Everest Base Camp—April 13

Twenty degrees in my "room" this morning. The dog moved closer to me during the night but thankfully didn't get too close. Didn't sleep very well, but better than being in a room with the snorer. Hard to breathe at 16,900', and people kept walking through the common room to get to the bathroom, a floor down and in a different wing. Heard lots of yak bells during the night (don't they ever stand still?) and people rising early to tackle Kala Pattar at daybreak. When I got up around 6 AM, my water bottles and pee bottle were completely frozen. Tough to get dressed when it's that cold.

The climbers/family members didn't get down from Kala Pattar until about 8:30; we didn't get on the trail until 10. Only 400 vertical feet to Base Camp, but it took a full three hours. Lots of up and down, rocks, and scree to deal with. Once we arrived at the EBC rock, it was still another 45 minutes to get over to AAI's site.

en route to Everest BC from Gorak Shep

lenticular cloud over Everest

Base Camp

It was a treat to see it on a sunny day. Pretty powerful place. We passed all the different camps—AAI's was close to the bottom of the Icefall. Other climbers have to hike nearly an hour to start a journey through the Icefall. Each climber has a dome tent, situated on the rocks. There are three toilet tens; a couple kitchen tents; a Mountain Hardwear 800-square foot dome for socializing; and a huge dining tent, decorated with plastic flowers, centerpieces, LED lights, and carpeting on the floor. Still hard to fathom living there for about 6 weeks.

the dining ten

tents below the Khumbu Icefall

Sherpas erecting the last few tents for the climbers

duffels arriving, Mountain Hardwear dome social tent in the background

in front of the Icefall, so bright at it's hard to photograph

I made the right decision about the Icefall. I struggled for months last fall about whether or not to sign up for the Camp II climb. Photos of the Icefall do not do it justice. It is massive and dangerous—the Sherpa "Ice Doctors" looked like ants on it, and it was too bright out to see any of the ladders. Island Peak is a much better alternative for me. It will still be quite a challenge. While at Base Camp today (17,500'), it was hard to imagine ascending nearly another 3,000' to the elevation of Island Peak (20,300'). Joe offered, "But you get to go down first [to Dingboche]." Yes, Joe, but then we go back up to Island Peak BC at 16,690'!

Hard to say goodbye to the climbers. It was wonderful getting to know all of them, and I will follow every bit of their journey between now and early June. On the way down, we passed a Puja ceremony (asking for safe passage on the mountain) in full swing—singing, dancing, drinking, juniper smoke, and flour smeared on faces.

Puja ceremony

Arrived back in Gorak Shep, exhausted. We're waking up tomorrow at 4 AM for a 4:30 departure for Kala Pattar. At the last minute, Man found me a single room. Yay! So tired that I'm heading to bed at 8:15.