After once again partnering up for the hike, Eric and I stayed in Lobuche for two days as Eric began to feel a little altitude sickness. With some serious hydration and time to rest we continued on. That day we made our way to Gorakshep, the small town and closest place to sleep near Mt. Everest.
We truly saw the beauty of the Himalayas here. There was nowhere to go where there wasn’t beauty. The great ridges bathed in a seemingly harmless blanket of cotton snow which beckoned us to get closer. It is unimaginable to go up those, yet both of our hearts yearned to complete something like that. We marveled at the purity of them, realizing no one ever will “conquer” them. Humans only make it to the top of the mountain, if the mountain allows it, not because we are ever greater than the mountain.
Along the hike to Gorakshep, we followed along the side of a mountain. Looking down to the valley below, you could see glaciers peeking out from below mounds of fallen rocks and small patches of sea green ponds and lakes.
Gorakshep consisted of about two teahouses with attached restaurants/eating areas. It seemed like there were supply buildings for the Everest climbing season and a helicopter landing area for instances of major injury or altitude sickness. Due to the thin air, helicopters that passed by flew very low and it was my first time hearing the deafening shuttering of the blades as they passed what felt like right above our heads.
After deciding on one teahouse, we excitedly dropped our bags. I used the small top detachable section of my bag to form a small bag stuffed with some snacks, water, and emergency supplies like a headlamp and extra layers of clothing. We sped out of there and rushed toward the trailhead to head to Mt. Everest.
I’m not going to say my first sight of Mt. Everest was all magical and star-shocking, it was basically a tall rock behind some other tall rocks with snow on them. It wasn’t the mountain itself that truly brought about these feelings. Though I was incredibly excited to see it, it was the idea that I had never imagined I would do something like this in my lifetime. It was amazing imagining people climbing to the top of the mountain and staring at the valley below, right where we were standing.
We reached a branch in the trail, where normally you turn to the right and head down into the valley towards the tents making up the base camp for climbers of Everest. Yet, Eric and I noticed there were a ton of these prayer flags, more than we had ever seen before, up to the left on top of the side of the hill we were walking next to. Eric was looking all along the small cliff side while I kept walking, where I found a pretty noticeable path weaving up the gray and dusty cliffside. I got to the top and was awed by the tons and tons of flags everywhere, hanging and laying on the ground. I was so busy taking pictures and walking amongst the flags, I almost didn’t hear Eric calling for me.
Eric had decided he could climb up the cliff instead of finding a nice path like I did and was clinging to the side of it about twenty feet (six meters) up. He was stable enough to be safe but I couldn’t stop laughing at his predicament, which luckily he found just as amusing and smiled for the picture I took of him. Together we got him up in one piece, as I called out handholds and footholds, eventually grabbing his hiking pole and helping to pull him up the rest of the way, where we laid laughing together.
We hung around the flags for hours, enjoying the peace, taking time to sit and think, and of course taking many photos, with Mt. Everest showing just barely as a sliver in the background behind another mountain. A fun fact is that the Mt. Everest summit cannot be seen from the base camp, but we were able to see the first major obstacle all climbers must face, the Khumbu Icefall.
We finally made the short stretch down into the bottom of the valley where the true base camp lay. Mt. Everest does invoke feelings of awe and it is majestic to see. It is truly like no other mountain when you sit and stare but the reason I said it didn’t initially motivate those feelings in me was because I was truly moved when I reached the place of the base camp.
I smiled a large toothy grin when we reached the rock spray painted with “Everest Base Camp 5364m” on it. I had done something difficult, through tearing holes in my feet, to broken soles, to hunger pains and utter loneliness, I had made it to this place. This place where so many people either achieved their dreams or were at least following them to this very place. Never in my life or childhood did I think I could be in a place like this, doing it with the help and support of a total stranger. That was when my eyes became misty and I cried. The salty water dripped down my cheeks in streams as I just spun around, not being able to take enough in.
I wandered down to the glaciers as I wanted to actually touch them and feel the icy water dripping off them. I met two Russians down by a substantial stream of snow and ice let off by the glacier. They stripped down to their boxers and yelled, “We fucking made it! Let’s go for a swim!” and jumped splashing into the freezing water.
When I finally gathered the courage to tear myself away from the glaciers, I walked back up towards the rock and Eric, who in my absence had walked up to a couple of brightly colored tents, some of the only ones not being taken down just yet. After all, April to mid-June are the seasons for climbing. Therefore, now at the end of May, the season was done but the process was still happening to clean up the camp from the climbers.
Eric had met an older sherpa who had successfully summited again this year. I wish Eric were here so I could ask him how many times this summit made it for the man, but I believe it was quite a few times. He offered some brandy and coffee as he relaxed by the tent, watching hikers come into the camp and watching the sun glisten off the snow packed mountains. He was a man at peace.
We stayed as long as we could before heading back to Gorakshep, where we would stay for the night. Once there we sat quietly and ordered the usually egg fried rice. I was still in a bit of shock I think but was broken out of my funk as a little puppy came walking on the bench to me looking for some attention. After playing with the puppy, Eric and I began talking about the amazement of doing this. Seeing us in good spirits, a forty year old man (he told us his age) came strolling in and sat right at the table next to ours.
I admire this man greatly, though he was quite eccentric. He had dark black hair with some gray at the roots and a mid-size beard growing in, but most of all I remember his eyes that were dark brown but were wild and got wide as he discussed his adventure. He had taken a different route that included camping, the Everest Three Pass Trail. It is much more of a hike where you have to make high camps in multiple areas. He told us how in one instance a storm came rolling in suddenly and he had to set up camp on this high altitude frozen lake as the snow showered all around. His hands would wave as he told us and had me pretty convinced I would want to do that trail if I ever returned.
His next plan was to hike to the Gokyo Lakes, all the way out to the furthest one to camp there as long as he could before his three month visa expired. Eric and I had considered doing this back at Namche Bazar so we had some microspikes but had never come to a decision. I didn’t think I had time and we had been told by multiple people that we couldn’t do it without a guide as it was dangerous to get through the Ngozumba Glacier and Cho La Pass.
That night in Gorakshep no one slept. The man we were talking to had ordered something with meat, most hikers know that isn’t the best idea due to no refrigeration, and he got food poisoning as we heard him loudly throwing up through the paper thin walls of the teahouse.
