Nepal: Gorak Shep 5130m / Everest Base Camp 5364m (Day 10)
It’s hard trying to think of the most physically and mentally demanding challenge I’ve faced to date. There are always those nights at the gym when you get to the point where you can’t take another step, or maybe some mornings on the way to uni when it’s so cold you want to cry. But those just seem pale in comparison.
We made the bold decision the night before to not only walk the three hours from Lobuche to Gorak Shep, at 5130m, but to continue on after a quick rest to Everest Base Camp. This decision was made using the same basic decision making principles as other regrettable decisions - mixing beer and vodka, buying leopard print, renting a unit with separate hot and cold taps, dying my hair blonde. In other words, it wasn’t the best decision.
The walk to Gorak Shep was quite lovely, snow-covered mountains and a nice track increasing at a gradual pace. We arrived at about 9.30am and had a very early lunch and a quick rest before heading off to Base Camp. ‘Everest Base Canp’ kind of rolls off the tongue easily, much easier than the effort it takes to get there. At 5364m there is only 50% oxygen, and it’s a tought trek up and down mountains, covered in rocky boulders, at tempereatures close to freezing.
We arrived at base camp around midday, dozens of brightly coloured tents emblazoned with flags sitting below magnificent glaciers. The hard-core trekkers live at the site for about 8 weeks before ascending to their final destination - camp 1 up to camp 8, or the summit, if their keen.
Because the glaciers, and therefore the campsite, moves up to 1m per year, there is no official sign announcing your arrival at base camp, which was a bit of a disappointment, but after that trek there could have been a plastic bucket as the highlight and I wouldn’t have cared. We sat and rested for about half an hour, taking photos and enjoying the sun on our backs, before we saw snow clouds approach in the direction we needed to head back home.
(Ok, so I don’t know whether they were really snow clouds or not, but since it started snowing about two seconds later, I’m just putting it out there.)
Trekking in the morning sunlight is a little different than pushing yourself through a freezing snowstorm, but what choice did we have (apart from choosing a more tropical holiday destination). After a good three hours I made it back to Gorak Shep - with a horse, which followed me the last half and hour home. It stopped when I did, and walked beside me once I started again. I figured it was a sign, but it didn’t look interested enough to carry me home, and I didn’t care what other sign it had to offer, so I continued on.
On arrival at our tea house, you could pick the those that had just been to base camp - they sat, staring straight ahead, not moving or talking, some so shattered they were crying. Others who hadn’t been were asking how it was, whether it was worth it, and whether the trek was enjoyable. I didn’t think Nepal tourism would have liked my answers at that point, so I said ‘ask me tomorrow’.
It was a big day, a tough day, for me anyway, and definitely the hardest thing my poor mistreated body has had to endure. But it was an accomplishment. Whether it was worth it? Whether I enjoyed myself?
Ask me tomorrow.
-Sarah
Tags: Nepal, Travel
