Everest Base Camp trek - Nepal TR

[Fan of Dan]

Keep it coming I know see why you were hesitant about starting, as it seems when you do things you do them right and this is no short trip report!

[Achas Veachas]

Don't worry it's almost finished. As you can see we reached the highlight of the trip (Base Camp). One moore day and then then we're on the way back, which isn't nearly as long as the way there

[moish]

so after all that, you couldnt see everest?

[shmuelb]

Amazing!! Thanks so much for writing! Keep it up, you're almost done, it's mostly downhill from here! 

[SuperFlyer]

so after all that, you couldnt see everest?

See a couple of posts ago a picture with the everest.

[moish]

See a couple of posts ago a picture with the everest.

i saw, but i guess i dont understand the thrill of getting to the base camp if you couldnt even see everest from there

the hike seems pretty cool, i just dont see why the base camp was the goal

[Achas Veachas]

See a couple of posts ago a picture with the everest.

Actually see this post pic #82.
To clear up the confusion, we saw Everest for most of the trip, starting as a small bump in the distance on day 3 (pic #42) and getting closer and closer each day. It's only from Base camp itself that Lhotse got in the way (climbers who want t climb Everest have to actually climb the base of Lhotse first).
As to:

i saw, but i guess i dont understand the thrill of getting to the base camp if you couldnt even see everest from there

the hike seems pretty cool, i just dont see why the base camp was the goal

it depends, for some people the highlight is reaching Base camp, and getting as close as physically possible to the tallest mountain (without actually climbing it) or some people get a thrill from following the same path taken by Edmund Hillary on his famous climb. For them the highlight of the trip is reaching Base Camp. For people like me who took more to the views the whole trek is amazing but the "High"light (pun intended) of the trip will be in the next post where we climbed up a nearby hill for the best views of Everest, so stay tuned

[DH Data Recovery]

absolutely amazing - kept me reading despite my knowing the end of the story

[Achas Veachas]

Hey the end isn't there yet, as mentioned the highest point of the trip (physically (in altitude) and emotionally) is yet to come...

[shmuelb]

Did you pass any cwms? One of my favorite words... I remember that from reading about EH's historic trip.

[Achas Veachas]

Excuse my ignorance... Wikipedia seems to imply a glacial valley? I don't remember any big deal being made of the term.

[Achas Veachas]

Day 10 – Friday   
Gorak Shep (5,288m) – Kala Pattar (5,643m) - Lobuche (4,930m)

Friday morning we woke up before dawn, we had a long hard climb to the highest point we would reach during the trek. Kala Pattar is a hill overlooking Gorak Shep and the Khumbu glacier, and offers the most breathtaking views of Everest as well as many other nearby and distant peaks, and is considered by many to be the highlight of the trip.

We had a quick breakfast (couldn’t Daven yet) and started our long slow climb. The climb was hard especially on those of us who were having a harder time with the altitude (if I’m not mistaken 1 or 2 guys only made it halfway up).

We finally reached the top, clearly marked by tons of colorful tangled prayer flags and sure enough the views were spectacular. It was a clear day, not a cloud in any direction (later I found out we were really lucky, quite a few Israelis at the Beit Chabad told me that they trekked the whole way only to have their view marred by low clouds or fog). I must tell you it was an awe inspiring feeling; knowing that you are over 5 ˝ km above sea level, yet looking out there are Lhotse and Nuptse about a km higher then you, and just beyond them is Everest more than 3 km higher.

I kept climbing hgher and higher on the rock pile at the summit and all of the sudden my heart stopped; Kalla Pattar is a gentle slope on one side but it finishes in a steep cliff and I found myself looking almost straight down about 600 meters. I quickly retreated to a safe distance and admired the Niflaos Haboreh.

There was a dispute amongst the members of the group when to make the Oseh Ma’aseh Bereishis one is supposed to make when seeing high mountains; I made it the first time we saw Everest on the way to Namche but some of the guys made it there on Kala Pattar while the rest answered Amen.

After catching our breath and admiring the views for half an hour we started going back down, after all we had to make it back to Lobuche in time to prepare for Shabbos. The climb down was obviously easier and in no time we were in Gorak Shep, Davened Shacharis and an hour or 2 later were already in Lobuche. Lekovod Shabbos we all stayed at the guesthouse, this one not nearly as “luxurious” as the one we stayed at last Shabbos in Namche. While the last guesthouse had such luxuries as a hot shower for 300Rs, electrical outlets and a bathroom in each room. This one had no electricity to speak of, and only one bathroom in the hallway, but after sleeping in tents for a week it was great to have a roof over our heads again.

We started preparing for Shabbos, which meant instructing the cook to have all the food ready before sundown (this time with an improved Cholent recipe). Sometime before sunset we lit 2 candles in the dining room, davened Kabollas Shabbos and sat down for an uplifting Shabbos meal complete with Zemiros to the amusement of our guide and a few Nepali locals. You can imagine we were all in good spirits having all made it to Everest Base Camp and kala Pattar -throughout the whole trek our guide kept warning us that it was possible not everyone would make it to the end, that we were on the way down we definitely felt proud of ourselves, also the altitude was not having as much of an effect anymore (on Friday we had a net descent of 700m) adding to the lively atmosphere at the Shabbos Tish.

[Achas Veachas]

92. Climbing up kala Pattar
93. The view from the way up (I think this mountain is called Pumori)

[Achas Veachas]

94. At the top!
95. Mount Everest on the left
96. Kala Pattar

[Achas Veachas]

Day 11 – Shabbos   
Lobuche (4,930m)

Shabbos was rather uneventful. We woke up in morning, went down to the dining room with our Talleisim to daven, which prompted a local Tibetan to approach us reverently and ask if we were monks. During Kiddush one of us brought out his “contraband”; a bottle of Chivas. None of us was up for much drinking so he prceeded to drink half of the bottle almost himself (did I mention that high altitude amplifies the effects of alcohol?).

Motsei Shabbos was Kiddush Levanah night, and quite rarely the sky was clear, we made Kiddush Levanah with a nice moon reflecting of Lhotse in the background. I tried my hand at night photography; results below

[Achas Veachas]

97. Kiddush Leanah at 4,930m
98-99. Lhotse by moonlight

[Achas Veachas]

And yes guys from here on it really is "down hill" but there are a few interesting things that hapened on the way down so there will probably be one more chapter

[shmuelb]

Excuse my ignorance... Wikipedia seems to imply a glacial valley? I don't remember any big deal being made of the term.

I meant because it does not have a e i o u or y in it.

[Achas Veachas]

Day 12 – Sunday   
Lobuche (4,930m) – Deboche (3,770m)

Today we started on our way down. For the most part the way down was very similar to the way up (scenery wise). The difference ended up being that; while on the way up we were looking up (at the mountains the scenery etc.), on the way down we had more of a chance to look around, IOW we paid more attention to the people we passed and scenes on the ground around us, which will reflect in the pictures for the next few days.

For reference; on day 12 we did almost the same walk as days 6-8 just backwards and with some minor differences.
So we started down the Moraine from Lobuche, when we crossed the river at the end, instead of going up the plateau we walked on day 8, we went to the valley below it. Really nice valleys with a bubbling brook flowing through it and grass all over with Yaks grazing. We passed the whole length of the valley then had a steep climb out. Somewhere in middle of the climb it started snowing and it kept at it for a while.

When we reached the top and where on our final stretch to where we would eat lunch I saw something interesting; a couple took was trekking with us with their 2 boys, now while we adults were dragging our feet fighting for every breath these kids were jumping around, climbing trees and driving the Sherpa hired to take care of them up a wall.

Eventually we stopped at Pangboche for lunch (same lunch stop as day 6), then continued to our camp for the night at Deboche, a town just beneath Tengboche where we slept the night of day 5 (the one with the monastery).

At this point of the trek we started feeling more energetic, and the last stretch to Deboche we were skipping down the path, racing each other and having a ball (need I remind you the sorry state we looked in when we were doing this stretch on the way up).

We arrived at our camp and felt so good some of the guys started a game of volleyball with the porters. Before supper we decided to go into one of the guesthouses for a beer. We came in and there was a group of guys sitting at the 1 long table, at their center sat a guy with a black checkered Kafiyah… turns out he’s a climber from Kazakhstan who took a break from acclimatization in Base Camp to come take a drink. in the beginning it was civil and we even started marveling at the nature of such an adventure that brings such different people together, but eventually נכנס יין יצא סוד and he started ranting and screaming about “Your brothers are killing my brothers in Gaza”, so we decided it wasn’t the time or place for a confrontation so we left, had supper and had our first good night sleep in a while.

[Achas Veachas]

100. Starting the way down
101. A green Valley...
102. ..with Yaks grazing by the brook