09/25/2009 6:21am (KTM)
Went to bed at 9:00pm and fell asleep pretty quickly, but woke up at 4:00am and did not go back to sleep. Today we go from Loubuche to Gorek Shep, check in to the hotel guest house, and then trek to Everest Base Camp. This will be the culmination of my dream to reach Everest Base Camp. After a while at base camp, we head back down to Gorek Shep for the night. I am excited. I talked to Naba yesterday, he said the climbing guide, and Mr. Tenzing Sherpa left for Lukla yesterday, and will spend a couple of days in Namche before meeting us in Chhukung. I have a very slight headache, but took an Ultram. I am having some Starbucks Italian Roast, the instant packs, that they gave me Monday before I left. I keep thinking about the kid’s, and wonder if they miss me? I can’t wait until I get that big family hug. I might mention it was -10 degrees Celsius last night.
09/25/2009 7:10pm (KTM)
OK… Nepali for “Not so far”, or “Small hill”, means “several hours away” and Straight uphill!!” The trek from Loubuche to Gorek Shep was very interesting. First several miles were pretty level, still a pretty good grade; however, the next several were dramatic. It zig-zagged straight uphill. We arrived in Gorek Shep at 11:30am, and an Italian Group had not checked out yet, so our rooms were not ready. I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch, and then we headed for base camp! You start off through a dry lake bed, and then you begin ascending the Khumbu Glacier. The glacial field is a mountain of ice covered in loose rock and dirt. It took two and a half solid hours of uphill, leg burning climbing to reach base camp. We arrived at base camp and I had to get organized. I had my banners, t-shirts, OU jersey, Handkerchiefs, Ice Axe and crampons…. All of the stuff I wanted pictures of with at base camp, not to mention, Prem and Diel. As we were taking pictures it started snowing, I mean really coming down. I had to take pictures in my North Face coat, my 805 shirt and everything else. We actually walked about half way to camp one before deciding it was too dangerous and we turned back. At base camp Prem picked up seven small stones, and gave them to me. Seven is a lucky number in Nepal as well. We headed back down to Gorek Shep in zero visibility, and it took a good hour and a half. By the time we got back to the tea house, we were all three soaked to the bone! When we got back to the lodge there was a nice fire going in the dining hall. We had to hang everything out to dry. Slowly we began to warm up. Today was the culmination of twenty or more years dream, and six month of intense training to reach Mt. Everest Base Camp. Actual Base Camp is a flat rocky area on the Khumbu glacier, void of anything but a few chorten, some mani stones, and some knick-knacks left by others who have been there. There is one team at camp one, an Indian team who is going to attempt a summit at the end of October. I think it is suicide this time of year. Several people went and visited them today, but due to the weather closing in, we could not get there. I met several really cool people today. Coco is a 19 year old German girl who is teaching English in Kathmandu. They took her in the kitchen earlier to teach her how to make Momo’s, and the lesson did not go well. Anna and Larry are a really nice couple from Singapore. They are very interested in climbing Island Peak now. We have had about a good foot of snow this evening, and we are supposed to leave here for Kala Pattar in the morning at 5:00am. It will be very cold, sometimes I wonder. (As a foot note… At this point of the trip, I had reached base camp without too many problems. The altitude had not been an issue, my toe was much, much better, I had flown ½ way around the world and hiked for 10 days to get there. There was somewhat of a let down after that. I did want to climb Island peak, but it was nowhere as fulfilling as reaching Mt. Everest base Camp.)
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