty barren – just you, rocks and the daunting Khumbu ice field!

• As the posing and excitement wore off, it was suddenly freezing!!  Dad, I grabbed you a rock and ran for the hills (i.e. Gorak Shea).

Day 9: Gorak Shea 5160m – Kala Patar (3/4 of the way) – Orsha

“This morning no doubt counts as one of the worst in my life to date. How’s that for some drama?”

• The trip up to base camp is not complete without the 4am, 400m climb up mountain Kala Patar to witness the pink of the sunrise wash over Mt. Everest.

• As per usual, I spend much of this night up owing to being unable to breathe through my nose.  Note that this still hasn’t ended at the time of this entry!

• As we head out into the frigid morning, my headlamp decides to stage a mutiny and busts off my head! Unable to reassemble it as we are leaving, I am left at the mercy of Stine behind me shining JP’s extra flashlight along the path ahead of me.  This of course conjures images of walking off the side of a mountain, unsettling at any time of the day.

•  As we slowly and deliberately begin to make our way up, my sinuses make it abundantly clear that they will have no part in supporting the effort.  My nose runs uncontrollably.  My hands freeze as I attempt to blow it.  Eventually, my snot will freeze to my face.  I continue to have coughing fits every time we stop.  Having been unable to eat in days, Stine stops.  Desperately cold, I continue to move up the mountain (by now its day light) and make it to the ‘decoy top’ (there is always a fake end to every hill which inevitably is followed by another 100m ascent). Kamal, our tour leader insists on taking a picture of me that actually very accurately reflects the intense misery that I was feeling.

•  Clip over to the sunrise – the sky behind Mt. Everest is glowing faintly pink.  Of course, my camera isn’t even able to capture this.

•  By now I can’t feel my toes or fingers.  I can’t breathe properly.  I decide to go back down the hill.

• When I got back to the tea house, I didn’t speak for ½ an hour.  Later, I would insist to my tour mates that I dissociated from my body ¾s of the way up the mountain.  I literally couldn’t be in my physical body owing to the distress!

• And then, for good measure, we began our descent and walked 6 hours to Orsha, where we spent another communal night in the tea house common room (although this time it was beyond freezing!)

“The last 9 days have been among the grossest, sickest and most difficult of my life… Let it be a lesson that some things will be so moving, they will be worth working for.”

Day 10: Orsha – Tenboche Monastery – Namche Bazar

•  Another long day of walking!

• Tenboche is the most important Buddhist monastery in the Himalayas.  It is nestled on a hill top and surrounded by all the big-shot mountains: Everest, Ana Dablam, Lohoste, etc.  Incidentally, it also has a bakery that serves great cappuccino.

• Although my respiratory system continued to threaten mutiny, this walk was well rewarded with a stay at Camp De Base (real name) in Namche Bazar – hot water showers (you’ll notice this is the first time I talk of washing) and insulated rooms (another first).

• The next morning I look in the mirror and recognize myself for the first time since leaving Kathmand

Day 11: Namche Bazar – Phakding

“5- ish hours of walking and a descent of almost a kilometer! I had a great day – I can’t tell you how much better it feels to be getting close to sea level!”

Day 12: Phakding – Lukla

• The Lukla airport is notorious for flight cancellations owing to low visibility.  In fact, after our arrival, the airport was closed for several days, delaying multiple trips.  Our flight was scheduled to be first the next morning and tensions were running high as people eagerly anticipated flight connections and proper showers.

• Faced with an entire free day, we played euchre in the Lukla “Starbucks”. This “Starbucks” served Baileys, something I think the ones at home should strongly consider.

• At night we headed downstairs to the ‘bar’ at our tea house.  All was fun and games with drinking, pool and dirty dancing (sorry Nepal) until this hurt-bag from the UK decided to get into a fight with a local man (who just happened to be the manager of the airport).  Apparently, if you get a Nepali man riled up, his objective then becomes to kill you.  This particular dude picked up an ashtray and a pool ball with the intent to bash the culprit in the head.  Luckily, Tony and JP prevented anything too drastic from happening.  Unluckily, as they say ‘the party done’

Day 12: Lukla – Kathmandu

• Early morning clarity led to dismay as clouds began to roll into Lukla around 7am and the first flight of the day from Kathmandu turned back.

•  Then, as quickly as the clouds rolled in, they rolled out and suddenly the airport was filled with planes.  Literally, they were landing, unloading and reloading in the span of minutes and then taking off again.

• Back to you tube – the planes somehow need to get enough lift from the short runway to get over the hills immediately ahead.  This created some tense moments on our flight when it looked like a very real possibility that we weren’t going to clear the first hill.  Insert the gripping of seats, burying faces in bags and tour leaders crossing themselves.  The good news: we cleared it!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzRclzRG8uU&feature=fvw

-          Insert a very rough night ‘celebrating’ life in Kathmandu!

And there you have it, a comprehensive account of 6 people who went a little bit up and a little bit down over and over again on the way to and from Everest Base Camp.  Best of luck to those of you whose mountain climbing experience is just beginning.  I for one am on an indefinite break!