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SAM
Its a trip we'd been thinking of and planning for around nine months and after finalising the route, getting all the injections, sorting out all our kit and getting a bit of sponsorship we landed in Kathmandu on the evening of 9th Dec.
With no time to spare we went in search of a guide/porter to give us a hand along the way (much advised as they know all the latest avalanche information and weather details). We were taken by a local into his office on the busy main street of Thamel (central Kathmandu) and told the guys there exactly what we wanted. They all seemed quite shocked ant how much we knew and that we wanted to walk from Jiri (1955m) and not fly straight in to Lukla (2610m) as everyone else does - but we'd done our research and decided we'd follow in the footsteps of all the great previous expeditions and people like Edmund Hillary, Tensing Norgay, Reinhold Messner and Alan Hinkes and walk the extra seven days as we had a much better chance of not getting altitude sickness and got to see the foothills of the Himalayas growing in size and splendour.
After finalising walking taxes (around £35) and paying the company we went back to our hostel and started to pack.
The Journey really began the following day when our guide, Amir, picked us up in a 4 x 4 and his 'mate' drove us the twelve hours out of the city into the hills and into Jiri every now and again getting glimpses of huge 6000m peaks in the distance.
From Jiri it was an estimated ten days to Namche (3440m) the 'Sherpa Capital' - we covered it in seven and were all ready in awe of the place, having met some amazing people and had a range of weathers and experiences - watching Adam (my climbing partner) fall off a ledge 200ft up and manage to hold on to a ledge 12ft down as he fell! (Death factor 10) Walking through knee deep snow across the Lamjua Pass, Eaten masses of noodle soup and pushed our way through countless numbers of Yak herds on route.
Namche saw the terrain change dramatically and after a rest day (where we had a short 400m climb over the hill surrounding the village where we saw the Everest Massif – Lhotse, Everest, Nuptse and Ama Dablam) we collected together our sacs, by now becoming very much a part of us even at 25 – 30kgs, and set of towards the roof of the world.
It would be many days until we’d reach our final goal and the altitude was beginning to have a dramatic effect on our performance, that combined with the cold (-15 degrees C excluding wind) made for some quite challenging walking/scrambling. We were constantly stopping to take photos, video and to summit surrounding ‘small’ peaks that Amir had OK’d as being safe.
The lodges we had been so accustomed to were now becoming less and less common and it was soon time to get the tent out and do some ‘proper mountaineering’ - wild camping in the heart of the Himalayas, waking up with the sunrise over the world’s highest peaks, sitting outside our tent playing cards at 4500+ metres with nothing of anyone else in sight and cooking with water we’d collected from the glaciers was fantastic and something I’ll never forget.
All too soon we were approaching Everest Base Camp (EBC) and Kalar Patthar (5550m) – This is what we’d been waiting for – waking up at 05:00 at Lobouche (4910M) and climbing up over the hills towards our goal was amazing and summiting was superb, managing to climb part of Pumo Ri and get to just shy of 6000m. It was here we really felt the full force of being at altitude and Adam (although seeming quite good up to now) became rather ill – getting massive headaches, feeling very sick and tired. It was clear this was the start of AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) and after a Swiss climber had died of this in the same place we were days earlier we were soon on the descent.
Hoping to climb higher (around 6500m) in a day or two after a rest and acclimatisation we dropped down to Lobouche and warmed ourselves with some hot Lemon. Adam however although feeling much better failed to recover 100% and ascending again would be dangerous, so as we were due to catch our helicopter from Lukla back to Kathmandu in less than a week now we decided to leave and drop down the 3000m to the airport.
Kathmandu was a welcome break – hot water, showers and good food. We lived and ate like kings for five days, visiting all the temples, attractions as well as the odd bar or two until it was time to leave. Amir and his family came and saw us off from the airport and after a bit of a sad goodbye we boarded our Qatar Airways flight for the long drag home.
The experience I had was amazing and we’re already planning our next trip back to Nepal – this time to climb and hopefully summit Ama Dablam – one of the key mountains in the Everest Massif - towering above Debouche and at just shy of 7000m it’s a tough mountain to climb and we’d have to spend a long time in the mountains practicing our climbing techniques at ever increasing altitudes before we reach it. Amir our guide is already looking at porters etc for the trip but at £1500+ for the permit to attempt it it wont be for a while.
Thanks to….
All the guys at WLBC who have put up with me going on about my trip since I booked it and ever since my return.
GO AND SEE IT FOR YOURSELF!
Sam
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