Things You Should Know about Trekking to Everest Base Camp

Tents of the 2015 Ultra Marathon Runners at Everest Base Camp
Tents of the 2015 Ultra Marathon Runners at Everest Base Camp

If someone says that they are trekking to EBC it doesn’t mean they have to sleep in a tent or are intending to climb Mount Everest.

It is not normal walking and Diamox is the key to managing altitude. Make sure you have it an I would tend to follow the trekking guides’ recommendation, as in experienced guides who lead treks on a regular basis. A slow trek is key to getting there without be sick. Altitude headaches can be really horrible. I’ve heard and read. We didn’t have any.

about Kathmandu, trekking to EBC and Nepal in general.

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Step Training? Affirmative

Three Months Until Your EBC Trek? Get Training

Do I need to include steps in my training ? You bet. By the end of your training you should be able to do 1 hour of steps with a ten minute break in the middle.

Main Everest Base Camp Trail between Namche Bazaar and Tengboche treacherous steps but a great view.

There’s the man with the vision and the all the plans. Trek to Everest Base Camp, Nepal. He had been to trek the Annapurna circuit in the 80s and he knew there is a lot of uneven ground so he insisted on finding uneven hills to train on and lots of stairs too.

And stairs were in abundance …..

Between Lukla and Phakding
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Monastery or Gompa at Khumjung Nepal

Om Mane Padme Hum

Khumjung Monastery

The colour on the inside of the monastery was a welcome warmth from the cloud that had descended on the town for most of the day. The monastery is the red building you can see on the right (below).

Khumjung Monastery Everest Base Camp trek
Khumjung Monastery in Late September Cloud
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All Things Yak on the EBC Track

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Meeting Yaks on the Track

On the Everest Base Camp trek you might see mountain goats, magnificent eagles and other beautiful birds but the yaks were my favourite along the trail.

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Simple Not Basic on the EBC Trail

A Post about Food on the EBC Trek Becomes More. Or Is it Less?

There is a difference between basic and simple. Especially when you are traveling.

Gorak Shep and Kala Patthar

Recently I posted about accommodation on the EBC trek being basic. A comment from a fellow blogger (thanks Miriam) made me rethink how I had labelled  the accommodation. It is the very fact the Everest Base Camp Trek is basic, makes it so good. Basic can be seen as a negative.  So simple, not basic, is a better word to use. Because it is the simplicity of the EBC trek that makes it so special.

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Accommodation and Food on The EBC Trek

Eat, Heat, Recharge and Sleep on the Everest Base Camp Trail

Main trail Lukla to Kala Patthar at Phakding

The Shangrilla Lodge in Phakding in 2015. We stayed here on the first night and the second last nights of Everest Base Camp trek.

Our First Lodge Experience

I remembered the lodge pictured above from our first 2013 trek. We didn’t stay there then. Our flight from Kathmandu to Lukla was delayed about four hours due to fog. We were trekking solo, without a guide or porter and had no accommodation booked.

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Stupa at Khumjung

Three photos of a Stupa in Khumjung taken from different directions and over five years. Photos taken in December 2013, the end of September 2015, two earthquakes later and in September 2018.

The stupa in Khumjung in 2013

There is a beautiful mani wall along the walk in from Namche Bazaar.

Stupa at Khumjung in the Khumbu region of Nepal

I assume the cracks are from the second earthquake on May 12 2015. The small boy in the photo has his back pack on and had just come out from the Edmund Hillary School, the biggest school in the Khumjung.

Khumjung Stupa September 2018
Walking into Khumjung September 2018

And finally in September 2018 the repaired stupa in Khumjung but the eyes and face are not finished in this photo. The open space in front of the stupa to the right of the mani wall is the play area for the Sir Edmund Hillary School. The wall around the school has been repaired as well. That is me walking in with the red jacket and our porter guide on my left. As for most of the photos the Trainer (my husband) was taking the photo.

April 25 earthquake magnitude 7.8

May 12 earthquake magnitude 7.3

Two Earthquakes and Two Films – another of my posts

Worth a look earthquake 2015 – Great Himalyas Trail website

Earth, Dingboche Ridge-top, Nepal

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A Favourite Day on the Everest Base Camp Trek

Dingboche Ridge-top Everest Base Camp Trek

To celebrate Earth Day April 22

Read about our Acclimatisation Walk to Dingboche Ridge-top probably one of my favourite days on our trek.

Or the walk into Dingboche or the walk out to Lobuche.

Daily Post: Earth Photo Challenge

Things I liked on the EBC Trek

The “Things I Liked” List

Boxes of ancient papers Khumjung Manastery Nepal
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Kathmandu Colour

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Kathmandu Selling Flower Garlands

Selling flower garlands and flowers, Durbar Square, Kathmandu December 2013.

Bridge at Jorsale

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Bridge at Jorsale EBC trek
The bridge to Jorsale festooned with prayer flags on the way to Namche Bazaar.

Did I cross this ?

The Everest Base Camp Marathon

Everest Base Camp.org Marathon winner 2013

There are two in fact. The official Everest Base Camp Marathon is the Tenzing – Hillary Everest Marathon held annually on 29 May the date of their Everest summit. The biannual one held in November is run by a UK charity organisation and raises money from the event for community projects in Nepal. Both marathons finish in Namche Bazaar. Continue reading

Dughla Glacier Lake near Dughla

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Dughla Glacier Lake near Thukla

Wordless Wednesday

Todd Samson and How Not to Trek in the Himalayas

Todd Samson’s Salute to Sherpas and Climbing Lobuche

todd-samson

What Todd Samson has been getting up to lately is far from tame. Todd Samson is an Australian Canadian television celebrity is currently in a show called Body Hack.

Each episode looks at a different group of people who are involved in extreme activity and how the body copes with it. Taking it one step further Todd Samson walks in their shoes for some time. The Nepalese episode looked at the life of the Sherpa people who work as porters along the Everest Base Camp Trail.

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Fashion on the Track

Some Accessories I took to Everest Base Camp

Periche

Here I am walking through Pheriche looking like the Michelin Man. Complete with the hat and given today is the Melbourne Cup (horse race) I decided on a twist the Fashion on the Track theme. Tongue in cheek of course. However I am wearing some accessories you shouldn’t leave home for Everest Base Camp without.

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A Snapshot of the Bridges to EBC

Bridges the Traffic Lights of the Everest Base Camp Trek

via Daily Prompt: Bridge

Small Metal bridge on EBC trek
Bridge over stream before Gorak Shep

The last bridge before Gorak Shep, the last place with lodges before Everest Base Camp. That’s me and our porter guide just ahead.

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Weather Forecast at EBC

Believe It or Not There is Weather Station on the Everest Base Camp Trek

Everest Base Camp Trail Weather Pyramid
Italian Weather Pyramid out of Lobuche in the direction of Gorak Shep

The Weather Pyramid at Everest Base Camp or thereabouts. The Trainer walked there by himself. I decided to stay in the lodge and rest up for the next to big days. Built by the Italians he joked he was in search of a short black coffee …

Sadly since we visited in 2015 the Weather Pyramid was defunded by the Italian Government and I have read the structure has been turned into a lodge of sorts,

The Door a Framed View Dingboche

Day Seven Shomare to Dingboche

Lodge in Dingboche with mountains behind nepal everest base camp trek
Our lodge in Dingboche on the Everest Base Camp trek

Climbing to Namche Bazaar

Day Two Phakding to Monjo 2013  and Phakding to Namche Bazaar 2015

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Above is the suspension bridge at Upper Phakding. We stayed at the lodge just above the end of the bridge in the photo on the way back down from our 2013 trek. The bridge on the Everest Base Camp Trek Blog and  my donkey video.

PLANNING THE TREK BY THE SEASONS

When planning our trek for late September we expected some rain. Continue reading