Conquering Everest Base Camp

We began the Asian portion of our travels with nearly a month in the Himalayas.  We split this time in two countries - first in Nepal then in Bhutan.  We both love the mountains, but neither of us had been to the Himalayas - home to the world's tallest mountains, including Mount Everest.  Our first decision when researching Nepal was where we wanted to trek.  The two most popular treks are (1) Everest Base Camp, and (2) the Annapurna Circuit.  We decided on the Everest Base Camp Trek, as we both wanted to see Everest.  

Truthfully, neither of us had a good sense of the challenges that lay before us.  The trek requires 4-9 hours per day of non-technical hiking per day, so it's not terribly physically demanding.  But the altitude (9,000-18,500 feet), cold temperatures (sub-zero Fahrenheit at night), and unsanitary food conditions mean that many people attempting the trek never make it to Base Camp.  Despite these challenges, we successfully made it to Everest Base Camp on November 22nd, 2014!  I was especially proud of Lindsay, as she had never been above 8,000 feet in her life, but she handled the altitude like a champ.           

While you can trek in Nepal on your own, it's worth paying for a porter and a guide to accompany you.   We hired a company called Outshine Adventure to organize the trek for us, which included a private guide and porter for us at a very reasonable cost.  A good guide will find you the best possible accommodations (not a given during the busy season), provide you with options for the itinerary to maximize your experience, and help you if any problems arise.  Our guide, Shankar Pandey was fantastic.  He was always smiling, keeping us focused on the goal ahead, and was a big reason why we enjoyed our time in Nepal so much.  He and his wife Susila even had us over to his house for a home cooked meal after the trek.  By the time we left Nepal, we felt that we had made a lifelong friend in Shankar.  Ajit was our porter, which meant he carried all of our gear for the duration of the hike.  It was a huge help to us and made the burden of climbing much more tolerable, especially at the higher altitudes.  

Our trip started in the capital city of Kathmandu, where we spent a couple days seeing the city and getting supplies for our hike.  Though there are a few nice places to visit in town, Kathmandu was our least favorite city during our travels - it's congested, polluted, full of dust from the unpaved roads, and noisy.  If we go back to Nepal, we'd spend as little time as possible there and spend more time in the mountains, where you'll find some of the most spectacular mountain scenery anywhere in the world.  

Kathmandu

As part of our trekking package, we had a day-long city tour of Kathmandu to see the major tourist attractions.  There are actually quite a few sites worth visiting if you have some time in town.  Our itinerary included:

1. Swayambunath - an old Buddhist temple at the highest point in the city, also known as the Monkey Temple due to the abundance of monkeys there

2. Durbar Square - the historical center of town

3. Bodhnath Stupa - one of the largest Buddhist stupas in the world

4. Pashupatinath Temple - the oldest Hindu temple in Kathmandu and the site of several Hindu funerals each day

The Monkey Temple is one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Nepal, dating back to the 5th century.  It sits at the highest point in the city, offering great views of the city and surrounding snow-capped mountains.  The site itself is of great significance to both Buddhists and Hindus, and you'll find a small Hindu temple sitting alongside the large Buddhist stupa at the center of the complex.  The Stupa is surrounding by 108 prayer wheels, which became a familiar site for us in Nepal and Bhutan.  Buddhist prayer wheels are inscribed with the Buddhist mantra Om Mani Padme Hum.  Turning the wheel has the same benefit as reciting the mantra, which is believed to help purify sins and ease suffering.  

Fountain at the base of Swayambhunath

The Monkey Temple

Lindsay creating some good karma by turning the prayer wheels

View of Kathmandu from Swayambhunath

Small Hindu temple at Swayambhunath

The eyes on the stupa represent wisdom and compassion

At Swayambhunath with Kathmandu in the background

After the Monkey Temple, we returned to the historical center of town, which is known as Durbar Square.  This is the area of the city where one can find the remnants of the old kingdoms that ruled Nepal.  

Durbar Square during the setting sun

We stopped at a few sites around the square:

* Kasthamandap - a wooden temple built in the 16th century.  Legend has it that the entire structure was built from a single tree.

* Kumari Bahal - a three story building that houses the Kumari, a young girl chosen to be the living reincarnation of the Goddess Taleju until she reaches puberty, at which point she becomes a normal mortal and is replaced by another young girl.  The whole practice seems cruel to the young girl who is locked up in the house 24/7 with the exception of a few public appearances each year.  She is also never allowed to marry.  

* Hanuman Dhoka Palace Complex - the palace of the Nepalese Royal family until the 19th century.    The complex gets its name from the statue of Hanuman (the monkey god) at its entrance.  The palace sits on 5 acres and is notable for its traditional architecture and impressive woodwork. 

Kasthamandap

The Kumari, a young girl believed to the reincarnation of the Goddess Taleju, the protectorate deity of the Kathmandu Valley, lives in this building.  During certain times each day, you can see her in the center window.  

Nasal Chowk courtyard at the Hanuman Dhoka Palace

The woodwork within the Old Palace was incredible.  We were particularly entertained by the Kama Sutra images at the base of this column

After grabbing lunch in Durbar Square, we visited the Boudanath stupa.  With a height of 36 meters and a diameter of 120 meters, it's one of the largest Buddha stupas in the world.  We also stopped by a Buddhist art institute that neighbors the stupa, where artists paint traditional Buddhist imagery.  The detail in their paintings was incredible.

Boudhanath Stupa - the largest stupa in Nepal

Artists at work at the Buddhist art institute

We finished the day at the Hindu temple Pashupatinath, which is one of the most holy Shiva temples in the world.  As non-Hindus, we weren't allowed to enter the temple, so we spent our time exploring the temple grounds and watching the Hindu funerals along the banks of the Bagmati river, just below the temple.  Watching bodies being carried to the riverside and burned there by their families was something we'll never forget.

A body is prepared for cremation below the Pashupatinath Temple

Body being carried to the river bank for cremation.  We could hear one of the men in the family crying loudly during this procession.

Bodies being cremated next to the Bagmati River

A monkey at Pashipatinath temple

While in Kathmandu, we had our first tastes of Nepalese food.  The basic Nepali set includes white rice, papadum, curried meat or vegetables and lentil soup.  One of the best Nepali sets we had was at a restaurant near our hotel in Kathmandu called Gaia.  Another common dish you'll find everywhere is momo, which are Nepalese dumplings filled with vegetables or meat.  We had countless versions of both these dishes during our time in Nepal.    

Nepali Set - curried vegetables and meat, rice, papadum, lentil soup.  This is a particularly good version.  Most are more basic than this.

Momo - Nepalese dumplings

Everest Region

A trek to Everest Base Camp requires at least 11-12 days of hiking for the round trip.  The trek typically begins from the mountain town of Lukla, where you'll find the only airport in the Khumbu Region.  From Lukla, it takes a minimum of 8-9 days to hike to Base Camp, including a few days for acclimatization, as the trek climbs to over 18,000 feet.  The return trip to Lukla requires another 3 days.

The trek actually has two end points - Everest Base Camp and Kala Patthar, a large black hill located on the southern prominence of Pumori (Kala Patthar means "Black Rock" in Nepali).  Due to the position of Base Camp, you can't actually see the peak of Everest from the Camp.  The summit of Kala Patthar, the highest point on the Everest Base Camp Trek at 18,643 feet, offers trekkers the best view of Everest and the surrounding peaks.  

The accommodations along the trek range from campgrounds to lodges (or tea houses).  The latter offer private bedrooms and serve food in a communal area that is heated by a furnace in the evenings (during dinner).  There are some higher end tea houses that have many of the conveniences of hotels, including hot water, heated blankets and high quality meals, but as you climb past Namche Bazaar, the options grow more sparse and the lodges get increasingly rougher, meaning you basically have a bed and a shared restroom with a hole in the ground.  Prior to the trip, I had heard about these "tea houses" and thought that they would make the trip much more comfortable than camping outdoors.  That wasn't always the case.  As you get closer to Base Camp, many of the tea houses are increasingly unsanitary.  There is no running water in these places, and they are full nearly every day.  The waste from all of these people sits underground below the tea houses, which can create unpleasant odors.  Also, there is no electricity for refrigeration at the higher altitudes.  As all the food is carried in by porters, it's been sitting out for days.  Even though we tried to be extra careful with our food (eating only vegetables), we ended up getting a stomach bug on our return hike to Namche.  Many travelers ran into similar issues.

The biggest challenge with the hike is the altitude.  Prior to the trip, we understood that high altitude has the potential to be deadly, but we had no idea how many people it would affect.  As we neared the top of the trek, we saw people literally lining up to get helicopter rides back to Kathmandu to treat altitude sickness.  If you do decide to do the trek, make sure you get a travel insurance policy that will cover high altitude trekking.

With all that said, we are really happy that we did the hike.  The views were stunningly beautiful and unlike anything we've ever seen  - we really felt like we were on top of the world.  The accomplishment of making it to Base Camp together is something we will always remember fondly.

Below was our itinerary for the trek, which is a pretty standard itinerary for Base Camp.  Note that there are longer itineraries (as long as 3 weeks) if you want to include other locations in the Khumbu Region, like Gokyo Ri and the Cho La Pass.

Day 1: Flight from Kathmandu to Lukla (2800m), hike to Phakding (2610m)

Day 2: Trek to Namche Bazaar (3440m)

Day 3: Rest at Namche Bazaar for acclimatization

Day 4: Trek to Tengboche (3850m)

Day 5: Trek to Dingboche (4350m)

Day 6: Rest at Dingboche for acclimatization

Day 7: Trek to Lobuche (4950m)

Day 8: Trek to Gorakshep (5160m).  Hike to the top of Kala Patthar (5640m) in the afternoon.

Day 9: Morning hike from Gorakshep to Everest Base Camp, trek back to Pheriche (4240m)

Day 10: Trek back to Namche Bazaar (3440m)

Day 11: Trek back to Lukla (2800m)

Day 12: Flight back to Kathmandu

We got sick the night of Day 10, so we actually helicoptered back to Kathmandu from Namche on Day 11 (one day before we scheduled to fly back to Kathmandu from Lukla).

Day 1

Day 1 began with an early morning flight to Lukla.  The view on this 20-minute flight is spectacular, as you can see several of the highest peaks in the world from the left side of the plane.  During the trekking season, there are several flights per day into and out of the Lukla airport.  The airport is built into the side of the mountain, surrounded by steep cliffs and majestic snow capped peaks.  Watching planes take off and land on this small strip of asphalt is a sight to behold.

Once we landed, we had an easy 2 hour hike to Phakding where we slept on the first night.  Being that we were still close to Lukla, the accommodations available in this area were quite good.  We stayed in one of the best  - Yeti Mountain Lodge Phakding.  Yeti operates a group of higher end lodges in the Khumbu region, where you get your own western toilet, hot showers, heated blankets, and good food.  It's as luxurious as you can get on the hike.

Once we got to Phakding, we had lunch and took a short nap.  We ended the day with a hike to/from a local monastery, where we met some young smiling buddhist monks.

Shankar and Lindsay looking ready for the early morning flight to Lukla

Plane taking off from Lukla airport

On the trail to Phakding - passing through lush valleys and small towns

We shared the road with other hikers, cows and donkeys

The Khumbu region is Buddhist, so there are lots of Buddhist scripture and stupas along the trail.

Arriving at our lodge for the first night - Yeti Mountain Lodge in Phakding

Yeti Mountain Lodge in Phakding

The town of Phakding

We arrived at Phakding early, so we had some time in the afternoon to visit the local monastery

Our gracious hosts at the monastery.  We found these little monks studying in the classroom.

Day 2

We had a big climb on Day 2 between Phakding and Namche Bazaar, the biggest town in the Khumbu Region.  After a couple of hours walking, we entered the Sagarmatha National Park, which encompasses and area of 440 square miles and includes the peaks of Mt. Everest (8850m) and seven other peaks over 7000 meters.  Sagarmatha is the local name for Mt. Everest - it means "Mother of the World."  While in Namche, we stayed at another Yeti Mountain Lodge.    

Entering the National Park

Cattle carrying goods across one of the many suspension bridges

Stopping for an Everest Beer before making the final climb to Namche

The early part of the hike is characterized by lush forested valleys

Lindsay was the videographer for the trip

Our first view of Everest

Arriving in Namche Bazaar

Enjoying Everest Beer in Namche

Yet Mountain Lodge in Namche

View of Namche from our room at the Lodge

The food at the Yeti Mountain Lodges was very good.  This was one of our best meals in Nepal - a huge dinner that included soup loaded with meat and vegetables, stir fried vegetables, meat and veggie momo, chicken with spring onions, white rice and fresh rolls

Day 3

Day 3 was an acclimatization day.  In our itinerary, I listed this as a rest day, but our acclimatization days always involved a healthy amount of climbing to get us acclimated to higher elevations.  We left after breakfast to hike up to the Everest Summit lodge above Namche, which was about a 400 meter climb.  The hike afforded us incredible views towards Mt Kwangde in one direction and the Everest range in the other direction.   

Surrounded by prayer flags and snow capped mountains

Dirt landing strip above Namche

Mt Kwengde in the background

Enjoying the view of Everest, which is the peak just above Lindsay's head

We celebrated the view by posing for some action shots.

After returning from the hike, we went to a local museum to learn about the culture and history of the region

Day 4

Day 4 was one of our longer days, requiring a long descent into the valley, followed by a difficult 2 hour climb to the town of Tengboche.  Tengboche has a fantastic location at the top of a hill in the shadow of Mt Everest.  The town is centered around a large Buddhist monastery.  It's a quintessential Himalayan setting, with monks, yaks, stupas and Buddhist carvings, surrounded by snow capped mountains.  We were fortunate to be in town during one of their seasonal festivals and got to see the monks dancing to traditional Buddhist music in the courtyard outside the temple.  

The lush green valleys of the lower Khumbu Region

Sharing the trail with a caravan of yaks

Lindsay and Shankar with Everest in the background

Lindsay was a big fan of our porter, Ajit

Local children looking adorable

Porters carried their cargo using straps over their heads

Arriving in Tengboche

View of Everest from the town of Tengboche

Monastery in Tengboche

We arrived in Tengboche on the first day of the festival

Monks performing at the festival

Back at our lodge playing cards with the boys, a common pastime

Day 5

Day 5 was an easier day marked by a gradual 500 meter climb from Tengboche to the town of Dingboche.  The landscape on this hike changed dramatically as we passed tree line above 4000 meters.

On the trail to Dingboche

Shankar approaching the town of Dingboche

Lindsay relaxing at our Lodge with a great view of Ama Dablan behind her

Our luxurious accommodation - we had our own personal hole in the ground

Day 6

Day 6 was another acclimatization day.  We used the day to climb a 5100 meter peak next to Dingboche.  This was our first time on the hike above 5000 meters and a key marker to see how we'd do with the altitude.  We were happy to both make it to the top of the mountain without any issues - a good sign that we should be okay with the altitude at Base Camp (which is just a couple hundred meters higher). 

View of the sunrise over Ama Dablan in the morning

Our acclimatization hike

View of the valley from the hike - Everest is on the left side of the range

High winds and cold temperatures on the top of Everest.  That's why November isn't a good time to summit Everest despite the clear skies.

Ama Dablan

Reaching the halfway point with Team Dalbhat Power

View from the peak

Celebrating with Shankar

Day 7

We moved on from Dingboche on Day 7 to the town of Lobuche at the base of Llhotse (the world's second highest mountain).  The hike was relatively easy, with the exception of a short climb beginning in Thukla.     

Leaving Dingboche in the morning

The scenery began to get more dramatic as we neared Lobuche

A wild yak with Pumori in the background

Our lodge in Lobuche - Mother Earth House

View of Llhotse from our lodge in Lobuche

Trying to keep warm by the furnace

Day 8 - Kala Patthar

We left Lobuche early on Day 8 to hike up to our final lodge at Gorakshep.  After dropping our bags off and grabbing lunch, we climbed Kala Patthar, which is a steep 2 hour climb from Gorakshep.  Kala Patthar was the highest point on the trip at about 18,600 feet, and offered breathtaking views of the Everest Range.  We felt like we were on top of the world.

Gorakshep, itself, was a dump and by far the roughest accommodation of the trip.  We've never seen so many people get sick.  There was literally someone falling ill every 30 minutes.  While at dinner, we saw a woman being carried back from Base Camp practically unconscious, a guy who was so sick from altitude sickness that he couldn't see straight and required supplemental oxygen, and a girl who had a sudden gushing nosebleed all over her dinner table.  In addition, the whole lodge smelled like a toilet.  We were thrilled to leave the next morning.

Arriving in Gorakshep

View of Kala Patthar (the dirt hill in the foreground) and Pumori (the snowcapped mountain behind it)

The final ascent to the summit of Kala Patthar

At the top of Kala Patthar with Everest in the background

View of Everest and Llhotse from the top of Kala Patthar

Panoramic view from the top of Kala Patthar.  The highest peak on the left is Llhotse.  Everest is the dark peak to the left of it (it looks smaller because it's further away).

Day 9 - Everest Base Camp

After packing up and grabbing a light breakfast at our lodge (which was, as expected, the worst breakfast of the trip), we completed the short 2 hour hike from Gorakshep to Everest Base Camp.  The hike was chilly but easy, climbing just 200 meters.  After reaching Base Camp, we began the hike back to Lukla.  We descended about 1000 meters to the town of Pheriche, which neighbors Dingbuche.

Sunrise over Llhotse

Hiking towards Base Camp

Arriving at Base Camp

Celebrating with Team Dalbhat Power

Standing in front of the Khumbu icefall

On our way back down to Pheriche

Day 10

On Day 10, we had a long day of hiking back to Namche, where we returned to the "luxury" of the Yeti Mountain Lodge and our first hot showers in several days.   

On the descent towards Namche

A Buddhist stupa along the trail

In Tengboche, we saw a group of tourists on a day trip, arriving and departing by helicopter.  Little did we know that we would taking the same mode of transportation home the following day.  

Buddhist scripture along the trail

Majestic snow capped peaks

We saw a few of these colorful birds, which were the size of turkeys, just outside of Namche

Day 11

Our plan on Day 11 was to walk the remaining 7 hours down to Lukla, where we would catch a flight back to Kathmandu the following morning.  Unfortunately, Lindsay got very sick overnight and by the morning I began to feel ill as well, so, on the advice of our travel agent and guide, we decided to take a helicopter back to Kathmandu.  

It's worth spending a few minutes describing the booming business in Nepal of emergency evacuations for tourists from the Khumbu (Everest) region.  As I mentioned earlier, many tourists have issues with altitude and/or unsanitary food and require evacuation to Kathmandu for treatment.  The helicopter companies and private international hospital have the whole process down to a science.  They offer good (and costly) services, and then help the patients make claims to their insurance companies to recoup the costs.  

Our experience was a great example of this.  Within 3 hours of deciding to go home, a helicopter landed outside of our hotel and flew us directly to Kathmandu, which took just a bit more than an hour.  Once we landed at the airport, there was an ambulance waiting to take us directly to the international hospital.  After a thorough examination, the doctor informed us that our blood sugar was low and that he wanted to put us on an IV and keep us overnight.  We were apprehensive until he showed us to our room, which was literally one of the best hotel rooms in town .... huge plasma television with multiple movie channels, king size bed, large bathroom, and great service from the nurse sitting just outside our door.  We happily agreed to stay the night.  Every 30 minutes, the nurse stopped by with more pills for us.  We have never been so medicated in our lives!  Lindsay questioned the nurse on several occasions to understand what she was taking.  In one instance, the nurse responded that they were for her sore throat.  When Lindsay pointed out that she didn't have a sore throat, the nurse responded, "doctor's orders," and handed her the pills to take.  The next morning, we were feeling much better and were ready to head back to our hotel in Kathmandu.  The doctor came to see us when he arrived in the morning.  His first question out of his mouth was, "Would you like to stay another day?"  Classic.

View of Lukla from the helicopter

Arriving in Kathmandu by helicopter

Our ride was waiting for us at the airport when we landed

Back in Kathmandu

After being discharged from the hospital we spent a couple more days in Kathmandu before leaving for Bhutan.  Shankar had us over to his house for a home-cooked meal, wonderfully prepared by his wife Susila.  It was the best meal we had while in Nepal.  We really enjoyed the opportunity to meet Susila and see Shankar's shop and neighborhood.  

Shankar hard at work in his shop

Street where Shankar's shop is located.  His home was a couple doors down the street.

Susila gave Lindsay some ash to use on her forehead.  The dot high on the forehead means she's married, so hands off!

A great day with our wonderful hosts

Nepal was a beautiful country, full of kind and warm hearted people.  Though we had our challenges, we take from Nepal some of our fondest memories from the whole trip - reaching Base Camp together, meeting Shankar, Susila and Ajit, and soaking in some of the most spectacular scenery in the world.  It was an epic trip.