If you haven’t already, make sure you read my post on planning and preparation for Everest Base Camp and Part 1 of the trek .
There are 8 trekking days in total with 1 travel day either side. Here’s the second and final part of the journey. For more photos, make sure you follow me on Instagram.
Day 5
We had started to look forward to the mornings and starting our hike. The nights are so cold and all we can think of is being back out in the sun and warmth again. Each day brings us closer to the snow covered peaks of the Himalayas. The trek continues to follow along the Dudh Khosi river, and today was exceptionally beautiful following the path that wound around the mountain side, with an ascent that looked as if we were headed straight to Ama Damblan.
We are starting to come across more Stupas along the way, and many Buddhist prayer rocks – these large pieces of rock have Buddhist prayers inscribed and painted in black. A significant part of the trek today took us through a large flat valley that had huge boulders scattered throughout. Being in this valley surrounded by snowcapped peaks is surreal. We are just days away from reaching Base Camp, and the magnitude of the Himalayas is truly humbling. No day would be complete without having some form of difficulty. The last hour was once again hiking upwards as we made our way to an elevation of 4,410 m (14,470 feet). It was a slow climb with many stops to catch my breath and feel grateful for the trekking poles that I’ve come to rely on now to pull myself up as we ascend.
We reached Dingboche around 1:30pm to check into our lodge and to have a late and much needed lunch. Given it was still quite early in the day we walked into the village just to give ourselves something to do. A very short stroll though, before heading back to the lodge for a pre-dinner nap. This was our last “luxurious” accomodation which included a private bathroom. This simply meant a small room with a toilet, no sink, and paper thin walls. Let’s just say privacy is really out the window on this trek. Another ridiculously cold night snuggled in a sleeping bag, covered with two thick duvets and fully clothed including beanie 🙂
Day 6
Today was our last acclimitization day which included a hike up to Nangkartshang Peak. This is a 700m (2300 feet) hike up, which felt pretty steep with no leveling off. The hike up is only classified as level 2 difficulty (moderate), and some websites go on to say it’s an easy hike. However, it was quite difficult for me as the altitude really started to get to me today. I felt like I had a bad migraine and the only thing that seemed to help was standing still, but I had to power through the 1.5hr hike up. I will have to admit that I’m glad I pushed through the pain because the views of some of the world’s highest mountains Lhotse (4th highest) and Makalu (5th highest) were truly majestic. We sat and enjoyed that view for a bit before heading back down. The climb back down proved to be equally as difficult as the path was rocky and dusty. I ended up sliding and falling several times, but thankfully our porter was so attentive and always close by to help, and holding my hand when needed.
We finally made it back and my head was pounding – I broke down as it was just so painful. As much as I kept drinking water on the hike nothing seemed to help. Our guide said that a remedy to help was a bowl of garlic soup. I was willing to try anything, so I ate that whole bowl and forced myself to drink even more water. A quick post lunch nap and I felt better, or at least enough to walk down into the village and get some hot chocolate and treats from this place called Cafe Himalaya. The cafe was covered in pictures of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, as well as other hikers, and trekking paraphernalia. We enjoyed playing some games the cafe had (cards, checkers, UNO) and was nice to relax somewhere other than the lodge. Just two more days until we reach Base Camp…it’s getting so close!
Day 7
Today we head to Loboche. As soon as we started our morning walk from the lodge, the altitude headache came back, but was manageable. Thankfully it was a quick hike in the shadows until we reached the top of the hill where the sun was shining, and our hands could defrost.
The first part of the trek took us through what looked like a valley full of Yaks wandering and grazing. Then it was a dusty mountain path for quite some time until we came upon this ravine full of large boulders and water flowing down from the Khumbu Icefall. The water was so cold that you could see huge ice blocks and icicles stuck against the large rocks. We had to cross the river over this old rickety wooden bridge that I can’t believe is still being used. The bridge was just a foot above the water so not high, but by no means would you want to slip and fall into that arctic water.
We had a quick stop at this small village right across the river for our daily tea and snickers break. After the village we came to an area where you see the many memorials laid to the fallen victims that have died on their attempt to climb to the summit. Some of these were famous, well experienced trekkers, such as Scott Fisher, who was an American climber. He along with several other experienced climbers lost their lives during a bad storm, all of which is featured in the movie called Everest with Jake Gyllenhaal. It’s very moving seeing all these tributes and knowing that so many people have lost their lives trying to accomplish this feat.
We reached our destination around 2pm and I opted for the garlic soup again trying to help with my pounding head. We were supposed to head out and see the sunset around 4:45pm, however it was too windy and there was just a big dust bowl outside, so I was more than happy to miss it. All we can think about now is making it to Base Camp, getting back to warmth, having a hot shower and eating any type of food that isn’t noodles or rice and has vegetables. Feeling very veggie deprived!! No one ever said this hike was going to be easy, and they were right! Can’t believe tomorrow is the day we make it to Base Camp!!
Day 8 – Base Camp!!
Today was a very early start for what was the longest hike to take us to Base Camp. We were at 5000m and progress was slow as every step felt heavier with the low levels of oxygen. Itwas about 2 ½ hours to get to Gorekshep, which was the final village on our trip. Our porter dropped our luggage, we enjoyed a quick tea break before embarking on the final leg. Now this last part of the hike felt as if we were climbing through a rock quarry. We had large rocks to traverse over and through. We heard this loud crack and to our right we saw a not too distant avalanche. Seeing this huge sheet of snow break off and come down the mountain makes you feel so small!
To our right were snow covered mountains and to our left were rock covered mountains. We ended up witnessing 3 avalanches and 2 rocks slides as we made our way along the path. It took us about 2 ½ hours to reach Base Camp. I assumed Base Camp might look a bit more like a camp, but it’s actually (at this time of year) a very empty rock covered area at the bottom of the Khumbu Ice Fall. To get down to Base Camp was quite precarious as you had to climb over huge boulders wedged over a large ice crevasse. Using the poles was not helpful here, as you really had to be sure footed, have your hands available for balance and very carefully climb slowly down. Our porter helped me quite a bit here holding my hand and helping me through this maze of rocks.
And finally, there we were – we made it to Base Camp. The sense of accomplishment was overwhelming and standing here knowing you are part of a small group of humans on this earth who have actually endeavored to do this. All I can say was just WOW!!! We took all the obligatory photos, took a few videos and just stopped to take it all in. Being that close to the Khumbu Ice Fall really put it into perspective of how difficult it would be to actually hike to the top, as crossing this is just the first part of that climb.
After some time at Base Camp we had to make our way back, which was a return over the maze of rock boulders, through the rock quarry and the dusty trail. On return, we had a late lunch before doing one final hike up to Kala Pattar to watch the sunset. By this point I was physically drained and exhausted but pushed myself for one last hike. This was by far the hardest climb, and it was extremely slow going as I had to stop quite often to catch my breath. Now we didn’t make it all the way up but were up high enough to take in the sunset, with the sun setting below Everest. This was incredible and the colors of the sun setting against the sun capped mountain is hard to describe. We thankfully were able to capture the sheer beauty of this sunset despite freezing our fingers off trying to hold the camera. We were able to make our way down before it was totally pitch dark. What an amazing day, but my body had finally given up on me, I was completely and physically run down, feeling like a truck had run over me.
Now would I do it again??? Absolutely as this was truly the experience of a lifetime!! I thought it prudent to share with you what the hike is like day to day, what to expect and hopefully a few lessons to learn from should you decide to make this your next adventure!
Read more about the Trek!
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