I tried to keep a daily log of my thoughts about the experiences of each day, so I've included them here in full to get across my feelings at the time, unedited by the lens of memory.
If you're interested in reading my raw handwritten daily logs, go to the end of this page.
Monjo, EBC Trek Day 1 - 27/10/23
This was the first day of the trek that will take us from Lukla to Everest Base Camp. It was quite full and as I sit here with a cup of tea in the communal area of the teahouse we'll be staying for the night, I'm already ready to sleep at 16:30! But since we're waiting for food anyway, I might as well jot some of the events of the day down.
The day began at 01:40, with barely 4h of sleep. Our driver picked us up from the hotel and we drove for 4h to Ramechhap, the road alternating from OK to really bad dirt track, and the driving style from impatient to downright dangerous sometimes. It turned out that our driver had had just 1h of sleep on the previous night, and it sounds like he works almost 24/7 to make ends meet, because salary is so low and living costs so high. He can't afford his own car so he works for a company. Apparently, close to his village he has seen everything from foxes and deer to leopards!
After he dropped us off at the airport (a tiny building with an airstrip that takes up 2 football fields at most, and manual "check" for dangerous items that seems to be mostly taken at your word), we had probably one of the most spectacular flights to be had anywhere. We flew over mountainous terrain, mostly forested, and we could see to the north massive snow-capped peaks (unfortunately we weren't really able to tell which one was which...) protected by rugged fortifications in between.
How did the first people, without access to planes and helicopters, manage to find a way to Everest and the other 8000ers? What drove them to such extraordinary lengths? How did they even dare to imagine such things possible? We follow now in their footsteps, but we walk only part of the path. And yet, we still judge others who walk smaller parts of this same path (helicopters seem to be flying overhead every 5 min or less; who are all these people? Where are they being flown to and from? Do they just tick EBC and fly back down? Are they injured or sick? Will *we* get injured or sick higher up?), or walk the same path but in a different way (e.g., I saw a woman, even younger than us potentially, who was drinking from a water pouch that her guide/porter was carrying. She was carrying absolutely nothing herself. I mean, nonjudgment has its limits).
In any case, after a good breakfast in Lukla, and obtaining permits etc, we hiked for about 5 hours give or take, passing multiple hanging bridges, which for me were actually quite scary! (not for Lily though!) We also passed (or rather let pass!) many yaks and mules with their loads. And many local people with their loads, which for the most part they hang around their forehead and back. They pass us uphill or downhill as if it's nothing for them. The children look happy and they're playing outside which is nice to see. The scenery is a valley with mountains on each side and milky-blue glacial water roaring down.
We made it to Monjo after approximately ~13km, 5h of hiking/ 7:30h in total since arriving in Lukla, ~530m of ascent, ~560m descent, and a final elevation of ~2840m for the day.
We've had our momos and dal bhat now and we're drinking copious amounts of tea before bed.
Namche Bazaar, EBC Trek Day 2 - 28/10/23
A very different atmosphere this evening compared to yesterday. While yesterday we were alone in the teahouse's common room for the most part, today the room is full of people of all sorts (locals, Serbian?, French, American, Kiwis, potentially South African). It's much warmer as well, with the use of an AC, instead of yesterday's smokey and inefficient stove.
Today we only walked 6km and ~3h before reaching Namche, which is situated at ~3440m. The hike was still strenuous owing to the steep incline most of the way. We passed 2 more hanging bridges, bringing the total to 4. I have to say, today the crossing felt easier and I could even look around. We talked a little bit with a Sherpa, whom I asked how much weight he was carrying; 30kg was the answer! And he kept pace with us for most of the way. He said that I looked strong to be carrying such a big backpack (although it was just half of his haha!) It was quite warm under the sun so I had raised the sleeves of my t-shirt to my shoulders, and then a local guy exclaimed "oh, I like your body!", at which point I was very embarrassed and had to lower them immediately. I felt like he was making fun of me for "showing off", but Lily didn't think so.
The town of Namche itself is almost cosmopolitan. You can choose among 55(!) different lodges (we chose Yak Hotel), you can withdraw money from ATMs, and pay by card, you can get burgers and pizzas (we had one), and different places play movies at midday (usually mountain documentaries). There are also many mountaineering gear shops.
We'll stay two nights here to acclimatize to the altitude, with a day hike to Everest View Hotel tomorrow. We'll also take our first shower tomorrow. Ah, the things to look forward to!
Namche Bazaar, EBC Trek Day 3 - 29/10/23
A much quieter evening today with the common room much emptier than yesterday. There's even space close to the heater to dry the towels we used for our (very hot) showers earlier (500 NPR apiece).
Today we did our little acclimatization hike to Everest View Hotel. Quite steep to begin with and then levelled out. Many helicopters overhead again, many landing at the hotel's helipads. It's weird to see that; I definitely don't feel positive about these kind of tourists here. What is the point? Maybe ticking an item off the bucket list by saying you've seen Everest? On the other hand, again, where do we draw the line between taking a flight from Europe (or US / China / N. Zealand) and then another flight from Kathmandu to Lukla before starting the trek? We're also contributing a ton of greenhouse gases and pollution in general, to do what exactly? Satisfy our sense of curiosity and get a sense of awe, at best? Test our strength and resilience? Prove something to ourselves or to those around us? Get attention? I guess you have to be privileged enough to even ask these questions.
On the way to the hotel, we stopped at Sagarmatha Next, an organization that helps locals (through their own SPCC) reverse the effects of the pollution that westerners like us are responsible for to a large extent.
Hopefully, we can also help a little bit by carrying some rubbish bags down with us from Namche to Lukla on our return. These will then get flown down to Kathmandu for recycling. Does that make up for our impact here; I'm not sure. It's very conflicting; how can we enjoy these sorts of places and fulfill our dreams (wherever they come from), while at the same time avoiding having an impact on the environment and/or the local cultures? Is it possible to achieve both or is it always a bad tradeoff to be made (like everything else in life)? Maybe if someone achieves a level of influence (like Alex Honnold e.g.), then you can both have a positive impact and continue doing the things you love. At Sagarmatha Next, we also got to experience (in VR - first time for me!) different parts of the Everest climb: the basecamp, crossing crevasses on the Khumbu Icefall, Camp IV on South Col, and the Balcony seeing all the oxygen bottles lying around in the snow and some climbers heading up for the summit. I couldn't help but think "it doesn't look too steep"!
There's a couple of American-sounding guys sitting in the other corner of the room and it sounds like they might be going for a peak (not sure whether Everest itself or one of the smaller ones around). The host is currently talking to them about Ama Dablam, helicopters, freezing water pipes in the winter (it sounds like his ancestors migrated here from Tibet 4 generations ago and they've been living in Namche since then. It's interesting to listen to them, but I can't help but notice that he and his family and staff have been much more friendly to them compared to us. Apparently, since COVID, trekker numbers are down by ~60%. I'm not sure how to feel about that, whether to be relieved that there are fewer people and therefore less impact on the environment, or sad for the local economy and those who depend on tourism.
We saw Ama Dablam for the first time today, looking very sharp and impressive. We also saw Lhotse and Everest for a little while, even though when we reached the hotel the latter was hidden behind clouds. We didn't actually stay there because everything was very expensive. I got to run down a little bit on the trail back!
Pangboche, EBC Trek Day 4 - 30/10/23
We moved on from our comfortable lodge in Namche today and after a long day's hike, we made it to Pangboche a good ~470m higher. The hike was the longest and hardest so far (and by far) and potentially of the whole trip as well; we'll see about that I guess. It took us ~5h45min of hiking (~7h30min total), with 1060m of elevation gain and 582m loss. We also passed a couple of bridges along the way (running total: 6).
We had the best views of Everest so far (and Lhotse, Cholatse, and Ama Dablam) a little while after leaving Namche. I felt that compared to this, the Everest View Hotel is really a scam to get tourists to pay extortionate prices for a coffee break there. But today all these mountains were clearly and awesomely visible from the trail. It helped that there were minimal clouds. Everest is recognisable from its dark rocky summit pyramid with a diagonal band of rock close to the snow-capped peak; Lhotse like its little twin on the right with the ridge of the South Col (I'm guessing) connecting them; Ama Dablam with its characteristic narrow peak and the serac near the top.
The only thing that can spoil these kinds of landscapes is people. And they do in more ways than one. Today, the most noticeable ones for me were noise (Some Slavic group of people playing music and singing loudly as they went), and lack of consideration/some-other-appropriate-word (e.g., taking tons of poser pictures with the mountains with honestly a bit ridiculous poses, shouting people out of the way for their photo, or saying "work it girl" while I was taking a photo of Lily). There's also no shortage apparently of people really unfit for this trek (e.g., someone that had to be led essentially hand-held to make it down the path). Even the Sherpas play loud techno music from their speakers; it's a bit of a strange experience (is this what the first female Nepalese guide to be internationally recognized was referring to in the Sagarmatha Next video, when she said that Nepalese people have lost some of their culture?). So essentially, anything bad in this place comes from people.
What is good? I am thankful for the mountains themselves existing in the distance, calling to us, drawing us ever higher and nearer. They have drawn us from across a continent here, just to look at them from below. I am thankful for the breeze when we walk, cooling us down, and for the sun when we stop, keeping us warm. I am thankful for the Sherpa porters showing us mental and physical fortitude, and for the yaks for showing us patience. I am thankful for the relentlessly steep path under our boots for making us slow down and watch our breath, for teaching us to think of just the next step. And I'm thankful for being able to take off my pack at the end of this long day, rest my shoulders, warm up next to the stove, and enjoy a nice hot meal with my cutie.
Pangboche, EBC Trek Day 6 - 01/11/23
I'm writing this in the morning as we're waiting for our breakfast, since I didn't do it yesterday evening as usual.
Yesterday, we did our acclimatisation hike to Ama Dablam base camp. The path was smaller, more rocky, and much less busy than the trek to EBC. The sun was shining the whole way, so despite the light wind and the elevation, it felt comfortable to hike up. Once again, there were great views of all the big mountains around. We also saw Pumori in the west for the first time. As we were going up, we had a river on our right, flowing in a big valley with steep sides of scree that often could be heard rolling down. Many jagged peaks could be seen on the other side of this valley and up ahead in the distance. Once again, I found myself wondering about the names of all those mountains.
To reach the base camp, it took us about 2h30min of hiking (not including stops) and more than 700m of elevation gain, for a final elevation of ~4600m. It was surprising to see an entire settlement there, potentially bigger than Pangboche itself! So many tents, filling the entire bowl at the foot of Ama Dablam. Some, I assume, were sleeping tents, even though they seemed big enough to stand comfortably and to fit two beds. Some bigger ones appeared to be their "common rooms" and where they eat. And, finally, there were some massive white globe structures whose purpose (apart from headquarters) I couldn't tell. One of those had the "Nimsdai" sign in big letters on the front. I know that I'm quite prejudiced by now, but the more I see of this guy and his company Elite Expeditions, the more I dislike him (and, irrationally perhaps, his clients).
All those commercial team tents there made me think how this is not really the way I'd like to climb mountains. With all my essential gear, food, etc carried by others, then following the schedule that someone else has decided, me not even being part of the process, and then taking some pictures of it all for social media. I know that we always want to climb the "mountains of the mind", but these are not the mountains in my mind. I wonder whether there is an alternative to this way of climbing. If there's not, maybe I'll have to make my peace with climbing other, smaller mountains but in a way that I'm happy with.
We've had our breakfast now, drank a few glasses of tea, and it's time to pack our things and move on to Dingboche.
Dingboche, EBC trek day 7 - 02/11/23
Writing in the evening again, after a day and a half on the trek.
Yesterday, we made it to Dingboche with no issues, even though we both felt quite tired. We were walking through a valley that felt quite desolate to me and also quite empty of people. When we arrived, we had a quick lunch and then I went to sleep quite quickly (we're staying at the Culture Home). After waking up and going to the relatively busy common room, it felt like I had a fever, so I took some meds. The day before, I had some GI problmes as well, so not a great few days overall.
Today, we did our acclimatisation hike up a neighbouring little mountain (well, it's only little here!), called Nangkartshang (or Nagerjun) which stands at ~5080m. So we passed 5000m for the first time ever!
This "little" mountain is higher than Mont Blanc (4807m) and yet scores of people were just walking up it. That said, some of them were still led by hand up it... At the peak, it was quite busy and people were, in my opinion, quite inconsiderate again (especially some East Asian women..). Of course, with this many people, and a very dry path, there was tons of dust/sand swirling around and into our eyes and mouths (we could feel the crunching between our teeth!). We played a little bit among the boulders and took some funny photos doing pullups etc. Anyway, we made it up and down safely and then went for lunch at a cafe next to our lodge (4410). It was very fancy and westernised (playing acoustic covers of popular songs, selling pastries, playing a movie..). Unfortunately, I still feel quite sick, for sure having a fever and a full nose. Well, I still managed to enjoy dinner (veg egg noodles) and the common room is nice and warm.
Hopefully, I'll feel better tomorrow as we head to Lobuche (our second to last stop before EBC!).
Lobuche, EBC Trek Day 8 - 03/11/23
Oof! Today was a bit difficult for me. Not because of the long hike (~3h50min of walking, ~9km, ~720m of ascent), not because of the altitude (we reached just above 4900m), but because of being ill. I struggled for the whole day to breathe through my nose at all, so I had to resort to breathing through my mouth, obviously in heaps of cold air. I was alternating breathing through my neckwarmer but it was hard to keep it on all the time.
Today was also the first day we really felt the cold even while trekking. I was wearing a t-shirt initially, then added my light Rab jacket and then even my waterproof jacket.
When we arrived at the lodge for tonight (Sherpa Lodge, common room ok, our room a bit meh), I was quite tired and definitely had fever. I even had shivers. We quiickly got inside our sleeping bags, snuggled next to each other on my bed and watched an episode of Brookly 99. I immediately felt a bit better. Then we took a little nap and now came to the common room and had some dinner.
Some thoughts from the day. It continues to amaze me how many people have (in my humble opinion) no business here. I estimate that definitely less than 10% of people carry their own stuff in their backpack (to be honest, I'd go even below 5%). It's not uncommon to see people with no backpack at all. Today, we even saw a guy being led on a horse! And he was being led up, not down! I understand if he's injured or sick to hire a horse to go down (and I think we saw another man like that), but using the animal to keep going up beyond your ability is beyond me (and it's not like he looked disabled...). The horse even so loaded was still faster than us!
We passed by a place full of memorial monuments for all the people that these mountains have claimed in one way or another. Among them were Scott Fischer and Rob Hall (from the notorious 1996 disaster immortalized in Krakauer's "Into Thin Air" and the movie Everest). It's strange to think that they still lie on the slopes of Everest (I think) and yet there are these memorial for them quite far from wehere they died. So many people lying dead in the mountains. And for what? On the other hand, so many other people lying dead all over the lowlands, and for what? We all go, one way or another.
Gorak Shep, EBC Trek Day 9 - 04/11/23
Every day seems harder than the previous one and I keep feeling worse and worse. Last night I didn't get almost any sleep and I kept feeling my heart beating in my ears. I was stressed about getting very sick and needing to be evacuated or whatever. I took a Diamox pill for the first time.
Today, I kept needing to burp a lot and felt that I might throw up even. I feel like I barely made it to Gorak Shep, even though it was just a 3-hour hike with no more than 300m of elevation gain. Very tired. We took a nap after getting a room at the Himalaya Lodge. Facilities are going down as we're going up.
For dinner, we came down to the common room and it was completely packed! Never seen something like this on the trek before. We couldn't sit anywhere because all the tables were taken by big groups. Fortunately, the hosts took pity on us just standing there and made a couple of locals stand up to give us space. Minimal appetite for me (thankfully not for Lily), barely finished the Dal soup and not the entire portion of rice.
I hope this night goes better and I feel better tomorrow. We're supposed to go to EBC (finally!) and then as far down as our tired bodies will take us.
Lobuche, EBC Trek Day 10 - 05/11/23
Thankfully, the pattern of each day feeling worse than the previous one didn't continue. I had a half-descent sleep last night (still riddled with need to burp, fart, pee...) and felt quite a bit better.
Today was the day we reached our destination, Everest Base Camp! The way was quite rocky, but not too hard or long. Funnily enough, there are better views of Everest along the way compared to EBC itself. What dominates the view is mostly Nuptse. The other very engaging part of the view is the Khumbu glacier and icefall. We went down some scree to get near the glacier and the ice looked "hairy". There were some frozen glacial lakes dotting the glacier too.
There were quite a few people at EBC, taking photos etc. Most of them wanted a photo with the boulder on which "EBC" is written, and we took photos with it too, as is customary I guess. Myself, I wished there were no people around, so that we could sit for a while in silence and look at the mountains and listen to the occasional sounds of the glacier. As it was, the experience of being there didn't exactly disappoint, but it definitely wasn't some dramatic moment of parting clouds and singing angels.
On the way back, we saw a little avalanche on the side of Nuptse. It was fun to see, especially since it was far and there was no chance of injury to anyone. There were also helicopters flying overhead all day, flying quite high and then going back, presumably doing heli-tours of the area. Many people were being led to EBC on horse (sometimes reluctant horses..).
We returned to Gorak Shep, ate some lunch and made our way back to Lobuche. According to our schedule, we should've been at Pheriche for the night, but it wasn't really manageable today. That means that we have 3 days of hard walking to make up for lost time. Hopefully, Lily's apparently starting illness won't escalate and my own condition won't worsen again.
Tengboche, EBC Trek Day 11 - 06/11/23
Our descent is now truly underway. Today, we left Lobuche at 8 in the morning and made it all the way down (and some way up) to Tengboche, where we'll stay for the night. Our starting elevation was above 4900m and our final one is below 3900m. We covered almost 18km in 5h40min of walking time. The biggest change, I think, is the one of scenery. When we started out, we walked in dusty and barren valleys and on rocky path, with only small bushes growing around. After passing Pheriche (where we had a nice lunch, a tuna sandwich), the river really started building up, and by the time we were between Pangboche and Tengboche, we were walking through forests again!
For part of the way to Pangboche we made a little friend, a white dog, but then he betrayed us and now I don't love him anymore.
Even though it was a long day of hiking, I felt better than the previous few days, quite noticeably, since most of the time the hiking was easy and downhill, but more importantly because I had a good night's sleep finally, with almost no interruptions. Burps etc also noticeably down, I'm not sure if because of staying away from eggs (which I suspected as the cause of my gastrointestinal discomfort), or because I got used to the higher altitude, or due to something else. In any case, whatever it was, I'm happy about the reprieve. My nose though is quite burnt and peeling. I'm trying to apply some sunscreen and some of Lily's facial cream.
Tomorrow, we head down to Namche, and the almost luxurious Yak Hotel, with a hot shower and free electricity in out room awaiting us. We'll need to withdraw some money though, because we burned through what we had a bit too quickly. It's going to be a hard day as well, since after the first big downhill, we'll have a long uphill to do. I hope Lily's sore throat improves with warmer air around us.
Namche, EBC Trek Day 12 - 07/11/23
Relatively arduous day that started off with a steep downhill from Tengboche. (The view from the room's window was probably the best one of all, including all the major mountains of the region).
We had a nice lunch (tuna sandwiches are really worth it in Nepal apparently) with a great view to the mountaints at Kyangjuma. We were quite tired when we reached Namche and were looking forward to our first shower since the time we were last here (9 days ago!). We couldn't get a room at Yak Hotel again though, so we ended up getting a deluxe room (including double bed, ensuite toilet, and a shower) at Hotel Khangri. For dinner I had a burger since I was craving meat and I almost had a second one. I even got ice cream (mint choc chip) for dessert.
First night without sleeping bags during the trip, crazy!
Lukla, EBC Trek Day 13 - 08/11/23
Well, who would've thought that the last day of the trek would be the hardest!
We had our breakfast, checked out, withdrew some more NPR and then we spent a while lost in Namche looking for the "carry me back" back from SPCC. They ended up being at the checkpoint just after Namche, just as Lily thought. I took 3 bags (3kg), which would prove to be a mistake...
The hike from Namche to Lukla is 18km long, with many suspension bridges (5?) and *a lot* of elevation gains and losses; in total 721m of ascent and 1225m of descent! It took us ~6h15min of walking over almost 8h total (including a break at a nice bakery in Phakding).
My shoulders were hurting a lot from the additional weight and our progress felt slow due to the constant interchange of uphills and downhills and the presence of a lot of beasts of burden (mostly mules, but also yaks).
I was also frequently feeling annoyed with other people on the trek. For example, a family who had their 3yo on the back of a porter... Another example, a big commercial group that we've been seeing all through our time here; something like 20 of them, all just carrying day pack during the whole trek, not *one* of them carrying down some trash. And on top of that, even relatively early in the day looking like they've been through war after having gone up the hill before the chekpoint at Jorsale. I mean, come on, what are most of these people doing here? I know that it all sounds very judgemental and that's because I *am* actually judging them. It's as if they don't want to earn the right to see these places, they just want it handed to them. There should be some kind of selection process for who gets to go where (whether that's EBC, or Ama Dablam, or Everest). Hasn't the point always been about doing something challenging? Take away the challenge and what's left? Just some ego masturbation on social media? But, of course, the local authorities would never implement this sort of measure, even if it would reduce injuries, deaths, etc, because the current regime pays them well (but not for infrastructure for the locals of course, many of whom live in very bad conditions! When it's exactly the locals that should profit from all the tourists coming to their land...).
Aaanyway.. The last 3km or so before Lukla are the most grueling, being consistently uphill, and steeply so. However, either due to some fatigue-driven trance or some other reason, a change occured for me here. I thought a few things: 1) Next week, I'm gonna be stuck on a desk chair for long hours and I'm going to be wishing I was in this moment again. 2) When I'm older and/or I can't move freely anymore, what wouldn't I give for the chance to carry this heavy load uphill again? 3) We **pay** to buy weights and/or subscriptions to gyms so that we can *simulate* this type of training. Now that it's here for free, why complain? With these thoughts, I started placing my feet on the ground a bit more intentionally and paying attention to smaller details (there was no enlightenment or satori, mind you, my mind still wandered) and, somehow, the pain of the backpack wasn't occupying my thoughts anymore, and these last 3km passes easier than the previous 12 probably. I hope I can remember this lesson in the future.
We dropped off the bags and found a lodge and just had dinner. This time, there was no resisting the second burger!
Early wake up tomorrow, ~05:30, to catch our flight to Kathmandu at 7.
Kathmandu, EBC Trek Day 14 - 09/11/23
Well, things didn't go according to plan. They gave our seats to other people and we were forced to take a flight to Ramechap and from there a minivan to Kathmandu. Instead of a 25min flight, the total duration of our return to Kathmandu was > 8h. I was very angry (I wanted to cry at the unfairness), I shouted at the people in the airport, nothing came of it. I was also frequently annoyed at the other people in the minivan with us.. Long story short, we made it back to the hotel.
I liked looking at the river that was next to the road from Ramechap to Kathmandu. It seems that it's harvesting season, so there were a lot of people working in the fields under the sun - it looks like 99% of the work is being done manually still.
