Everest Adventure in Two Parts - Part Ek (One)

According to the terms of the Fulbright grant, during my year in India I'm only allowed to be out of the country for a total of three weeks. R. and I decided to use two of those weeks to travel to Nepal and attempt one of the better known treks in the world, the Mt. Everest base camp trek, in which one hikes about 60km and climbs from 2,800m at Lukla to 5,545m at the summit of Kala Pattar, a mountain near the base of Mt. Everest. It's traditionally done in about 13 days, which include two acclimation days and a straight up-and-back route.

We arrived in Kathmandu from Delhi in the morning and spent the rest of the day organizing our domestic flight to Lukla for the next morning and seeing some of the sights in the Kathmandu city center. The next morning we arrived at the airport to find chaos - it was the 4th day in a row that fog had encased the city, and for 4 days no flights had made it to Lukla. Trekkers, hippies with nappy dreads and Nepalis alike cluttered the departure lounge. We spent all day in the airport, hoping for good news, but by 3:00pm our flight had been officially canceled. The next day we were luckier, and our 6am flight finally left the ground at 9:30am. The short half-hour flight to Lukla was spectacular, with terraced hillsides to the right and views into the snow-capped Himalayas to the left. We flew low, sometimes clearing forested ridges by only a few hundred feet.

Stepping off the plane in Lukla at the Tenzing-Hillary Airport (see first picture), I was surprised at 1) how cold it was, and 2) how precipitous the landscape was. The Lukla airport clings to the side of the hill, and must be one of the more difficult landing strips to get into in the world. It kind of resembles a ski-jump. When landing, don't overshoot, or the plane will end up as a flaming smear on the hillside. While taking off, better get those engines cranked up, because if you're not flying by the time the runway ends, off the cliff you go!

Our first few days of hiking was through forested valleys, crossing back and forth over the Dudh Kosi river. We spent our first night in Phakding, our second in Namche Bazaar, and the third in Tengboche at a guesthouse near the Buddhist monastery.






Namche Bazaar through the mist


The monastery at Tengboche

As we climbed, the temperature got colder and the air thinner. Despite this, during the day the weather was gorgeous, sunny and bright and warm enough in the sun or when hiking. Night time was downright chilly however. None of the rooms in any of the guest houses where heated in any way, and in the mornings there was ice in our water bottles. Getting out of bed to use the bathroom in the middle of the night was quite an ordeal! The focal point of all the guest houses was the dining room, in which there was always a wood or yak-dung-burning stove. Every evening hikers and staff would gather around the stove to drink chai and eat dinner, creating a very convivial atmosphere. During our 13 days on the trail we met all manner of people from all over the world.


Stupa near Pangboche



Nights four, five and six were spent in Pangboche, Dingboche, and Dughla. On our fifth day, we actually hiked right past Dughla and made it another 2 hours up the trail to Lobuche. This may not have been the smartest thing, however, as we were aware that we were pushing ourselves, acclimation-wise. When we developed slight headaches, we decided to descend to Dughla for the night. Headaches are the first symptom of altitude sickness. Once you've got it, you have to descend or you are running the risk of seriously damaging yourself, requiring a helicopter evacuation or worse. We listened to our bodies very carefully for signs of altitude sickness, but even so, our accent to Gorak Shep, the settlement at the top, was a day quicker than is recommended. I chalk up our fortitude to the months we spend at altitude in Mussourie, which is at almost 2,000m and provided good preparation.


The next morning we quickly reached Lobuche again, right adjacent to the bottom of the Khumbu glacier. A quick investigation of the glacier revealed a crystaline glacial lake (picture left). We were tempted to go for a swim, but then decided against it on the grounds of 1) sketchiness and 2) flippin' freezing-ness! On we went, through the now tree-less valley, to our last stop - Gorak Shep, the final guest house on the Everest trail at a height of 5,160m. Next post - Kala Pattar and the base camp!