Where to start, this latest adventure was a whirlwind. My wife and I found a great deal on a 17 day trek to Mt. Everest Base Camp which has been a bucket-list adventure that has been on our radar for quite some time. With such a great price we ended up pulling the trigger and going for it! With our jobs as travel nurses, we are able to get the time off in between assignments and the price just sealed the deal. We flew into Kathmandu Nepal a few days before the trek started to check out the city, plus we still needed to buy a little more cold weather gear (the stuff we never get a chance to use in Arizona!). We heard Kathmandu had some adequate knock offs for very cheap (more on that later). We ended up getting everything we needed and took a few tours in the days leading up to our departure for the Himalayas.
These first few days in Nepal were very eye opening. The earthquake from last year left so much rubble in it's path, many of the great temples had been damaged and were in the process of being rebuilt. On a tour of the outlying villages of Kathmandu, the aftermath of the earthquake was very saddening. The small villages of Bungamati and Kohkana were demolished and in total rebuilding mode. Small tin roofed 5x5 shacks were placed sporadically throughout these villages with rubble piled up on all sides. As a country Nepal is in the bottom 20 in poorest countries in the world and bottom 3 in Asia. What they lack in funds, they make up for in personality and character. Many heartwarming stories from our time in Nepal and so many great people in each area we visited. From the poor villagers in these towns to the Tibetan refugees working in carpet factories, the eyes of these people burned holes in your heart with happiness. The citizens of Nepal were honest, kind and extremely hard workers. I could go on for hours telling stories of the Nepali culture and customs that we were introduced to, but for now I will jump forward a few days to the Everest Base Camp Trek.
Waking up super early in the morning allowed us to jump on the second flight from Kathmandu to Lukla at the base of the Himalayas (Himal just happens to be the Nepali word for "mountain"). This has been said to be one of the most dangerous flights that can be taken as the runway is only 200 meters long and at a slant. When landing if you don't stop in time there is a brick wall to slow you down. When departing you are going straight downhill toward the edge of a cliff (as seen above) and you cross your fingers you'll be airborne before the tarmac runs out. This was not nearly as scary as I had imagined, maybe I was in awe as this was a sunrise flight with great views of the Kathmandu valley and Himalayas from all sides of this 14 passenger plane.
Day 1: Lukla-Phakding 3.94 mi/653 feet elevation gain
We had never done anything more than a day hike with our full pack on. "Most times on the trail are spent in our running shoes, hope we wore these boots enough to get them worn in?" We had a ton of questions that first day. Our group consisted of a Nepali guide, a Brit, a Ukrainian living in the US and my wife and I. We stopped at the first teahouse, loaded up on water and we were on our way. Luckily for us we had a super short hiking day to get our bearings straight. Just around lunchtime we arrived in Phakding and checked into our teahouse for the night. The teahouses look like hotels from the outside, but the walls are super thin particle board with no insulation. As part of the deal when you check into a teahouse you have to eat your meals at that locations (or be charged extra fees). The prices were inflated, but once you see how the porters carry these goods, it is well worth the price. The first night was chilly, but with a nice sleeping bag and blanket it was manageable. We were definitely not in Arizona anymore, the cold would only get worse as we headed up higher.
Day 2: Phakding-Namche 7.07 mi/3379 feet elevation gain
On day 2 the hike got real!! We had an early breakfast and we were off. "Nepali Flat", per our guide, (which means lots of small ups and downs) until lunch. After lunch we started a 2 hour huge climb, until we got our first view of Everest from way off in the distance. Hard to imagine trekking all the way there, but we were well on our way. A little after lunch we checked into our teahouse in Namche. I started showing some minor signs of altitude sickness, which was something new to me. (I have another post in the works as a survival guide to anyone who wants to do this trek!) I had a massive headache and some minor nausea. I wanted to make the trek without using Diamox (a diuretic medication that helps ease the signs and symptoms of altitude sickness). After feeling off for a few hours I decided it was probably better to suck it up and just take it. After eating dinner and sleeping, my body regained and I started feeling much better. Plus we had an easy acclimation day the next day.
Day 3: Namche Acclimation 3.83 mi/1713 feet elevation gain
This was the first of our acclimation days. These days involve waking early, eating breakfast and taking a short climb to higher elevations without packs on. We then climb back down and take it easy to let our bodies acclimate to the lower levels of oxygen. Not as easy a day as we first thought, mileage was low but the climb was straight up the side of a mountain to Everest View Hotel. On the way we had amazing views of Everest, Lhotse, Nuptse, and Ama Dablam.
Day 4: Namche-Tengboche 6.59 mi/2759 feet elevation gain
Woke up feeling much better all around today. We started noticing a trend, semi-easy hiking until lunch and then huge climbs right after lunch. Tengboche has a huge monastery and we just happened to arrive right on time to view their prayer ceremony. The temperatures were much cooler here than the other villages. We were now at around 3800 meters (12,500 feet) and the nights were dipping well below freezing. We had never been in temps this cold for extended periods of time so we loaded up with our warmest gear and drank warm tea for hours before bedtime. The only place where there is any form of heat is in the dining area where each teahouse has a wood burning stove that EVERYONE huddles around until the flames die out.
Day 5: Tengboche-Dingboche 6.83 mi/2290 feet elevation gain
Tengboche was our only foggy day (as shown above) all other days were clear, sometimes with not even a cloud in the sky. This day was a rather easy day compared to the past few and came right on time as we had another acclimation day the next day. Felt a little better in the elevation and the cold was becoming more bearable. Good Luck teahouse in Dingboche was nice and had a warmer eating area!
Day 6: Dingboche Acclimation 1.60mi/827 feet elevation gain
Really short acclimation climb early and then back to the lodge to rest. Ended up finding a great coffee shop to kill some time. Most coffee shops along the trails had awesome vibes and great coffee! I started having headaches again here, but after a Coke and some chocolate cake I started feeling much better. Everyone was really tired at this point of the trip, we were warned by our guide not to take day time naps as our oxygen levels would drop and headache and nausea would start soon after. Some days our 6 PM dinner was so hard to stay awake for because we were all dead tired by 2-3 PM. We made it through without naps most days, but the trail wears you down over time.
Day 7: Dingboche-Lobuche 5.33 mi/2782 feet elevation gain
Packed up everything, had breakfast and then started up the same climb from the day before. Nepali flat for a few hours until we reached Thukla Pass. Huge climb to get to the pass and an amazing site from the top. Here lie the memorials for all the climbers who lost their lives trying to climb Everest also know as Sagarmatha by the people of Nepal and Chomolungma by the Tibetans (Chomolungma directly translates to "Goddess Mother of the World"). Thukla pass is windy and void of color, besides the Nepali prayer flags. Very moving experience being at this sacred site. From this point forward the terrain felt as it we were in outer space. Exactly what I think being on the Moon would feel like. We were now transported to another world. Stayed in a teahouse called "Oxygen", great name for a place this high in elevation huh?!? Our guide had to check our heart rates and oxygenation at this altitude to make sure we were acclimating accordingly. Melissa and I had 89-90% oxygenation, the other two guys in our group were in the low 70%. No worries here per our guide, less than 60% is when they start to worry. As nurses, my wife and I were shocked! Anybody that low at regular altitude would be in serious trouble!
Day 8: 1)Lobuche- Gorak Shep 2.89mi/1109 feet elevation gain
Sub-zero start to the morning. Couldn't feel our toes or fingers as the hike started. Today was the day we would finally make it the Everest Base Camp though, so we pushed forward. Hiked a few miles and dropped our bags at the teahouse in Gorak Shep where we would spend the night. Refilled our water bottles and we were off to Base Camp!!
2)Gorak Shep-Everest Base Camp 4.10 mi/1030 feet elevation gain
After a few hours, we made it to the Base Camp of Everest!! Standing on the Khumbu Glacier surrounded by prayer flags and 8,000 meter peaks was an experience I will remember for life. I ran back and forth across the glacier taking pictures and videos like I never have before! Got our pictures with the camp and now it was time to head back! Our entire group of four made the base camp after many hardships over the past week plus! Many other groups had multiple members helicoptered out in the days before with severe altitude sickness and many others pushed on despite low oxygen, colds, pneumonia, etc.
3)Gorak Shep-Kala Patthar 2.02 mi/1726 feet elevation gain
We made it back to Gorak Shep and wanted more adventure. We pushed on and wanted to do the sunset climb up Kala Patthar. This was a tough climb with many false summits. We finally made it to the top and it was below freezing temperatures with insane wind. We took a video and a few pictures and spent all of 2 minutes on the summit! Us desert rats weren't ready to be that cold! We reached our highest elevation at 18,541 feet on the peak and headed down to get the golden sunset over the Himalayas.
Day 9: Gorak Shep-Pengboche 10.99 mi/804 feet elevation gain
Gorak shep was the coldest we had ever been. Everything in the room froze over night. Our water bottles and my buff that I had used the day before were all solid in the morning. Let's eat breakfast and get back to the warmer temps!! Everybody was riding a high after making it to base camp and we had a downhill hike back to Pengboche. You could tell we were getting back to civilization as this teahouse had running water and a TV!
Day 10: Pengboche-Namche 8.9 mi/1800 feet elevation gain
This day was a little more difficult, everybody seemed to be wearing down a little bit. The high we were riding was over and we were all ready for a warm shower and nice comfy bed. We ended up making good time on the hikes, so we ended up with an extra day that we would use as a rest day in Namche. Since we had a rest day, we might as well celebrate at the pub! We had met a few others from New Zealand, so we went out for a night out on the town (actually more like 4 PM, because we were tired and that's when the sun goes down!) Got a few beers and made it back by dinner time!
Day 11: Namche Rest 1.0 mi/663 feet elevation gain
Full rest day! Got to sleep in. Made our way to a great coffee shop for a celebratory cappuccino. Drank a ton of tea and watched every movie about Nepal Ever! (Sadly they all end the same way..... everyone dies....). Such a hard life living in the Himalayas, but such a relaxing day off! We also spent the day reflecting on the hardships of Nepali life. The local porters in the picture above were carrying a refrigerator and freezer to the next town. Many would do this hard work daily to supply the villages with food and goods needed for daily life. Despite carrying such heavy loads, they were always friendly on the trails.
Day 12: Namche-Lukla 12.5 mi/2769 feet elevation gain
Having that day off really took us out of our groove. It was definitely tougher to wake up the next morning and took a bit longer to get our legs into our last hike! We got ahead of our guide and ended up getting lost twice on two uphills and climbed about twice as much as we needed to! We never take the easy way out! Finished off at the teahouse we first filled our water bottles at the beginning of the trek. Ate one last plate of Dal Baht to give us the power to make it back home! After one more night of sleep here in Lukla, we took the exciting downhill flight back to Kathmandu.
Above is a finishing picture of our group and our sherpas. Successful trip with great people! We even felt like we were leaving family after the trip was over! It was an amazing experience and we can't wait for the next adventure!!
Total mileage 79.59mi/ 24,530 feet elevation gain.
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