Trek Day 9 - Everest Base Camp - 11/9/10

Gorak Shep

Irene, Bogdan and Dana got up at 5am to go up Kala Pattar.  Bogdan got another headache, so he and Irene turned around and went back to sleep.  Just before Krista and I were ready to head to base camp, they had decided to descend to Dingboche (very near Pheriche, but a slightly lower elevation).  We'll have to catch up with them tomorrow.  This is so sad -- I hate the idea of the group splitting up, even for a day.

At EBC (it says so on the rock)

After breakfast, Krista and I started toward EBC.  This is what I came on this trek for and today was by far the hardest day.  I know I say that every day, but today I really mean it.  The trail was very rough -- up and down with very large rocks/boulders.  This was so hard on the knee, I thought a few times that I may not make it.  I had it wrapped in an ace bandage and had eaten a lot of ibuprofin for breakfast, but this was hard.  I was using my poles so heavily that my arms were aching. At one point, the trail did briefly flatten out for a bit of "single track", but there was a rocky slope looming next to us and I ran to duck behind a big boulder when there was a minor rock slide.  That didn't do my knee any favors either.  Of course, after the slide was over and I stood back up, Kopil yelled at me that this was "the most dangerous part of the trail".  Nice.  Luckily, I'm pretty stubborn (not the best of traits, I know, but today it got me to my goal) and I made it all the way.

Khumbu Ice Fall

The scenery today was amazing -- glacial lakes, beautiful mountains, a few more avalanches and the Khumbu Glacier, which we followed all the way from Gorak Shep.  Once at "base camp" (the wooden sign was stolen), we were overlooking the famous Khumbu ice fall and could see up the Western Cwm.  The Nuptse face looms over and has heavy snow fall this time of year.  I had been told that EBC would be a let down -- nothing but rocks and garbage.  The Nepalese government paid Sherpas to haul out all garbage both from the mountain and base camp this year.  I saw absolutely no debris whatsoever.  They even cleaned out the helicopter wreck that I was hoping to see.  Everything was beautiful and if my knee was better, I would loved to have explored a bit.  It was the most beautiful place I've ever been.  We stayed about 30 minutes and then headed back.  It was a hard trek back for me and I was limping pretty hard when I arrived back at the lodge. I had made Kopil go on ahead, but he had Kumar waiting outside keeping an eye on me.

Tomorrow, we head down to Dingbouche to catch up with the Romanians.  It will be nice to be in warner weather.  Did you know that it steams up the bathroom when you pee up here?