9 hours of walking. 400 metres sheer ascent and another 1400 lost steadily over 7 hours. Hard to believe its all in a single day’s work.
We climbed to Kalapathar today. As someone said, you tell the world you went to Everest Base Camp but you climb Kalapathar for yourself. Steep 2 hour climb in the morning snow. Hard on the poor knee and rough on the exposed lips. Great views of distant Ama Dablam, Mera Peak & Thamserku. Pumori and Lingtran looked like you could touch them if you reached out. Brilliant massif right behind KP too. Everest remained shy – I don’t think I have great pictures of the mountain anyway.
Without meaning any offence, Everest is the rich fat boy in the room who gets the babes but view wise I think I need to do better to see the mountain properly and feel like it is truly higher than the surrounding peaks!
Killer day coming back down from Kalapathar. The knee threw a fit after the Kalapathar climb. And fever and a bad throat kicked in for added comfort (the bug has been travelling in the group). So much so that pretty much after we spent an hour out of Gorakshep on the way down it seemed like a torture. I had to stop off on the way to adjust the knee to the pain – admire the group for stopping off with me. However, coming down having done EBC and KP makes it worthwhile and the quiet air of resilience within the team makes it so special.
Since the knee and fever keep me preoccupied I am going to switch to bullets to capture specific thoughts
- Seeing the Khumbu icefall was brilliant. Every-time you look at the blue ice you wonder what the glaciers hide and the stories in time they can tell
- The most beautiful mountains are not necessarily the tallest ones only. Thamserku dominates the Everest trek for a long time. Lingtran has an impressive if unusual feature like a giant snow slide (this seems replicated in part on the peak of Dhaulagiri), Ama Dablam (double humped) is oft cited as one of the prettiest mountains in the world.
- While mountain land beyond the treeline is starkly beautiful crossing from one stage to the other is special – both leaving and re-entering the treeline
- EBC and KP were good to do but the journey, the bonding with the group, the mountain sights, getting a tan in the sun, squinting at the clear skies, learning about the ITB count for much more.
Finally, I got a chance to really talk to a portion of the seven member Indian team that was trekking to Everest BC as well. Neha and Amrish live in HK and surprise surprise – they know about the ITB inflammation with Neha’s ITB bothering her a little too. Not the best conversation starter but well, the last 45 minutes walk to Orsho ranged from ITB, Teach for India and work back home. It was pleasant to have a conversation where someone understood your references and you could slip into Hindi if you needed to / felt like it.
Thats all I can process as of now... Excited we visit the 150 year old Tengboche monastery tomorrow.
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