Everest Base Camp Trek Sept-Oct 2019

[Hiregoudar]

Post lunch we started climbing and after 2 hours of rock climbing we reached a place called Chukpi Lhara.
This place is a memorial for all the brave Sherpas who died during Everest expeditions.

We stopped by took photographs and got much needed rest. It was still overcast and wet.

We reached Lobuche by 4 PM and we had a long evening ahead of us.

We spent entire evening in the Dinning hall which was warm and had lots of folks paying cards reading books etc. We had hot ginger tea and relaxed.

Outside still raining and very cold.

We had dinner by 7 PM and went to bed by 8PM. It was cold and we were praying for sunshine next day as we would reach the Base Camp. We had not seen any peaks even after 7 days of trekking.

 

[Hiregoudar]

30th Sept 2019
Day-8 of trek
Lobuche (5030 MSL) to EBC (5365 MSL) and Gorak Shep (5169 MSL)
Total Trek today 15.6 KMS.

We used the hot water in our flask to brush and shave. At breakfast Shreen told us that today we may have a clear day that was the best news since 21st Sept. We were ready for departure by 7 AM after breakfast and daily dose of Diamox. None of us were feeling sick and it appeared we were now totally acclimatized. All of us were very excited to reach the Base Camp and it had been tough 9 days of travelling/trekking.

When we got out of the tea house we saw these views.

Happy faces....to see some peaks ...

Today we would cross two glaciers and then walk along Khumbu Glacier (we had crossed this before Dughla).

The first glacier would be Lobuche Glacier and then Changri Nup Glacier just before Gorak Shep our Lunch stop.

Some views today before lunch stop.

Mount Pumori

Sky is opening up. No rain at all.

So happy...

What we trekked...

Sun trying to come out...

Chumbu on left and Pumori on the right.

Nuptse still not clear...

Khumbu Glacier

Getting closer to Pumori

Clouds moving to the top...

After crossing Lobuche Glacier

close up of Pumori

First view of Khumbu ice fall

Elusive Supriya on camera..

First clear view of ECB and Khumbu Glacier, with Nuptse peak ( 7849M) on the right.

Changtse Peak (7543M) in Tibet at 12 o'clock position

Kala Pattar in view with Pumori in the back ground.

This is just wow

Nuptse in full glory....

First view of Everest (Sagarmatha) behind Nuptse range

Top of the world feeling.

bright sun....Nuptse ......and Khumbu Glacier

We reached Gorakshep by 11:30 AM noon for our Lunch stop. We dropped our luggage and checked in Snowland Highest Inn.

Info at Gorak shep

We had lunch and by 1.00 PM we were ready for our final push to EBC. We had T shirts with EBC prints and we all wore those for photography at the EBC.

 

[Hiregoudar]

Shreen told us this trek to EBC can take 2.5 hrs to 3 hours and we also had reach back before it gets dark. We were happy to have the sun and hoped it would stay dry the whole day. We were thankful to almighty for he gave us bright sunny day when it mattered most.

We trekked along the Khumbu Glacier almost for 1.5 hours on very rocky trail and then we saw the colourful tents of the Everest Base camp on the Khumbu glacier. We could see many trekkers on the return journey and their happy faces of having completed the trek.

Approaching ...

Nuptse is imposing and comes in every photo..

Base camp ahead with Khumbu Ice Fall

Snow fall from Nuptse

Wall paper ...

Khumbu glacier close up...

Khumbu Ice Fall

Changtse (7543M)

Changtse and Nuptse with Everest seen a small peak (below the cloud).

close up of Nuptse

Close up of EVerest

Better Close up of Everest...

First view of Base Camp in a distance.

Then at last we climb down 100 meters into the Khumbu glacier and walk across 300 meters across over huge rocks and ice to arrive at the Base Camp. Yes didi it.

My individual photo

The group (L to R) Satish, Supriya, Punch, Kanak, Shreen (Sitting), Kamal and Ram.

With Explore Vacation logo and Punch.

With our National Flag. There was huge rush and we had to hurry with our photographs as many were in a Q for their photo ops.

On the top, very proud moment "Bharat Mata Ki Jai". There was another Indian group from Gujarat and they also borrowed the Flag (Thanks to Kanak for carrying). There were flags from US ARmy, Israel, China, Italy and many other European countries.

The BASE CAMP

Close up Base Camp.

The actual Base camp ......

Kamal saying his thanks to Bholenath from all of us.

It was 4:00 when we were done with all the survey and photo op and started our return trek to Gorak Shep.

We reached back to Gorak shep around 6 PM.

Direction for Kala Pattar.

A statue of Shivaji Maharaj installed in Gorak Shep by Giri Premis in 2012.

We were back to Tea House.

We discussed about the return journey and we were two days behind our schedule. Our return flight from Lukla was booked for 3rd Oct and today was 30th Sept. We had just two bays to trek back 65 Kms.

Supriya, Kanak and I decided not to go to Kala Pattar in the morning to watch the sun rise, instead we thought it would be better to get back to Lukla. Kamal was interested but when all of us were not interested he too decided to return with us. It would be taking a chance to trek up Kala Pattar and find it overcast as the trek to kala pattar would start at 3:30 AM.

Some photos from Kala Pattar which Ram shared with us.

Ram's click

Ram's click

Ram's click

Shreen told us we should start early by 7 AM and try to reach Namche Bazaar if possible or Phungi Thenga. It meant 35 Kms to 32 Kms trek tomorrow. We had dinner by 7:30 PM and went to bed by 9 PM.

We were extremely happy that we reached EBC.

 

[Hiregoudar]

1st October 2019
Day- 9 of trek
Gorak Shep (5169 MSL) to Phungi Thenga (3316 M)
Total Trek today 33.1 KMS.

We had to use the hot water from our flask for brushing and shaving. There is water crisis in Gorak shep as it has to be manually carried. They catch the rainwater from the roof drains for washing etc.
There is helipad and we were told you have to charter entire flight and they charge USD 3,600 to Lukla and carry just 3 passengers.

We had breakfast and left Gorak Shep at 7 AM. We planned lunch at Pheriche. It was clear sky and we stopped Diamox tablets from this morning.

We reached Lobuche in quick time and then sopped at Dughla for a small stop for washroom and rest. We now stopped for photography of landscape and flowers.

At Pheriche, Supriya was craving for Pepsi and for a fast food lover, this was limits of tolerance. 10 days without fast food. She was advised she would get it at Lukla and not before.

Return journey photographs.

Sun coming up on the east over Nuptse.

Flowers

Frost on flowers

Yak express with water load

Now Tsola river valley. We took valley path to Pheriche and it was very windy and cold.

Best view of Ama Dablam.

Peak of Ama Dablam.

Looked like Shiv and Parvati.

After Lunch at Pheriche we started at 1 PM towards Shomare, Pangbouche and Debouche. Information board at Pheriche.

Path from Dingboche below

Grazing horse. we were down by 1000 meters and we could see grass n shrubs.

It was 5 PM when we were crossed Deboche and it would take another 2 to 3 trek to Phungi Thenga. We all decided to terk and try to reach Phungi Thenga. Around 6 PM we had crossed Tengboche Monastery and it became dark.

It was a very difficult climb downwards - rocks and slippery terrain and that too in complete darkness. We used our torches and Kanak was finding it very difficult to climb down in darkness, so Shreen told us go ahead and he would come with Kanak.

Ram, Supriya, Kamal and I used just two torches and trekked very difficult 1.5 hrs to reach Ever Green Lodge by 7:30 PM. We all were very tired as we had trekked 33 KMS. Kanak and Shreen came in after about 20 min. Today we had trekked 12 hours.

We had Khurki rum and then dinner. My phone battery was dead and Tea house did not have power to charge it in spite of me paying. One Lesson learnt is carry at least 2 - 3 power banks. Our solar charger failed totally as there was no sun light. I had kept my phone on air plane mode and used it for photography. GSM network does not work after Namche Bazaar (4G) and works only in Gorak Shep (2G). They have a special Wifi Package for the EBC trek. Other places it is Tea House Wifi which is paid.

They had hot water facility and very clean toilets. We all took shower before retiring. Six days without shower. We could not reach Namche Bazaar as planned.

Shreen said we start at 8 AM tomorrow as we had cover another 35 KMS to Lukla.

 

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Congrats on Reaching EBC !

 

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Great Places !
Great Memories !
Great Photography !