It’s about what you are walking on…
The last few kilometres to Base Camp on slippery scree. But let’s start at the beginning
Continue reading
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.
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 …..
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.
Continue readingThere is a difference between basic and simple. Especially when you are traveling.
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.
Continue readingThree 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.
There is a beautiful mani wall along the walk in from Namche Bazaar.
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.
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
Did I cross this ?
Wordless Wednesday
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.
Continue reading
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,
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.
When planning our trek for late September we expected some rain. Continue reading
trek n.1. a long difficult journey, esp. on foot 2. a journey or stage, esp by ox wagon 3. make a trek – trekker
In September 2015 my husband and I flew to Nepal to trek to Everest Base Camp. At the departure hall at Melbourne Airport saying goodbyes to our adult daughters, the eldest hugged her father and said
“Dad, go easy on Mum remember it’s her holiday too.” She turned to me and said “Mum, ….man up.”
And with that sage advice…
Continue readingI made it. I climbed to Kala Patthar the highlight of the Everest Base Camp trek. The video of me reaching the top, breathless and exhausted.
A post about the porters on my Everest Base Camp Trek blog is long overdue. The Daily Post Daily Prompt Recharge has given me a perfect launching point.
Trekking through the Khumbu you see resting points for porters to unload, rest and recharge. These resting spots are at a height so the porters can easily unload and reload onto their backs without having to lift their load from the ground.
Continue readingHe met us at the baggage collection at Lukla airport. After a cup of tea and sorting our packs at the Paradise Lodge we were ready. He tied our bags together with his ropes, positioned the load on his head and led us out of Lukla, stopping every now and then to check we were following.
At first from his lack of response to our questions and attempts at conversation I thought he had limited English. But as he tuned in to our accents and we started to get to know each other, he spoke more.
On the second day he seemed a bit more relaxed and he started to teach us some Nepalese words. Jum jum, let’s go and appropriately on the hard climb to Namche Bazaar bistari bistari, slowly slowly. Jokingly he taught us quickly quickly. When we climbed to Khumjung the thick cloud forced my focus to my feet and the spider webs covered in dewdrops, he told me the words for spider and spider webs too.
Familiar with the trail, he pointed out things I would never have seen without him. He pointed out birds and bee hives hanging in the crevices of rocks on the other side of the river. Sometimes he sang his Nepali songs. We watched fascinated by his animated conversations with others along the track and picked up his sense of humour and friendly nature.
At the end of the day when I wrote in my small diary, he reminded me of the things we had seen on the trail. He spelt out the Nepalese words I had learnt during the day and I helped him with some new English words in our guide books.
In Dingboche, surrounded by magnificent mountains he taught me their names. He helped while I practiced naming them in order, like a child reciting their abc, learning the Himalayan range spread before me.
Many times we waited together for donkeys and yaks to pass. Once I was caught in a tight spot and I turned away when I shouldn’t have. Fortunately Basanta was watching. I turned around in time to see him pushing a donkey away from me. If he hadn’t of done this the donkey’s side load would have pushed me over the small wall.
He pulled me up the huge black boulders to reach the top of Kala Pattar. Took photos of us together and celebrated with us at Everest Base Camp.
He called me Louise, sometimes jokingly Mom and sometimes Didi – Big Sister.
On the last day, walking back to Lukla a woman coming the other way silently pointed at the porter right behind me as if she thought I needed to move aside and let him pass. Yes I know, I thought, he is my porter and he has been close by for sixteen days. He has carried our load making our trek to Base Camp easier. He guided, pointed things out and watched out for us. He was our companion, Nepalese friend and shared his country with us. Thank you Basanta.
One Monday morning at work, the sport teacher who took an interest in my EBC training asked me how it was going. I pulled up my trouser leg to show him the rash on both of my ankles. He told me to go to the hospital immediately.
Another colleague came to look at the rash. Unbelievably his wife had had the same rash and he told me to see a doctor. Both of my colleagues thought I had cellulitis and urged to waste not time in seeking medical advice.
Later in the day my doctor looked at the rash on both my ankles said it wasn’t Cellulitis and agreed it was probably caused by my trekking socks. My bamboo socks. He told me if the rash changed in any way to come straight back. The rash cleared up and some months later and the trainer and I left for Kathmandu to trek to Everest Base Camp. With the same bamboo socks. I didn’t really think about not taking them. They hadn’t caused anymore problems. Life is great in retrospect.
On the trek to Tengboche the rash returned with vengeance. Undoubtedly it was caused by the eight hour walk that day. The dusty trail had probably aggravated it. And the socks. However it was a lot was redder than it had been back home in Australia. And coming up over the the sock line which worried me. I was a bit panicky.
It had been a unexpectedly hard day’s climb. It was freezing cold and late in the afternoon by the time we arrived in Tengboche. It was getting late in a very quiet trekking season. Consequently many lodges were closed. We weren’t that thrilled with the accommodation and the shared toilet arrangement which we had managed to avoid until then. It was turning out to being not such a great day.
The next morning after breakfast I showed my rash to a woman in the lodge we had met on the trail the day before. She had told me she was carrying a lot of medicine and as I suspected she was a nurse. As it turned out she was a nurse, and she agreed with me the rash looked like it was caused by my socks and told me if it got worse or started to feel hot to start taking the broad spectrum antibiotics and ring for a helicopter.
I was a bit panicked at this comment given we were trekking without a guide or porter. The Trainer tried to calm me down. We walked to Pangboche a lovely walk and found a lodge fairly early. I spent some time trying to find out how we would call a helicopter without much luck. We had showers which made the day seem a bit better. During the night I started the antibiotics because my leg felt hot.
The next morning the Trainer suggested we walk to Shomare have a coffee and then decide whether to go on or not. And yes, we had that drink and decided to turn back.
Life is great in retrospect I should not have taken the bamboo socks to Nepal, bought some topical cream, investigated the rash more on coming home but I didn’t.
When we returned home I heard a lot about bamboo socks not being good for trekking. They retained moisture instead of wicking the moisture away. The socks were banished from my sock drawer forever. I had actually had been recommended the socks in a camping store. In retrospect don’t buy hiking gear in a camping gear shop. I recommend finding a hiking gear shop that employs staff with lots of trekking experience.
I bought woollen socks for our second trip. Trained with them and packed more pairs.
Ironically I got the rash again on the second trek. And on the first day. Just a tiny bit at first and with woollen socks. I applied the cream I brought and raised my legs. By the end of the trek the rash was being annoying.
The type of socks you wear trekking are really important. I was very excited to find a post devoted entirely to socks in my travels around the blogosphere. Here it is
Don’t be put off Tengboche. It is a hard days trek and being mentally prepared will help.
On our second trek we trekked back through Tengboche on our way back from Everest Base Camp. It seemed like a much nicer place in the middle of the day with the sun shining. We spent some time there, watching marathon runners coming through and taking photographs. We still haven’t seen inside the temple to we might just have to go back.
UPDATE 2022. In September this year I walked the last 140 km of the Camio Frances from Triacastella to Santiago de Compestela in Spain. With the Trainer of course! And with our two adult daughters. And my rash appeared again. As a result of training for the Camino I worked out that it seems to appear at about the 15 km distance mark. I have self diagnosed it to be a type of urticaria caused by physical exertion. A doctor friend has recommended that I start walking with flight socks and wear them in the future when I walk long distances. It did give ALOT of trouble on the Camino. But it didn’t stop me.
Anyone else have a frustrating medical “emergency” on holidays ?
My You Tube of Walking to Tengboche.
More photos of the walk from Namche to Tengboche (2013)
Other posts that may interest you
How hard is it to trek to Everest Base Camp ?
Our trek itineraries in 2013 and in 2015
.
Travel makes us modest,
Gustave Flaubert
you see what a tiny place
you occupy in the world.
I could not agree more Gustave.
My Favourite Day – Acclimatisation Walk on Dingboche Ridge-Top
On April 25 a 7.8-magnitude quake devastated parts of Kathmandu and rural Nepal. Two weeks later on May 12 a second 7.3-magnitude quake hit. It is the anniversary of the first quake this week.
In the last six months two films were released about climbing Everest. One Everest about the fateful climbing season in 1996 when rival trekking company leaders lost their lives climbing. More recently the documentary Sherpa-Trouble on Everest was released. The film covers the 2014 avalanche when 16 Sherpas were killed. In an interview with director Jenny Peedom, she said that the Khumbu Sherpa community were very pleased with the film. A key message is the risk Sherpas take in working on the mountain to enable tourists and climbers to summit the peak. Put simply without the Sherpas the tourism around the climbing season would not be possible. Another message is the exploitation of the Sherpas in terms of pay and conditions.
This film may have affected the Everest Base Camp Trekking season. A work colleague of the Trainer, a keen Australian bush walker announced that he was planning a trip to walk the Inca trail. The Trainer suggested to him he should trek to Base Camp and his reaction to this was negative and he said no way. He had recently seen the Sherpa documentary and he didn’t want to be part of such an exploitative adventure. I think there may others who are turned off because of the film.
Trekking to Mount Everest Base Camp to climb Everest is one thing. Trekking to Base Camp to trek to that point is quite another. The trail does not have the same commercial pressure. People pay a lot of money to climb Everest. There is a huge pressure on the climbing companies to deliver. This pressure does not exist trekking on the trail to Base Camp.
Most of the people living along the trail would rely largely on the trekking tourism either directly or indirectly. The Khumbu region has had three quiet seasons. If you are planning to trek to Everest Base Camp or the Annapurna or any of the other areas please don’t change your mind because of a film. Nepal needs tourists. Be part of the rebuild.
Article about the Sherpa – Trouble on Everest
Not convinced ? – 25 Reasons to Trek to Everest Base Camp
The Year I Touched My Toes 