Fulfilling myself a long time dream, some weeks ago I embarked on a three weeks hiking vacation in Nepal. As it was my first time there I thought it was a good idea to do one of the better known trails and therefore decided to hike up to the Everest Base Camp (EBC). As I didn't wanted to do exactly what everyone else does and as I also wanted to see something of the "real" Nepal before heading into the tourist area, I opted for a 21 days hike starting in the village of Shivalaya instead of the tourist hub of Lukla. For me it was a trip into the unknown and unexpected and therefore quite a challenge and adventure. Will I be able to hike almost three weeks in a row? Will my knees hold? How will my body react to the altitude? Well, what happened in those 21 days you can read below. I decided that a day by day review is the only way to do this trip justice. So this blog entry will be quite long and apologies for that already. I tried to keep it as entertaining as possible, but if you feel bored from reading please feel free to only scroll through the pictures, I assure you they're amazing and worth your time. :) Please also note that for once I will not focus on the hiking itself too much. This time it's more about the things I saw and experienced along the way and of course about the culture and the beautiful nature of Nepal. So I hope you enjoy reading this blog entry as much as I enjoyed my hike. :)
Day 0: The day of the Arrival
Arriving on Saturday afternoon in Kathmandu, I made my way to the office of the company I booked the trek with. There I got a short introduction into my hike, did all the necessary paperwork, got to know my guide Giri and learned that in about a couple days time was a major Hindu festival called Dashain. I was told that this festival is similar to Christmas as people go home to their families and celebrate the festival together. Like in many other Asian countries, most people that work in the big cities, still have their family in the countryside, which basically meant that whole Kathmandu was on the move. As we were to take a bus to Shivalaya the other day, we agreed to go to the bus station in the morning to try and secure a bus ticket. I knew then already that the chance will be low, but I wanted to have a try anyway, knowing that we could take a private Jeep if the bus wouldn't work out. With that in mind I went to my hotel and prepared myself for the start of my trip tomorrow. On a side note: apparently it wasn't possible to buy bus tickets in advance. :)
Day 1: Kathmandu to Shivalaya
As agreed we made our way to the bus station in the early morning. Arriving there all I could see was chaos. :) Buses, baggage and people everywhere I looked. Giri tried to find some bus tickets but with no luck. Therefore we soon were on our way back to the office of the trekking company and not waiting there too long the private Jeep had already arrived. Heading out of Kathmandu we followed an endless stream of cars, motorbikes and buses. It took us the best part of an hour to get out of the city and luckily we were in a Jeep and not in a bus as we avoided the worst traffic jams with some minor detours. Once out of Kathmandu the drive was pretty gentle, all on paved roads with only some small traffic jams every now and then. The longer the ride took, the more we came into the hillside and the more beautiful it was. The lunch break came and went and I still enjoyed the views and all the little villages we passed along the way. Then after about 7 hours of driving we came upon a turnoff. Leaving the paved road, we started to follow a rather narrow dirt track. I thought that this was a short cut, but I learned soon enough that this was the main track towards Shivalaya. "This is the dancing road" our driver said and bumping along I was never that glad to sit in a Jeep instead of a bus. How the hell can a bus even drive through here? So finally after our driver honked about the millionth time and a total drive of 10 hours we arrived at our destination. As it was dark already, there was not much left to do then to eat and go to sleep. What a first day that was! :)
Day 2: Shivalaya to Kinja
Actually I also paid for a porter to carry my big backpack, but because of the festival he didn't show up. He preferred to stay at home with his family. As I knew that I couldn't carry my stuff all the way to EBC, there was only one solution. Giri had to carry my backpack and his own. As he was a porter in his early days, he said that it would be no problem. So we set off early morning to our first hiking day. The weather was fine and after a first ascent we already had a nice view of Shivalaya and the surroundings. Walking along farming land, through tiny settlements and on a newly made unpaved road I soon learned that the pace was rather slow. And that was good. :) Not only to save some energy, I was also able to take in the landscape along the way. We kept on ascending until we reached the hilltop and after a short break started our descent towards Bhandar. Usually that's where the people stay for their first night but Giri told me it's better to keep on walking to gain some time. That was fine with me and we kept on descending all the way to Kinja. On the road I marveled at the surrounding hills, met the first couple tourists, were surprised that there actually were waymarkers, was asked about 10 times by children if I have sweets or chocolate and crossed my first hanging bridge over a wonderfully blue river. Arriving in Kinja it was time to eat, rest and have a shower. The latter turned out to be quite interesting. Not only that there was just cold water out of a bucket, the shower room also had a window where everyone passing by was able to look into it. Haha. Well, I placed some clothes before the window to obscure the view and had the most refreshing shower ever. :)
Day 3: Kinja to Junbesi
In the morning Giri asked me if I can carry the apples today. Astonished I learned that he carried 20 apples and 20 pomegranates with him. One each for dessert every evening. As I had pity with him I agreed and took the apples in my daypack. "Today is the longest day. First we go all the way up, then all the way down," he told me. "Okay, fine, sounds good to me." So we started walking under bright sunshine and like Giri said we ascended steadily. We made good way and soon stopped for lunch. During the lunch break clouds and fog moved in and without sun it was considerably colder. I thought that we would eat lunch close to the top, but once we started hiking again, we just kept on walking upwards. And we walked and walked.. Whenever I thought we were at the top I was wrong and we ascended further. Then we came upon a couple houses and one of them had a sign saying that we were on 3500 meters above sea level. Wow! It absolutely didn't feel like that. Around us there still were a lot of trees and bushes and as there was no trace of being alpine it felt like I was at least 1000 meters lower. When I asked Giri if this was the top now, he just shook his head and said "20 minutes more to go." And so it was. Finally we reached Lamjura Pass with 3530 meters the highest point of the first week. Funnily enough Lamjura Pass is in Nepali terms only a hill, as Giri kept on saying that what we're doing the first week is Hillside Trekking. :) Unfortunately clouds and fog never left us since lunch and additionally a fierce wind was blowing on the pass. There was no point in lingering around and after a short break we started the descent right away. Luckily we were swallowed by trees soon and the rest of the descent was windfree. Even the sun said hello quickly towards the end. What a delight after all the fog. And surprisingly my knees felt pretty good even though the descent was very long. Arriving in Junbesi right when dusk set in we clocked in at 9 hours walking today. With all the breaks we were on the trail for more than 10 hours! Actually this is not normal. Giri still wanted to gain some time as he told me that we were one or even two days short on time. I thought that this was strange, because there was a proper itinerary on the homepage of the company. Nevertheless, with the effort of today we gained one full day. And the pain of today was forgotten anyway once I entered the toilet in the guesthouse. Instead of a squat toilet a proper western toilet looked at me. I was in heaven! On a side note: I really slept good that night! :)
Day 4: Junbesi to Nunthala
It was only the third day of walking, but we already established some kind of routine. I would ask Giri before breakfast: "So what's the plan for today?" And he would answer: "Today it's all the way up up up, then all the way down down down and then up up up again." That this wasn't always accurate I learned soon enough. But in the end this didn't matter as I had to walk the way anyway whether it was up or down. In Junbesi there were quite a lot of tourists so when we started in the morning there was more traffic than before. And when we took our first break a group of about 20 French arrived some time later. The first sign of what awaited me later on. The place where we had our break, would also have been the first point of view of Mount Everest, but clouds lined the horizon and hid the mountains from view. A sudden realization hit me. On the first stretch today the walking had been very quiet. The other two days before the quietness had been disturbed by the occasional airplane or helicopter coming from or going to Lukla. Now as I saw the clouds it was obvious that they weren't flying today. Carrying on we made sure to walk fast enough to keep the big group behind us. Of course the two big earthquakes of the last years were a topic of discussion as well. But as they were in different areas of Nepal we only saw a couple buildings that were damaged because of it. One of them was a Stupa that was on today's hilltop and I was able to observe the locals a little bit in rebuilding it. From the hilltop we descended all the way down to Nunthala. Again another long descent, but as we did go down slowly and gentle I still had no troubles with my knees when I arrived at the guesthouse. Tonight I asked for a shower and Giri told me: "Yes, no problem. They have a gas shower." "Okay. Erm sorry, wait. They have what?" "A hot shower running with gas." "Ahh!" :) So after another long day on the trail it felt good to wash off the dirt with some hot water. Dinner was a short affair tonight as it was already pretty cold and the stove was not heated. So I found myself in the sleeping bag soon for another long sleep.
Day 5: Nunthala to Kharte
Unfortunately during the night my scarf shifted and with my head sticking out of the sleeping bag I woke up with a sore throat. Great.. Luckily this didn't really affect me while I was hiking and to get rid of it I just drank four cups of tea per day instead of two. :) So far the weather was everyday the same. In the morning the sun was shining and it was hot, but around noon the clouds moved in and it was a bit colder. Today was no different. But today it was the first time where we could see some "real" mountains in the distance before they were swallowed by the clouds. Nice! There also was no rain so far and I can tell you already that I used my rain jacket not a single time during the whole trip. Today we also scaled another hill and ate lunch in a hilltop restaurant again. From there we could see the way that we had to walk along in the afternoon. It looked easy and beautiful enough with some nice local villages surrounded by farming land. But unknown dangers loomed up ahead. In the meantime a lot of donkeys were crossing our way. They are used for transporting goods up and down the hills. Usually they came in groups of about 10 and we always gave them way. So when I was walking after lunch along the trail and didn't really paid attention where I was stepping, I slipped on some donkey shit and stumbled along the next few meters. :) Luckily I could keep myself upon my feet. Of course I kept my eyes open the next few hours and avoided the donkey poo as good as possible. Giri still wanted to catch up time and therefore we passed Kharikhola where the people usually are staying the night and carried on. A little further a Nepali kid offered us to sleep in the guesthouse of his parents. We arrived there about 40 minutes later and it was the perfect timing as I couldn't have walked much further. The guesthouse was lovely and only locals were staying there. I enjoyed a good dinner, entertained the other guests because I cleaned my dusty legs with a bucket full of water and had a good night's rest.
Day 6: Kharte to Chheplung
Today was about enjoying the quietness of the trail one last time, as tonight we would be staying in a place past Lukla on the main tourist trail. It was also the last chance to have a look at the local life and I tried to soak it all in as much as possible. There were all those people farming on the fields, the locals who were walking with the donkeys to make sure they took the right way, women in the villages standing in groups to watch one making her hair for the festival, people heading home to their families a lot of them listening to Nepali music on loudspeaker while walking and of course many many people who were carrying goods from one village to the other. These people were the most impressing to me. We saw one guy carrying a large piece of glass. He took breaks every 5 to 10 minutes and when Giri asked him how much weight he was carrying the answer was: "80 kilogram!" Wow! Most of them walked around in sneakers and I even saw one with gumboots surpassing me that fast I only saw the dust of his heels. I kinda felt stupid with my proper hiking shoes but of course they do this every day and are used to walk around like that. Today also was not that long anymore because we walked quite far the other day. The mountains were coming closer too and when I asked Giri what the name was of a particular peak that stood out amongst the others, he answered: "This is a no name peak. This is only a hill!" Haha. I'm sure this peak was around 4000 meters high. So when we arrived at the lodge later on, we did this at the same time like a group of 20 other people. Luckily they were only stopping for a tea break there. But the lodge was right at the main trail and it was clear to me that the quietness was definitely over now. I very much enjoyed this first part and was glad I made it through without any major problems. My legs were warmed up now and I was ready to go up into the "real" mountains.
Day 7: Chheplung to Jorsalle
As we still had no porter, Giri left his backpack at the lodge and we were to pick it up again on our way back. Giri told me that he didn't like this part too much because ha has to say "Namaste" a hundred times a day. Well it was not that bad in the end. There was actually not much greeting along the way. And this was understandable, as if you would greet everybody you would be out of breath soon, not because of the height or the walking but because there are that many people. The landscape itself during this part was quite nice. We were walking in a lovely valley, following a river full with glacier water, passing many stupas and crossing hanging bridges every now and then. Today we made an early lunch break and as it was the major day of the festival, Giri and I got ourselves a Tika. A Tika is colored rice that you put onto your forehead. The longer it lasts there the more luck you have and the better will be your coming year. Of course all the people looked at us once we started walking again as we were the only ones with a Tika on our head. Some locals even wished a happy Dashain and Giri said that I'm officially Nepali now. :) Unfortunately my sore throat from two days ago had turned into a cold and I was not unhappy that today was rather short. As we were around 3000 meters now, the evenings and nights grew considerably colder and the time had come to take out my jacket and sleep with an additional blanket during the night.
Day 8: Jorsalle to Namche Bazaar
One of the shortest days in terms of walking laid ahead of me and that suited me just fine. My cold had intensified and I was glad I had more resting time than the days before. With my cold I was definitely not alone, as many people that came down from the mountains had a running nose or were coughing. For once we didn't start too early. But that wasn't necessary anyway as it took us only about three hours of heading upwards to reach Namche Bazaar. Namche is built into the hillside and is the last bigger village before the mountains. It's full of lodges and tourist shops but there are also a school, a monastery and a hospital. And usually it's super busy as people stay there for two nights to acclimatize. As we arrived early it was no problem to secure a room and soon I was eating lunch with my down jacket on in an amazingly cold common room. In the afternoon Giri took me on a short walk around Namche. First we visited the statue of Sherpa Tenzing and a museum about the local people and the local life of the region. There was also a viewpoint of Mount Everest, but there were way too many clouds to see anything. From there we walked to the monastery, but as they had closed we continued straightaway to the center of Namche. There you can find almost everything: souvenirs, clothes, food, free Wifi, a bank, a cafe and even an Irish Pub. :) But it was not time for a beer yet so I settled for some food, tissues and (most important) for toilet paper. The rest of the day was spent with relaxing, reading and eating dinner in a now amazingly overcrowded common room.
Day 9: Namche Bazaar to Khumjung
We already decided that we wouldn't stay two nights in Namche as we were acclimatized well enough. We planed to stay the night in Khumjung where it was more quiet and easier to get a room. It meant also less walking which was again good for my running nose. When we started in the morning I was again overwhelmed by the amount of people. The first part was a steep ascent and from below it looked like a brightly colored centipede was moving up the mountain. :) During the ascent I was even queueing a couple times because some people had to take pictures of themselves in the middle of the path, holding up all others. Luckily once the steep part was over the people scattered a bit and it was more comfortable to walk. We came upon a building site and heard a guy from Sweden talking about the construction in progress. Obviously he was in charge of the project and he told us that they're building a visitor center that will be an art center at the same time. The goal is to take garbage from Mount Everest, give it to local artisans and they make sculptures out of it that will be on display in the visitor/art center. A good and interesting idea in my opinion. The whole thing should be open for visitors by the end of next year. We continued onwards and when we rounded a corner about 15 minutes later we finally saw him. The weather was super clear and luckily no clouds obscured the summit of Mount Everest. How cool was that! I told Giri the first thing that came into my mind: "He looks so tiny!" :) But of course that was only our point of view. With Mount Everest in sight we walked until we reached the Everest View Hotel. Usually people take a tea or lunch break on the terrace while enjoying the marvelous view. I for myself stayed there for about 10 minutes and then escaped the crowds. Giri and I found a more quiet spot nearby and took a longer break there. I was happy, finally mountains and not hills. :) After the break we made our way to Khumjung and what a lovely village that was. Surrounded by mountains it was as Nepali as it could get. As we arrived at the lodge early again I spent most of the afternoon watching the village life passing by. Most of the people were preparing for Winter and when I took a walk through the village later on, I saw Yak shit laid out to dry everywhere. There were even some stone walls plastered full of dried Yak shit. What a sight! They use the poo for heating in the evenings and believe me, it's working very well. :) Tonight the stove was unfortunately not heated so I went back to my room after dinner to seek the warmth of my sleeping bag. On a side note: it was that cold already that I went onto the toilet only with my down jacket on! :)
Day 10: Khumjung to Dhole
Finally I was able to breathe normally again when I woke up in the morning. My cold was receding and my nose was no longer blocked anymore. Perfect timing as today we were about to go over 4000 meters and I needed all the air in my lungs that I could get. :) We started quite early as usual and as we had a headstart to the people coming from Namche we had the trail almost to ourselves. Once we made it over the first steep ascent we were greeted by a stunning view. Blue sky, sunshine, a river flowing in the valley below, a nice little village on a hill on the other side and mountains all around us with Ama Dablam standing out amongst all others. With this amazing view in sight we were hiking onwards until we reached the tiny village of Mong. The only time I got distracted during this part was, when I found a bumblebee happily pollinating the couple flowers that were growing along the way. I was amazed as I didn't knew that bumblebees could survive in this altitude. After a short break in Mong we had to descend down into a valley. Once we reached the bottom of it, it was time for lunch. While I started eating in the lodge alone, it was full house when I was finished with my plate. Crazy! After lunch we were ascending again, unfortunately with no more views as the clouds had moved in again. So I focused on other things and there were plenty for me to notice. For example that there were no more donkeys. Yaks were now transporting goods up and down and I was impressed, not only by their calm appearance but also by their huge horns. There were also no more airplanes flying around. If we saw or heard a flying object it was a helicopter. Then I saw two children, may be around the age of 12 or 13, carrying 36 liter of water which is more or less the same in kilogram. Again I was astonished by how much they can carry. And last but not least a guy came along in Flip Flops.. What the.. Why don't your toes fall off? Well, the time was flying and rather sooner than later we arrived in Dhole. There it was time to rest, read, listen to other hikers stories and charging my smartphone with solar energy for 5 USD. :)
Day 11: Dhole to Machhermo
When I woke up in the morning it crossed my mind that today I would reach an altitude that I never reached before in my life. So the only goal that I set myself before the trip would be accomplished by the end of the day. As usual we started early in the morning after a hearty breakfast and luckily the people scattered on the trail as everyone moved with a different pace. So the walk was gentle and actually pretty quiet as well. It was blue sky again today and I was hiking in awe most of the time, marveling at all the beautiful surrounding mountains. Even some freely roaming Yaks crossed our path at one point and with the snowcapped mountains as backdrop it looked like a painting and as Nepali as it could get. :) With a broad smile on my face I enjoyed every step I took and arrived about three hours later in Machhermo. Once we found a lodge and settled in, I told Giri that I would be walking around the place a little bit. Following a little stream I soon headed out of the village and was walking towards some mountains nearby. The scenery was magnificent. Red bushes, green grass, grey rocks, crystal clear water and the blue sky made for an amazing landscape. I sat down on a rock, gazed at the mountains and just enjoyed this peaceful moment of solitude. Heading back I crossed the village to the other side, passing the place where the locals dumped their garbage and took in the view of the mountains towards the other side. Then it was time for lunch and some sunbathing. :) It stayed nice for quite a while today with more sun than usual. Nevertheless it was cold because of the wind, so the down jacket was my permanent companion. The afternoon passed quite fast and soon it was time for dinner. Tonight the stove in the common room was heated and after I finished my food I joined the other guests around it, to enjoy the blazing heat and some nice chats. The last thing that Giri told me before I went to bed was, that tomorrow would be even more beautiful than today. "Impossible," is what I replied, but of course I was wrong.
Day 12: Machhermo to Gokyo
Because I usually ate the same couple dishes for breakfast I decided today morning to eat something different. I opted for a cheese toast, learning only later on that that was a mistake. Before we headed out we also filled up our water. We always filtered tab water and put in some purifying tablets to make sure it's free of all sort of bacteria. Usually we did this the evening before, but because yesterday was so cold we decided to do it in the morning. Another mistake as it took two hours for the tablets to obtain full effect. Two hours on the trail without water can be a long time.. Well, I didn't think about that at all during the early morning. My spirits were high and I was wondering if it really would be more beautiful than yesterday. So we headed out, climbed up a first steeper ascent and then kept on following a nice glacier stream towards the end of the valley. There another ascent waited and once we had it behind us we were greeted by a beautiful lake and by hundreds of little stone men. Nice! As there were also many people (surprise surprise), Giri carried on towards Gokyo to secure a room, while I stayed behind to take some pictures and to enjoy the scenery. After a while I walked on as well and not much later I came upon the bluest lake I've ever seen. Surrounded by some lovely mountains I gazed at the stunning landscape with an open mouth. I couldn't hold myself and scrambled up on some rocks at the beginning of the lake to get a different point of view. When my eyes had feasted enough on the marvelous sight I followed the shore of the lake and saw to my astonishment a duck floating on the water. Now I definitely didn't expect that. :) Halfway along the shore I found another place I could scramble up to and there I stayed for a while enjoying the beauty of mother Earth. Unfortunately I couldn't stay there forever and so I made my way onwards to Gokyo. Arriving there I had a déjà vu. Another amazingly blue lake surrounded by massive mountains. So beautiful! Giri was waiting for me in the village and when we headed to our lodge I felt my head aching pretty hard. I was confused as I had no problem with the altitude so far and today we only gained 300 meters. But then it dawned on me. The cheese toast in the morning, a couple nuts along the way and may be half a liter of water was definitely not enough energy for my body. Battling with the coldness, the strong sun, the wind and the altitude, I realized that my body lost a lot of energy even when I was walking only for about three hours today. So once in my room I drank a lot of water and headed straight for lunch and after that I immediately felt better. Later on it was time for a walk through Gokyo and soon enough I was scaling a small hill behind the village. Once more a brilliant view awaited me. To one side Gokyo with the beautiful lake and surrounding mountains, to the other side the Ngozumba glacier with Cho Oyu standing out at the horizon. Even though the glacier was covered mostly by rocks it was a stunning sight to behold. Once the clouds covered the sun and the wind had picked up it was time to go down again and a little bit later I found myself in a bakery eating the biggest Brownie I ever had. :) And damn, it tasted really good. After that my headache was gone completely and it was the final proof that my body just lacked energy before. Funnily enough there was a library next to the bakery. Surprises around every corner, just the Irish Pub was missing. :) After a rather big dinner I went to bed soon. I was tired and fell asleep almost immediately just to wake up again at midnight, feeling my heart beating hard against my ribs. After turning around in my sleeping bag for 20 minutes I realized that my body was still calling for more energy. So I ate some nuts, drank some water and another 20 minutes later fell back asleep. Crazy!
Day 13: Gokyo to Thagnak
Actually it was the plan to go up to the summit of Gokyo Ri today, but I didn't really felt up to that task because of what my body went through the day before. And as I knew there would be a long day tomorrow I told Giri to abandon our plan. Unfortunately we got up really early and now had plenty of time. So I found myself scaling the same hill behind the village again. This time though there were no clouds at all and I had a wonderful view of Cho Oyu, the Ngozumba glacier and of all the people that were heading up to Gokyo Ri. The time to leave came soon though and we headed out of Gokyo towards the glacier. We had to cross over to the other side but that was not that difficult as there was a path all along the way. Of course I told Giri about my energy problem of yesterday so today was under the motto "Slooooowly", as he said it about 20 times during our walk over the rocks. :) The slow pace was fine with me as the view stayed incredible with all the towering mountains and crystal blue glacier lakes. Once on the other side it was time for a longer break to take in the stunning landscape one last time. Afterwards it was only another half an hour and we arrived at the village where we stayed for the night. It was a short day again but I knew I made the right decision in the morning and so I spent the rest of the day with relaxing and eating to gain the strength for tomorrow. Luckily today was the only day where no clouds moved in so I was able to relax in the sun outside. Nice! :) And later on the stove in the lodge was heated big time. Together with some funny and friendly other guests it made for an entertaining evening. On a side note: today was the first day since a long time where my body had warm all day long.
Day 14: Thagnak to Dzongla
My alarm woke me at 5 am. At 5.30 my bag was packed and my breakfast was waiting. Another half an hour later we were on the trail. I felt fully recovered and was ready for Cho La Pass, the highest point of the trek so far. It was still dark when we started for the first ascent, but an almost full moon gave so much light that I turned off my headlamp after a couple minutes. The coldness though was seeping through my whole body and I only felt warm once we had a couple kilometers behind us. Only my hands stayed cold as my gloves were not made for such weather. Anyway, we carried on and everything was fine until I wanted to drink from by Camelbak. I knew I had to blew the water out of the pipe back into the bag to keep it from freezing and that's what I did already back at the lodge. But unfortunately I forgot to empty the mouthpiece. So when I bit onto it out on the trail, only crushing ice responded and not a single drop of water came out. Great... Well at least I was smart enough to have bought a bottle of water in the guesthouse so I was not without water entirely. We kept on walking and soon had the first pretty long ascent behind us. I was hoping for some sun at that point, but she was still hiding behind the mountains. From where we stood now, we could see the way to Cho La Pass and anticipation was burning in me as it looked really challenging. But first we had to descend again and learning from my mistakes before, we made sure to stop regularly for some snacks and water. Then finally the steep and rocky ascent up to the pass loomed before us. Step by step we gained height and as we moved slowly, there was enough air to joke and laugh around. We even met a porter who was singing and dancing along the way upwards. "Everything is possible in Nepal!" Giri told me. "Yeah, I see!" :) Nevertheless, it was a strenuous ascent but when we arrived at the top the whole struggle was forgotten. I stood at 5420 meters as high up as never before in my life, the views to either side were incredible, there were not too many people yet and finally we were in the sun warming up fast. What a feeling! Of course we took a long break there, taking pictures and enjoying the scenery. The longer we stayed the more people poured in, so after a while we decided to start the descent. What greeted us now was a walk over a glacier. I had no crampons with me as the company told me I didn't need any for this hike. Well I was not sure if that was a good advise when I made the first steps on bare ice. We had to look out for patches of snow to move forward slowly. Three porters overtook us, each with two big bags on the back and sneakers on their feet! They moved so fast I didn't see them again. Incredible! While the first 200 meters were really difficult it was easier afterwards as it had more snow on the ice. Nevertheless I was happy when I left the glacier behind me. After some time walking downwards over stones and rocks my head started aching again. I wasn't surprised. The snacks were just not enough to feed my body the energy he needed. When we reached the end of the foothill of the glacier we came upon a plateau with a superb lookout over the valley below. Lobuche to our left, Ama Dablam straight ahead, Cholatse to the right and five beautiful lakes made for a view that I won't forget for a lifetime. Giri left me here and headed to Dzongla to secure a room for the night. I followed some time later descending all the way down to the valley with my head aching worse than two days before. But so what, I enjoyed the scenery and the walking anyway. :) 6 and a half hours after the start in Thagnak I arrived in Dzongla and of course I headed straight for lunch. Two full plates of Dal Bhat and a pack of cookies later the headache was gone. :) For the rest of the day I didn't do much. Mainly I was talking with other hikers about what I had to expect from EBC and what they had to expect from Cho La Pass. So after dinner it was soon time for a well deserved long sleep.
Day 15: Dzongla to Lobuche
Unfortunately my stomach had other plans. He rumbled heavily during the first half of the night but luckily settled down for the second half. So when I woke up I still felt tired but at least there was no diarrhea and I was ready for hiking onwards after the breakfast. Today we first had to ascend a little bit. Nothing too strenuous and once we had it behind us we followed a high route with amazing views into the valley before us. We passed the massive north face of Cholatse, as well as another incredible blue glacier lake, all the time with beautiful Ama Dablam standing out ahead of us. Then we came upon a turnoff and turned left towards EBC. A new valley with a new view greeted us, as stunning as the one before. We still were walking on the high route and below we could see all the people ascending up towards Lobuche. It kinda looked like a highway from above. :) Not much later we had to descend from our high route and joined the crowds. We were following a smaller stream now and the partly frozen water together with the green and brown earth around it, as well as the snow covered peaks in the background made for a stunning walk. On the path itself it was not that bad with the crowds as it seemed before and we arrived in Lobuche with no problems to find a room. After lunch I had again some spare time to explore the surroundings and soon I was hiking up another hill. There was not really a path and I had to scramble over a lot of rocks, so when I made it to the top I found some solitude among thousands of rocks and prayer flags. Sitting there for quite a while I enjoyed the magnificent view of the mountains ahead of me. Then I descended back to the village just to cross to the other side to walk up onto a ridge. From there I had an amazing view of the Khumbu glacier and again I took my time to marvel at the beautiful landscape. As it was already later in the afternoon, the clouds made their appearance again, so I headed back to Lobuche and went straight to the bakery to fill up my energy. :) Later on I was lucky to find a seat for dinner, as the common room was totally overcrowded. For once I didn't really stayed there long and went to bed soon to catch up some sleep. On a side note: after already hearing Nepali guides speaking fluent German or French, I heard one speaking Russian today!
Day 16: Lobuche to Gorak Shep
Again the sleep was not very good. This time I had to share the room and the other guy made noises I never heard before. If he wasn't snoring he was howling like a wolf. So the whole night I was drifting in and out of sleep and again felt tired when I woke up in the morning. "What's up for today?" I asked Giri after breakfast. "Today is a lot of zig zag grisel grisel," he answered. "Cool, sounds good to me." I knew that this meant mostly walking straight ahead and if it was going up or down it would be in serpentines. The start today was gentle and pretty lonely, but after about 20 minutes on the trail the crowds began. As the path was wide and flat we started to walk a bit faster. To do that wasn't a really good idea, but it was so inviting to pass the slower people that we did it anyway. :) About halfway we came upon a steep ascent and once we had it behind us we had a nice view of the trail we just walked along and of all the people that were making their way towards the ascent. "Soooo many people," Giri said repeatedly and I could only agree. After the ascent the way narrowed and led up and down over rocks and stones. Not surprisingly we were stuck in a traffic jam time and time again. At some point Giri left me saying: "I worry about the room!" and headed alone towards Gorak Shep. Totally understandable to me as I worried too. In the meantime I was paying tribute to the faster pace of the morning and took a longer break to get back my strength. Then finally, Gorak Shep came into view and what a view that was. A tiny village surrounded by tall mountains and a massive glacier. Giri greeted me there and luckily he found a place to stay for the night. So we dropped our bags, had lunch and then headed off towards EBC. Unfortunately the weather was not that good but that didn't really matter. About another hour of "zig zag grisel grisel" and EBC came into view. The camp was on the Khumbu glacier and was easy to make out because of the bunch of people there. Well, camp was may be the wrong word, as there were no tents at all. :) 20 minutes later we had arrived there too and happiness flowed through me. I actually made it! Enjoying this achievement I took in all what happened around me: the queue for taking a picture with the EBC sign, people drinking beers, two guys posing without shirts, others holding up some flags or banners and one girl celebrating her birthday with a cake that her guide brought along. For once I had to blend in and couldn't resist to jump. :) When we had enough from all the hustle and bustle, we made our way back to Gorak Shep. All the time during our walk to and from the EBC the mountains around us were mostly obscured by clouds, but as we went outside later on for filling up my Camelbak, the clouds broke away and we saw a tiny bit of Mount Everest enlightened in red by the sunset. What a sight! Wouldn't my hands have been absolutely frozen I would have taken a picture. :) Like the whole day, dinner and the rest of the evening passed really fast and when I went to bed I looked forward to an undisturbed night.
Day 17: Gorak Shep to Pheriche
The alarm clock rang again early today as we wanted to climb Kala Patthar before starting our descent back to Namche Bazaar. Kala Patthar is a peak of 5643 meters and has a superb view of the mountains around Gorak Shep, at least that's what I was told beforehand. So we started early morning and damn it was cold! It was still windy and when a gust of wind came from up front, it was better to turn around and wait until it settled down again. Of course the sun was behind the mountains, so my hands and feet were frozen to the bone. Even the water inside the plastic bottle was partly frozen. To stay as warm as possible we kept on walking without taking breaks and as the wind kept tugging relentlessly at my body the obvious question came into my mind: "Why the hell am I doing this?" But of course I knew why and so I just carried on. After about an hour we could see the first sunrays slowly coming towards us. Turning around we saw the sun emerging just next to the summit of Nuptse. How cool was that! When the sun finally hit our path the wind vanished and when we arrived at the summit the cold was no problem anymore. We arrived at the same time with a bigger group, but so what! The view was that unbelievable that everything else around me was forgotten. Mount Everest was looming up straight ahead and together with Nuptse and Khumbu glacier made for an incredible sight. Of course I wanted to take a picture from myself on the summit but the way was blocked by members and guides of the big group. One guy had trouble to scramble up to the top. So three others were helping him. Coming down was even worse as a fourth person joined in to help. It kind looked hilarious and I couldn't understand why he had to go all the way up to the top when he was that afraid. But anyway, I was glad when the way was free and enjoyed some time on the summit. The views all around were amazing and I could have stayed here the whole day. But of course Giri didn't let me. :) So we descended back down to Gorak Shep to eat a second breakfast. From Gorak Shep we made our way back to Lobuche and luckily today was better with the crowds. Only in the beginning it was pretty busy but afterwards it was much more quiet than yesterday. Arriving in Lobuche we went straight for lunch and then carried on further downwards. Giri asked me if I wanted to walk on the high route again but I told him that I wanted to take a different way. So we followed a path that passed some tiny settlements, a nice glacier stream and a memorial for all the people that died on Mount Everest. Somehow the weather couldn't decide what to do today. Sun, clouds and winds changed like every minute and my body turned from warm to cold and back again all day long. In the middle of the afternoon we reached the bottom of the valley and from now on it was only straight ahead. We followed a stream most of the time and the surrounding red bushes, the green grass and the sunlight that (sometimes) enlightened everything entertained myself until we reached Pheriche. Tonight Giri placed me in the most expensive room on the whole trip. The bed was huge and there was even a private toilet. It felt like luxury even though the bed was too short and I had to sleep diagonally to fit in. :)
Day 18: Pheriche to Khumjung
Just because we were on our descent didn't mean that we would only be walking downwards. That was what I learned today! :) Already when we left Pheriche a pretty long ascent waited for us. At least when we had it behind us we walked straightforward for quite a while. And even though we were back on about 4300 meters it was still freezing cold in the morning. So only when the sun came out behind the mountains it was more comfortable to walk. There were also not that many people on the trail so far, but that was only because we were more or less the only ones heading downwards. After a couple hours we started to meet the ones going up and oh dear, many it were. There were also some unusual sights among them: a couple guys walking with bare chests and one was hiking in a banana costume. Well, to each his own. :) So when we brought the first part of descending behind us, it was followed by another ascent. Today we also saw tons of Yaks on the trail and we had no better idea than to overtake a herd of them while walking uphill. :) Sure enough I was pretty out of breath after that. The ascent was luckily not too long and before we knew it, we were descending again. This time the descent was long and steep. Not only the people going up were struggling, even the Yaks had their tongues out and were breathing really hard. When we reached the end of the descent we stopped for lunch and what awaited us afterwards was clear: another ascent. :) Strengthend by the lunch we just had, this ascent was a piece of cake. Nice views back to the mountains we just came from greeted us once the ascent was over and we took a break to enjoy the scenery one last time. Because we won one day in the beginning of the trek we already decided not to stay in Namche tonight. We were not in a hurry and were able to stay in a less crowded place. I told Giri that I needed Wifi today and the only place closeby with Wifi was in Khumjung. So one final ascent later and we were back in that lovely village. Actually there was Wifi on (almost) the whole trail, but I never used it because I wanted to focus on the hike. So now I had to catch up and spent the rest of the day with answering messages and sending pictures to my family and friends.
Day 19: Khumjung to Phakding
Even though we had enough time we started as usual early in the morning. We headed out of Khumjung, crossed over a hill and found ourselves next to the construction site of the future visitor and art centre. From now on it was the same way back and we brought the steep descent to Namche soon behind us. From Namche we kept on descending and after about half an hour I felt that hot, I was down to shirts and shorts again. :) It felt kinda odd though after all the coldness before. Like when we were going up we passed a lot of stupas, hanging bridges, donkeys and people, but today was the first day where I didn't paid attention too much as I felt that my legs were tired from all the walking. So I was happy when we reached Jorsalle and took our lunch break. I thought after the break I would feel better but I was wrong once again. :) The walking in the afternoon turned into quite a struggle. Well, at least I knew the reasons why. 1st: I prefer to go upwards, now we were only walking downwards. 2nd: I already walked this way so I knew what was coming. 3rd: I knew it was only today and tomorrow left, so the last bit of energy was probably missing. 4th: after all the stunning mountains, the view was just not spectacular enough to entertain myself during the walk. And 5th and most logical: it was day 18 of hiking in a row, so no wonder I felt tired. :) Even though it wasn't too pleasant this afternoon I made it to Phakding where we stayed for the night. As we were back below 3000 meters and as only one day of walking was left I thought a beer would be more than deserved. It was the first one since the start and definitely well earned. Later on after dinner, we sat around the stove and Giri invited me to drink Rakshi, a traditional alcoholic beverage in Nepal. Well it tasted like nothing I ever tried before, unfortunately not in a positive way. So this was probably the first and last time I tried some Rakshi. :)
Day 20: Phakding to Lukla
The final day of walking was a short one. We still benefited from the time we won in the beginning. Also my legs were back to "normal" and so we reached Chheplung pretty soon. We took a tea break there and Giri picked up his bag again. Well rested and with full strength we started our ascent up to Lukla. As it wasn't that steep it also wasn't too strenuous and we reached our final destination before lunchtime. After we settled into our lodge and had lunch we embarked on a short walk around Lukla. We wanted to visit the monastery, but once again stood before closed doors. :) So we carried on towards the airport and passed a big dirt square a little bit later, where kids were riding around with bicycles. It struck me odd to just ride around in circles but then I realized that there was no other place or opportunity to ride a bike around here. Definitely an unusual sight, but the kids had fun and that was the most important. :) Soon after that we arrived at the airport. The airport is known as one of the most dangerous ones in the world because the runway is pretty short and the airplanes only navigate on sight. As it was good weather today we saw a couple planes landing and starting. It looked like fun and I couldn't wait for my flight tomorrow. Back at our lodge it was time to celebrate the end of the hike with another beer. The rest of the day was spent with reading, eating, relaxing and an early lay in as we had to get up early again tomorrow.
Day 21: Lukla to Kathmandu
So one last time I woke up early and packed together all my stuff. When I came down to breakfast, Giri was already there and told me not to hurry as the planes were not flying yet due to bad sight. So after I finished my breakfast, we waited for about half an hour until the information came that the planes were flying now. We walked over to the airport and on the way I could see that the weather wasn't that clear. But I was optimistic as we were on the second flight of the day. When we arrived at the airport the first plane had landed and was soon back on the way to Kathmandu. In the crowded check in hall we found a place to stay close to our check in counter and started to wait. And we waited.. and waited.. and waited.. and nothing happened. :) No planes coming in, as well as no information if they would come in again or not. A look on the outside was not very promising though as the clouds had settled over and around Lukla. The time was passing and the longer nothing happened, the more people left the hall to take a helicopter to Kathmandu. When it was 10 am and the clouds were thicker than ever, I started to think about to take a helicopter as well. My flight back home was on the next day so I had to be in Kathmandu by the end of the day. Soon it was 11.30 am and as there still was no sign of any change, I asked Giri if we could check the possibility that I could go back by helicopter. I didn't want to take the risk and get stuck here and my optimism in clearer weather was gone by now. So when about half an hour had passed we made our way to the helicopter landing pad and another half an hour later I said goodbye to Giri and boarded the helicopter. The flight did cost quite some additional money, but it was still cheaper than missing my flight tomorrow. And at least we were flying for about 50 minutes, the first part right over the trail we had been walking along in the first week. The view in general was pretty nice and seeing all those clouds between Lukla and Kathmandu I knew I made the right decision. Once I was back in the office of the trekking company, saying thank you for the organization of the whole trip, a phone call came in and I heard the boss saying: "The helicopters aren't flying anymore? Your international flight is tomorrow? Let's see what I can do." Uff, lucky me.. Back in civilization I enjoyed a huge dinner, another celebration beer and the proper hotel room I stayed in. I was happy that everything had worked out and that I made it back without any injuries or other major problems. To me these three weeks were unique and an absolutely great experience that I won't forget for a lifetime! On a side note: three days later I received a message from Giri saying that he was still stuck in Lukla...
Highlight of the trek: just about everything! :)
This hike is for you if:
- you want to challenge yourself
- you want to get up close with Mount Everest
- you want to trek in high altitude knowing that rescue is always just around the corner
- you always wanted to eat tuna pizza in the Himalayas :)
This hike is not for you if:
- you have no walking experience in the mountains at all
- you're looking for solitude
- you're short on time
PS: I did this trek with Nepal Eco Adventures and I was happy with it. Giri did a great job and also Chhatra in the office was very helpful for preparing and planing the trip. And I thought that the price I paid for the three weeks was absolutely okay. So if you want to do this trek as well, Nepal Eco Adventures is definitely recommended. For more information you can visit their website under https://nepalecoadventure.com/
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