trek2009

Trekking 2009 Everest Base camp

Like every year as the heat of Mumbai starts to burn my skin, it gives me a good reason and an excuse to escape into the mountains. Starting on an adventure to places I have not seen, up among the Gompa’s between the murmuring chants of monks.

As temperature drops from 30 degree to 5 degree on the journey the nights are full of odd dreams makes you wonder where you are, on earth or in space, the chillness in the air makes ones blood so cold even thou it makes you shiver you want to feel it in your bones. Every day as the sun loses its heat to the snow peaks covered with blanket of cloud and mist. Tiredness, sweating, dizziness, shivering, pain and burning skin makes the way more challenging to its end. Even after the body is exhausted after a long day walk one feels a joy of magnitude hard to put in words. The landscape that reveals itself at every bend of mountain is so beautiful giving you the satisfaction a feeling of peace and absorbs you with the splendid gigantic mountains that stand proudly among the clouds calling upon you.

First 3 days

This year my journey took me all the way from Mumbai along the Holy city of Banaras up to the capital of Nepal Kathmandu.

I have as always preferred to travel along the landscape, trains and Busses have been a wonderfully associated with my journey making you drained and exhausted on the way like a complete massage therapy I would say, other then that one gets the real feeling of height as one gradually climbs to the top of the mountains. Along with the cultural interactions and climatic changes felt on the way it makes one so easy or lazy that at the end you are just drifts along the way forgetting everything other then what lays ahead, the mind is completely empty by the time you are ready to start the trek.

Traveling along India plains from SW to North and spending a evening sitting banks of the holy river Ganga followed by onward journey hit with a strong sandstorm and heavy rains on the border of Indian and Nepal after 3 day we reached Kathmandu. The cloudy weather at the capital made us reason if it was a right time to trek, for there is always a chance of having a cloudy and rainy/snowing climate as we proceed to destination also might have to return back without a clean view of the mountains. But we are there and the mountains are calling us so we made our air tickets to Lukla known as “The gateway to the Everest” for the next day at 6:00AM.

4th day

The excitement of the day ahead always makes one wake up early so even sleep seem to be lost on the journey. Quick formalities at the airport we were in air to the small town Lukla. The unique thing about the flight is that the airstrip at lukla(2800m) is very small hardly 100m so the landing is always quite bumpy and shakes you completely.

So we landed in Lukla exactly 43 min after takeoff fromKatmandu, after a light breakfast started our trek to Phakding(2600m) where actually our permit was to be made giving us official approval to trek in the Sagarmathta NathionalPark locally Mt. Everest in Nepal is Known as Sagarmathta. The weather was as before a bit cloudy by the time we landed but as soon as we had our breakfast it has started raining and it rained the whole day by the time we reached Namche Bazar(3440m) crossing Ghat, Phakding, Benkar and Jorsale over 7 bridges on the way.

First day trek is always considered to be the hard one and it usually takes away all your strength. I don’t know why it takes so long to reach the destination and it becomes touch at the end always so after a tiring day we reached Namche at 4 PM. It took us approximately 7 hours to reach Namche starting at 8:30AM from Lukla through the cloudy and mild rain all the way but by the time we reached Namche climbing a steep height it had stopped raining. We checked into a nice hotel (Yak Hotel). After a short rest we climbed up to the National Park at the top of the village next to the army camp and it was a lucky day that we could catch a glimpse of the Everest at the sunset. We could see Tamserku (6623m) and Kang Taiga (6685m) looking just at us above Namche until the cloud and mist covered it completely. With a wonderful tiring day we retreated to the hotel well prepared and optimistically looking forwards for the day ahead of us.

5th day

After a deep sleep and full of odd dream we were awake at the first light ready for the next day trek all the way to Thame (3800m) at 7:30AM. It turned out to be an easy day for us and we reached at 12:30PM. Thame is a small town smaller then Namche and has oldest monasteries about 400 years old. This town lies on the trail along the traditional trade route toTibet. Trade from Tibet take place presently also along the border through Nangpal Pass.

On reaching Thame we planned to stay there and visit the Monasteries, again were lucky to catch the rehearsal of the monk’s dancing for the festival two days away.

On the festival say they will be dancing with all there attire along with the mask they say but we will not be there and will have to miss it but contented and happy to see them perform we ended our second day of trek retreating to our trekking hut where we got the view of Tamserku, Kang Taiga and Kusum Kanguru (6367m) at sunset.

The temperature at night over here drops to 15 degree at night but the huts are warm so nights are pleasant as long as one stays inside. It was a starry night with slight cloud in the sky but it got misty by the time we got to sleep. Hopping to see a clean sky the next day we closed our eyes to mountain dreams after another good day.

6th day

After a light breakfast we started walking towards Lungden (4300m) at 7:30AM the path was a slight gradual climb along the river Bhote Kosi. The weather was clear and pleasant with slight cloudy but a good indication for a clear sky ahead on our journey. We walked all the way to the small village Marulung (4200m) at 10:30 AM with the sun above burning our skins. The vast landscape ahead gave a fealing of the Ladhak, as we moved ahead to reach the trekkers hut at Lungden before the cold winds start blowing by noon. But it is always not what you expect as things look good it turned out that we had taken the wrong trek and were off our route all the way to Nagpala pass, but there is always a help at the corner when you get lost so as we stopped at one of the Tibetan herders tent we came to know of the direction we were heading and Lungden was just above us at the top the mountain were we stood at the very moment. So all we could do was to climb up, left with no option we on our way climbing the steep mountain and made it to the huts after a 40 minute climb. After checking into the dormitory type room whose bed reminded me of my hostel days. It was noon and we were hungry so after a good lunch we decided to go up to Rermo Pokhari (4875m) to acclimatize ourselves. The sky seems to be bit cloudy we started at 1:30 PM and by the time we reached up it was 3:00PM and it started raining a bad sign of bad weather, we took shelters in the abandoned hut nearby. We hoped it rains good for it would be good that the clouds will clear the next day but it stopped raining at 3:30PM giving us time to retreat back to our sleeping den for it was getting dark and misty at the top. So slowly be moved down, as we neared to the trek hut it started raining again. The day ended starting with a warm day followed by a cloudy evening.

Next day held a doubt of bad climate and would not get to see the beautiful view at the Renjo pass( 5345m) as we cross it tomorrow. It is hope is all what we can do in the mountain for they command there way some times they are happy to reveal themselves to so so splendidly that it paradise on earth or else they hide behind the clouds sneak in between at you to make sure if you are still looking at them or not. But we were there to stay.

7th day

It was a wonderful day waiting for us the sky was clear and a good sign to move ahead. With smile on our face excitedly we packed all our bags and at 6:30 AM after having our breakfast we moved up our trek all the way to Rermo Pokhari passing a board indicating to the twin lakes ahead (Tsorelmo) we moved forward enthusiastically for we could see snow ahead on our path but we did not know that our happiness was short, after walking for 40 min by the time we crossed the lakes admiring the outstanding and astonishing view we found ourselves lost, the trek was not visible and the ankle deep snow had buried all clues and three stone marks ahead of us. So we were lost in the snow peaks and then we heard some one calling way behind us. Thinking that the call was for us to guide us on our way we decided to look behind to the voice for help. We spotted two men far in the snow, and all we could do was to follow them but after a 30 min of way back we had lost the men as id they had vanished in the snow. What worse can one ask for we were lost with no clue where we were heading? After slipping many times in the knee deep snow and rocks now we had no option ahead of us, it had been 2 hours now and we still remained clueless. The climate also turned against us the clouds started covering the mountain and the mist was too quick to hide the path for us. Wondering and climbing all wrong heights we decided it was good to return back to Lungden. We reach the hut at 1:30 PM tired and hungry, retreating to the same familiar beds disappointed after a few hours of reasonable discussion we decided it would we wise to go back to Namche and take the other route, all the way back to the place we started and also to stop at Thame to attend the festival that we had missed. But the other option that came along was to not to give in and make one more try again the next day. It had been a wonderful day until it ended with frustration on which the weather added to the displeasure making our chanced much less for the next day.

8th day

The clouded sky made us walk back and now we were 3 days behind our schedule.

With slight sadness in our heart we started walked down to Thame. On reaching Thame again we had to face disappointment for the dance festival had end the night before and only prayers were held at the monastery on conclusion of the event. So staying at Thame made no sense to us the bast ting that came to our mind was to make it to Namche by evening and so we would gain a single day and will be able to make up with the lost days. It was 12:30PM with cloudy weather we descended towards Namche. On our way we met a school teacher whom we had met on our way up to Lungden at Thame monastery who was kind to suggest that it would be nice to stay at Khumjung a town just above Namche which was a 1 half hour more walk up the mountain near the Khumjung air strip. We had been walking since morning and were really tired and the climb up the mountain to reach Khumjung made our legs so heavy that each step had to be taken with much effort and every bend on the trek made us hope that the town was almost there but it took us more time then we expected on which the mist had been punctual as always as the day came to its end. At last with tired legs we reach the town at 5:00 PM, checked into the hut near the school considered to be the highest school in the world. The place also has the only Yeti Bone (skull) kept at the monastery. You never expect to see such a big town at such a height; it is really big with lots of trekker’s hut and a good place to stay. We had tea and took a walk through the place meeting the local until it was getting dark and it was time to take rest for the day ahead us was going to be a tough one.

9th day

In the mountains one becomes habitual to get up at sunrise which is much earlier then Mumbai. After having our breakfast we moves onward towards our next stop Pangboche(3900m). The first sight when we got out of the hut was the partially visible Ama Dablam from behind the clouds just before us. It is a beautiful peak with a wonderful name; it stands alone away from the rest of the big peaks and is usually covered with cloud. If you are lucky at this time of the year so can see it clearly, hoping to get a better view we moved onwards to the end of the town spotting some children with school bags smiling on our way. On the day the luck was on our side and we did get a good look at it before it hid behind the curtain of the white clouds.

The day started with a slight sloppy walk down the mountain up to the river Dudh Khosi followed by a very steep climb which took all our strength on the way till we reach Tengboche (3870m). Tengboche also has a very old monastery which is said to have been burned when a lightning struck it and what now stands there was build by the Japanese funding and work is still going on in it till date. After resting for a while we carried on our way to Pangboche (3900m) just stopping in between for lunch break. We reached Pangboche at 1:00 PM. After keeping our bags in the hotel we took a walk on the trail ahead of us and returned back when the wind started getting cold on our skin. The day left us so tired that once we stretched ourselves on the bed in seconds we were flying in our dreams in betweens gompas, mist, clouds and trees all odd movement making one feel void or groundless felling until one wakes with the sound of the hen. Night just pass as if a ride in a amusement park it’s the altitude or the less oxygen that gives such a feeling I can’t say or the tiredness after a day walk but you like to have it again, experience or dream it.

10th day of the trek

Pangboche ( 3900m) – Pheriche (4250m) – Thukla (4620m) – Lobuche ( 4920m)

11th day of the trek

Lobuche ( 4920m) - Gorakshep(5180m) - Kalapatther(5545m) - Gorakshep(5180m) - Lobuche ( 4920m)

Started from Lobuche at 6:15 a.m. reached Gorakshep at 8:45 a.m. climbed to Kalapatther on top at 10:45a.m.

Kalapatther(5545m) is known as the best place to see Mt.Everest(8850m). It was steep climb I felt a little more tired today. The thought of returning back once came to my mind for a second but it’s always the last part which is the hardest one it breaks once will at some point. The sun above our head was a good sign for the day. It took us an hour and a half to reach to the top. The spectacular view just makes you feel at the top of the world looking at the highest peak n the world. Only you in the whole world for that very second are actually at the top. More we capture the images in the camera the less it seems for us. The cloud had started to show there presence, the cold wind made the air colder and we knew we cannot stay for a long time. Taking few more snaps of the surrounding we descended towards Gorakshep(5180m). One think of trekking at this time of the year is that the sky is not that clear, the clouds dance among the mountain giving a different experience to the adventure. On our way we made a small stop for food break, facing the Everest we sat looking at it for the last time before we went back to the Lubuche(5149m). The walk to lubuche was a quite a easy one for we were almost walking down the mountain. We took our time stopped many time on our way looking at the glazier down blow our rocky trek. We reached the trek huts at 1:30 p.m. the sky was partially cloudy and by the evening it became misty as usual. After tired day once we got inside the warm bed we were asleep the very moment we closed our eyes.

12th day of the trek

Lobuche(5149m) - Thula(4620m) - Pheriche(4250m) - Pangboche(3900m) – Kumjung - Namche Bazar (3440m)

The sky was spotless blue as we descended on our backward journey. We planned to go up to Kumjung take a rest overnight and then the next day walk up to Lukla. But as it always happens on reaching Kumjung we decided it would be best if we go to Namche Bazar stay over there and the next day end our trek at Lukla. We would so gain few extra hours and the sloppy walk down from Kumjung followed by a steep climb can be covered the very day. We just trekked the whole day till the sun had set clouds covering each and every mountains on our way as if they were never there. We walked and walked coveing distance that we had traveled in 3 day in a single day, tired, drained to the last strength that was left in our body; all we thought of was a good dinner.

13th day of the trek

Namche Bazar (3440m) - Jorsale - Phakding(2600m) – Ghat - Lukla (2800m)

When one is descending down after a good climb all one remember are the walk and the people whom we meet on our way, greeting them and wishing them luck for a wonderful day ahead. Things that make the trek wonderful is the local people along with the other trekkers, everyone is friendly. Different cultures with one dream to have a look at the world highest mountain The Mt. Everest.

Our trek ended after a long walk to Lukla crossing 6-7 bridges all the way down. We are taking nothing but just the memories of the trek & the sound of the nature with us, the birds that we saw, the roaring river we crossed, the blanked of cloud, the mystic mountains, foggy evening, a bit of rain, isolation, silence, blessing of the spirit of the land, a warm gratitude and a friendly acquaintance.

End of the trek (Top of the World/ Gateway to Mount Everest)

A journey ends and a new one to the city of temple awaits me ahead.