Everest Base Camp, Nepal
Everest Base Camp
The lowdown
For as long as we’ve been thinking and talking about taking time off to travel, we’ve discussed the prospect of traveling and trekking in Nepal. We were debating between trekking to Annapurna Base Camp – the most popular route and allegedly the most beautiful – and Everest Base Camp – the second most popular, the longer and more rugged route. We ultimately decided to do Everest Base Camp in large part due to the folklore and our interest (read: possible obsession) with the stories about conquering the tallest mountain in the world. Though trekking to base camp is nowhere near comparable with summiting Everest, we knew that it would be an amazing adventure and a fun challenge for us and it quickly became one of the parts of our trip we were most excited about.
It was one of the most memorable, amazing experiences of our lives – we knew this while we were trekking and we already feel nostalgic writing about it. Nepal is a very special country and the Khumbu region (where Everest is located) is an impossibly beautiful place. We feel so lucky to have had this adventure at this juncture of our lives.
Many people that we’ve met along our travels have asked us about various components of the trek – from training to food to accommodations – so we wanted to share a quick overview of our journey before diving into the day-by-day (as I wrote that it sounded like email/meeting jargon, but it kinda works here too).
What we did to prepare
While we didn’t do any explicit training (many people do), we did inadvertently spend lots of time at higher altitudes before the trek which may have helped us avoid altitude sickness (the most prolific problem experienced by trekkers). We spent several weeks in Colorado before our wedding (8,000+ feet depending on the day) and did some hiking in Tajikistan at higher altitudes the month before setting off for Nepal (18,520 feet was our max elevation). We were young and spritely which probably helped us too. Jessie took diamox starting in Kathmandu, while Doug went au naturel given his trip to the Kazakh hospital after taking an unfamiliar medication. All of this, combined with the consistently clear and sunny weather for October in the Khumbu, meant we had a more enjoyable experience than most on trail.
Who we went with
After looking into a handful of companies (there are hundreds of trekking operators in Nepal) and trek variations last spring (we were excited to get the trek locked down), we settled on a 16-day trek to Everest Base Camp (yes you read 16 days right – more on that below) with Nepal Hiking Team. In addition to going to Base Camp, we would have the opportunity to cross one of the famous three passes – Cho La – and continue on to the Goyko Lakes. When in Rome (Nepal), right?
We became fast friends with our kind, patient, and hilarious guide Kul and very much appreciated the help of our porter, Ras. Kul is from a small village a few days’ walk from Lukla and has a lovely wife and 10-year old son. He’s been guiding for over 10 years, having worked his way up from porter and assistant guide. Not only was he a phenomenal guide – patient, thoughtful, caring – but he became a close friend over our two weeks together (so much so that we all teared up when saying goodbye). We couldn’t have asked for a better experience in large part to Kul.
For our journey to base camp, we were traveling in parallel to another Nepal Hiking Team group that was led by two guides – Gokarna and Ram. We made friends with these guides – in particular Gokarna who we frequently played cards with – and the six awesome people in the group. We’re still keeping up with a handful of these people today and very much enjoyed getting to know them in the teahouses.
Where we stayed along the way
Along our trek, we stayed in guesthouses which are referred to as “teahouses” in Nepal. We ate two to three meals a day at these teahouses and generally enjoyed our time in each accommodation.
The teahouses were basic, but comfortable for the most part. We occasionally had a double bed, but most of the time slept in twin beds (which was a bummer as it started to get cold – we could have used the body heat).During the first two nights of the trek, we had our own bathroom (score!) that included a shower with lukewarm/cold water. After Day 3, we shared bathrooms and didn’t shower (most people don’t due to the cold).
In general, the closer we got to Base Camp, the more basic the accommodations were. It’s very difficult to get things out past Lukla – you either need to have a porter carry them, put them on a dzopke (cow-yak mix used for porting), or helicopter them places which is really not a viable option. The towns also get much smaller as you go so there are fewer people there to own and operate places. Anyone that has trekked to Base Camp has a shared understanding of what it means to have spent a night in Gorekshep – something we’ll share more about below 🙂
What we ate
Though we don’t normally eat breakfast, we stuck to a strict three meal a day regimen on the trek. We ate every breakfast and dinner in teahouses and most of our lunches on the trail. Meal times varied based on when we got places – we would have breakfast from 6:30-7:30am depending on the day, lunch between 10:00am-12:30pm depending on when we reached an interim stop, and dinner almost always around 6:00pm. We ate entirely vegetarian on the trek – animals are holy in the Khumbu region so any meat on the menu is predominately for tourists and transported from Lukla or Kathmandu.
The food on the trek was delicious. We mostly had local, Nepali fare, but occasionally mixed it up with “continental food”. Every meal was accompanied with tea or coffee – whatever we were feeling at that moment. We also supplemented meals with sweet treats – an unexpected joy during our time trekking. Most of the larger towns we passed through had a bakery. We tried apple pie, chocolate cake, and even a brownie at the world’s highest bakery (5,000 meters!). We won’t go through all 39 meals that we had, but some of our favorites Nepali foods that we had again and again were:
Chapatti and curry: On our first day, we asked Kul what Nepalis eat for breakfast – chapatti and Tibetan bread were his favorites. From that moment, our fate was sealed – Tibetan bread for Doug and chapatti for Jessie every morning. On our second day, Jessie saw the guides were eating chapatti with curry (she had been given honey and jam). From then on, she always had chapatti with curry and generous dollops of spicy homemade chili sauce (each teahouse had their own recipe). Chapatti is a flat, whole wheat bread similar to roti. The curries that it accompanied it were light, flavorful veggie curries with whatever fresh veggies the teahouse had. It was the perfect way to start the day
Tibetan bread: Doug was in love at first bite (has anyone coined that term? If not they should) with Tibetan bread. Tibetan bread is a glorified mega doughnut. A rotund fried piece of bread usually served with honey or fruit jam. Maybe the key to staving off altitude sickness for Doug (but don’t quote us there)
Dal bhat: Otherwise known as Nepali set meal or thali, dal bhat is a staple for the Nepali guides and porters and many trekkers. It’s a perfect mix of carbs and protein and it’s easy to digest which is important in high altitudes. That’s why there is a common phrase in the trekking community “Dal bhat power 24 hour”. It comes on a silver platter with a delicious bowl of dal (most often brown), vegetable curry (each curry was different and delicious in its own way), an inane amount of rice, a pappadum (egg white cracker-esque thing), pickled veggies, and sometimes spinach curry. The closer we got to base camp, the fewer the bells and whistles on the dal bhat. We’re very excited to put our own twist on dal bhat when we get home
Momos: We’re no stranger to momos – we’ve checked out a few momo joints in Chicago (highly recommend Momo Factory on Broadway for any Chicagoans reading this – order the jhol momos and report back) and even tried our hand at making momos last spring (they were better than expected). Momos are the Nepali form of dumplings. They are usually steamed, but can be fried or pan fried, full of fresh vegetables, and accompanied by a dipping sauce that often has a masala flavor. There are few things better than a steaming plate of fresh momos to warm up after a morning of trekking
Thukpa: Jessie has always been a big fan of soup, so was excited to try thukpa, a popular Nepali and Tibetan soup on the trail. Thukpa is light with thin rice noodles and ample amounts of carrots, green beans, cabbage, and other veggies in a vegetarian broth. It’s simple and delicious and something we’ll certainly make when we’re back stateside
Sherpa stew: Sherpa stew is another delicious soup that’s native to Nepal (and you might guess, the sherpa people)! It’s hearty, but simple. Each variation is a bit different, but our favorites had handmade thick noodles with broccoli, carrots, potatoes, green onions, and cabbage in a thicker, ginger-garlic broth. We’ll be trying our hand at this recipe too
Rara noodles / Korean noodles: We didn’t try these until later in our trek, but once we did, we were hooked! Rara noodles are typical ramen noodles in a delicious broth with fresh vegetables. Korean noodles are a spicier version with an egg. They’re more like packaged $1 ramen than a fancy $15 bowl of ramen, but they were delicious and definitely what the doctor ordered while trekking
Chili: Honorable, blanket mention to all of the chili sauces we tried on our trek. We like spicy foods and often add jalapeños and/or Serranos to whatever we’re cooking up at home. Most tourists (apparently) don’t have much of a spice tolerance, so the food tends to be turned down on the trek. To compensate for this, we added homemade chili sauces to nearly all of our dishes. Each teahouse had a different homemade recipe and they were all delicious
Day 1: Kathmandu (4,600 feet) to Phakding (8,560 feet)
Having gone to sleep at 4:00pm, we woke up at 1:00am surprisingly well rested to set off on our adventure to Ramechaap airport – where we would catch our flight to the infamous Tenzing-Hillary airport in Lukla. The drive to Ramechaap was a windy, bumpy four hours in a shared van. Most of our companions fell asleep (not sure how), but we were wide awake and excited to take on the day.
The Ramechaap airport was complete and utter chaos. Bag check was elbow those around you, place your bag on the table as quickly as possible, and get it lightly frisked before it was cleared. Security was separated by men and women with a manual patdown and a quick bag peak. The boarding process was get on the plane, now! And our boarding passes had the flight number scribbled on them, no name, no time. We joked that Ramechaap was a startup that scaled with no systems or processes in place, as many flights have been rerouted from Kathmandu to Ramechaap during the busy trekking season.
The flight to Lukla was quick, beautiful, and a bit thrilling, but not scary. Tenzing-Hillary airport (named after the first two summitters of Everest) is known as the most dangerous airport in the world due to its location sandwiched between a mountain and a deep valley and its unforgivingly short runway (only 527 meters at a 12 degree incline to help the planes slow down quickly) . After getting off the plane, we marveled at the surrounding mountains and the feeling of the Himalayan air. It felt awesome. Doug watched planes land for awhile (almost losing his hat and sunglasses from the wind) and then we set off on day 1 of our trek!
We trekked for two hours (the shortest length of the trip), embracing the scenery, new smells (including dzopke poop), and religious symbols (prayer flags, mantras, temples) along the way. It was a clear day and we largely had the trail to ourselves despite how many people set off around a similar time (Kul kept us on a steady and speedy pace). We chatted with Kul the full time – he warned us that we probably wouldn’t be able to talk much as we were walking in the coming days.
Once we got to Phakding, we enjoyed our first dal bhat for lunch and committed to having one at every lunch/dinner for the rest of the trek, something we almost followed through on. After settling into the guesthouse, Kul taught us how to play dhumbal – a Nepali card game that we haven’t stopped playing since. We took cold showers (but a shower is a shower) and turned in early.
Day 2: Phakding (8,560 feet) to Namche Bazar (11,280 feet)
After sleeping for 11 hours (!), we had an early breakfast of our first Tibetan bread and chapati – delicious. Then, we hit the path. We trekked at a sustainable pace in a green, forest area for three hours, getting our first views of some of the most epic peaks that we’ve seen. We learned about the significance of prayer flags and mantras and how to properly spin a prayer wheel amongst many other things about the mountains. Kul had an encyclopedic knowledge about the Khumbu region and was excited to share it with us.
Shortly after officially entering into Sagarmatha National Park (Sagarmatha is the Nepal name of Everest), we stopped for an early lunch of daal bhat, fried rice, and jasmine tea. Lunch helped fuel our afternoon – the trail turned steep! We passed over four “bouncy” suspension bridges, including one that was highest than the Lukla runway was long (over 500m off the ground). A few minutes after crossing over this bridge, we got our first glimpses of Everest and Lhotse. They were tiny – hard to believe that we would be at the base of these mountains in less than a week!
We hiked for a few more hours and arrived in Namche Bazar, the largest village on our trek, mid-afternoon. We loved walking around town – we hadn’t expected it to be so sizable or full of cafes and shops. We decided to grab a treat at a cafe called EatSmart (we just had to) and made friends with the owner, Mingma. He played a few rounds of dhumbal with us before we had to walk back to our teahouse.
We had dal bhat (why not) and momos for dinner and retreated to our room for a shower. Unfortunately, the shower was either unbearably hot or freezing cold, so we reverted to what came to be known as the “Jessie method”. It’s pretty simple – we turned the shower from hot to cold in rapid succession so we could capitalize on the ~10 seconds of lukewarm water in between.
Day 3: Acclimatization day - Namche Bazar (11,280 feet) to Everest View Hotel (13,000 feet) back to Namche
We woke up very cold in Namche – the weather was starting to get chilly – and happily had a two cups of piping hot coffee before setting off for the day. Today was an acclimatization day where we would hike to higher altitude and descend back to Namche to give our bodies a chance to get used to altitude. Namche is also when people can start to have adverse reactions to the altitude – headaches, nausea, lack of appetite, etc. – so Kul checked in with us frequently to make sure we were “techa” (“all good” in Nepali).
Our destination for the day was the Everest View Hotel – a high-end hotel (relatively speaking) with views of Everest, Lhotse, Ama Dablam, Nuptse, and a slew of other mountains that we would get to see for the first time. The altitude became much more apparent today. We kept our steady pace, but each step became a little bit more challenging – our breathing more labored and our pulses higher. The trail was uphill and steep, but we were rewarded with beautiful views, steps, and eventually flatter ground as we got closer to the hotel. We celebrated with a delicious pot of coffee while enjoying the views.
The hike was a lot nicer (read: easier) on the way down. We stopped at Sagarmatha Next – an organization that is dedicated to removing waste, recycling, and up cycling that waste in the Khumbu region. We were excited about their mission and committed to taking 1 kg of waste back with us to Lukla (a pledge they ask trekkers to make). We also had the opportunity to try out the Everest summit via Virtual Reality – it was awesome. Now we don’t have to do the real thing!
We had a later lunch at the teahouse of Sherpa Stew (delicious and similar to dumpling soup minus the dumplings) and dal bhat and had the rest of the afternoon to wander around Namche. We went on a mission to find toilet paper. We carry an emergency roll (always recommended for traveling), but were surprised to learn that none of the teahouses had toilet paper in the bathrooms. After accomplishing our mission, we went back to EatSmart to play a few rounds of cards with Mingma. He was busy, but we made two friends that we would go on to see along the trek – a Chicagoan who moved to Colorado, Scott, and an incredibly engaging and kind Irishman, John.
When we got back to our teahouse, we met up with Kul who was feeling himself. He taught us “Resham Firiri” – a Nepali trekking song from the 90s. He’d probably come to regret it given how much we sang it in the following days. We played a few rounds of cards, got offered free weed from the owner of the guesthouse (we politely declined), and settled in for a chilly night’s sleep.
Day 4: Namche Bazar (11,280 feet) to Tengboche (12,660 feet)
This was the first morning where it was difficult to get out of bed due to the cold – a feeling we would come to get very familiar with over the next few days. We reluctantly got out of bed and savored our last showers for the next nine days.
Following our typical breakfast of Tibetan bread and Chapatti, we geared up and headed to Tengboche. It was a beautiful day of hiking between the stupas (including one dedicated to Tenzing Norgay, the first Nepali summiter of Everest alongside Edmund Hillary), the mossy forest walk, and the views of Ama Dablam which quickly became our favorite mountain. The trail ebbed and flowed in terms of steepness, turning quite steep as we got closer to Tengboche. Luckily, we were fueled by our daal bhat lunch and made good time to Tengboche. After a handful of difficult switchbacks and a steep uphill climb at the end, we arrived in Tengboche.
Not only was Tengboche a beautiful village with a small cluster of accommodations at one end and the monastery at the other, but it had the most beautiful views of Everest, Lhotse, Ama Dablam, and other impressive Himalayan mountains that we had seen yet. We walked around town and rewarded ourselves with a delicious piece of carrot cake from Tengboche’s bakery – easily our favorite cake yet.
After a few hours, we linked back up with Kul who took us to the Tengboche monastery. Though we had passed many monasteries on our journey, this was the first that we explored in depth. As Kul taught us about Buddhist symbols and explained the tenets of his religion, we walked around the monastery grounds in awe of the natural beauty. We went inside the monastery (no photos allowed, sorry) and had the opportunity to witness a ceremony with the monks. The ceremony was unlike any other religious ceremony we had seen with monks ceremoniously chanting mantras, playing instruments and burning incense amongst other rituals. It was an amazing experience for us.
We walked back across the way to our guesthouse and had a lazy evening of cards (Jessie was on fire), tea (we tried our first lemon ginger honey tea that felt like gatorade on steroids), and food. We had our typical daal bhat, but decided to branch out and try mountain pizza with vegetables and eggs. It was surprisingly delicious despite the layer of hard boiled eggs beneath the cheese. We ended the evening with sherpa music and dancing in the lodge and retreated to our room that was above the kitchen so luckily a bit warmer than it would have otherwise been.
Day 5: Tengboche (12,660 feet) to Dingboche (14,470 feet)
We had a cold and rude awakening to the sounds of a coughing symphony. We were at the point of the trek where many people started to develop what’s known as “Khumbu cough” due to the higher altitude and cold conditions, but we luckily hadn’t been impacted. We embarked on our trek for the day shortly after and it was cold! The first time that we wore our gloves and kept our fleeces on even as we warmed up.
We started the day hiking through another forest that felt mystical with smaller mossy and twisted trees. We crossed our last suspension bridge of the trek that had gorgeous views of Ama Dablam (it felt like we were getting a lot closer) and passed several stupas with peace eyes as we walked along the river.
As we were on our way to lunch, we both got a glimpse of someone that looked familiar. It was Jessie’s Uncle Judah with her Aunt Lisa just ahead! An amazing coincidence to run into them – had we stopped for a bathroom break or an extra picture, left earlier or later, or any hundreds of different permutations of our day, we wouldn’t have run into them. We had a lovely reunion with them and chatted for 20 minutes before going our separate ways. Such a serendipitous encounter!
We fueled up on the best daal bhat that we had at the Friendship Lodge and hit the road (jack?), continuing up a super steep trail. Luckily the trail had amazing views of Everest, Lhotse, and Ama Dablam, so we persevered and arrived in Dingboche. We obviously needed to check out the local bakery… We found Cafe Himalaya – an awesome cafe and bakery where we had espressos and apple pie. Doug spent some time writing while Jessie read the entirety of the Dhammapada – a book about the sayings of the Buddha. A lot of the book really resonated – definitely recommend it!
As the sun started to set, we caught amazing views of Ama Dablam, snapped some pics, got a little lost around town so had to take the long way back, and finally got back to our teahouse. Before settling into our cold room, we had dinner played cards with Kul and Gokarna (we lost miserably, but had a ton of fun).
Day 6: Acclimatization day - Dingboche (14,470 feet) to Nagerjun (16,730 feet) back to Dingboche
Day 6 was our most difficult day of the trek so far as we gained 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) in just two hours. The night before, Kul gave us a lay out of the day and asked us if we wanted to try for half-way or all the way up the mountain we would be climbing, Nagerjun. We said all the way, without missing a beat… A decision we would both curse at various times while going all the way up, but were happy with at the end 🙂
We started early to beat the morning rush and continued on the slow, steady, and consistent pace we had been on for the last five days. We were feeling good, but as we got higher it became much more difficult to move and breathe. Each step felt like a big effort. Jessie found comfort in counting the number of steps in her head so she would focus on that and not how hard she was breathing. Doug hung in there.
The last stretch was particularly steep and required us to do some light bouldering which also felt like a big undertaking at such high altitude. When we finally made it to the top, we threw our hands up in celebration – we were at the highest we’d ever been – 16,730 feet. We sat, caught our breath, and soaked in the amazing views of Ama Dablam, Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu (the fifth highest peak in the world).
The way down was A LOT easier, despite a few spills and near misses on loose rock. After getting down, we obviously checked out another cafe where we had hot drinks and cake. This cafe, Cafe 4410, was screening Everest, so we decided to stay and watch the film. It was a little surreal seeing some of the places we walked by the past few days while sitting in the middle of the Himalaya, just a few days walk away from Base Camp.
Day 7: Dingboche (14,470 feet) to Lobuche (16,120 feet)
Along with our chilly wake up came the temporary death of our SteriPen (we’d been using it to make undrinkable water drinkable along the way). As we lamented about the prospect of having to buy plastic water bottles, Kul came to the rescue with Iodine droplets at breakfast – we rejoiced!
Day 7 brought rocky, barren landscapes, steep but enjoyable hiking, and more cake (who would have guessed). We had a really nice, easy hike in the valley just after Dingboche as we chatted with a new friend from Boston/Hong Kong we made in the lodge the night before. I think we met fewer than five Americans on our trek in total, so it was nice to chat about familiar things from home and made the walk up to lunch go very quickly. We hardly noticed the big rocks or the more difficult incline.
At lunch, we had daal bhat (duh) and thupka to help us keep warm as well as one of our favorite spicy chili sauces. It was served in a repurposed jam container, but hey never judge a book by its cover. A bunch of the friends we had made on the trek happened to gather in the same lunch spot. Some of them were looking and feeling good, others were in tougher shape – altitude sickness, fatigue, coughing. We continued to feel lucky that we hadn’t had any of those issues.
After slurping down the rest of the thupka, we trekked the rest of the way to Lobuche. On the way, we stopped at the Everest Memorial on Thukla Pass. It was in one of the most beautiful locations that we had seen and incredibly sobering. There were hundreds of prayer flag-lined memorials dedicated to climbers that had lost their lives climbing Everest and other mountains in the Himalaya. We walked around and read as many as we could. While reading, we noticed that there were very few memorials for Nepali climbers and Sherpas that had also lost their lives braving the mountains. We found Scott Fischer’s memorial – one of the guides that passed during the disaster in 1996 (the subject of the Everest movie we watched a day earlier) – which was one of the most decorated ones we saw.
We got back on the trail and walked through another beautiful valley where Nuptse, which had been a small, unimpressive mountain a few days earlier, became super prominent. Thanks to our good pace (but mostly our world class pacer), we arrived at Lobuche earlier than we thought we would which meant we had time to go to yet another bakery. This time we went to the world’s highest bakery at 5,000 meters (16,400 feet)! We had to pay a premium for the sweets here given how difficult it was to get things to Lobuche – high prices for a high place!
Lobuche was very cold – almost too cold to play cards in the main dining area. But, we persevered and played many rounds of dhumbal before and after dinner. We retired to our single, freezing beds (Doug used his down sleeping bag this night) early and were sleeping by 7:30pm. Tomorrow was going to be a big day!
Day 8: Lobuche (16,120 feet) to Gorakshep (16,940 feet) to Everest Base Camp (17,600 feet) to Kala Patthar (18,520 feet) back to Gorakshep
Today was the day we had been working towards – the trek to Everest Base Camp and Kala Patthar! We woke up early and enthusiastic – ready to carpe the diem. We left shortly after breakfast in full winter gear – gloves, hats, buffs, and matching Nepal Hiking Team down coats to boot. The trail was super rocky, but thankfully relatively flat. We continued to see epic views of Nuptse and Doug’s love for that mountain grew with each step. After a few hours, the trail turned very steep and rocky and it became more difficult to breathe. We took our time, walking slower, taking breaks, and taking in the views of new mountains (most notably Pumori).
At around 8:30am, we arrived at Gorakshep – the last settlement before Base Camp. It was tiny and very basic with just a few teahouses. We warmed up with some tea and chatted about our plan for the day. We had initially planned to have lunch when we got to Gorakshep, set out for Base Camp in the afternoon and wake up early to hike to Kala Patthar the next morning before sunrise. Because we had made good time (and we weren’t hungry for lunch at 8:30am), we decided to head to Base Camp, come back for lunch, and go to Kala Patthar for sunset that same day. It would be a long day, but we felt good and ready for it.
The views on the trail to Everest Base Camp were amazing, especially of Nuptse (much to Doug’s delight). At this point, we were fully immersed in the mountains with the Khumbu glacier on our right. The trail wasn’t too steep, but there were sizable rocks that we needed to traverse. After about an hour, the gnarly Khumbu ice fall started to emerge (the starting point for all Everest summits) and we knew we were close. We climbed downhill and across to Base Camp careful to avoid the crevasses we passed.
Though there weren’t any tents (it wasn’t summit season), Base Camp was awesome. Without tents, the only signpost letting you know you’re there is a large rock with “Everest Base Camp 5364m” spray painted in big red letters. We loved seeing the Khumbu Ice Fall, Everest, and Nuptse so close and it felt surreal to be standing at the place where so many epic adventures have started. Kul and the gang “toasted” with a Snickers Bar and celebrated how far we had come since Day 1! We took a handful of pictures, walked around a little more, and made our way back to Gorakshep.
We were pleasantly surprised by the food at Gorakshep. Kul had warned us that the food wasn’t as flavorful as the cooking water comes from the glacier, but we enjoyed lunch and didn’t notice much of a difference. We had a few hours to kill before leaving for Kala Patthar, so spent time reading, chatting, and writing in the main dining area.
At 3:10pm, we started our sunset summit of Kala Patthar. Kala Patthar translates to “black rock” and that’s exactly what it was – a towering mountain of black rocks. The hike was steep, hard, and breathtaking – both from literally having trouble breathing perspective and the stunning views. The views of Everest were far and away the best we had and would see which made the challenge worth it. After climbing over huge rocks, we reached the top at 18,520 feet!
We snapped a few pictures, had our first-ever Mars bar in celebration, and made our way down as the sun started to set. As we descended, the sunset lit up the sky leaving Everest pink for a few minutes. It was amazing. If it couldn’t get any better, we then saw a full moon emerge over Everest – one of the coolest things we’ve ever seen. Even Kul took out his phone to take photos.
We filled up on daal bhat and noodles for dinner and retreated to our very cold room. At this point, we were using sleeping bags and were still so cold. We went to bed early, feeling very tired and accomplished.
Day 9: Gorakshep (16,940 feet) to Dzongla (15,750 feet)
At higher altitudes, it had become more difficult to sleep. Though, we were part of the lucky crew that could sleep which enabled us to stay healthy and have energy to keep going. The night at Gorakshep wasn’t our best sleep – we both woke up every few hours to the cacophony of the coughing around us. It sounded like a sick ward in the hospital, but we were thankful not to be amongst those coughing. When we both opened our eyes, we saw that our window had been frozen over from the inside.
With 100+ people sharing two toilets and inevitable illnesses, we saw some frightening displays of humanity in the Gorakshep bathrooms (if you’ve been to Gorakshep, you know what we’re talking about). Between the coughing and the toilet situation, most people were not faring well at Gorakshep. This became immediately evident when we went down to breakfast and saw many people struggling. Some of our friends couldn’t make it back and had decided to take helicopters from Gorakshep back to Lukla in lieu of walking. We had sore throats and slight headaches, but again felt lucky that we were in high spirits and doing well.
We left Gorakshep for more positive pastures, parting ways with many of the friends we made along the trek. We walked back to Lobuche and split off on our next adventure to round out the trip – Cho La Pass and Goyko Lakes. The path was narrow and steep (a one foot in front of the other situation), but the views were tough to beat. We walked a few hours before coming across a beautiful glacial lake. The water looked like blue gatorade!
We arrived in Dzongla for lunch – a small village with a great view of Ama Dablam (our first love). After walking around for a few hours, we witnessed a colorful sunset as we tried to stay warm in our guesthouse. At this point, Jessie had been experiencing (what she had assumed to be) minor GI issues for a few days. After a few days, we would be in civilization and able to see a doctor and get things taken care of. Unfortunately, things started to get a bit worse in Dzongla.
Day 10: Dzongla (15,750 feet) to Cho La Pass (17,780 feet) to Thagna (15,420 feet)
We hit the trail early in the freezing cold and made our way to our third 5,000+ meter adventure: Cho La Pass. We walked through a rocky, moon-like landscape surrounded by epic mountains and streams – it was unlike any of the previous days and we had the trail to ourselves. We had a steep uphill hike over large boulders before reaching the base of a glacier that we had to traverse. We didn’t have crampons which made it a bit slippery, but that added to the fun.
After our glacier walk, we climbed up a large hill of rocks with the help of some fixed lines and reached the top of Cho La pass. We looked down at the glacier feeling accomplished and then looked at the other side of the pass, feeling very thankful that we had to go down and not up that way. We used fixed lines on the way down the other side of the pass, which reminded Doug of his Half Dome hike a few years earlier.
We caught our breath at the bottom relieved to have just one more uphill climb to a final 5,000+ meter pass before reaching Thagna. After the last push, we were rewarded with a flat, rocky path next to a lovely river though the last valley to Thagna. At this point, Jessie was not feeling great GI-wise and was excited to get to our teahouse.
Thagna was beautifully nestled into surrounding mountains – probably the most picturesque of the Himalaya villages we stayed in. We spent the afternoon relaxing in the common dining area and eating food that was a little bit easier on the stomach (porridge) before settling in for the night that would sadly be our last deep in the mountains.
Day 11: Thagna (15,420 feet) to Lukla (9,380 feet)
The GI problem that was manageable a few days back had officially become an emergency. In most places, it could have been resolved with a trip to the hospital, but we were a four days’ walk from the nearest medical facility. Jessie had spent the entire night in uncomfortable pain and needed to see a medical professional ASAP.
Luckily if there’s one business that’s reliable in the Himalayas, it’s the helicopter business. After explaining the severity of the issue to Kul (he first suggested we take a horse which really wouldn’t work given the condition…), he made a few calls and arranged a helicopter evacuation to the nearest hospital. We hadn’t anticipated it would be so easy and were relieved to be able to get help so soon.
A 10-minute helicopter ride later (that would have taken us four days to walk) and we landed right on the helipad of the Lukla hospital. Jessie was admitted and immediately given quality care (an interesting and painful experience that we won’t memorialize on the Internet), while Doug waited outside with Kul for a few hours.
After getting out of the hospital, we took it very easy for the rest of the day. We rested, played cards with Kul, and took our first hot shower in 11 days. We didn’t think we smelled particularly bad, but looking back we probably did 🙂
Helicoptering back to Lukla meant cutting our trek short. We were originally slated to come back to Lukla three days after we actually arrived which meant we needed to first figure out how to get on an earlier plane and second adjust our plans for the rest of the time in Nepal. The guesthouse in Lukla had WiFi (our first connection to the outside world in over 10 days) which made planning easy enough, but getting on a plane proved more difficult.
Kul hoped that we would be able to get on a flight in two days, but didn’t know for sure. We were at the mercy of who we deemed the “ticket man” – a man in Lukla that coordinates ticketing for passengers on the local airlines and carries a wad of tickets in his back pocket. There wasn’t a website or even a flight schedule, so we’d have to hope for the best
Day 12: Trekking around Lukla
Jessie woke up feeling one million times better than the day before and very thankful to have received medical care when she did. She still wasn’t feeling 100 percent and needed to be close to a bathroom, so had to take it easy for another day.
Taking it easy in Lukla started with seeing a local market with people bartering for fresh produce and livestock. We saw people going about their everyday village lives which was almost culture shock after seeing so few people the past week. We walked to an area to see planes taking off and landing at the world’s most dangerous airport (Lukla) which got a little too close for comfort for Jessie, but Doug and Kul loved it!
After lunch, Doug and Kul went for a day hike in the jungle while Jessie rested. The jungle hike was a nice up and down trek through dense forest and across several streams, different from the barren, moon-like landscapes we had been experiencing deep in the Khumbu. We all regrouped before dinner and went to the Irish Bar – an institution in Lukla. Kul had never played snooker (what pool is called in Nepal), so Doug taught him. We think he might have been hustling us because he was a total natural…
That night, we had our last dinner as Kul and the gang. We were sad to part ways, but so grateful to have shared the experience of a lifetime (for us, everyday work for Kul) together. We reminisced and played our last few hands of dhumbal before our last sleep in the Himalayas.
Day 13: Lukla (9,380 feet) to Kathmandu (4,600 feet)
Before being summoned to the airport by the ticket man, we enjoyed our last breakfast and coffees in the Himalayas. Around 7:15am, the ticket man made eye contact with Kul. It was go time – we had gotten on a flight! We walked the five minutes to the Lukla airport, rushed through ticketing and security (much simpler than typical airport security), and were on the plane less than 10 minutes after we left the guest house.
Our trek was officially over! We were very sad to leave, but felt accomplished and ready for the next adventure (and hot showers and free toilet paper). When we got back to Kathmandu, we said a teary goodbye to Kul and promised to keep in touch (which we have on a weekly basis).
The two of you are unbelievable. Your trip is a trip of a lifetime. I can’t imagine what is left for you to do.
I love you dearly and miss you.
So glad Colorado was able to help you acclimate. xoxo, Mimi
The two of you are unbelievable. Your trip is a trip of a lifetime. I can’t imagine what is left for you to do.
I love you dearly and miss you.
So glad Colorado was able to help you acclimate. xoxo, Mimi