The day before yesterday I decided to go with Kelly and the trekking group to Gorak Shep to climb the small peak of Kala Patthar the next morning. The climbing group and my mum stayed behind to have a rest day, with the exception of Mark who came along with Tennielle. We stopped off at an Italian research station underneath Louboche mountain and were shown round and given a short speech on global warming by a fairly eccentric researcher before carrying on to the lodge. The guide for the trekking group, Ben (who’s coming back up to solo Lhotse after he finishes the trek), had agreed to take up the friends and family of the climbing group to Kala Patthar the morning before the rest of the group so that they could both spend a night at base camp and do that summit. We were up and downstairs at 5am to start the hike, and it was a beautiful clear morning. Besides Ben and Norbu (a really nice Sherpa guide) we had a fully female group, consisting of Michael’s wife Susan, Chris and Rob’s daughter/sister Nikki, Mark’s girlfriend Tennielle (Mark hardly slept and woke with a headache so stayed back to conserve energy for the big climb), Kelly and myself.
We all made the summit and had beautiful views of Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse. It was actually quite a long, relatively difficult morning, finishing in a bit of a scramble to the top. For me it was great to see that the Everest training had made it really quite easy, I think I would have been worried if it hadn’t, but besides that it was very cold and when you could see the top it seemed to take forever to reach it. The views were worth it and we were all happy to get there. Seeing the first light and the sun rise above Everest was spectacular.
After getting down and eating breakfast we packed up and, with the whole trekking team, made our way into base camp. This made it a long day and it was made even longer by the fact that when you reach Everest Base Camp it actually takes another 45 minutes to get to Alpine Ascent’s Base Camp. AAI are right at the back next to the Khumbu Ice Fall, and base camp in total stretches possibly up to 2 miles, housing approximately 500 climbers. It was great seeing all the different guide groups and their camps, and it was so amazing to finally be here.
On Kala Patthar and up to Base Camp we were able to see part of the route that we’ll be taking up Everest. I think all of us were surprised by quite how big the Ice Fall really is. It goes up forever! It’s so spectacular and terrifying and we’re now camped at the foot of it. About 2x a day we’ll hear or see avalanches in the area, but nothing close or on the route we plan to take.
Base Camp is wonderful. We have a tent each, although last night our friends/family stayed with us, we have a dinner tent, a “hanging out” tent, a communications tent, 3 toilet tents and a shower tent (which I took advantage of in the hot weather this morning). Our dinner tent is huge and we have access to a range of hot and cold drinks and snacks 24/7, as well as a heater for the evenings!
It was very sad saying goodbye to my mum and Kelly this morning, and lots of people were emotional. They’re heading all the way down to Debouche today and meeting up with the rest of the group that did Kala Patthar this morning. We had a really relaxing day setting up our tents and lounging around before walking down 30 minutes to meet the staff at the makeshift Base Camp hospital, and seeing the photo gallery “Rivers of Ice”.
I can’t write anymore today as they’re wanting the laptop to play a film on a big projector in the dining tent! I’ll write again tomorrow and will attach a photo then. Ttfn.