Day 05 – Monday 12th, November 2018 (Phortse Gaon 3810m to Dingboche 4410m)
Another standard 7:15am breakfast and 8am departure preceded a beautiful morning strolling in the sun. As we continue to move higher into the mountains, increasingly the hardest part of the day is getting up in the morning in the freezing cold bedrooms of the tea houses. They sleep two people in single beds pushed against each wall of the small rooms and I have been alternating sharing a room with Warwick and Pete. The outside temperature drops well below zero degrees during the night and unless in direct sunlight, it now doesn’t reach much above zero during the day. Water freezes and the trails have patches of ice on them, sometimes until well after lunch. Inside the tea houses is little better and sometimes they feel colder than outside. The buildings have no insulation or heating besides a small stove in the common room which is normally only burning for an hour or two in the evening as we wait for dinner. Last night our bedroom window had a thick sheet of ice, I trying to stay positive and imagine that this rime of ice is helping keep us warm like Eskimos in an igloo.
Although cold, with the right layers of clothing, the morning walk soon became pleasant. The sunrise across the clear valley this morning was stunning as we left Phortse Gaon and we spent the first half of the day walking along dusty mountain trails, looking back down the valley from where we had come. We continued to see Mt Everest peeking above the surrounding mountain ranges in the far distance, slowly getting closer and closer. As we left the morning behind, so too we said goodbye to Mt Everest, being told it would be hidden behind other closer mountains for the next couple of days. We continued to walk towards our now hidden destination, step by step, our feet kicking up clouds of dust along the dry dirt trail, coating out clothes and skin and filling our nostrils, crossing fast flowing creeks with clear water bubbling over rocks and under sections of frozen clear icicles and thicker blocks of blue-white ice stuck between the rocks.
I’ve noticed that each day the clouds race up the valley from lower down, climbing in altitude and chasing us closer towards Mt Everest. Like groundhog day, stuck on repeat, living the same day over and over again, except that the towering specimens in front of us appear closer each morning as we look to the horizon to begin the day. Lifting our clear eyes towards the clear skies as we gather in the morning cold each day, before the clouds catch us to obscure the blue canvas stretching across the sky and the dust covers our weary bodies and all we look at is the dirt trail in front of our feet as we make our last slow and weary push towards refuge each afternoon.
Day 06 – Tuesday 13th, November 2018 (Day Hike to 4750m)
Today was another acclimatisation day. Two nights spent in Dingboche with a day hike to a nearby hill to help our bodies adjust to the ever increasing altitude. We trekked up to an elevation of 4750m, just above Dingboche and waited around in the cold for half an hour. We then made a quick retreat back down the hill to the village as the clouds rushed in early, obscuring the valley well before lunch time. As we walked along, the village below came in and out of view on one side of the gentle hillside we had climbed, the clouds drifting by, and on the other side we looked down into the valley and to the trail that we would take tomorrow when we left the village.
Today my body was singing with enthusiasm and so I practically bounced up the hillside, foregoing our normal shuffling pace in favour of something much more lively. It was hard to restrain myself from running up and down the hillside, stretching out my legs and leaving all the walkers behind. After a half day walk, we had some lunch and I did some hand washing in the near freezing water coming from the creek as well as having my last hot shower for the next week until we come back down (it was actually my last shower at all for the coming week).
Day 07 – Wednesday 14h, November 2018 (Dingboche 4410m to Lobuche 4900m)
Each new day is a new level of cold. Anyone who didn’t put their water bottles inside their sleeping bag overnight woke up to containers of ice on their bedside tables instead of water and the water inside the toilet bowl is frozen over until someone decides to use it. I quickly got dressed and packed and went down for a hearty breakfast of chapati (Nepalese bread) and egg and also got to eat some of Jelenas’ pancake. When you order a pancake here in the mountains, you get one that is the diameter of the plate and an inch thick. They are crunchy on the outside and delightfully fluffy on the inside. Smothered in butter and honey, they make a very nice meal to fuel the morning of hiking.
This mornings walk was a slow affair, one which seemed appropriate to the conditions of hard won oxygen from the altitude, the incline, the cold temperatures and the brisk wind whipping up the valley. The group banter is diminishing noticeably as the walking becomes harder and colder. Post our mid-morning tea break, we switch-backed up a valley pass to the Everest Memorial. This is a collection of memorials and plaques commemorating people who have died climbing Mt Everest. Peaple such as Rob Hall and Scott Fischer and a famous Nepali Sherpa who spent 8hrs on the summit feature here. The view back down the way we have come and to the mountains beyond is by far the most stunning we have seen thus far. If it wasn’t so cold, I could easily spend hours watching the clouds stream past the distant mountains and up over our group sitting in the saddle of the mountain pass.
The sun began to get eclipsed by the clouds more frequently and the temperature began to drop as we completed the final 1.5hr leg to Lobuche, our destination for the night. We arrived around 2:30pm for a late lunch and a bit of a relax before a short <1hr return acclimatisation hike up an nearby ridge. The short hike in the afternoon dusk around 4pm was proper cold. I was constantly moving to try and keep from shivering as the insidious frozen air seeped through all my layers of clothes, sapping any heat I had stored. Starting to worry about the next few days and the amount of clothes I have to combat the cold as we make the final push to above 5000m and to Mt Everest Base Camp. As night descended, the near full moon and stars came out in all their glittering brilliance, like millions of diamonds strewn across the sky, shimmering as they illuminated the landscape beyond Lobuche, making for a truly stunning view across the valley.
Tomorrow after around 6hrs of hiking we should arrive to EBC!!
Day 08 – Thursday 15th, November 2018 (Lobuche 4900m to EBC 5364m to Gorakshep 5140m)
Last night, after reaching higher than 4900m (over 16,000ft) I began to feel the affects of the altitude with a mild headache throughout the night. It persisted through to the morning and I felt a little nauseous with loss of appetite so decided to take some altitude sickness tablets and force some food down for our big day ahead. We started early today to maximise our chances of arriving at EBC before any clouds came in to obscure the views. 5:30am breakfast and a 6am departure before we slowly walked 6hrs to reach EBC around midday. I had thrown an extra couple of layers on in preparation for the early departure and the expected cold temps as we continued to get higher and higher and this did the trick, keeping me a warm all day.
I spent most of the morning hike daydreaming about when next I was going to get a hot shower, scrub my very smelly body (no shower for a few days now and none to be expected for a few more), have a shave and put on a clean set of clothes. This kept me distracted from the tortuously slow pace which was all we could manage climbing the ~450m to Base Camp at over 5ooom altitude. Many times I found myself trying to suck in more air but always feeling like I wasn’t quite getting enough, slow any steady is the only thing that got us all there in the end.
As we approached Base Camp the dramatic view of the valley and surrounding mountains that seem to block any further progress become more and more ice-laden, barren and jaggedly impressive. The view down onto the Khumbu Glacier and the Khumbu Icefall are seriously impressive and lots of things I have read about the Mt Everest climb begin to fall into place with the real life view I am now seeing. Everyone was suitably awed and pumped as we came to EBC and when we finally made it, there were many hugs and high fives all around as we all celebrated this incredible accomplishment together. Lots of photos and discussions about Mt Everest (of which you can actually only see a small sliver from EBC due to the mountain range in front) and then eating a packed lunch before making our way back down to Gorakshep where we stayed for the night.
A side note:
The life of the porters and families living in the mountains seems depressingly tough. Fated to carry heavy loads day-in, day-out or to eke out a living on the sides of these cold, harsh mountains seems beyond unfair when I think of the easy money and lifestyles in many other countries. Today I saw a boy, not sure on his age as his malnourished size was at odds with his weathered skin and old looking eyes, making him anywhere between 12 and 20. He is carrying loads up and down the mountain when he looks like he should be in school or carefree, playing with other kids without the burdens of work and supporting his family. Also, a lot of the mountain children seem lacking in basic hygiene and general care. Unwashed skin and faces, dirty, knotty hair and eye infection. What a poor way to grow up.
I guess what they lack in living standards, they would think of as luxury and they more than make up for this lack of luxury in incredible lives amongst one of the most amazing places in the world. Living in these mountain ranges, although tough, presents itself with a certain simplistic beauty. I cant begin to imagine what kind of sunrises and sunsets, rapid changes in weather, blossoming riotous fields of wildflowers and life changing scenery they experience as part of their day to day lives here. No two moments alike, each to be treasured.
One thing I wish to take away from this experience is to stop and appreciate the beauty around me more often. It can be found in any given moment, whether in the city or in nature, surrounded by people or in solitude, and it can come in many forms; mountains, people, opportunities, or just being able to recognise that we are some of the privileged few that have the luxury to stop and reflect on life, to have the resources to be safe and secure and the time to do so these things that expand our mind.
