Everest Base Camp Trek * Day 11 / March 24 * Lukla – Kathmandu

A trek to Everest Base Camp isn’t complete without the flight back to Kathmandu.

At 6am it was clear that this morning is a fly-day in Lukla. I was woken up by the first planes arriving and some departing already flying right over Lukla to the airstrip above Namche Bazar.
Well, that was quite comforting to know, tho the wind can never be trusted and might turn the village into a no-fly zone in a heartbeat.

We arrived at the airport at 8am and it was quite a busy place with all 4 plane parking spots occupied. But we were told to wait; the plane we saw from our airline has yet to fly it’s first batch of people to Kathmandu, pick up some material and come back to Lukla before we can get on.

So we waited. Other airlines came and went again. Until about 1 hour later, we were set to check-in and go thru security check (It wasn’t really much of a check, tho. The metal detector went off, the guard did a quick search and barely looked into the backpack, asked if I have a lighter or any other gasses with me and then was finished already.)
Time passed slowly in the cold VIP waiting room, which I think they interpret as “the room for the passengers who will leave on the next flight”.

Eventually the plane arrived again in Lukla. It was filled with nothing other than boxes of food. You could see the boxes piled up on the seats thru the window. And even though most boxes contained crackers, the personnel didn’t mind throwing them about, onto the cart until the cart overflowed and the cracker boxes fell on the floor. Even as the cart was being pulled away, the boxes still came flying, some of them missing the cart. These crackers sure were cracked by then.

While the unloading took place the pilot and flight attendant were served noodles with they ate standing up behind the plane.

This time around the flight attendant was friendlier and had a great smile. I though, “If we crash, then at least we crash with an angel on board.” Ouch, that was corny!

The take-off wasn’t overly spectacular except that the airstrip was going down and we picked up speed pretty fast, and thus were up in the air long before the runway came to an end.
The flight itself was quite shaky again and I do think that sometimes we were flying sideways. But I was sitting in between two cool dudes; the dude in front was Chinese looking with some crazy hair and some sort of goatee and his hoodie up as he sat down, and behind me a tall white dude — John Krasinski type — with 2 week beard and a baseball hat and hoodie up. So I put my hoodie up too and was among the cool dudes now. Nothing can shake us up now. Far out!
Everything went smooth after that.

Ironically, in the bus ride from the plane to the baggage claim, the Chinese dude told his tall white dude friend that he feels rather sick.

The baggage claim was another thing. Outdoors and accessible to everyone, the little place was jam packed with men pushing baggage carts into each others feet, asking all arriving passengers if they want the baggage wheeled to the taxi area. It was rather annoying.

And Kathmandu was as I expected it to be: loud, busy and dusty. Today I noticed more than ever people wearing masks.
After lunch with Tengi (Chicken Mo-Mos), I finally got back to the RCDP hostel. I took a long, warm shower, trying to get the lodge smell away that suddenly haunted me. It was refreshing and relaxing.
Then I washed my clothes on the roof top of the building, overlooking parts of the city. Not sure if it was the most successful handwash ever, but at least the clothes won’t spread all that much stink thruout the house.

Now I’m just tired but very, very contempt. Not sure what time it is, but dinner will be at 7ish — so I might just try to stay awake until then. I can revisit the Himalayas in my dreams later.

Everest Base Camp Trek * Day 10 / March 23 * Namche Bazar – Lukla

I woke up 2 hours before the alarm clock, feeling that my feet aren’t as relaxed as I hoped for. The miles walked over the past 9 days are noticeable. And there was still one long stretch to go down to Lukla.

It was a beautiful morning as we set off on our last day’s hike. We decided to skip a night rest in Phakding and just head to Lukla — it makes the hike about 3 hours longer, but at least we should have enough buffer time in case the Lukla airport is closed.

Just as we left Namche Bazar a wild peacock [I’ve been told it’s a “peahen” — a female peacock. Okthx, Dee.] passed the path in front of us and scurried around in the bushes. It was by far the most colorful peacock I’ve ever seen; no wonder Nepal chose this bird to be their national animal.

Further down nature has really started to put on it’s spring wardrobe. We passed some flowers, blooming peach trees and rhododendron, which also happens to be Nepal’s national flower. Nature has really grown over the past 10 days.

Today the path was far more crowded than yesterday. But the majority of traffic were truck and trains. Apparently the maximum a porter should be carrying is 120 kilograms, but judging by the size of the material piled up on some of the porters backs it seems that some try to push that rule in favor of earning a handful of Rupees more.

The amount of trekkers (tourists) making their way up has increased, too. From sporty people, over cool guys in their sunglasses, to beer-belly types and even grandma and grandpa; all kinds of people are putting one foot after the other heading towards the big peaks and cold nights. I don’t know how far they will go or what their experience is, but it makes my achievement a little less grandiose. But then again it’s not about what others do, but what I myself can do and have achieved.

For lunch we stopped at the Beer Garden in Phakding again. Honestly I did not have any beer, nor is there much of a garden, but my potato and carrot curry with rice was very good nonetheless.

It’s amazing how little I remembered of the path from Phakding to Lukla — the same stretch I walked on my first day. Like one German woman said, as her group passed us in opposite direction, “Bis jetzt sind wir nur runter gelaufen. Irgendwann muss es dann mal hoch gehen. [Until now we just walked down. Once it has to go up.]”
And one of her colleagues answered unnerved, “Dann lauf doch hoch! Wo ist das Problem? [Then walk back up! What’s your problem?]”
(Happy trekking if you’re already get into each others’ hair 1 hour into the trek.)
It was going up and up and even more up. Not that the air was any problem; down here at 2700 there is plenty of oxygen to go around, but it was just a long, long walk up — and my feet were so not up to that anymore.

Slowly but eventually we did pass under the gate that separates Lukla from the wild. It was strange being back in a village that was so lively and bustling (I cannot imagine what kind of “culture shock” I’ll get once back in Kathmandu).
In town we also caught up with Ksusha, who left Namche Bazar about 30 minutes earlier and just got her flight sorted out. Seeing her carry her big, green, vintage army backpack — or at least that what it looked like — made me feel bad for just carrying a daypack, but then again everyone had the choice about how much weight they want to burden themselves with. But I’ll bow down to everyone who is their own porter.

Now I’m at Starbucks in Lukla. The logo is a very creative knock-off of the real Starbucks, but the inside is much more posh with rattan furniture and real glass cups. The owner’s wife told me that this Starbucks was her husband’s idea. And she added that it isn’t a real Starbucks, which was kind of cute. But I had to tell her that the interior looks far more nicer than in the real stores, which made her smile and blush.

Now I’m hoping that tomorrow will be a fly-day in Lukla and we’ll be able to get back to Kathmandu in a reasonable time (we’re scheduled to be at the airport at 8am, but that doesn’t say anything about the actual departure time).

But for now I’ll just relax and wait for dinner time. We’re checked into the Khumbu Lodge, the same place I had my first lunch at with the singing monks. Dinner will be potato soup followed by macaroni with cheese and sauce (not sure what kind of sauce, tho). And I’ll probably call it an early night once again — if possible, since the room leads right out into the dining room. But at least it has its own toilet, which is like luxury.
And the other two guests — two girls from Belgium — just finished their 21 day trek and need to leave at 6am to catch the first flight. So it’s safe to assume that they won’t be partying either.

Everest Base Camp Trek * Day 9 / March 22 * Pheriche – Namche Bazar

It was yet another cold night. The lodge was filled with trekkers, but that didn’t really heat up the place; it just made it a whole lot noisier as the rooms were separated with simple plywood walls making every rustling, coughing or coupling sound like it was in the very same room. (I think it came out of the room to my left, the sleeping bag shuffling and female voice mumbling for about 30 seconds. Then she whispered louder, “What?” And he whispered, “I’ve already come.“)

After breakfast Tengi and I went off making the second part of the descend. It was a perfect day for hiking; blue sky, little wind and great views all around. It was a very quiet day too. There didn’t seem that many people crawling up the hill, which was a little disappointing, as that way I couldn’t show off my victory grin and force a “Hello” out of the breathless trekkers.

We stopped for some tea the the beautiful Himalaya Sherpa Lodge in Pangboche, with a dining room with view of Nuptse, Everest and Lhotse. The nice owner lady, who had traveled to Japan, Greece and all over the States, knew why it was a quiet day: the past two days were no-fly days in Lukla due to bad weather and heavy winds. Thus there is a gap in the stream of trekkers, leaving the path and the lodges empty.

So I had to wait until lunch time a little further down (where I had macaroni with tomato sauce) to brag about my accomplishment to trekkers, who still have a long way to go. They had the uncertainty in the eyes just as I had 7 days ago, but some of my descriptions seemed to calm them down, “Yeah, it was a piece of cake. I did all routes in two hours less than scheduled. After that I hit the local gym for my 3 hour cardio session, and then made myself carrot stew in my own kitchen tent I carried along in my side pocket. Do you want to see pictures?”
Well, I couldn’t quite brag with my altitude achievements with the German guys from Nuernberg, who have scales Kilimanjaro before (and that one is 5900 tall), but we always found common ground in how impressive and inspiring the landscape is here. And I wished them good luck — I truly did as everyone who has come this far should be rewarded with a successful trek to the top and see the impressive panorama for themselves.

Today we also had to go back up 2 steep hills that were fun walking down on our way up. The first ascend was the “mud track” up to Tengboche. Thanks to the dirt it was rather entertaining as we again balanced from stone to stone and held on to trees. After that we arrived at Tengboche, which this time around was set in clear sky. The monastery was so colorful and pretty and the views were — as always — impressive.
The second hill was much longer than I remembered, but since we were scaling up from 3200 to 3500 the oxygen was already quite plentiful and made it much easier to walk up.

The traffic on the “highway” to Namche Bazar was moderate. We passed several porters and yak trains but only some sporadic trekking groups.

Then we were back to “The Steps of Namche Bazar“, a setting that sure could be a location for a spin-off of the old TV series “The Streets of San Francisco“. Tho, the car chases (on yaks) would be quite a bit bumpier.

Of course we checked in at the Buddha Lodge again, but I didn’t mind that much, as all I cared about was to get a hot shower and to have a sit-toilet.
For today I had no other worry in the world. Up here, after having climbed up to a place that seemed so far away for most of my life, should I worry about my 40K, or how the color of my eyes matches my taint? It all does not matter for now; it is all unimportant compared do my mountaineering experience.

After refreshing myself (my last real shower was here in Nachme, too) I hit the town to pay a visit at my favorite outdoor gear shop again. Last time I saw they were selling beanies with “Everest B.C., 5334” on it, and since I was there I was now entitled to buy one.
The store — actually half of Namche — was filled with older Japanese tourists. Not sure if they will walk up any higher, but they were getting outfitted with good walking pants and jackets. I was amazed to see the owner lady, Pemba, understand and speak Japanese. She said it’s only a little, but it sure sounded quite fluently.

Back at the lodge I hade a chat about “God and the world” with Ksusha, a Russian born English girl, who has spent over 18 days trekking around — most of it on her own. And we were both happy with our (different) achievements but also looking forward to the finish line in Lukla.
I filled my empty stomach with a mushroom soup and veggie fried rice; it was good.

So now for some rest in my room that is next to the shared toilet (and I noticed there is a gap between the two rooms in one corner. I hope no one has diarrhea, but with only 4 guests in the house the chances of that are somewhat minimized.), with a bed that would fit 3, but also disables the door from opening all the way.
I’m hitting the hay early again to get some needed rest for tomorrow, what could be the last part of my trek.

Everest Base Camp Trek * Day 8 / March 21 * Gorak Shep – Kala Patthar – Pheriche

It was a cold night in Gorak Shep — cold, windy and it even snowed. Not much, just 1 or 2 centimeters, but enough to cover everything in white and making hiking just a tad more tricky.

Tengi and I shared a room since the lodge was well booked, but he’s a quiet sleeper and wasn’t bothered by the cold or the height, of course.

There was only one toilet in the entire lodge. It seems building in extra restrooms got forgotten while they expanded their lodge. It was yet another squat toilet, but now with a icy, frozen floor — thus it was squatting for experts, which obviously didn’t work for me. And damn, I’d hate to have this conversation:
“So when did you break your leg?”
“When I was trekking to Everest Base Camp.”
“Wow, you fell down a ridge or got caught in a stone avalanche?”
“No, I slipped in the toilet.”

We got out of bed at 5:30am and 30 minutes later found ourselves out in the cold, wearing all layers available, facing a steep path that goes up 400 vertical meters in less than a kilometer, up to the peak of Kala Patthar. This also separated the common path of our Chinese friend and his guide. They were heading out to cross the Cho La pass which will lead them back to Namche Bazar on a different route, but also add 2 or 3 days to their trek.

I’m not going to lie, that was one tough, steep, long way up. The snow, the cold, the wind and the early morning playing their part in making it even more of a challenge… at least for me. I felt like crawling, or even turning around. The peak was in sight but didn’t seem to come any closer.
The prayer flags on top were dancing in the wind and I could hear them clapping — but not an encouraging clapping rather a honing clap, making fun of me trying to scale the mountain. And that is when I snapped. I threw my already broken walking stick and the down gloves on the floor and ran up the hill in a furious rage, tearing down those flags and stomping on every one of them. Then I snapped out of my daydream and found myself still far away from the peak, trying to catch my breath once again.

So I was no strong man today, but a lucky man. The clouds were on retreat, making room for a clear blue sky and a rising sun, as she was getting up behind Mt. Everest. Still, I wasn’t on top but it was beautiful nonetheless.

After some time later and catching my breath after every 5th step, I did finally get to the top of Kala Patthar… and up there all the hard effort was easily forgotten. The view over the high peaks was truly breathtaking. The wind eased a little, letting us enjoy this unforgettable, impressive panorama.
I did however decide then and there that this was the highest I will ever go by foot. If they ever build a cable car with a rotating restaurant on top of Mt. Everest, then sure, I’ll be there. But for now 5550 meters above sea level is as high as I’ll ever go by foot.

With a heavy heart we had to go down again and just as we took our first steps the wind got strong again, almost sweeping us off the feet. It would’ve been a long flight down…

We scurried down the mountain and went back to the lodge, grabbed our things and went on our way to go down. We passed Lebuche, got down 2 of the steep hills I still remember crawling up, were chased by a 12-head yak train, retracing our path, but then instead of going towards Dingboche we went down the main route to Pheriche. It was nice going down, cursing every short ascend that was in between, but nevertheless I was dog-tired. But with every step we got down the air got a little easier to breathe. And the weather was a little windy but otherwise perfect with great views.

We have settled in at the Nagerkot Hotel (I sure hope Nagerkot has some good meaning in Nepali, as opposed to what it sounds like in German). The guy who showed us the rooms was more interested in pressing around on his cellphone, tho.
For dinner I ordered veggy soup and chicken curry rice, and it will sure be a cold night.

Tomorrow we should get as far as Namche Bazar, then to Phakding, and then back in Lukla with flight to Kathmandu — if the weather permits flights from/to Lukla. The airport is quite sensitive to the wind and travelers can get stuck up there for several days. But those are the worries in 3 days. Now just hoping the weather will be fine, my energy scale will stay up even when getting to these occasional upwards hills, and the knees will be up for the hundreds of steps down that are still to follow.

Everest Base Camp Trek * Day 7 / March 20 * Lebuche – Gorak Shep; Gorak Shep – Everest Base Camp – Gorak Shep

At 7am we were quietly eating breakfast as the owner and a porter still were sleeping on the benches we used to sit on for dinner. I don’t know if this is the owners real bed, but she didn’t seem to mind that this was her sleeping quarters.
When we were to leave and pay the bill she was just sitting up in her “bed”, the sleep still in her eyes, tallying up all my food consumptions (lunch, dinner and breakfast came up to 2000 Rupees. A bottle of water was priced at 300 Rupees).

It was a windy and cold day as we stepped out. The weather was quite stormy thruout the night, with strong winds sweeping over the roof sounding like someone is running over it. But I had my fingers crossed that it will get better — on other days the weather had changed from good to bad, so it might just change the other way too…

Soon it was evident that we had joined the crowd again. People after people were walking slowly along the same route; some dressed like they’re crossing the North Pole, other much more lighter, but most in nicely color-tuned outfits and other (like me) in color-mismatched pieces.
However, Tengi and I were making good progress walking the path that was promised to be “flat” but still had quite some ups and downs in it. We had to go up 200 vertical meters after all.
It was however too much for my walking stick. The lover 3rd of my Lecky stick (probably a knock-off) slid out and couldn’t be fastened no more. I guess some improvisation is in order.

One time, when we saw the long stony path ahead of us Tengi pointed at a red figure far away and said, “It’s Chinese [Ching-Hai].”
For me it was just another trekker dressed in red, but Tengi’s eagle eyes sure were right. Just as we were to get into Gorak Shep we caught up with Ching-Hai and his guide again.

Gorak Shep (5140) was crowded. We 4 had to go by 3 different lodges to find some available rooms. We ended up crashing at the Snowland Heights Inn, left our packs in our rooms and had an early lunch at 9:30am (fried potatoes with cheese).

And soon after we were off for the real thing: going to Everest Base Camp!
It was a stony, windy hike, that sometimes had us scale over big boulders. Most of the way was on top of the Khumbu Glacier, which except for some crevices and small puddles was covered with stones.
Higher up we passed some impressive icebergs (not in touching distance, tho) and could feel the presence of the snowy peaks. Mt. Everest, who’s peak can be seen between two other mountains, was merely a shadow in this weather.

Slowly but surely — sometimes pushed by the wind — we arrived at a big boulder that had “Everest Base Camp, 5364 M” written on it, among with names of trekkers that scribbled their names on it too. This stone is the official trekkers Everest Base Camp stop and probably one of the most photographed stone in the Himalayas.

In the distance we could spot some yellow tents. Tengi and I went on to check out the expeditions’ base camp. There were only a couple tents set up yet for people who prepare the camp before the real expeditions arrive. But as we got closer it was pretty clear to me that Base Camp is a pretty desolate and harsh environment to start such a tough expedition. Since it is on top of a living glacier, the camp looks different every year, erasing the memories of past camps year after year. This year there were some crevices and small mountain lakes cutting thru the area.
I wouldn’t want to spend a night — not to speak of a month or two — up there. Maybe if the weather would’ve been better and the half a dozen people scattered among the tents would’ve been holding pina coladas and dance to limbo music, then I might change my mind and book myself on the next expedition right after I downloaded and watched all the episodes of the “Gillmore Girls“.

Tengi showed me the route the Everest climbers have to take, over a big glacier with crevices that could swallow a small house. He also told me that he already joined two Everest expeditions: first a Thai expedition where he had spent 24 night in Camp 2 as a cook, and then as Sherpa for the British Army when he got up all the way.
When I asked him if he would want to climb Mt. Everest again, he said “Yes” without hesitation. In the matter of fact he had already contacted his agency and is just waiting to be drafted.

When we returned to the “Everest Base Camp” boulder all other trekkers had caught up with us, all taking turns in posing in front of the big stone.
I thought “What the hell” and got Ching-Hai to take a posing pic of Tengi and me, too.

It didn’t really dawn on me until I was on my way down that I’ve just been in Everest Base Camp. Holy crap. Me in the middle of the Himalayas, on 5000 meters above sea level, at a place where so many adventures and tragedies took place. It’s so impressive yet still needs time to really sink in.

On our way down, as we sat down at probably the only non-windy spot, Tengi said, “You’re strong man. Very good!” referring to our walking as we once again left everyone behind. Coming from a man who had climbed all those mountains and carries my backpack this sure means a lot.
“Well, I just walk“, I tried to reason and adding, “I don’t have a car, so I walk a lot“, but I’m not sure if that makes any more sense.

But Mt. Everest seemed to be happy too, as the weather cleared just enough for her to show me the peak with clouds rolling up one side. So I did get it all, after all.

Now back in the lodge where it’s freezing cold (the water in the plastic bottle I left behind is actually frozen), I wait for dinner (chicken soup then macaroni with veggies and cheese — yeah, I can live off potatoes and macaronis).

Health is good. Got a runny nose for some while now, but the feet are happy, the legs still seem to be able to carry me a couple kilometers more and the head is good and clear (unless you beg to differ after reading my babbling here).
We’ll have an early start tomorrow to go up Kala Patthar (5550) to catch the panorama basked IN THE SUNRISE (I hope the sun heard that). And after that it’s descend, descend, descend.

But for now I’m listening to my victory track “Mojave” by Afro Celts Sound System as I’m huddled up in my sleeping bag, grinning like a mischievous Calvin.