Trekking to Everest Base Camp
Three months ago, I made it to the base camp of Mount Everest in Nepal.
It is taking me so long to blog about it, primarily because I don't know where to start. I like to write, but when I write, organization is a huge struggle. The fact that there is so much to say and so hard to organize it is what has prevented me from writing this. Liiiiiiiike, do ya'll wanna hear about my itinerary? My prep? Anecdotes? The culture? My feelings? Things you should know before doing this? I'm assuming that I will be writing multiple posts about this adventure of a lifetime, so I'll start with the general stuff that I've had the most questions about. Let’s see where this goes.
How did I get to go to Nepal??????
How did this trip come to be?
I didn't just wake up one day and was like, "I'ma take 3 weeks off work and go to Nepal in a couple months". I remember I was at my old apartment cooking my boyfriend dinner, when I got a message on my Instagram account inviting me to check out Travel Her Way, a new female travel company created to empower women to travel. Travel Her Way asked me to be an ambassador and attend this trek to Everest Base Camp, all I had to do was post pictures on Instagram. Obvi would be doing that anyways.
I couldn't stop thinking about it. Like, how could I let an opportunity like that pass up? I couldn't. I would regret that choice forever.
I didn't have enough PTO to take this trip, but I have an awesome manager and we were able to make it work (I only work 44 weeks out of the year similar to a school teacher, so I was just able to swap some weeks). So, with the trip approved by work, I bought my trip and started my prep.
How did I prep?
The main way I prepared was by shopping. Sounds like i'm joking but for real. Buying new gear. New jackets. New pants. Shout out to Eddie Bauer - I love you.
A lot of people ask me about how I prepared for altitude. And truth is, I didn't. I went to the doctor and got a prescription for Diamox which is a diuretic that helps you with the symptoms of altitude sickness. I took 1/2 of the recommended amount because it made me super tingly, but I never really experienced altitude sickness. 1/2 our group got sick, 1/2 our group didn't. Another girl took Diamox and she felt sick. Others took nothing and they felt fine. So, I don't know if it was the Diamox that helped me or if I was going to be fine without it.
I went on regular hikes, worked out regularly (weights & cardio), did all my regular stuff. People have asked about those masks that make breathing more difficult -> I didn't use one because I didn't want to buy one, but ultimately, those things don't reduce the amount of oxygen in the air to acclimate you... they make it harder to breathe which in turn makes your lungs stronger. Strong lungs are good for hiking, but strong lungs don't acclimate you to lower amounts of oxygen (shoutout to Ryan, a friend we made in Nepal, for this info)
I am NOT a planner, and luckily, I didn't have to plan anything. Travel Her Way did that for me.
what was my itinerarY?
Flight itinerary: Seattle -> San Fran -> Wuhan -> Guangzhou -> Kathmandu. I flew Alaska Airlines and then China Southern Airlines. My flight back was the same, but opposite. Duh.
Trip Itinerary:
Day 1: Fly into Kathmandu
Day 2: Go on sight seeing tour of the city
Day 3: Fly to Lukla at the base of the Himalayas and hike to Phakding
Day 4: Phakding to Namche Bazar
Day 5: Rest day in Namche
Day 6: Namche to Deboche
Day 7: Deboche to Dingboche
Day 8: Rest day in Dingboche
Day 9: Dingboche to Lobuche
Day 10: Lobuche to EVEREST BASE CAMP to Gorakshep
Day 11: Gorakshep to Pangboche (I think???)
Day 12: Pangboche to Namche Bazar
Day 13: Namche Bazar to Lukla
Day 14: Fly from Lukla to Kathmandu
Day 15: Fly out of Kathmandu back home
Did we use guides and porters?
Yes, we used guides and porters. I know that using guides and porters are kind of controversial, and I understand both sides of the argument. But ultimately, we gave people jobs to feed their families. I truly enjoyed having guides - they were able to answer all our questions and educate us on things cultural things and teach us words and what not. The guides build relationships with teahouse owners and such and they are able to provide perks that non-guided people might not get. For example, when we were supposed to fly out of Lukla, all the flights got cancelled because of poor weather, so everyone had to take helicopters out. Our guide was able to reserve us a helicopter and while other trekkers stood in a line outside in the cold, we were able to sit in a tea house and when our helicopter was ready, we just ran out there and flew off. It was convenient. As for Porters, I think the trek is doable carrying your own pack. If I did this again, I think I would want to carry everything on my own back, just as they do.
Where did I stay? What did I eat?
So, along the trail in the villages are basically hostels called Tea Houses. Tea Houses are free to stay in if you buy food there, and buying food is HELLLLLa cheep. Like, $3-$4 USD for a huge plate of chow mein. Anyways. Most people just show up at a Teahouse and ask for a room, and there are a bunch in each village.
Tea houses typically had wifi, electricity, and hot water for showering, all for a price. And the higher in elevation you get, the more difficult it is to access these things and the more expensive they become. I think I took 3 showers while on the trail, and they were all SO glorious. Tea houses are not heated, so rooms get extremely cold. Typically, a fire is lit in the main eating/hanging out area, but I slept in many layers and in my 30 degree down sleeping bag. Some teahouses had western toilets. Some teahouses had eastern toilets. Almost no teahouses had hand soap, and my cuticles hated me during the trip.
All Tea houses basically had the same foods, which was traditional Dal Bhat (rice, curry, a cracker thing), fried rice, chow mien, momo's (dumplings), veggie burgers, stuff like that. For breakfast, I ate a lot of porridge and cake-like pancakes. The bananas in the Himalayas are INCREDIBLE and whenever banana porridge was an option, that's what I had.
Meat is available at higher altitudes, but weather conditions are too harsh for animals to live there so meat needs to be carried up the mountain without refrigeration. I avoided meat for the entirety of the trek. We ate a LOT of carbs and drank a LOT of tea. And now I wish I had some ginger lemon honey tea while snuggled up in a blanket in a freezing tea house. Yum.
Coffee and beer are located pretty much anywhere, but caffeine and alcohol can make altitude mess you up even more, so I avoided these, despite my caffeine addiction. It was hard.
Time of Year & Weather?
So they say the best time to go is in the Fall (October, November) and the second best time to go is in the spring (April, May). It snows in the winter and it is monsoon season in the summer.
At lower elevations, it was very cloudy. The skies didn't clear up until we woke up in Namche Bazar on Day 3. We were able to see the jagged mountain peaks and holy crap it was amazing.
For the remainder of the trip, we had blue, sunny skies, although these blue sunny skies typically disappeared by early-mid afternoon, and we were then chillin in the clouds, freezing.
How hard was it, really?
Effin hard.
Really effin hard.
The terrain was not hard. The fact that we lived in third world country rural mountain luxury was not hard. Not drinking coffee when I'm addicted? Kinda hard. The low oxygen levels? That was really effin hard. But is it doable? 100 MILLION TRILLION TIMES YES. ITS DOABLE.
You don't need to know any mountaineering skills. You don't need to ice climb. You don't need to rock climb. You don't even need to know how to walk (we saw a paralyzed person doing this trek. Nope, not in a wheelchair. Army crawling.)
You DO need to be in a good mental state. You do need to be positive. You do need to be confident.
When we started our hike, we had 7 women. We ended with 5. The hike is hard.
We lost one hiker on day 2. She was in her early 50s and was plus size, I told her how I advocate for plus size hikers and for outdoor representation, and on day 1, she told me that when she goes on walks and she sees an incline, her body immediately shuts down and she gets very anxious and walks at a snails pace, gasping for air. I was like...……..and you're doing this trek why????? She left by helicopter halfway through Day 2 because it was too challenging for her.
The trek is a lot of walking up a dirt hill at an incline, but it is also a lot of walking up stairs, like walking up rock and tree roots. It was nice to have the two different types of terrains, because when my body was tired of walking at an incline, we would start walking up rocks, which used different muscles. It was hard the whole time, but by elevations of 12,000+ feet, you're out of breathe when you're getting dressed in the morning. Your body is just not being oxygenated as it is accustomed, so it makes moving so much harder. But again. It’s not impossible. It’s doable.
Contemplating this trip but can't decide?
Then I'll decide for you, and surprise!!!!!! I decide that you have to go. It's life changing. It’s hard. It'll make you feel alive. It'll make you love yourself but it'll make you hate yourself. It'll make you appreciate the little things. You'll see some of the most beautiful landscapes in the entire world. You'll have a new appreciation for a different culture. You have to go.
