Everest Diaries #3 - Trek To Everest Base Camp (17,500 feet)

Namaste! This blog covers my journey to Everest Base Camp (EBC) for my Mount Everest Expedition in 2010. It takes around 10 days to just arrive at the foot of Everest at 17,500 feet before the expedition begins.

The trek to EBC begins from a town called Lukla which is at 9000 feet AMSL. We boarded a small aircraft from Kathmandu to fly to Lukla. This was the first time I was seeing an aircraft this small. This was going to be one interesting flight!

Kathmandu- Lukla flight is one of the most scenic flights in the world! The flight route takes you through some beautiful mountains and valleys. There were some moments during the flight when we flew very close to the mountains, I used to close my eyes and hold on to my seat hoping for the best. It was such a thrilling experience and a scenic flight.

Lukla airport is one of the most dangerous airports in the world. The runway is located on a mountain top with a huge drop right after the runway ends. It surely takes a skilled pilot to land a plane here without killing everyone onboard! The adventure had officially begun!

When we got outside the aircraft, the temperature had dropped significantly and the fresh air re-energized me in no time. We all were very hungry so we decided to grab a quick bite before heading to. Some refueling was necessary. We found a quiet little café down the town. We were instructed by our leader not to fill our stomachs to the brim as a long trek awaited us. What a bummer! We ended up drinking just some warm tea with toast.

The destination for today was Phakding Village. It’s a short 2 hours trek with most of the trail downhill. We enter into the beautiful Dudh Koshi valley today. After months of preparation and hard work, it felt so good to be on the trail! We reached Phakding by 3pm and checked into a tea house.

The next day we woke up early and started trekking towards Namche Bazaar. I love trekking in the early morning’s serenity! The weather is clear and the air is crisp. Today’s trek takes us through beautiful pine forest, along the Dudh Koshi River and across many suspension bridges, the most famous of which being The Hillary Suspension Bridge!

From today we can start seeing, learning and guessing at the many peaks that will start to present themselves to us. All weather permitting of course! Our first view was Mt Thamserku towering at 6618m. We then trek through Sherpa settlements known as Benkar, Chumoa, Monjo and then onto our Checkpoint at the Sagarmatha National Park where we register ourselves for the trek.

From here we will slowly begin to climb up through forests and across bridges, until we reach the confluence of the Dudh Koshi and Bhote Koshi rivers.

Then the first steep climb begins for about an hour which brings us a great reward at the end – our first views of Mount Everest peeping over the Lhotse-Nuptse ridge. I remember vivdly, when I first saw Mt. Everest, the peak was being blown by the hurricane jet stream winds creating huge snow plume around the summit. What a sight it was! So daunting and yet extremely beautiful!

I bowed down to the peak. The peak stood so high that it made me think that what have I let myself into? Will I be able to survive this ordeal? But seeing the peak only made my determination stronger and I could see myself standing on top of that peak and looking down at this valley!

We took a well-earned rest to enjoy the view before continuing on our last hour to the trading town of Namche Bazaar and our home for the next 2 nights. Namche is the capital of Khumbu region with most facilities available here.

As it is situated at over 11,500 feet, most trekkers heading up make it a point to spend two nights here to acclimatize to the rising altitude and the changing weather conditions. I enjoyed some good food in Namche during our stay here! Keeping hydrated was also of utmost important now.

The next day we went up to Khumjung village for an acclimatization walk and met the family of my personal Sherpa whom I referred to as Daju, meaning elder brother.

The next day, our destination was Tengboche village (3870m). A 20 minute walk takes you above Namche and from here a fairly steep trail along with the gushing Dudh Koshi River takes you to Tengboche. You get some amazing views of Everest, Lhotse, Nuptse, Ama Dablam and Taboche along the way.

Towards the end of the day, the trail changes from up-hill to downhill constantly. This ascending and descending works wonders on our acclimatization! It takes around 5 hours to reach Tengboche.

There is a beautiful monastery here called Tengboche Monastery and most climbers stop by here to receive blessings from the Lama to bless their climb. When it was my turn to be blessed, the Lama looked right into my eyes and said ‘Just like Arjun from Mahabharata, you will achieve your aim too’. I was shocked! No one had told him my name. How did he know it? My mind went numb at that point and I walked out slowly and it remains a mystery till date.

The next day we began our trek to Dingboche (4410m). The trek begins with a downhill through Rhododendron forest, to the Imja Khola where we cross the river on the famous suspension bridge. I absolutely loved walking on these bridges with Dudh Koshi River roaring below us and the bridge swinging! Such an adrenaline pump! The bridges are ornamented with the colorful Buddhist prayer flags which flutter heavily due to the heavy winds. Such a soothing sight to watch and makes you feel safe at the same time with the belief that the God’s are watching over this bridge and it won’t fall!

Sometimes there are Yak’s coming in from the other end of the bridge which is a little scary and in moments like these, I used to hold on to the bridge and hope that the Yaks down throw me off the bridge. But you get used to this, trust me! We pass through a small village called Pengboche and our route then continues through summer pastures up to Dingboche.

The next day we start trekking towards Louche. I started to feel the altitude as we went above 4500m today. The tree line is left behind and the landscape changes to grass and scrubs as trees cannot grow at this altitude. We cross a village called Dugla on the way where we took a quick tea break.

We continued on to a ridge which contains the memorial site for mountaineer’s who gave their live to reach to the top of Everest. I saw memorials of some of my heroes in mountaineering. This place had a very strong energy to it and it reminded me of the dangers that lay ahead. Even the best of them had ended up becoming a memorial here! It surely made me more cautious.

As we cross this ridge, we see a drastic change in the landscape as we start walking alone the rocky moraines of Khumbu Glacier with spectacular views of Kala Patthar and Pumori to keep us company as we hike up to Lobuche. The settlements start getting lesser and lesser as we head up the valley. One really starts to feel the lack of oxygen here. We reached Lobuche and unwinded for the day.

Today we plan to hit EBC. We follow the Khumbu Glacier northwards to reach Gorakhshep. The scenery was so beautiful everywhere our eyes went; From towering peaks, to huge valleys, it was such a privilege to be here. It took us around 3 hours of moraine walk to arrive at Gorakhshep Village, the last settlement before EBC. From here we continue along the Glacial Moraine for 2 hours before we start walking on the rocky moraine. Moraines are the rocky part of the mountain that glacier left behind. Presence of moraines meant we were walking at a place where there must have been glacier at some point and walking on moraines for a long time can get really tiring. The rocks are very loose so we have to be cautious at each step. As little as a twisted ankle could jeopardize the entire expedition.

In the far distance, we spotted yellow tents and we knew it was Everest Base Camp! FINALLY! It was still a fair distance but our excitement knew no bound. We winded our way up to the base camp.

When we arrived at the Base Camp (17,500 feet), it was like a small town by itself with hundreds of tents scattered along the moraine. The Base Camp was divided amongst teams and each team had a designated area for them. There was a well-planned and coordinated system in order here

We went up to our camp and we were greeted with some warm tea and smiling faces of Sherpa’s. We were shown around our camp and the set up was wonderful. There was a communications tent, a kitchen tent, a dining tent, a medical tent and personal tents. The base camp manager, the cooks and the support staff had already arrived at the base camp a few days prior to set everything up for us. I could not take my eyes off the mighty Khumbu Icefall. I had always seen how dangerous it is in pictures and videos. It was bigger and scarier than I had seen in pictures. In just a few days, I will be heading in there myself. I put my rucksack in my tent. This was home for the next one and a half month.

I was finally at Base Camp, about to embark on a mission that had been a dream since so long. It took me a while to accept that all of this was actually happening so early in my life. I was just 16. Everyone around me were at least twice my age. Did I even belong here? No 16 year old has ever climbed Everest before. Is it even possible? I had so many doubts in my mind but I felt a strong connection to the mountain God’s here and I somehow knew that I will make it. A lot of life changing events were going to happen in the coming few weeks as we set out to reach the highest point of this earth! Stay tuned. Cheers!