Wishing you warm wishes for this Christmas Season. Tomorrow is Christmas and it wouldn’t be Christmas without a gift to you! Enjoy this free Wallpaper Calendar for your Desktop for the month of January. We are putting together an entire collection for the year 2011 more details in the New Year. In the meantime enjoy this stunning image of Mount Everest taken by Dave during our Mount Everest Base Camp Trek this Past March.
After revisiting our trek to Mount Everest Base camp through videos, we have come to the end. The day that we arrive at our destination. From the spectacular views of the Khumbu Ice Fall and the South Cole to the bonding with our guide Deep and Porter Sher, it was an amazing day.
We have been re-visiting our time at Everest Base Camp lately as we slowly post our videos from our trip to Asia. It has been amazing watching the footage and it reminded me just how stunning the Himalayas are. Every day was a dream. Sure at times it was tiring and we didn’t feel well at others, but as I wrote in a previous blog post about our EBC Trek, You feel as if you can touch heaven here in the Khumbu Region. The Views compare to nothing I have ever seen on earth and re-living the experience simply makes me want to return to tackle the Annapurna Circuit!
Day Five of our Mount Everest Base Camp trek was a beautiful day. We awoke to fresh snow at the Tengboche Monastery and clear views of the Mount Everest and Lotse peaks. Today we walked to higher altitudes and saw our first trains of wooly yaks. These guys can’t live at low altitudes because it is too warm for them to survive below 3000 metres. They are beautiful.
Day two of our Everest Base Camp Trek was the longest day of our climb. It involved a 6 hour hike from Pakding to Namche Bazaar. We covered 10 km of mountainous terrain with a final elevation gain of 800 metres. The second day is a lot of fun though because you cross several suspension bridges, you get to challenge yourself by trekking up some steep mountains and you see a lot of Yaks and donkeys on the trails taking supplies from Lukla to Namche Bazaar.
It always amazes me how strong the mind can be. We stayed focused and made it to Base Camp with big smiles and lots of energy. It was a little while after coming back down to Kala Pathar to rest that things fell apart.I made a big mistake trekking before my respiratory infection cleared up. Suddenly my head started pounding as I sat by the Yak Dung Stove. After I sat up and blew my nose, large clots of blood kept coming out.Dave couldn’t help me too much because he was dealing with constant trips to the toilet and waves of nausea.
Trekking to Everest Base Camp has been on our top adventure list for many years. We learned quite a bit hike up to 5364 meters and have some valuable tips that we want to share with any future trekkers to make your life easier. It is not the scary daunting experience that people imagine it to be, it is actually a lot of fun and hopefully these points will help you with your future climbs and make it just a little bit more comfortable on the way up.
This is the big day. Today we are going to Base Camp after lunch, but we have one final push to Gorepshep. How Are We Feeling at 5000 meters? I have been suffering from a cold since India and it seems to be intensifying with the increase in altitude. Every morning my cough is worse and my nose is stuffed up to the point of being unbearable. Dave has suffered his first symptoms of altitude sickness.
People were starting to feel a bit ill this morning and if we would have brought our Lonely Planet trekking book (which we forgot in Kathmandu and kicked ourselves about it everyday) we would have realized that we should have taken an extra day to acclimate inDingboche . Lucky for us, we felt strong. But other groups were complaining of headaches and dizziness that morning. Everyone pushed through though and we didn’t think anything of it. We didn’t question our guide, we followed him blindly and were happy to see that we were on the same schedule as our new friends.
It is Freezing! Morning came too quickly today at Tengboche. We had our first fitful nights sleep on our Mount Everest Base Camp Adventure. The temperature easily dipped down to -10 and our plywood walls didn’t offer a lot of comfort. For some reason neither of us can make it through the night without a trip or two to the toilet when we are at altitude. We realized that we should have paid the 250 Rupees for a hot shower at Namche Bazaar on day 3 because now the weather is so cold there is no way we can face a bucket bath in a freezing shed. Looks like it is going to be a new record for Dave and I. 9 Days without a shower.
Today was another difficult day making our way to Everest, but we felt stronger as our bodies have adjusted well to the altitude. While the climb was steep, we didn’t feel nearly as tired as the climb into Namche Bazar two days ago. It has started to snow and the temperature has dropped dramatically. We warm our feet with our new down booties that we bought at Namche and change into some dryer clothes before heading off to see the monks chant at Tengboche Monastery. The snow makes it that much more beautiful here.
Ah the acclimatization day. Most high altitude treks have at least one and the Everest Base Camp trek is no exception. I don’t know of many acclimatization days that offer such a spectacular view as this day on the Everest Trek. Our hike starts at 8:30 am and we are going up to the Everest View point from Namche Bazar. We are about to see Mount Everest for the first time. It is not as easy of a day as we thought it would be. Just walking through town takes your breath away.
Day 2 is not an easy day on the Everest Base Camp trek. We covered a lot of terrain. Almost 10 km with an elevation gain of 800 metres. Hiking over hills and valleys, we experienced some thrilling moments crossing several suspension bridges dangling over deep gorges. If you have a fear of heights, this may not be your favorite moment, but the bridges are well made and in excellent condition. I was nervous about this day.
The Everest Base Camp Trek is a tea house trek. Nowhere else on earth will you find trekking like this. Every hundred metres or so there is a hotel, restaurant or cluster of buildings making up a small village. You can stop for lunch, buy supplies and have some tea or spend the night. That is not to say that things are easy though. All supplies, food and equipment need to be carried in by foot. They live in harsh conditions. Porters carry heavy loads on their backs, children and women carry loads also. People heard Yak trains with propane and kerosene and it is a difficult walk just to make it through a villages steep stairs.
It is part way through our Everest Base Camp Trek and we are feeling good! The Himalaya’s are incredibly beautiful as we are surrounded by astounding panoramic views of the highest peaks in the world. Today, snapshot Sunday is all about us! We’re loving every minute of our time in Everest Region.
We decided that Everest Base Camp was just too easy, so prepare yourself…This might shock you! I know that we just started telling you about our trek to Mount Everest, but we couldn’t contain ourselves, we are just too excited to share the news with you. Our Sherpa decided that we were so strong, we could continue past the Kumbhu Ice Fall and go to camp II. What all of you don’t know is that Dave and I have been in Nepal for quite awhile and have had ample time to acclimatize to the extreme altitude.
Everest, the mother of all mountains. In our own small way we are following in the footsteps of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. As we fly on our tiny plane through the Himalaya’s from Kathmandu to Lukla in Nepal, we can’t help but feel a little giddie. Legends have had to take this exact flight enroute to summiting Mount Everest during their expeditions. While we are not going to reach the summit ourselves, we are trekking to Everest Base Camp.
This is it boys and girls. We are fulfilling a goal that we have had for many years. We are going to Everest Base Camp. It is a little daunting to know that we will be trekking over suspension bridges, climbing along high ridges and spending several days at 5000 meters. But the most daunting task that lays ahead is what to pack for a 15 day excursion up to Base Camp. Here is what we are bringing with us.
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