As Easy as EBC!

Day 11: Everest Base Camp (5,364m/ 17,600 feet)
Today is another big day, but one to remember forever! Today is the day you have been waiting for, where you will reach the base of Mount Everest and spend the night under the stars! We will take our time this morning, have a nice relaxing breakfast and rest before lunch. After lunch, we will begin the approximately two-hour trek into Base Camp. From Gorak Shep, we will traverse more glacial moraine, with landslide potential, before reaching Everest Base Camp! Everest Base Camp sits on the Khumbu Glacier and when you arrive, you will see the Ian Taylor Trekking campsite ready for your arrival! You will enjoy the splendor of Base Camp and enjoy a traditional Dhal Bhat meal prepared for you by one of our cooks. The evening is spent exploring and marveling at the beauty of this unique place! You will sleep in a shared tent with your roommate. Total trekking time today is approximately 2 hours.

Day 12: Pheriche – 4,200m/ 13,780 feet
After spending the night in this unique location, you will be waking to hot tea/coffee/chocolate and snacks before packing up your duffel bag and making the return journey to Gorak Shep. Here, we will have breakfast and warm up, before we head back down the trail. We will then retrace our steps through the Lobuche, the Everest Memorial and usually stop in Thukla for lunch. From here, we will take the lower trail to the village of Pheriche at 4,200m/ 13,780 ft, for the night. The total distance today is approximately 11.7 miles/ 19 km and will take about 7 – 8 hours.

I DID IT!  I DID IT!!!!!   All the months of training and hard work finally paid off as I made it to Everest Base Camp!!!  And, I have to say, while it wasn’t easy per se, it was FAR less strenuous and miserable than that 4hr hike up Kala Pattar the previous day!  That hike has forever reset my personal benchmark of what Hard Feels Like – and, now with a couple of days to reflect on it, I’m glad I did it.  Even the last 25m which involved scrambling over snow-covered boulders while being lashed by a blizzard was worth it in the end.

Anyway, back to EBC!   I think I left you last time heading off to bed at the tea house in Gorak Shep.  I think it has to be the coldest building I have EVER stayed in.  All the water in my Nalgene and Camelbak froze overnight.  Going for a pee in the morning also took on new hazards – now, not only did you have to navigate some deeply organically enhanced squatty potties with non-flushables waving at you from the pan, you now had to squat to do your business on an icy surface.  And that icy surface wasn’t made from pure H20, that’s for certain.   In that moment, as I hovered and concentrated HARD on not slipping, I was very grateful to my Pilates workouts over the last 2 years in building core strength that held me in place.

After another breakfast of Tibetan toast and jam, we set off for EBC just after 9am.  We decided not to take another pass at Kala Pattar (well, halfway up anyway) as Everest was already swathed in cloud – again.  We did manage to see her for about 5mins, just as we were putting our crampons on (DJ had got me a new set from the Trekker’s Shop) but we’d actually had much better views of Everest a couple of days earlier, so neither of us were in any mood to repeat the futile hike of the day before.

It was actually a fairly easy hike from Gorak Shep – mostly flat but with a couple of steep sections as we approached EBC itself.  Then it did get a little challenging – mainly because the terrain was very tricky as we were now hiking on the Khumbu Glacier itself.  We were crossing the terminal moraine of the glacier, so think boulders and rocks, covered with ice and snow – steep uphill, then steep downhill.  The challenge here was less physical and far more mental, as you had to keep a deep concentration on where you were placing your feet AND not freak out about the (very real) possibility of missing your footing and twisting an ankle (or worse).  In that respect, its no different from any other hiking trail (Mum – feel free to skip this part) but the remoteness and harshness of the environment meant the stakes felt a lot higher.  It was COLD.  Even colder than the tea house at Gorak Shep, if you can imagine that.   As we got closer to EBC, the wind had started to pick up and – yet again, the clouds were thickening.  I don’t know exactly how cold it was – at Gorak Shep, my weather app said it was 7F – now we were about 2,000ft higher and with the wind chill factor, I don’t think you’d get much change out of -30F.

By the time we arrived, it was just before noon and the rest of our team, Mingma (assistant guide and cook), Sam (porter) and another porter (I didn’t catch his name) had gone ahead of us to get camp all set up for our arrival.  As we got closer to EBC (which stretches for about a mile when its full of climbers), we could see some bright orange tents in the far distance – this was the camp of one of the big climbing companies.  Apparently, all the big climbing companies use the same spot each year (they have to get permits for them) and as it was still very early in the season, there were only a few tents sprinkled here and there.   By the height of the climbing season (mid-April – mid-May) when the attempts are made on the summit of Everest, the whole area will be packed with tents and various structures.

We soon spotted our tents – there was a big green tent, the cooking/dining tent, and then a bright orange circular tent, which was where Shannon and I would be sleeping (we’d decided to share a tent – partly cos it made it easier logistically for our guides, also because we would probably be glad of the shared warmth, given how cold it was!).  Upon our arrival, we were shepherded into the green tent for some hot tea and biscuits – Sam and Mingma then got to quickly setting up our portapotty tent – which was a WHOLE lot nicer than any of the toilets in Gorak Shep!!!

After tea, we were shown to our tent which was surprisingly spacious and very comfortable – a couple of thick mats had been placed on the floor to provide insulation from the ice and snow underneath.  I am not used to camping in such large tents anymore, so there was plenty of room for Shannon and I.  We hung out in the tent for a bit, settling in, before DJ called us back to the mess tent for lunch – a MASSIVE plate of spaghetti with tomato sauce and steaming hot bowl of vegetable soup!  Not finishing it was NOT an option, so afterwards, we retired back to our tent to digest.

By this time, it was around 2pm and it was seriously cold.  So much so that any idea of wandering around taking pictures was knocked on the head.  I had wanted to meet the Ice Doctors – the specialized team of sherpas who fix the ice ladders over the crevasses on the Khumbu glacier ahead of climbing season – but it was simply too cold to leave the tent.  So for the afternoon, I napped, played games on my phone and listened to an audiobook. Perhaps not the most exciting afternoon -but certainly preferable to freezing your nuts off outside.

3pm we got a delivery of tea and popcorn to our tent.  6pm, it was dinner time and DJ delivered steaming hot bowls of Sherpa stew to our tent.  I wasn’t massively hungry, having probably expended less than 100 calories since my massive pasta lunch – but I ate enough to keep DJ happy(ish).  Then he invited us for a final cup of hot tea and cookies in the mess tent before it was time to retire and try and get some sleep.

God only knows how, but I managed to go the whole night without having to get up and pee.  I was so grateful to my bladder for cooperating as I did NOT want to leave the warmth of my sleeping bag and expose my arse to the elements.  It was really windy and the sides of our tent were shaking so much it felt like we were sleeping inside a giant orange crisp (chip) packet!  As the night wore on, the condensation from our breath froze on the inside of the tent walls, so the sounds of the tent changed from crinkly to a more crackling sound.  At one point, after Shannon had gone for a pee and climbed back into her bag, I thought she was taking ages to settle and get comfortable as there was a constant loud rustle rustle sound – until I realized it was the wind and our tent making that noise!  Fortunately I had both earplugs and an eye mask, so I was able to block out much of the sound (that it, until the left earplug decided to vacate my ear and lodge itself somewhere in my hair – discovered in the morning).  I could still hear our guides and porters laughing and giggling in the mess tent, after we’d left – it was very cute to hear them having fun together.

I actually managed to get some sleep, despite the challenging conditions.  I got a bit cold towards the end of the night – but we’d been given a hot water bottle, so that helped keep the feet warm.  I did keep waking up – checking in with my bladder – deciding I could still hang on – then fall back asleep – have a weird fragment of a dream – then wake up, rinse and repeat UNTIL after i woke up, I heard our guides talking in the tent.  Wait… does that mean…. its MORNING???  I slipped off my eye mask and YES!!  I had survived the night and it was indeed 6am!  I could finally get up, put my boots on and go and have a sweet, sweet pee.  Bliss.  Not soon after I got back to the tent, DJ arrived with a couple cups of steaming hot coffee and another plate of biscuits.   After some refreshment, it was then time to pack all our stuff back in our packs, take some pictures and get outta there!  It was a clear and VERY COLD morning, so we didn’t dilly dally.  Up, dressed, take pics in front of the EBC rock – and then start the hike back to Gorak Shep for breakfast.  The hike up out of EBC was tough – but we made short work of it, so were back in Gorak Shep in less than an hour and a half.

Yep.  Still cold AF.  I treated myself to the breakfast I’d passed over the day before, out of consideration to my tent mate, and ordered baked beans on toast.  Surprisingly tasty.  And then, as the itinerary describes above, it was time to start to retrace our steps – all the way back to Lukla.  Today, our destination was Pheriche which we reached around 3.30pm.  Tomorrow, we have a long day ahead of us as we need to make it all the way back to Namche and a HOT SHOWER!!!!  And an electric blanket!!  I have to say, I am looking forward to not feeling perpetually cold.   I probably won’t have too much time to blog tomorrow as its going to be a long day’s hiking – but I’ll do my best.  Anyway, here are some pics from the last couple of days – they are about to turn the lights off in the dining hall now cos everyone is going to bed, so I’ll update with captions tomorrow.   When I have a bit more time, I’ll upload a few videos too.  Hope you enjoy!!