Everest Base Camp Trek Journal – Day 8 – We Did It

by Sara on Monday, October 24th, 2011

in Asia, Hikes, Mountains, Stories, Tours, UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Colorful tents at the new Everest Base Camp

My stomach hurt all night, but I’m feeling ok this morning. Sam was sick again last night, but he feels up for the climb. Andrew seems better and wants to climb as well. Mike still hadn’t fully recovered but was in good shape to go up. I’m glad we don’t have to send anyone down to Pheriche. The rain we walked in yesterday turned to snow during the night. The landscape looks pretty with the dusting of white, but also very, very cold.

Lobuche covered in fresh snow the morning after it snowed

We left around 7:30 AM and made it to Gorak Shep in less than 3 hours. The hike was flat along the river for the first half, then a steep uphill on rocks, crossing a waterfall at one point. We saw a few avalanches caused by the fresh snow. We stopped for lunch before heading to Basecamp. After lunch we hiked for about 2 hours, mostly uphill but a few flats. Then we turned a corner, and there was Basecamp. We had finally made it. The base of the top of the world. More than 3 miles above sea level with half the amount of oxygen.

Sign showing the way to Everest Base Camp

Sam collapsed in a heap when he got there, overwhelmed that he had made it. Andrew made a miraculous recovery and was posing for all sorts of crazy photos. True to every personality test I’ve ever taken, I barely stopped to enjoy the moment before wanting to accomplish the next goal- the real Basecamp. “Old” Basecamp is essentially a stone monument covered in tags from previous visitors. “New” Basecamp is where summit expeditions actually set up camp. People on the trail were referring to new Basecamp as Advanced Basecamp, which is actually Camp 2, much higher up the mountain.

Our group shot at the old Everest Base Camp

A Japanese expedition was set up at Basecamp, and we had heard that they were trying to keep regular trekkers out of their camp. There were a couple Japanese guys behind us on the way up to old Basecamp who were headed over to the Japanese camp. Dan and I ran over to talk to them and got the ok to tag along. We joined the photo ops the rest of our group was partaking in when we realized the two Japanese guys were headed toward their camp. We raced off to catch up with them, and I slipped on the glacier at one point which resulted in a lovely two inch bruise on the back of my leg. We were told that the safest way to get to the camp was around the glacier, which supposedly took 3 hours (I’m not entirely sure that’s accurate), but we followed the Japanese guys straight across the glacier for a quick 30 minutes.

Phantom Alley Khumbu Ice Falls, Mt. Everest

The 2 major natural landmarks at Everest Base Camp, Phantom Alley & Khumu Icefalls with new base camp and some trekkers off in the distance

New Basecamp is only some rocks spray painted red unless an expedition is set up. This one had about 20 tents, generators, and some communications equipment. When Dan and I got there, we were trying to get to a high point to take some photographs and ended up in the middle of their mess hall tent as they were eating. We ran through saying “konichiwa”, hoping they wouldn’t be too irritated with us. They weren’t phased by Dan’s bunny ears, but they did take notice of the blonde girl. From Basecamp we could see Khumbu Icefall, one of the most dangerous parts of summit climbs, where the glacier comes down the side of Everest. At the base of the mountain is an area known as Phantom Alley where the ice forms in these crazy-looking peaks from the intense radiation. On the way back to old Basecamp, we passed the other three from our group who decided they also wanted to see the camp. They didn’t seem too happy that we had run off without them, but we thought we would miss our chance if we didn’t follow the guys who were part of the expedition.

Prayer flags draped across Everest Basecamp with Phantom Alley in view

As we headed back to Gorak Shep, it started to snow. A lot. My water-resistant, quick-dry light hiking pants were completely drenched within the hour. I was incredibly cold for the 2 hour hike back. When we got back to the tea house, we camped out in front of the fire that was burning yak dung. It smelled pretty bad and burned our eyes, but we desperately needed to warm up and dry our clothes. After we were finally warm again, we played more Rummy 640 with Boo and Jit, ate dinner, then went to bed. Surprisingly, I wasn’t that cold trying to go to sleep. I had kept hand warmers and a silk liner in reserve so I had one more layer of defense against the cold that I hadn’t yet used. They were great, maybe mentally as much as anything else. Today had been a huge success, but the cold and altitude made it hard to celebrate much. Early day tomorrow to attempt Kala Patthar and hopefully see Everest.

Walking back to Gorak Shep from base camp as a snow storm came in

Everest Base Camp Trek Day 8 Notes

Date: 24 September 2011

Path: Lobuche to Basecamp to Gorak Shep

Where Did We Stay In Gorak Shep: Buddha Lodge

Elevation: 5364m / 17598 ft

Hours hiking: 7 1/2

Hours hiking w/ stops: 9 — at Everest Base Camp.

A porter sitting in a rock in the Himalayas

Stay tuned for the Everest Base Camp Trek Journals Days 9-12

Lobuche to Basecamp to Gorak Shep Photo Gallery

: The bottom of Mt. Everest with Phantom Alley sticking up

: The base of Mount Everest was all we got to see from Base Camp

: Clouds coming in and consuming the entire mountain

: The Everest Terrain as the clouds start to come in and bring the snow

: Phantom Alley as it starts to fizzle out away from Everest

: A crevice in the glacier on the way from old to new Everest Base Camp

: New Everest Base Camp with Khumu Icefall & Phantom Alley in the background

: New Everest Base Camp with the colorful tents & prayer flags above

: Approaching new base camp with the tents and generators setup

: The outhouse used by the Japanese Expedition at new base camp

: A great depiction of the Everest Base Camp Trek

: Hiking over some large rocks in order to get to Everest

: Posing in front of the Himalayas near Everest

: The Everest trail near Lobuche the morning after a light snow covering

: Floating chunks of ice in a pool of ice and snow melt

: A bunch of chunks of ice which broke and fell into this ice pool

: A glacier along the trail covered in a strange mix of rocks, dirt, and snow

: Our group shot at the old Everest Base Camp

: Another scenic part of the hike, almost looks like New Zealand or something

: Hiking Towards Everest Base Camp

: Hiking the spine of the trail towards Everest, we’d be hiking this in the middle of a snow storm on the way back

: Gorgeous views of The Himalayas

: Crossing a little ice bridge around Everest Base Camp

: The last leg of the ascent, Gorak Shep to Everest Base Camp

: Leaving Lobuche in beautiful weather on our way to Gorak Shep

: A little ice lake and cave just before Gorak Shep

: Hiking through a little valley full of rocks

: The village of Lobuche, second to overnight last stop on the Everest Base Camp trail

: Lobuche covered in fresh snow the morning after it snowed

: A couple pools of melted ice and snow near Everest

: A close up of a mountain just before arriving to Everest

: Colorful tents at the new Everest Base Camp

: New Everest Base Camp as the snow storm starts to roll in

: Old Everest Base Camp with the rock marker and prayer flags

: Our guide posing for a photo with Gorak Shep in the background

: Phantom Alley at the base of Mount Everest

: A little blue stream running beneath Phantom Alley

: The 2 major natural landmarks at Everest Base Camp, Phantom Alley & Khumu Icefalls with new base camp and some trekkers off in the distance

: Phantom Alley snow formations atop a pool of melted ice and snow melt

: A pool in the glacier near new base camp

: Our porters said they didn’t do the Everest Basecamp trek often, and we also happy to reach the top

: Prayer flags draped across Everest Basecamp with Phantom Alley in view

: A rock shaped liked a camel near Mt. Everest

: A strange mixture of snow and rock soon took over the landscape, pictured here above an ice pool

: Another lone rock memorial on the Base Camp trail

: More cool terrain approaching Everest

: Rock Stack Overlooking the Himalayas

: The rocky trail to base camp

: More avalanche aftermath nestled up against the mountain

: The aftermath of a large avalanche near Everest

: Snow and rock getting mixed up in the Everest region of the Himalayas

: Interesting snow mounds terrain as we approach Everest

: Walking back to Gorak Shep from base camp as a snow storm came in

: Clouds overtaking the fresh snow covered trail through the mountains

: A snow covered hill with the mountains in the background

: Hiking through the Himalayas after a fresh light snow

: Team Kuriki Expedition Everest Basecamp, a Japanese Group

: A make shift sign showing the way to Base Camp

: Sign showing the way to Everest Base Camp

: A porter sitting in a rock in the Himalayas

Lobuche to Basecamp to Gorak Shep Map

Tags: Altitude Sickness, Avalanche, Everest, Everest Base Camp, Gorak Shep, Himalayas, Kala Patthar, Khumbu Icefall, Lobuche, Nepal, Phantom Alley, Pheriche

Phil Thomas

Hi There,

Loved reading your account of the trek. It sounds and looks amazing. Are there any more posts to come after Day 8? Did you get to see Everest?
I am thinking of planning the same trek next year, probably around April/May and am just getting up to speed on requirements and potential pit-falls.
It would be great to have a contact who could help with any questions or concerns and had recently been there.

Many thanks and great reading
Regards
Phil (UK)

http://www.thecheaproute.com/index.html Mike

Thanks! It was an amazing trip, glad you like the journals. There will be 3 more journal posts, and I have plans to write some more informational type pages for the trek as well, so stay tuned. Unfortunately we never got great views of Everest, we went early in the season and had to deal with a bit of bad weather, particularly from Day 8 onward. If you have questions when planning your trek go ahead and post them on here and I’d be glad to answer them!

paul

what were the accomodations like in louboche?

http://thecheaproute.com/ Mike

We stayed at Sherpa Guest House, it was basic, but adequate. They had electricity, so you can charge batteries, I think they even had internet access available. Things got pretty expensive up there, a bottle of water was several dollars US. They provided a blanket, but I also used a sleeping bag, it was pretty cold. In the common area they had a heater where they burned dried out yak dung for heat (sounds worse than it actually is), was also handy for drying our clothes because we got soaked that day. Not sure how many rooms/beds they had, but I’d guess something like 10-15 rooms with 2 twin beds each.