Everest Base Camp Trek, Day 2

We braced ourselves for the long and arduous trek. Chhiri had warned us that the trek is going to get really difficult in the afternoon. I do not know whether the my fellow trekkers wondered whether they will survive the day, I did. But I was ready to take it from moment to moment and kick the shit out the day. It was a climb from 2610 mtrs to 3480 mtrs, almost a km of vertical climb. The trek started out like the previous days, a little climb up and then a little down and then a stretch of plain. The whole day the accompanying music was of the chirping birds and the gushing of the Dudhkoshi river. 

Dudhkoshi river flowing past a resort

Most of the time we walked along the river while climbing up, down and ahead and many times crossing it over tall long steel hanging bridges. I forgot to count the number of bridges, but it felt like we were continuously moving from one mountain to another over these bridges, throughout the climb.

At times we had to wait at the end of a bridge for up to 10 mins till all the mules carrying load from the other side could cross the bridge.

Rakhi, Lakpa, Preeti and Chhiri, waiting for the mules to pass

The morning walk was a walk in the park, which made me wonder how difficult can the afternoon walk be. Oh! I was in for a rude shock. After lunch Chhiri informed us that another 40 mins more we would be walking in similar conditions. I always led the group in the morning, almost pushing the lead guide to be with me instead of waiting for the rest of the group. That gave me enough rest stops as there were points where we regrouped fully before continuing.  After that 40 mins or so The Climb started, man, was it steep! The oxygen levels had dropped and I could feel that in my lungs and sometimes in my head. The initial climb was done with gusto, without falling behind. Slowly the younger ones in the group overtook me and went ahead. The competitive streak in me shook its fist at me to climb faster, but my body wouldn't listen. I stopped after every minute to catch my breath for 30 seconds. It was more physically excruciating than anything I had ever done in my life. My calf muscles cried out loud in pain and every ounce of weight on me made its presence felt. With much difficulty I held on to my camera, resisting the temptation to throw it into the river. 

Encounters of a spiritual kind

When I started on my journey to Kathmandu I had thought that refusing to hear the concern of friends and family would be the hardest thing I would be doing. I would be proven wrong multiple times through the rest of the journey.

Not many times we were reminded of the earthquake till then. But here the small boulders were perched high on the hill as half the hill was lying down. We were asked to run across the path which was hardly walkable, as there was no guarantee that the boulders wouldn't come loose upon us while we were crossing. And run we did.

Trekking through the landslide

I climbed bistare, bistare (slowly: the only word of Nepali I learnt during my month of stay in Nepal) and I kept calculating in my head how many more hours I needed to climb like that. The lack of form of R and sprained leg and altitude sickness of P meant I wouldn't be at the end of the pack. I panicked a few times when P went ahead of me, but I claimed my middle position soon enough to relax and climb again, bistare, bistare.
We met a French couple coming down from Base camp. The girl said she has some really bad memories of this particular climb, this being the worst of all days. It soothed me. I knew if I survive this day, I do not have to worry about the rest of the climb till the Base camp. There would be the challenge of Kala Patthar, but we would face that when we reached there.

Resort where not many tourists can reach, that is the irony.

The leading trekkers were waiting when we reached a small check post and were they a little disappointed to see us approaching so soon after they stopped. They were looking for a slightly longer rest. A big map of Namche Bazaar made me feel that we are at the entrance, almost done. We haven’t had any water sources for the last 3 hours or so and I was running on a 1ltr bottle full of water and conserving to last till the next source. I finished what ever was left and filled the bottle, ate some snacks and started again. It was not that done, it was another one hour when I managed to drag myself up the last climb to our hotel for the next 2 nights. 
Since the next day was our acclimatisation day, we were looking forward to a shorter climb and then rest. With the days climb I felt I deserved 2 days of rest before I could climb further. I plonked myself next to M and N who were cheering me till then from the dining room window, that dining room which will hold us during the rocking event the next day! I joined them in waiting for P and R and cheering them when they appeared. We settled down to some hot tea and well earned rest after 7 hours of climbing. 

Everest Base Camp Trek, Day 1

We were up and out by 5 am to catch the flight from Kathmandu to Lukla. After paying for the extra luggage (khakhras and theplas and such dangerous items) we made our way to the flight. The sight of the small 15 seater flight had my tummy in a flutter. Halfway through the flight we started seeing the mighty mountains with snow capped peaks. Except for that, the flight was rather eventless and so was the landing at Lukla. Later in the trip I would learn that this is the most dangerous airport in the world. I would have looked at the flight with a little bit more respect had I known earlier.

You don't believe me? Check this out.

After landing we met our guide for the next 11 days and 124 kms, Chhiri Sherpa (ah, who could have predicted that was not to be), the “No problem” man and Lakpa Sherpa. Later I would figure out that I was in a country of  sweet “No problem” men and women. He assured us that the days trek is not too long or hard and herded us into the restaurant for breakfast. After breakfast we were raring to go and when we saw that Chhiri is not anywhere close to starting and is waiting for something or someone M told him that we are ready. Chhiri with a straight face told M, “Ok, no problem, go walk”. We burst out laughing and decided to give Chhiri the guides prerogative of guiding and leading us. Lukla being at an elevation of 2860 mtrs, we were supposed to reach a lower elevation after the days trek to Phakding at 2610 mtrs, but the trail obviously included climbing up and down.

Go through a Sthupa for some climbing luck before we start.

M, N, P, R, S at the Pasang Lamu gate to the climb.

The climb starts with an arch created to felicitate Pasang Lhamu who is the first Sherpa woman to have climbed the Everest. It felt it quite apt for the start of the climb. Once we started, the initial few minutes I tried to stay away from the mule dung which was abundant on the trail. I decided a few minutes into the walk that it is not possible at all when I saw that the dung clung onto the ground in a dry layer and at times climbing up to our nostrils. The mules kept walking the trail and we kept pressing ourselves to the mountainside so that we are not in their way. Sometimes it was load carrying Sherpas who were climbing against us and most of the time looking down as the load they were carrying tied to their head and back didn't allow them to look up. We found it a little funny to predict their route and stay away from that. R got scraped on her head once when she miscalculated.

Throughout the journey Buddhist chants accompanied us on rocks.

As promised by Chhiri, the trek was a short one, a distance of 6.2 kms. We managed that in around 3 hours and reached Phakding with a long and satisfying lunch tucked into us on the way. We were warned that the next days trek is hard and long. So we decided to chill, play cards, have an early dinner and retire early to bed.

Day 2