On top of Kala Pattar with the boys
Freezing my ass off on the way down...ginger beard and all
The Tourist Base Camp
The real Everest Base Camp about a 20 minute walk from the tourist one across a glazier
From base camp the valley the expedition teams go up to Camp 1 Everest
Myself and Luke at EBC
Trekking by myself for the day from Pheriche. 5200m
The Kitchen in one of the small lodges we stayed in. The fire burned dried Yak shit.
Myself and our slave for the two weeks...Tashi the ledgend
Road to Kathmandu
Road to Kathmandu
Difficult road conditions
We crossed the border into Nepal at the crossing close to Birgunj and again it was a fairly straight forward process as all our paperwork was in order. Almost instantly we noticed a change for the better with regards driving conditions. Nepal is considerably more orderly and less chaotic. There are several possible border crossings between India and Nepal and we chose what we thought would be the most direct. Unfortunately for us we failed to notice that the most direct route went over a mountain range reaching a peak of 2800 meters and all the roads were switch backs, winding back and forth, up mountains and down into valleys. Progress was exceptionally slow as it was nearly impossible to do more than 25 mph. The initial part of the trip was amazing for us as it was so different from India. The landscape, so lush and green, the little villages along the road side so busy with the locals working in the fields and preparing there produce for sales in the nearest towns and cities. A big change was in the way the people look compared to their Indian or Chinese (Tibetan) neighbors.
While driving through the hills we came across two Maoist (Communist Party in Nepal) check points. The Maoists, labeled by the US as a terrorist group are raging what is called here a peoples war. For tourist it doesn’t really affect us much except when they have a strike day transport networks are shut down, which for us means we should not drive on the roads around the Katmandu Valley (The day of writing, 10th November is a strike day and the reason why we cannot leave for India until maybe tomorrow). Maoist main source of funding is said to be from robberies and extortion. At the first check point we came across we were ushered through without having to pay anything but at the second one a guy stood in front of the car and jestered us to pull in. Being kind of stupid and Luke shouting to “keep going” I put the foot down and raced up the hill. We were told later that it wasn’t a good idea as they could have thrown stones at the car or even worse shot at us....you live and learn I suppose...
Kathmandu was a welcomed site that evening and with all the white people walking around the streets of Thamal (Tourist area of Kathmandu) we knew we could get a good feed some where. We found our hotel for the few days at 500 Napali per night (100 = 1.12 euro) then headed straight to Kathmandu Steakhouse and order the biggest one that could be got. After eating noting but chicken and mutton over the past few weeks, a massive lump of cow was nice to see.
Our plan for Nepal was to try to trek to Everest Base Camp 5340 m and Kala Pattar 5545m (mountain from where you can see the top of Everest as you can not see it from base camp). In Kathmandu and on the Internet there are literally thousands of tour and trekking companies who are happy to take your money off you for a very straight forward trek that you can easily organize yourself once in Kathmandu. Prior to arriving in Nepal Luke had done a little research on the net and found out most of the detail of what was needed (TIMS card, climbing permit, flight tickets, renting trekking equipment etc.). We were definitely a little naïve when we arrived at first thinking that we could just walk to Everest base camp with our normal camping equipment we had for the trip plus an extra jacket but after talking to a few people they quickly put us on the right track.
In the end we rented a proper 4 season (good for -10 deg C, it was – 18 degC when we were at base camp), bought thermals, gloves, hats, boots and a few other bits and pieces and we were ready to go. There are hundreds of small shops around Thamal selling cheap/fake The North Face clothes, boots and climbing equipment. If you’re thinking about a trekking trip in Nepal and you need something for your trip buy it here. With our equipment sorted the next thing was to book flights to Lukla, the kick off point of out trek. From the main office we got flights for 200 US return each and finally after three days of running around we were set to go.
On the 25th of October we flew to Lukla for our 15 day trek to EBC and Kala Pattar. Because we had a lot of stuff with us and neither of us would have had been able to carry it up the trail, when we arrived in Lukla we hired a porter to carry our Rucksack (Porter normally costs between 6-8 dollars per day but you need to bargain). This was our plan all along and we got very lucky with the porter we got. His name was Tashi a twenty year old Napali guy with Basic English but lots of fun. Normally porters hang around the airport waiting for the tourists to arrive, once they get a client they will show them the direction to start walking and set you off. These guys can travel over the trail twice as fast as any tourist as they do it every day so it’s not a good idea to try and follow them. The porter normally just carries your bag to a pre-organized town of village where you'll stay for the night but in our case Tashi stayed with us all the time and pretty much acted as a guide more than a porter. His incentive I think was to improve his English and practice being a guide so it works out on both sides.
All along the route to EBC and Kala Pattar there are lodges and guest houses where you can stay and get fed for about 10 Euro per night, but it does get more and more expensive the higher you climb
The first three days were difficult for both of us. After spending most of our time sitting in a car for the previous month neither of us was properly prepared for the long walks over rough terrain. After the initial shock to the system we were feeling better and better every day until we got to about Tengbouche 3700 meters. On the fifth day Luke started getting headaches which is a initial indication of altitude sickness, he started taking diomox which are tablets that help with this problem. The next day we trekked up to 4200 meters and Luke still wasn't feeling well so we called into the Medical center that is situated in Pheriche a small village in a massive valley. The volunteer doctors at the center told him that he should be fine as long as he took a rest day in Pheriche and then only if he was feeling ok to continue the climb to the next village.
I was lucky that the altitude didn't affect me at all so while Luke and Tashi (they got very close on the trip) rested for the rest of the day I decided to climb one of the mountains beside the hotel. It was nice to be out by myself going at my own pace. By the time I reached the top I had climbed 1000 meters up to 5200 meters and the view from the top was unbelievable. The air wan notably tin but once you rested and slowed your breathing you were fine after a few minutes. To help with the acclimatization they say that it is good to climb to a higher altitude during the day then you will sleep at that night. Once I went back down to Pheriche I was tried but feeling pretty happy with myself.
The next day Luke was feeling better, well enough to continue up the trail, so we pushed on the 4 hours walk to the next village Lobuje 4800 meters. From here on up it started to get notably colder even during the day when the sun was shining and the wind picked up a little. Normally during the day you were quite warm as you were moving around and the sun was fairly strong but at night it was very cold and you had to stay inside the cabin. Getting up to go to the toilet at night was a bitch.
From Lobuje we trekked 3 hours up to our final stop Gorak Shep. Once there we left our bags in the guesthouse and continued up to Base Camp Everest. There is an old and a new base camp. The old one is for the tourist to take a picture at the sigh which we happily obliged but then we headed across the glacier to the new base camp where we could see from where all the expedition start from. At the time we were there there was a small expedition ongoing. A film crew was hiking up to camp two to get some footage. It was interesting to see what a real Everest attempt might look like from the start.
That night we went back to Gorak Shep and slept there. It was not easy to sleep as I kept waking up feeling out of breath which is fairly normal for that altitude until you acclimatize. The next morning we were up early to tackle Kala Pattar and get our first proper view of Everest. It was bitterly cold on the way up and with the altitude the trek was made incredibly difficult. Once on the top we hung around for a few minutes, tock some photos then got the hell out of there.
Getting back to Lukla was considerably faster than going up. This is mainly because on the way up you need two acclimatize/rest days where you stay in the same town for two nights and naturally you can go down a lot faster than going up. In all it took us 4 days to get back to Lukla and flew back to Kathmandu the next day.
Thinking back now I enjoyed the trek but at the time it was hard work and getting food poisoning on the way down didn't help the fun factor of the trip. Jumping in to the bushes or behind rocks just off the trail for a quick evacuation didn't add to my experience. The one good side to trekking like this is that you get a chance to meet a lot of interesting people, from experienced climbers on there way up, to normal tourist like ourselves. On the other side we meet an inconceivable amount of fat Americans, loud Germans and old Japanese tour groups that just get in the way....
On our way up we did meet one guy from Kazakhstan who had attempt to climb Everest the previous spring and reached Camp 4 but then got sick and had to descend. It was fascinating to hear his story which he obviously told a lot. Suppose if you spent $35000 on an attempt and didn't reach the top, telling everyone your story would be one may of getting your monies worth. He was going to Everest base camp to organize the removal of his friend from the mountain who had died in an avalanche during there expedition Not sure of all the details.
We also heard that the guy from “Touching the Void”, Simon Yates, the one that cut the rope, was two days behind us on the trail but I think people talk a lot of shit when there up in the hills.
Back in Kathmandu we just chilled out for a few days, eat well, slept a lot, sent some emails and basically done fuck all. The one thing I did do was get the flat tire in the car fixed. There was such a big piece of metal stuck in the old tire that it was useless, a new tire was needed. Apart from that we just eat, drank and slept.
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