Everest Base Camp - A noob's journey

[harshabennur]

Everest Base Camp - Day 8

Few updates I missed out on previous days:

Every day on the trek, we ask Phuri if we are maintaining decent pace. Neither do we want to reach early or too late when it is nightfall. But every time we have asked Phuri, his standard response has been “We go slowly slowly, good”. Slowly pronounced ‘salowly’.  

While we saw lot of trees till we reached Tengboche, we didn’t see any trees on the way to Dingboche. Looks like trees don’t grow at this altitude. There are few bushes and grass which is turning yellow.

Day 8 - Dingboche to Labuche: 

We wake up early at 5 am and are on the road by 7. The light breakfast feels good and I am very energetic. I had popped few pain killers the previous night to manage my back and ankle. Looks like the meds have done their job. After a initial steep climb out of Dingboche, we hit a plateau for couple of hours. For some reason, Manu is slow in the plateau too. Could be the altitude. We get some amazing photographs of Amadablam and other surrounding mountains. Though the sun is out, it is very cold due to strong winds.

After the plateau, we come across a long steep climb. Funnily, I am able to manage the climb very easily. I don’t intend to take any credit here. It is either because the meds have made me feel better, or my body has adapted well to the higher altitude. Once we reach on top, there is a memorial for the numerous people who have lost their lives in various climbs. One memorial is of the world renowned Scott Fischer. The memorials here is a grim reminder of the dangers which exist in this region. 

The vegetation here is extremely scarce and the few shrubs we saw the previous day are absent here. It is largely dying grass. The path gets extremely rocky. My right ankle hate it. If the slope is from right to left, there is severe pain. Otherwise, I am largely ok. We cross a rickety bridge which might fall apart any day. We reach Labuche by 2 pm. Manu is extremely tired and irritated. He has a mild headache due to the altitude. A good meal puts him in a better mood.

Labuche is at an elevation of 4950m (16240 feet). My head feels weird for a short while. Phuri recommends we go for a short trek to acclimatize better. We wrap ourselves in fleece, downs jacket and gloves before heading out to a steep hill close to the tea house. Just as we start, Manu complains of pain in his chest and breathing difficulty. Phuri suggests he go back and drink lots of water and take rest. Phuri and me proceed to climb the hill. I still have good energy levels and start the climb with vigor. I am gasping for breath in less than a minute. The altitude makes it very difficult to execute normal activities. Once we reach the top, the view is very rewarding. We get to see the beginning of the  Kumbhu glacier. It resembles a quarry with large pools of water. There is not a single blade of grass here. Far away, we can see the Everest Base Camp. The decent is very tricky due to the acute angle. I safely make it back to the tea house. The temperature here at 6.30 pm is minus 3 degrees. Dont think I am getting anywhere close to the wash basin tomorrow morning. 

Tomorrow is the D day. We head to Gorak Shep, rest for an hour and head to Everest Base Camp. The temperature at Gorak Shep is around minus 5 degrees tomorrow. Not sure how the body will cope up at close to 17.000 feet altitude. But I am not thinking too much about this. I am quietly confident that the hard miles I have put in for this trek will pay off tomorrow. All the physiotherapy, strengthening exercises for my back, staying away from alcohol for four months, the running and weight training should take me to EBC tomorrow afternoon. Fingers crossed. 

[harshabennur]

Everest Base Camp - Day 5,6 and 7

[harshabennur]

Everest Base Camp - Day 3 and 4

After an early morning breakfast, we hit the trail before 8 am. The temperature was around 14 degrees, but we were quite warm after half hour of brisk walking. Our guide-porter Phuri talks to us only when it is really necessary -  to tell us what to eat or what not to, makes sure we are well hydrated to avoid altitude sickness, etc. Otherwise, he keeps to himself. I keep trying to initiate conversations but he responds more out of duty than the need to chat up with us. Language barrier is definitely a reason. I am hoping we will be more conversant by the end of this trek. He seems extremely fit. I haven’t seem him panting, gasping for breath or asking for a break. He is carrying our combined luggage of 22 kilos on him. 

The trek is moderately intense till lunch. We go downhill many times to cross between mountains. We have yaks coming every once in a while carrying heavy load. They don’t seem to bother too much about humans. We rush to a safe spot to avoid getting pushed over. The ferocious Dudh Koshi flows right next to us all along. I have seen the Ganga, Cauvery, Krishna and few other rivers. But the Dudh Koshi stands out for its sheer ferocity. This being right after monsoon, the river is in its full glory. Having done rafting in Rishikesh many times, I enquired if there are rafting facilities around. Phuri said they are closed in monsoon. Not surprised. Each rapid looked like a level 5. Later when we would climb higher and well away from Koshi, we could still hear the roar of the river.

We stopped at lunch at Jorsale, a small village on the way to Namche Bazaar. Another Nepali lunch and we on the road again. We saw at least a dozen waterfalls on the way. Some small and some very big, but all equally beautiful. We caught glimpses of the Thamserku peak which is at an elevation of 6623m.  We then walked on what looks like a riverbed. The Koshi might have changed its course a long time ago. Soon, we reached this opening where there are two hanging steel bridges one right above the other. That’s where we had to go. The steep climb sapped our energy levels. Phuri seemed impressed and said we maintained good pace. The bad news was that this was just the beginning. We crossed the bridge only to encounter more inclines. 

The afternoon was all about climbing and more climbing. We took short breaks to hydrate and maybe grab a quick bite of chocolate or energy bar. None of this made the climb any easier. Just couple of minutes after the break, and I would be forcing myself to lift one foot after the other. At 3000+ metres, the lower oxygen levels wasnt helping. In between, it began to drizzle and we pulled out our poncho to cover ourselves and our backpacks. The poncho is a contraption which made me feel like some witch from a fairytale. The slippery surface only added to my woes. After couple of hours of the incline, I developed a cramo in my right quadricep. More than the pain, I was worried if this might snowball into an injury and jeopardize my trek. Frequent sips of ORS and dropping my already slow pace was what got me through. We eventually reached Namche Bazaar at 4 pm and it was another half hour before we made it to our hotel/tea house. We had been on the road from 8 am. This was the longest I had ever trekked. I was tired, wet from the rain and cranky as a school girl. 

At 3440 metres, Namche Bazaar is the largest town on your way to EBC. There are numerous cafes, shops selling trekking gear, pharmacies and places to stay. Not sure if I have mentioned earlier - as you keep going higher up, the cost of all goods and services go up too. An ORS with MRP 6 bucks costs you a 100. Logistics is obviously a big challenge. Manu and me visited the Sherpa cafe to sip on some ginger lemon tea. We barely finished dinner, and were flat out asleep within few minutes. We had a acclimatization trek the next day to Syangboche which is at an elevation of 3841 metres. Comparatively easier than the previous day’s trek, we finished the trek in little more than 2 hours. The previous day’s trek had taken its toll on me. My right calf muscle is extremely sore and my body feels battered. Phuri says I will be fine in couple of days. 

My physical preparation towards this trek seems so inadequate now. But, I wonder if we city dwellers with sedentary lifestyles can ever be prepared for something so arduous. I had stayed away from alcohol for close to 4 months to get into shape. My physio Muthu had been working on my lower back and I had been running, swimming and weight training to strengthen my back. Its like you have been running in school races and then suddenly you are thrown in the Olympics. I felt I was under cooked. 

My excess body weight (I am around 8 kgs overweight) and my heavy backpack (around 9 kilos) were adding to my woes. I felt cutting down on  weight will make my trek easier. I have decided to leave out my sleeping bag which weighs around 3 kilos at Namche and collect it on the way back. I also dropped few other things like the solar panel for charging my phone, few clothes and some snacks. Leaving the sleeping bag is a big gamble, but the upside is huge. I have decided I will layer up with more clothes and go to sleep to compensate for the sleeping bag. The next few higher altitude places have temperatures closing in on 0 degrees. Let’s see how it goes. We start early tomorrow morning and leave to Tengboche which is at 3860m. The current temperature there is 6 degrees. Phuri says the trek to Tengboche is as tough as it was from Phakding to Namche. I am mentally ready for it. I can hear my body say I a moron....

[harshabennur]

Everest Base Camp - A noob's journey

Day 1:

I am sitting on the floor at the chaotic domestic airport at Kathmandu, Nepal. March 4th 2017 was the day I decided to trek to the Everest Base Camp. In hindsight, I have no clue why I decided to do this arduous activity. I am fortunate to have met Jamling Norgay (son of the great Tenzing Norgay) a few times. Jamling motivated me to do this trek when I last met him on March 4th.

Before I say anything further, its best you know that I havent done any form of writing (expect emails!) in a long long time. If memory serves right, the last time I wrote more than a paragraph was during my B school days. So, it will be ideal if you set low standards of writing from this blog!

Also, pardon me if I keep going back to events before I started this trek once in a while. I do not know how tough this trek is going to be, but the prelude to this trek has definitely been a real challenge (I am nursing an injured and severely abused lower back).

I had initially planned to do this trek alone. Maybe some sense prevailed later and here I am with my office buddy Manu, both embarking on something we don't know how well we are prepared for. We landed in Kathmandu yesterday around 3.30 pm. While the immigration is smooth, collecting your baggage is a looong wait. A short 15 minute drive brought us to our stay for the night - Hotel Thamel. A small and clean hotel, ideal for overnight stay. Our guide - Durga ji was waiting for us to complete our paperwork - permit, flight tickets to Lukla, coordinates of the guide at Lukla, his fees, etc. He also gave us 2 massive duffel bags to carry our luggage. Once done, we stepped out to get some essentials - local sim card with 10 GB data :), sleeping bags for rent, hiking sticks and a few knick-knacks.

Strongly recommend the food at Thamel House Restaurant (a short walk from our hotel). A sumptuous dinner and tasting authentic local cuisine - done. This part of the city doesnt seem very crowded. The locals seem very friendly and speak Hindi decently well.

Durga ji had given strict instructions that we could pack a maximum of 10 kilos each in our duffel bag which would be carried by our guide/porter. This turned out to be a serious challenge. Despite being extremely choosy about what we packed in our luggage, it was impossible to fit in all essentials within the given weight restriction. It took us a few visits to the hotel reception where the weighing scale was located and removing more gear (some really essential) to bring down the weight to 10 kilos. I am really worried about leaving out few critical peices of clothing - have left behind 2 warm tees, one thermal inner lining and a pair of hiking shorts. We ended up not carrying many other important things - the long range lens of my DSLR camera, the camera bag which now leaves the camera vulnerable to damages, sports shoes for post hike moving around, etc. Not to mention, we left behind most part of the chocolates, energy bars and snacks we were carrying to make our journey more bearable. This task left Manu and me really frustrated.

Before I continue, our flight has been delayed due to bad weather in Lukla. I had read about Lukla's unpredictable weather, but was hoping we would be lucky. The operator - Tara Air/Yeti Airlines says there is a possibility of cancelling all flights to Lukla today. Obviously, this is not great news, leaving us helpless. Praying to the weather gods to give us a half hour clear window to make it to Lukla today.

Update:

Unfortunately, our flight to Lukla got cancelled after multiple reschedules. The low hanging clouds at Lukla made it impossible for planes to land on the short landing strip. Frustrated, we left the departure zone back to the check-in counter and received tickets for next day flight departing at 12.30 pm. This wasn’t encouraging because the locals say that the best time to leave for Lukla is early morning, post which the place gets heavy cloud cover. We headed back to the hotel and checked in for another day. Manu decided to take a separate room not able to sleep owing to my snoring! (our guide had put us on twin sharing). 

With nothing much to do, we decided to take a stroll around the city. Unfortunately, the entire city was shut due to Dussehra festival and the place resembled a ghost town. Durga ji called us in the evening suggesting we take a helicopter to Lukla. This meant that our existing plane tickets would go waste. Manu and I pondered for a short while and decided to take the chopper. We didn’t want to risk losing another day because our return date to India was not flexible. We had to head out at 5.30 am for an early morning helicopter ride. Thankfully, we didn’t have any preparation to do since we were already packed and ready. Another Nepali cuisine dinner brought an end to the day. After having 3 meals of the local cuisine, I am convinced that their food is generally very pleasant, tasty, largely non spicy. 

Day 2:

We arrived at the airport by 6 am and Durga ji’s friend there whisked us past the long queues at entry, check in, etc and parked us at the office of a heli operator. After a short wait and some paperwork, we driven to a far corner of the airport where many helicopters were parked. Some more paperwork and few safety instructions, and we were taken to the chopper. Both of us were fairly excited since it was the first time for us in a helicopter. It was a great experience to get a bird’s eye view of the beautiful work of mother nature. Sitting next to the pilot, I got a crash course on how to fly a a helicopter. The pilot even allowed me to get a feel of the cyclic (the joystick which acts as the rudder). Good fun! We got a radio message saying Lukla had heavy cloud cover. We were forced to land little lower at Surke and after a wait for about half an hour, the clouds cleared enough for the heli to take us to Lukla. 

Our porter and guide - Phuri Sherpa was there to meet us. After pleasantries and a quick breakfast, we started on our trek from Lukla to our destination for the day - Phakding. The trek to Phakding is not the typical trek we expected. Phakding being at a lower elevation than Lukla, most of our trek was downhill. Barring few steep inclines, we kept going downhill most of our trek. Walking downhill is heavy on knees. Manu developed a small niggle in his left knee, hopefully he should be fine by tomorrow. The trek was extremely scenic with the river Dudh Koshi accompanying us all along. Couple of long steel bridges and buddhist temples make for some interesting sights. 

A 4 hour trek brought us to Phakding. Our guide recommended a guest house which overlooked the river. The rooms are tiny, basic but clean. We were tired after trudging along the rocky downhill path. 

Both of us decided to do some stretches to relax our muscles. I was particularly concerned about my back. The last 2 days before flying into Nepal were hectic owing to official travel and last minute packing. I had slept for a total of 4-5 hours over two days. While the rest of me was able to function fine, my lower back kept giving signals that it was tired. 

I should mention that I suffered from a slipped disc three years ago. This lower back injury brought most physical activities to a screeching halt. My motorcycle riding, weekend sports, gym, etc had to be put aside. While yoga, physiotherapy and adequate rest did improve the condition of my lower back for a while, I have been guilty of not being persistent in my efforts. From a guy who could squat 330 pounds to struggle to bend down to pick up a pencil, it has been a tough ride. To cut a long story short, it has been a miserable 3 years from a fitness point of view. People who have suffered from lower back injuries will know that the injury affects your mind as much as your body. 

Coming back, we walked around the village after another tasty Nepali lunch. It is a village of approximately 50 buildings, most of them being guest houses for trekkers like us. The people from Lukla onwards look very different from those in Kathmandu, People here resemble the Tibetians. The kids here are like extremely cute and are like mountain goats. You can see toddlers running on the rocky path faster than us. A siesta and bowl of garlic vegetable soup for supper brings our day to an early end. Manu is keen to have a long sleep and is not impressed with me going typity-type on my laptop. Will try to add few photos here and call it a night.