After we left Lobuche, we started our trek up. This was the first time I saw ice/snow on the ground. We arrived at Base Camp around mid/late March. It was cold but not so cold that you need super thermal gear. The walking keeps you warm but do as your outfitters tell you :)
There is our first sighting of base camp! From a very far distance, we can see the tiny little yellow tents (and when you arrive, they are HUGE tents that fit, what seems like 30-50 people!). I had my music turned up and was dancing my way to base camp. I was beyond ecstatic.
OK - Here is one of the most amazing moments of my trip. I met Phurba Tashi. He is the main sherpa for Russell Brice's Himalayan Experience Ltd. They are featured on the Discovery channel show: Everest: Beyond the Limit.
There he is in the picture below! This man is a legend. He's summitted Mount Everest 20+ times and that's just what's officially recorded when he guides. He's gone way more than that to fix and maintain the climbing equipment.
Our guide, Thupten and Phurba are cousins! so it was so hilarious when Thupten called Phurba on his cell phone to ask if he was free to meet us! Cell phones, up at almost 18k feet above sea levels. Cell phones, where there are no flushing toilets!!!
I didn't have anything easy that Phurba could autograph so he autographed my pink jacket shell I'm wearing!
It's so amazing when you see all this stuff up here and realize that it was either a fellow human or a yak that carried it up here by foot. Helicopters do not fly to this altitude. There is no machinery that can bring this stuff up. It's 100% manual hard work.
It actually makes me sad to hear stories where an expeditioner wanted to bring their superfluous luxury items up and it's these poor sherpas or yaks that have to carry it. I guess they realize they're "paying" for the service and take advantage of it :|
Here are the cousins!!!
More yak traffic... more expedition yaks bringing climber's stuffs!
Here is an awesome photo of my team mate Deborah. There aren't much colors up at base camp so her bright green jacket contrasts so nicely against the drear. Also, this pic shows how harsh the terrain can be. It's not easy trekking through these mountains over big boulders and trying to keep your balance.
Another example of the amazing sherpas carrying probably a hundred pound of weight. I forgot what the weight restriction is but there is one for people and yaks :)
KALA PATTHAR
As if 17,500 feet wasn't high up enough, the next morning, a few of us woke up at 5am to start our trek up to Kala Patthar at 18,195 feet. I can tell you, it was the most miserable experience of my life. I never felt so much pain and hardship trekking up ONE mountain. It was freezing, my fingers and toes were going numb. I couldn't breathe so every step, every breath was hard. It was so steep that at MULTIPLE times, I wanted to turn back. I kept thinking, this isn't worth the pain...and I have a pretty high threshold for pain folks (ask me about my personal life one of these days). Our head sherpa, "Mr. K" and my team mate, Tim were so encouraging to not give up so I trekked on.
I can't remember how long it took us but it was somewhere between 3-5 hours to summit. It was miserable but so rewarding. Like most things in life (at least my life), it doesn't come easy and you have to fight for it. When you do, you're left with the reward and not so much the pain it that it took to achieve it.
I felt terrible for complaining about how hard it was. Poor Nuri not only carried some of our stuff when I couldn't even hold my dang water bottle anymore, he carried the group's tea and biscuits for us to eat!!! I swear these Sherpas are about the most amazing people on this planet.
Here is one view of what the climb looked like. I took this picture coming down. There was no way I could pull out my camera in the early freezing morning on our way up.
Here is the clearest view of Mount. Everest! It's the one with the cloud cover.
That's the end of my trek. We had a celebratory dinner and dance back at the Lukla lodge we stayed in our first night. It was so incredible to shower and wear clean clothes (luckily, I saved some clean clothes!). We drank their alcohol that was poured out of an old motor oil bottle. It was good times :)
We flew back to Kathmandu the next day through the Lukla airport. I got some good sleep. Had to get up early for an interview with REI :-O
Note: there are some helicopter rescues up to a certain altitude. We witnessed a couple throughout our trek.
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