Everest Base Camp 03: Landing at the worlds most dangerous airport

The plane zoomed around the steep cliffs, skirting the edges like a stealth bomber avoiding the enemy radar. The 12 navy SEALS were about to be deployed into one of the most remote places on the planet...

Looking over the Kathmandu valley

Nearing Lukla

In reality, the ancient twin engine turbo prop plane landed with a crash on the tarmac. It (thankfully) began to slow almost immediately as the rock wall approached far too rapidly ahead of us. At the last minute, the pilot turned the plane into the turnaround area, came to a halt and the rear door was opened.

The 12 trekkers and guides were hustled off the plane and into a tiny outdoor area to collect our bags. The engines were kept running and the next group herded onto the waiting aircraft for immediate departure. The airfield can only hold 4 craft at one time so getting tourists and their luggage off and on the plane in the shortest possible time is key. The quickest turnaround I saw was 3 minutes!!!

At Lukla airport

We exited the airport grounds through a 6 foot high wire gate guarded by a man with a big gun. Packs of men hoping to score a guide or porter job waited on the other side. It felt like I was being released from prison! Thankfully, we already had our guide Chakra with us and he helped us negotiate our way through the throngs.

Stoked to be here!

It was drizzling slightly and a cold wind whipped around the corners of the stone buildings. It felt a bit miserable, but we were lucky to be here at all as flights had been cancelled and delayed for the past 4 days due to rain and low cloud. Many people had been waiting in Kathmandu for as many days too so our 4 hour delay suddenly didn't seem that bad.

Our porters, 19 year olds Mingama and Geyla met us at the first checkpoint and took our two 18kg packs from us. Their bright, welcoming smiles and enthusiasm were infectious - I liked them both immediately.

Geyla (left) and Mingma

Lunch with the dog

After a late lunch, we hit the trail. It was already 430pm and our chances of reaching Phakding before it got dark were slim. We spent a breath-taking (literally and figuratively) hour walking along stone paths, around muddy puddles and across wire swing bridges at least 50 metres above steep ravines.

One of many swing bridges ('pul')

Monastery high in the hills

Steep hills funnelled down to a fast flowing river strewn with oversized boulders. Rhododendron trees grew far above my head - much taller than I have ever seen before. Unfortunately, they are not in flower in October so I could only imagine the spectacle I would have walked through had they been in full bloom.

It's too cold for rice to grow at this altitude. Instead fields of buckwheat, corn and cabbages are more commonly grown.

We arrived in the tiny settlement of Ghat and found a lovely tea house at the top of a hill. The lounge/ dining room was welcoming, complete with tapestries on all seats, family photos lining the walls, a TV, bar and big kitchen.

View from Ghat guest home

Guest house

Dining room

Map geek

I tried Sherpa stew for dinner. A soup filled with potato, carrot, spinach and dumplings - warm and filling and definitely one to remember for the future. Add a hot chocolate and I was ready for bed...at 7pm!

Sherpa stew...yum!

The next day was a long slog up the 'Namche hill' that seemed to go on forever. It was about 4 hours and was as hard as everyone makes it out to be. We did have fantastic views up and down the valleys to enjoy every time we stopped for a rest. And as it was still drizzling lightly, it kept us nice and cool and made the slog much more bearable.

Phakding

Hanging out while mum works in the field

As we rose up the valley, the river dropped away until we could hear it no longer. The hills continued to grow higher and we wandered into a valley where yaks replaced trucks, horses replaced cars, and porters carried everything else.

Give way to all animal trains

I was walking beside a 3 metre high rock wall. At the top of the wall was a flat, dirt area where a bunch of horses were having a great time rolling around in the damp dirt. One horse was having a little too much fun and nearly rolled off the edge and onto me! Thankfully Mingama dragged me away, the horse regained its footing and stayed on the ledge and all was well.

My $2 raincoat worked fine thanks mum!

Finally we reached Namche Bazar, the largest Sherpa village in Nepal. It is laid out in a horseshoe shape on the side of the mountain. Tea houses, hotels and shops selling everything from trekking gear, to books and bagels are the main form of business here and are kept busy by the constant flow of tourists.

My first view of Namche Bazar

The streets of Namche

Stores well stocked with anything you could want

You can even get NZ Icebreaker gear!!!

Yak bells

Hotel Tibet was almost at the top of the village, a killer to reach after such a long day up but it made for a much easier start the next day. This was our first stop in a busy place and we met lots of groups of people in the dining room who we kept running into along the rest of the track.

Where we stayed

Kiwis, Aussies, Brits, Americans, French Canadians and Italians for starters. The British group were from the airforce and were super organised with games planned every night. I teamed up with them in a game of guess the song, artist and year the song was released. The decade was the 80s, the 50 song clips were a blast from the past and the team I joined did pretty well (no thanks to me...I can sing them, not name them!)

Namche was the first place we met Lee, an artist from Montana, USA. I would put him in his mid-late 60s and was trekking around the regions, stopping frequently to sketch scenes along the way. We kept running into him every few days and I loved seeing the new sketches and watercolours he created.

My day finished on a high with a hot shower to wash away 2 days of grime. Simple things made me happy. Little was I to know how much of a novelty a decent hot shower was to become...

Sarah took heaps of stickers to give away...such a hit

Everest Base Camp 02: The gear I took...

If you're planning on heading to EBC or doing any other long hike, then this is a post for you to ponder. Even if your not keen on putting your body and mind through anything like this, I still encourage you to read on and find out how a girl with a self-confessed obsession for clothes and shoes made it through 23 days with only 9kg of gear!

My first attempt at packing started out at about 20 kg. Remember, I had a 23 day hike in the mountains ahead of me and I was used to changing my outfit every day. I quickly realised that I was going to have to get used to wearing the same clothes for days in a row and even being a little bit smelly along the way.

After the first cull

Clothing...
NZ has several excellent brands of outdoor clothing and equipment that are tried and tested in our rugged outdoors conditions. As a result, Macpac, Icebreaker and Swazi became my new favourite shopping haunts. I spent so much time in these shops and online, I probably could have set up an auto payment direct from my pay to fund my shopping sprees!

Swazi and Icebreaker tops

Icebreaker marino gear has a really cool feature...you can wear it and sweat in it for days and somehow it doesn't stink! Add to that, the cool range of colours and designs and I was very content.

I favoured multiple layers for warmth with a raincoat and windbreaker, over big puffy down jackets. This is because I get hot and cold quickly and prefer to be able to add and remove thinner layers to get the right temperature for me, rather than having only one layer to take off and on.

Trekking pants and soft-shell pants

So here's what I took:
Trekking gear:
2 Marino t-shirts (200 weight icebreaker)
1 long sleeved Marino base layer (200 weight icebreaker)
1 long sleeved Marino thick layer (320 weight icebreaker)
1 Swazi fleece jersey
1 soft-shell Macpac windbreaker
1 goretex waterproof raincoat
1 pair trekking pants (Macpac with zip off legs)
1 pair sports tights (full leg length)
2 bras
4 pairs Marino underwear
2 pairs thick trekking socks
1 pair well worn in trekking boots (Scarpa)
1 wooly hat with ear protectors
1 cap
1 buff
Sunnies
1 pair windproof and water resistant gloves

Hats, gloves and socks

Gear to wear in the huts and for sleeping in:
1 Marino singlet (150 weight icebreaker)
1 cotton t-shirt
1 long sleeved Marino base layer
1 Swazi fleece
1 pair sexy green polypropylene leggings
1 pair soft-shell windbreaker trousers (Macpac)
1 pair socks
1 bra
Jandles (flip flops or thongs!)
1 down puffy jacket (Not super thick. I bought this in Namche Bazar, the label says 950 weight but I'm very dubious...)
1 sleeping bag
1 sleeping bag liner

The sexy green leggings...

Toiletries, medicines, first aid equipment and 'other stuff'
I kept my medicines and first aid equipment to a minimum. Mainly because I figured that if I had anything more severe than a normal stomach bug, blisters or cuts, I would probably be calling a helicopter to evacuate me.

I ditched my 3.5kg DSLR in favour of a new Canon SX50 weighing a measly 500g or so. It still has all the manual and creative features of my DSLR without the weight (and I'm stoked with the pics!)

You can buy chocolate, muesli bars and toilet paper along the track and at comparatively high prices (they all have to be carried up). I decided these items didn't weigh much and I was happy to include a small stash from the start.

Raincoat and windbreaker

All the other stuff I took:
(While this list looks the most extensive, it all fitted into 3 toiletry bags)

Toothbrush and paste
Comb
Facecloth
Small microfibre towel
Antibacterial soap (for showering and washing clothes)
Sunblock SPF70 and lip balm SPF15
Face cream
Eyeliner and mascara (I couldn't bear to go without one luxury item!)

Emergency blanket
Strapping tape (for knees, ankles etc)
Plasters, non-stick pads and gauze for blisters
Crepe bandage
Pocket knife
Small scissors
Nail clippers

All my toiletries and first aid equipment

Diamox tablets
Aquatabs for water purification (so simple and light)
All purpose antibiotics
Anti-diahorea tablets
UTI tablets
Voltaren (in case my knee got inflamed as it can do)

Camera, charger and plug adaptor
Map
Toilet paper
Head torch and 1 set spare batteries
Padlock and key (we came across 2 places without door locks)
Snacks (muesli bars and lollies)

We had 2 porters between 3 of us who carried most of my gear. In my day pack, I carried 2L water, camera, daily ration of snacks, toilet paper, emergency blanket, some plasters, money and a range of clothing (jersey, jacket, hat) depending on what the day was like.

So there you have it. 9kg of gear that lasted me 2 days quite happily. If I did this trek again, I would hunt out some down socks for wearing at night to keep my feet a little warmer. And I would take a pair of waterproof over-trousers for rain or snow. (Although I have to admit, even walking in the snow storm, I stayed dry with what I had...plastic bags in my boots keep my feet and lower legs dry and toasty!

The final bags of gear

Otherwise, I was really happy with all I took. I wore everything, used most of my toiletries and thankfully didn't need any of my first aid equipment.

And if you have forgotten anything, you can buy almost anything you need in Kathmandu or Namche Bazar when you arrive. Yes, some gear is fake, but some is not. And it is priced at a fraction of the cost of gear back home.

Happy packing!!!

Footnote...
I wrote this post halfway through my trek when we'd had a week of stunning, sunny weather. I expected a bit of rain at some point but certainly not the storm that hit us so had to laugh when I read what I had originally written...
"I was lucky in that we didn't get any horrendous snow, sleet or rain so I stayed dry and it was easy to get my gear washed and dried quickly". Famous last words...

Everest Base Camp 01: Stories from Sagarmatha

Mt Everest at 6am...slightly hidden by cloud

3 kiwis, 2 porters, 1 guide
23 days
8 hours delayed at airports
2 changes of clothes
6 hot showers and 2 cold sponge baths
5000 photos taken (roughly)
1 5090m mountain summited
2 pieces of chocolate cake consumed
3 nights stuck in a snowstorm
2 bouts of AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness)
1 5535m mountain summited
62 aquatabs used (meaning I drank about 62L of water)

When I made the decision to do the Everest Base Camp (EBC) trek a year ago, I blindly assumed it would be a slightly challenging but relatively simple walk up a hill.

Near the top

I had spoken to friends who had done it and they assured me I'd be fine. I was fit and healthy. I'd completed lots of treks in NZ. And I was going in peak season so there would be plenty of other people around and I'd be safe.

A busy trail

I had wonderful plans of a perfectly organised trek. Flying into and out of Lukla on time. Viewing Mt Everest from the top of Kala Pattar, reaching EBC, crossing two 5500m mountain passes, dipping my toes in some of the highest lakes in the world, writing one or two posts afterwards and having a cruisy and relaxing 23 day holiday.

Halfway up

Such a naive and simple set of assumptions! What actually happened could not be further from this!

What follows are 10 posts - I promise there are loads of photos to break up the words - following my journey around the Sagarmatha/ Everest region in October 2013.

There are massive highs - like standing on top of a 5535m peak. There are my lowest points - wanting to sit down, cry and go home. There are the wonderful, intelligent, humble, witty, relaxing and hospitable people I met along the way.

How do they do it???

A friend always helps out

And there is a storm. A storm so intense and severe, the last time a similar one hit the region was May 1996.

Before the storm

During the storm

Playing in the snow

I invite you to grab a tea or coffee, to sit back and enjoy my Stories from Sagarmatha.

Above Namche Bazar

Local wildlife