Friday the 13th …not exactly the best day to leave for Everest Base Camp…especially when doing so in one of those small aircrafts flying in between the Himalayas! But thanks God we arrived in freezing Lukla airport safe and sound …even though my heart stopped when I saw the size of the runway – a tiny strip of tarmac shorter than Bieb il-Belt! Luckily our guide gave us the advice to spend our first in the same village to acclimatize … but I was overjoyed at the idea …no unlucky things could happen to us if we stayed in same place!
This is the way we trekked:
Day 2: From Lukla 2600m we trekked to Jorsalle 2810m – 4 ½ hours great time our guide was amazed
Day 3: All the way up to Namchee Bazaar 3480m – 3 hours – quite fast again. Spent afternoon washing clothes in the river water…I am pretty sure that the water temperature was below 30 degrees… no washing machine settings!!!
Day 4: Acclimatization day in Namche but still hiked to Khumjung 3790m
Day 5: Left Namchee for Pangboche – 5 ½ hours – 3860m -
From here the altitude began to make a difference – headaches, colder nights and some even stomach ache at times.
Day 6: Walk to Dingboche 4410m for lunch and acclimatization walk to Chumgun 4730m.
Day 7: Another Acclimatization day at Dingboche but again the guide did not allow us to lazy around and made us climb a small peak of 5000m just to go back down again. But if it helps you rid yourself of acute mountain sickness …From here upwards the water you find is normally frozen! Ever tried to wash your socks in frozen water?? Or go wash your teeth and get ice in your mouth???
Day 8: From Dingboche, 2 hours to Doughla 4620m for rest and then a steep trek upwards to Louboche 4930m
Day 9: Trek up to Gora Shep 5160m light lunch and a 2 ½ hour walk along side Kumbu glacier to Everest Base Camp. (Needless to say …a very cold walk)
Day 10: Trekked up Kala Pattar peak 5545m to have the best view of Everest and surrounding mountains without actually climbing them. Wonderful view and well worth the effort even though we did not do it in time for sunrise but frankly we preferred staying without frostbite and have the sun rays warming us up a bit than seeing the actual sunrise.
After that, ‘bhac-cucc’, you have to walk all the way back!!…and please keep in mind that is not all the way downhill, cause the paths are going up and down all the time – flat path is not existent it is either up or down!
You might have notice that I did not mention anything about showers and having a bath! From day 5 onwards it was impossible to find a hot shower. You could get a hot basin of water at a very excessive price however the majority of people decide to postpone the much needed shower. We tried a compromise of wet wipes and a basin of cold water..you can guess what the is the first thing we did when arrived back at the Kathmadu hotel A HOT SHOWER.
Traveller: Jbilocca , Home: Malta, Date: Dec 3, 2008
