Base Camp! Nepal Part 2

View Larger Map

On the morning of our 5th trek day, we woke up in Pangboche (3800m) feeling the chill of the crispy and thin mountain air. Kat was not feeling any better, but she was determined to head out with us and conquer the short but tough 4 hour rocky incline ahead. We started off with the same old morning regime, UVing our water for the day, eating our muesli and hot milk breakfasts, and yelling at Alex to gather his things already and hurry up because we were (as usual) 30 minutes behind schedule. The first half an hour was always the worst, feeling the burn in our thighs from the prior day and getting used to the 'Stair Master 5000'-like rhythm of our foot to breath ratio. After having already stopped a few times in the first 30 minutes, Kat and her guide were falling significantly far behind and we soon realized that they had turned back. We were sad to have a lost a member of our group, but we new she was in good hands with her guide and better off heading back down to avoid any heightened symptoms of altitude sickness.

The weather was cloudy and gloomy as we arrived into the village of Periche (4230m). We checked into another guesthouse recommended by our porter Senji and had to cough up 400 Rupees for our room (a significant increase in price from the last few guesthouses). We spent the afternoon discussing prices and porters with Alex and Jack from Montreal, Jay and Ebba from Sweden, Roger from England and Daniel from Spain, and realized we were paying double everyone else's price! We were beginning to see a theme with Senji and realizing that we were being ripped off every step of the way. We decided the next guest house was going to be chosen by us and that we were going to find out prices from the house owner's instead of letting Senji look into it for us, as we had done in the past. On a good note, we were collecting a great big crew of amazing people from all over the world to share this incredible experience with.




That night Alice realized she wasn't feeling so hot. Throughout the day she was experiencing a steady progression of stomach cramping followed by distasteful gassy expulsions. After reading up on the symptoms we were worried that maybe she had caught an intestinal infection caused by a parasite called Giardia. Giardia was easily taken care of with medicine that was available to us, but the side effects of the medicine were worse than the symptoms at this point and people were telling her to hold off on taking them until we were headed back down. Despite the mild discomfort we were able gather around the yak turd fire and enjoy the evening playing a huge Swedish card game, taught to us by Jay and Ebba called PLUMP!





The next day we had planned to keep moving, but it seemed that everyone besides our original crew of 3 was staying in Periche for another acclimatization day. After making some long and tedious calculations of how many days we had until our flight back, we realized that we had time to stay back with our friends, and acclimatize appropriately. In order to get used to the thinning air we rounded up the whole crew for a 2 hour hike up the steep hill behind our guesthouse. We were telling jokes and stories and laughing along the way, taking more breaks than ever before, not knowing if it was because of the altitude or the laughing. We were literally up in the clouds by the time we reached the 2nd flag at 4600m and instead of ogling the impeccable view of the Ama Dablam mountain range and possibly Everest, all we could see was a few meters of rocks ahead of us before everything was swallowed up by the fog. We spent about a half an hour up there, shivering in our sweat soaked clothing before heading back down to get used to the altitude. While up there we heard our very first avalanche off in the (possibly not too far) distance, and the sound was more powerful than any thunder we've ever heard.

While everyone ordered carb filled lunches to fill their bellies, all Alice could think about was chicken soup and ginger tea. The cramping was becoming more intense but she was still determined to fight the pain. After lunch, the skies opened up and the sun began to shine. All of a sudden we could see that Periche was a small valley town surrounded by towering beautiful mountains! We all ran outside with our cameras and snapped shot after shot as the thinning clouds quickly swept over the rugged peaks revealing the breathtaking view we thought we were going to miss.

 

 

 

The day couldn't have been better, we spent the rest of our acclimatization afternoon enjoying the views and relaxing. The boys played poker while Alice played sticks and stones outside with one of the local 4 year olds.

On day 7 we packed up and left Periche. Our first hour was a leisure "Nepaly flat", a term the Nepalese people use for gradual incline. We were walking through the valley, jumping over creeks and praying to get some more great views of those mountains. As we reached Lobuche (4910 m) the terrain became very rocky and we were beginning to see less green the higher we climbed.

On day 8 we hiked to the last inhabited town before base camp at 5140m called Gorakshep. The air was getting so thin that walking at an incline was becoming harder than ever before. We were moving so slowly that we had to stop for a breath with each step we took. On the way up, we passed by a memorial site for all the fallen climbers trying to make it up to the summit. The weather was perfectly misty, adding to the eeriness of the place which helped us imagine the trials and tribulations they all must have went through on their adventure. As we soldiered on, the rocky terrain turned into all rocks and we were left with no choice but to rock jump the rest of the way.

The 9th day was the worse day of all for Alice. Her stomach pains were becoming unbearable and she was beginning to feel very weak due to some other symptoms that we won't mention here.  We were all exhausted and most of us were experiencing mild headaches from the altitude. However, being just a few hours away from our goal was enough motivation to deal with the pain.

Along the way the rocks opened up into a valley over a glacier and we walked along side it while searching for slits in the clouds to observe the famous Himalayan mountains in the background. All of a sudden we could see base camp in the distance, we had made it! Senji told us that base camp is moved slightly once in a while because it's situated on top of a glacier. The glacier causes the ground to be unstable and the site can sink or become dangerous. This year the site had collapsed and was going to be moved before summit season begun again. We walked over the loose rocks covering the glacier, sat down by the prayer flags and hugged each other with excitement.

We headed back to Gorakshep fairly quickly as it was getting late and we wanted to get back before dark. At this point we hadn't seen Mt. Everest yet, as every time we were at a possible view point the clouds where doing a great job of hiding it. We knew that it was now or never, and if Everest wasn't going to come out now, we would have to come back down and tell everyone that although it was a trip of a lifetime, we missed out on the biggest highlight. Luckily, just as we were beginning to except it, Senji called out to us to turn around quickly, and there it was! The tiny little tip of the mountain was showing it's face through the clouds (photo left).

The hike back down to Lukla took us only 2 days, 2 very long days. The first day consisted of a 10 hour marathon that took us all the way back down to Namche Bazar.  This had taken us 4 days to do going up.  Granted we were going downhill, but there were still a lot of uphill sections.  By the time we got into Namche the first day down, we were approaching delirium.  We were all happy, though, to be back at the "Comfort Inn", where we had stayed earlier in the week.  The next day was not quite as long (it was 8 hours instead of 10), but we were all exhausted and it was pouring rain.  Finally, though, we made it back to Lukla at around 6:00 pm.  We took some pictures with the crew, had a celebratory beer, ate dinner, played cards, said goodbye to the last dog friend we'd made, and prayed to the weather gods that the next morning's skies would be clear so we could fly back to Kathmandu.

We woke up the next morning at 6:30 and quickly packed our bags anticipating our flight.  Unfortunately, as we stepped outside, we couldn't even see 50 yards in front of us because the fog was so thick.  We were told by Senji that the fog could clear up at any time, and if they sent a flight from Kathmandu, we would hear a loud siren coming from the Lukla airport.  At which point we would have to run to the airport and get on the plane.  So we all sat there and waited, hoping for the siren.  It never came.  Once we came to the realization we would have to spend another night in Lukla, we became worried.  We had heard horror stories of weeks going by (literally, weeks) when no flights left Lukla, and we could be stranded.  We ate, played more cards, and once again hoped that the next morning would be clear.

We woke up once again at 6:30, and were ecstatic to see that the skies were indeed clear, and we would be flying back to Kathmandu that morning! As we boarded the plane, our excitement quickly turned to fear as we remembered that this was indeed the most dangerous runway in the world.  As previously described, it is incredibly short, and when leaving, drops off the side of a cliff.  It is so short, in fact, that it was constructed on a downward slope to allow the plane to gain enough speed.  We all held our breath as the props on the plane spun faster and we moved down the runway.  At the end, as we saw the cliff pass under us, we knew we were safe and enjoyed the scenic flight.

When we arrived back in Kathmandu, it was just how we remembered it; hot, dusty, and dirty.  That was fine, though, as we had had enough of the cold and rainy mountains.  We went to our favorite middle eastern restaurant; OR2K, and met up with the group (plus a few other friends) for a nice dinner. 

We decided that since we had 3 days until we were flying out to China, that we would visit "Chitwan" National Park; a wildlife reserve in the South of Nepal.  The few days we spent there with our friends Alex, Jay, and Ebba, were great, though really really hot.  We took a day hike into the national park where we saw wild elephants, monkeys, and rhinos!  We were even told we might be able to see the elusive Bengal Tiger, and although we saw evidence of some in the area, we weren't lucky enough (depending on how you look at it) to spot one.

All in all we thoroughly enjoyed Nepal and all the wonderful scenery and nature that came along with it.  Next stop, China!

As always, thanks for reading.
With love from the bottom of the top of the world,
D'Alice