Nepal.Trek to Everest Base Camp. Part 2

  That day we had to gain another 500 meters of altitude. Leaving Dingboche (4410 m) in the morning, we headed to the village of Thokla (4620 m). The rocky mountain views continued to amaze us, and it even felt like we were on another planet. Interestingly, before we flew to Nepal, my mom said she was worried about us as if we were going to another planet. She was somewhat right: the landscapes indeed felt otherworldly...

  Well, isn't it a cosmic landscape...   

   At the bottom right, you can see the village of Pheriche (4240 m), where we will stay overnight on the way back.

   Further along the way, we saw shepherds' huts with stone enclosures for livestock...

 The vastness just "blows your mind." Being in such places makes reality seem unreal...

  Approaching the village of Thokla (4620 m), from which the climb to the pass of the same name begins, we met a very amusing and somewhat fierce yak. He first watched me as I walked by and then observed Diana the same way, probably thinking he might charge at any moment...

   Here, we also encountered a very colorful Nepalese woman in traditional attire with prayer beads in her hand...

 From the village to the pass, we needed to gain 200 meters of altitude, which is not easy at such heights, especially with heavy backpacks. Although the climb isn’t very high, above 4500 meters, you spend twice as much energy as at familiar altitudes. Formally, there’s no feeling of oxygen deficiency, but physically, it’s quite challenging. The main rule is not to rush, as additional symptoms like nausea and vomiting can accompany the usual headache...    

   And here we are at the Thokla Pass (4620 m)...

  We saw several people heading in the opposite direction...

   Crossing the pass and climbing a bit higher, we approached the beginning of the Khumbu Glacier. Walking along the trail, we met two Sherpas carrying loads in their traditional baskets. During one of the breaks, I decided to try carrying their load, to which the Nepalese cheerfully agreed. I put on the basket according to the rules—hooking it over my head. One detail they didn’t mention was that I had to balance the load with special straps on the sides, so I almost dropped everything. We had a good laugh...

   Reaching our next overnight stop, Lobuche (4910 m), we quickly checked into the first lodge we found. The weather worsened, fog rolled in, and it got colder.

 The next day, the weather didn’t improve. The temperature dropped to -12 degrees, but due to the low humidity, the cold didn’t feel as harsh...       

   Approaching our next stop, the fog cleared a bit, and we saw the Khumbu Glacier in all its glory...

 It’s very hard to find any vegetation here. It even feels lifeless. This is true "space" ... 

    And here we arrived at the village of Gorak Shep (5164 m)—the highest settlement in the region and probably in the world. Gorak Shep is the name of a frozen lakebed covered with sand, and the village that emerged later was named the same. The village has only lodges for tourists. It’s clearly not suitable for agriculture as there’s no vegetation at all....             

  After settling in and having lunch at the lodge, I went to look around as the weather had somewhat improved.

  Climbing a bit, I took two panoramic shots covering almost 360 degrees. The highest mountain on the right side of the photo is Pumo Ri (7165 m). Directly below it, you can see a small hill (like a mound) - this is the small Kala Patthar (5550 m), behind which is our main goal - the peak of Kala Patthar (5644 m). Also, in this photo, you can see how much space the glacier occupies...

  In the next photo, Pumo Ri and small Kala Patthar are on the left side, and the tallest mountain on the right is Nuptse (7864 m). To the left of it, you can see the peak of Everest (8848 m)...

   Here’s a closer view. Nuptse visually appears to be the highest mountain, and to the left of it, you can see the summit of Everest...

  By the way, Gorak Shep translates to "dead crows," but it seems I caught them alive...

   After a short rest in the lodge, we started climbing to the peak of Kala Patthar (5644 m). Kala Patthar translates from Nepali and Hindi as "Black Rock"...

   As we gained altitude, we had a good view of the surrounding mighty mountains. Below, we saw the powerful glacier and the roofs of Gorak Shep...

  A view of Everest and the mountains along the Khumbu Glacier during the climb to Kala Patthar...

   In the center is the highest mountain on our planet...

   And we have conquered the peak of Kala Patthar (5644 m)! This is our personal record - the highest altitude we have ever reached! Although it was extremely cold and windy at the summit, these were secondary concerns at that moment as we were overwhelmed with emotions...        

   Everest was covered with clouds, and only its mighty silhouette was visible...

  In Kathmandu, we bought postcards with the same view but in clear weather...

  We started descending to Gorak Shep...

 On the way back, we saw very cute birds walking like penguins and somewhat resembling them...

  The next day, after successfully surviving our first night at a high altitude of 5140 meters (they say the nights are the hardest in terms of oxygen deprivation), we decided to climb a bit higher again to take some photos with Everest in the background...      

  Here’s our little photoshoot...

   The clouds kept gathering over Everest...

   Enjoying the beautiful views, Diana returned to Gorak Shep, and I headed towards the "Everest Base Camp." Since there are no tents at this time of the year - off-season as I mentioned earlier—my main goal was to reach the "Khumbu Icefall," which marks the start of the climb to the highest point in the world:

   From this angle, you can clearly see the icefall and the black summit of Everest...

   Nuptse in all its glory...

At one time, the Everest Base Camp was in Gorak Shep, but later it was moved closer to the "Khumbu Icefall." Somewhere in this area, the tents are set up for the base camp where climbers prepare to ascend the summit...

  I reached the desired spot—the beginning of the Everest climb. The frozen icefall descending from the mountain is a serious obstacle during the ascent as it’s always moving, and it’s very easy to end up in one of its crevasses...

   Reaching the icefall, I was very tired, probably due to the high pace of travel affecting my well-being. Initially, I tried to avoid the ice, but on the way back, I just slid over it past the ice blocks. It was a fantastic trip across the glacier...

  On the way back, I noticed this pile of stones decorated with flags, a place of pilgrimage for trekkers heading to the Everest Base Camp...

  About 200 meters before reaching the lodge in Gorak Shep, my poor condition turned into vomiting. After entering the room, I felt cold, dizzy, and fell asleep. I realized I shouldn’t have gone to the base camp at such a fast pace.

  The next morning, we decided to descend as quickly as possible to alleviate the unpleasant symptoms of altitude sickness. The weather worsened significantly, visibility was zero, and light snow was falling. However, we didn’t get lost and quickly descended to our next overnight stop—Pheriche (4240 m), only stopping for a meal in Lobuche and easily descending from the Thokla Pass. Only when approaching Pheriche did the weather clear a bit, and we could see the familiar landscapes again...

  In Pheriche, we fully recovered and had a delicious dinner of yak steak and fried potatoes... The next morning, the weather improved, and after the snowfall during the night, the mountains looked even more impressive...

 

The icy, narrow trails along the slope added a bit of thrill to our journey...

   Yaks always adorned the landscapes...

   We also saw mountain horses...

   The snow added some weather variety to our trek, bringing new colors to the photos...

  The mountain with the most interesting shape, resembling a sphinx, Ama Dablam, looked impeccable on the way back... 

 On the way to our next overnight stop, we took a break in the village of Tengboche, which we had grown so fond of, to have some tea and look at Everest...

   For the night, we stayed in the village of Khumjung. In the morning, we were greeted with a surprise in the form of clear skies and the beautiful scenery of the village...

  Climbing up the elevation, heading towards Namche, we had a stunning view of the village of Khumjung and the surrounding mountains...

    From this spot, Everest was also very well visible...

   Yaks, as always, beautiful... 

 Approaching the village of Namche Bazaar, the weather allowed us to see it in all its glory...

   On the neighboring mountain, there is a military unit, and we saw the soldiers’ assembly on the parade ground...

   Descending a bit lower, we saw Namche from a different angle...

 I would like to once again highlight the people who deliver products and building materials to all the mountain villages. Thanks to their hard work, we were able to stay in lodges at high altitudes and eat well. The loads these small-statured Nepalese carry are incredible. We noticed girls and boys under 13 years old carrying huge loads! But this is their way of survival. They must have super strong knee joints, spines, and necks on a genetic level because the load is mainly supported by a strap on the forehead and a bag on the back...        

  Here’s what the classic cargo baskets look like...

   Throughout the trek, we stopped at checkpoint stations (about five points from Lukla to Gorak Shep), where our names were recorded in a logbook. On the way back, we also checked in at each post...  

   At the exit from the reserve, we checked in at the permit office. Our names were found in a large logbook, and they made the necessary entries, marking our exit date from the reserve on the permit as well... 

   Inside the office, on a stand, we saw statistics for the tourists who had passed through in February, totaling 975 people, and we were among them...  

  We then reached Lukla, stayed overnight, and at 6:15 AM, we headed to the airport. Within about 5 minutes, we bought tickets at the TaraAir office, checked in our backpacks, passed through security, and by 6:45, we were seated in the small airplane, waiting for takeoff. Following the airline's tradition, we were given "Yeti" candies and cotton earplugs, after which our plane soared over the cliff and flew to Kathmandu. Thus ended the first and most important part of our journey. We reached our highest altitude - 5644 meters, saw Everest, experienced altitude sickness symptoms, spent two nights in one of the highest settlements on Earth - Gorak Shep (5140 m), and completed an 11-day trek. But we are not stopping, and new achievements await us...

Continued...