Alongside the Khumbu Glacier
Dateline: April 3rd, 2010
"Trekking to Everest Base Camp" is off the list. It's done. I succeeded. And it took a bloody arduous day of trekking to complete my goal. Though I suppose I should hold off on too much self-congratulation until I make it out of the Himalaya alive.
Last night was the second worst night of sleep I've had on the entire trek. I woke up every hour or so, and slept incredibly lightly when I was actually able to sleep. It was literally freezing – during the middle of the night I had to chip through ice to get to the water in the buckets used to flushing the toilets in the lodge – and I slept in my sleeping bag, with all of my clothes on. All of those clothes included my fleece, my hat and a pair of gloves. I was pretty warm in all that, but I felt pretty grotty sleeping in the same cloths I've been wearing for the past six days. The only reason I can't classify it as the worst night of sleep I've had in Nepal is that my headache was nowhere near as bad as the pounding pain I experienced during my first night in Dingboche.
I was up by 0630, and I joined up with the rest of the moving about around the lodge. Every trekker and their mother (okay, that's a exaggeration – I've only met one guy last night who is trekking with his mother) was either preparing to climb further, or race down the glacier valley as they descended from Everest Base Camp (EBC). For those of us going up, there was a minor concern about the limited accommodation at Gorak Shep – the last and closest overnight stop to EBC. Since most trekkers (those not attached as part of a climbing group) lack the permits to overnight at Base Camp, there was going to be a rush to grab one of the few rooms at the two or three lodges we had left above us.
Since it was a short trek to Gorak Shep – only two hours to trek to cover two kilometres on the ground, with an ascent of two-hundred vertical metres – I had a quick and light breakfast of oatmeal, and we got out on the trail at 0745. The first half-hour or so was a gentle climb, with the path hugging the edge of the moraine, alongside what the maps had marked as the Khumbu Glacier.
Along the way, I climbed the ten metres to the top of the moraine wall to get a glimpse. I didn't see any bloody glacier. Instead of a huge river of ice, all I saw was rock and dirt, and I stood there for a while lamenting the effects of global warming. Later, I found out I was blinded by supreme ignorance. I expected a shining river of ice, like what I'd seen in Argentina and New Zealand. But the Khumbu Glacier is debris covered, which happens when material built up as the ice grinds along the valley walls eventually falls onto ice, covering almost the entire surface.
The Start of the Roof of the World
After the first half-hour, we found ourselves face to face with the main ascent between Lobuche and Gorak Shep – a steep, rock-strewn, hundred-vertical-metre climb up to the top of a moraine ridge. Before I started up, I saw two of the American lads I'd met in Namche Bazaar – Boston and New York – coming down the hill. They had reached Base Camp yesterday afternoon, completed their Kala Patthar ascent this morning, and were now descending to Lobuche. Given my concern over their accelerated schedule out of Namche – skipping that first acclimatisation day – I was glad to see them looking healthy and fit. That being said, I saw only two of them this morning because New York II had to turn back before ever reaching Gorak Shep. He was holed up and waiting, down in Pheriche, for the return of his mates.
I wasn't feeling too much of a headache this morning – or any other signs of moderate AMS – but I was suffering incredibly through the lack of oxygen. I was getting winded incredibly easily – to the point of being light-headed until I could stop and gasp in enough oxygen to restore my breath. Given that we'd broken the 5,000m mark at 0830, stopping every five to six steps during a climb – or after a scramble of any sort – was a running theme for the day.
After hitting the top of the ridge, we still had another half-hour hike along a gentle climb before reaching Gorak Shep. Note that at this altitude, "gentle" only describes the slope of the climb and not the effect on the lungs. The lack of a more filling breakfast was starting to take its toll on me at this point – I was gasping for air and starving – and I was relieved beyond belief when the village came into sight. We entered the Buddha Lodge a little past 1000.
We were lucky we made such good time. A few trekkers came in right after we'd checked in, but were turned away due to lack of rooms. I had lunch at 1030 – a big plate of what passes for fried rice at 5,200m in Nepal. It had egg, cheese and bits of canned tuna. I think the brown colour was due to soy sauce. It wasn't like any fried rice I'd even seen but I drizzled a little chilli sauce drizzled all over the top and wolfed it down like I hadn't eaten in three days.
At 1130, we finished our final preparations for our push to EBC and stepped back out into the bright, Himalayan sun. The trip up to the lodge was just a warm up for the real work of the day.
Navigating the Moraine
While Base Camp is only two hundred vertical metres above Gorak Shep, the trip there and back involves a six kilometre scramble over loose rock. With the movement of the Khumbu Glacier constantly shifting the moraines, much of the trail is unmarked and we had to track our progress using any and all obvious signs of the trekkers, porters and yak trains that had been through the area previously. Midway between Gorak Shep and EBC, we were nearly caught in a small rock fall as a shower of rocks up to the size of cantaloupes tumbled from the top of a cliff about fifty metres above the trail. Across the Khumbu Valley, we witnessed a large avalanche of snow, coming off one of the peaks to the east. The sound of instability was everywhere, as the creaking and groaning of the Khumbu Glacier – caused as the ice flowed southward at a visually-unperceivable rate – was a constant companion during our trek along the moraine.
I was frightfully slow, taking about an hour to cover each kilometre on the way out. At 1430, after navigating through a traffic jam of yak and porter trains ferrying equipment for the climbers, we finally arrived at the cairn denoting the entrance to Everest Base Camp. We were at 5,364m in altitude. Arun could now lay claim to four trips up to EBC. This was Santosh's twelfth. But I am quite certain that my joy over my first time completion vastly trumped theirs'.
The Everest Base Camp Entrance Cairn
The weather really held out for us this afternoon and the views of the Khumbu Valley, the Khumbu Icefall, the beginning of the Western Cwm, and the entire Himalaya surrounding us were absolutely spectacular. I just took it all in, revelling in the scenery despite the fact that Mount Everest could not be seen from Base Camp, hidden as it was behind Nuptse.
Even though most of the climbing expeditions were still days away from reaching EBC, there was a significant amount of activity, with sherpas running around getting ready for the climbers' impending arrival. Still, with few climbers actually at EBC, and many amenities – like the famous Everest Base Camp Bakery – still shuttered, there was little incentive for me to trek the additional five-hundred metres from the entrance cairn into the heart of the tent city. And with it getting onwards of 1500, we had to move if we wanted to be back in Gorak Shep before dark.
The trip back was primarily a descent, but still I found it a tough, slow-going slog. There were enough short climbs to leave me utterly winded for minutes at a time, and there were long sections of the trail requiring a scramble over large boulders. The only time I made a concerted effort to gut it out and move as quickly as possible was when we reached the area prone to rock slides. When we finally reached the Helipad – the large, level plain next to Gorak Shep – I let out a small gasp of relief. As I hiked through the Helipad and into the main village, I noted that today was the first day since Deboche where we had neither seen nor heard any rescue helicopters.
I re-entered the Buddha Lodge by 1730. I was utterly knackered, but I suppose that eight hours of concerted trekking, especially above 5,000m in altitude, will do that to a person. I had a short snooze before heading back down to the common room at 1800.
Everest Base Camp
I feel like a zombie. Any joy and sense of accomplishment I felt at Everest Base Camp extinguished sometime during the hike back to Gorak Shep, drowned out by my feelings of utter exhaustion. Even with the Diamox, I'm suffering from a moderate headache. Today is the first day I've felt absolutely disgustingly filthy. Aside from one change of my shirt and socks, I've worn the rest of my clothes for eight days straight. My last shower was six days ago. But with the temperature already below freezing, there's no possibility of a shower tonight, unless I fancy paying NRs.500 for a bowl of warm water and slashing it over myself outside of the lodge.
I don't even have the energy to play cards tonight, and am considering packing it in now that I've finished my dinner of hot tomato soup and more daal bhat. But it's only 2000. That's probably a good thing since I have to be up at 0430 to climb Kala Patthar.
Tomorrow's going to be another long day.
Altitude Stats:
- Starting Altitude: 4,895m
- Ending Altitude: 5,200m
- Maximum Altitude: 5,410m
- Minimum Altitude: 4,890m
- Total Ascent: 790m
- Total Descent: 485m
Related Entries:
1. Trekking in the Solukhumbu - Day 7: Onward to Lobuche
2. Trekking in the Solukhumbu - Day 6: Giving In to the Drugs
3. Trekking in the Solukhumbu - Day 4: Hot and Cold; Up and Down
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