Everest!! The highest mountain in the world. It’s appeal is undeniable for those who decide to seek the summit. And for countless others less adventurous and less daring, the base camp of Everest is an enticing goal in itself. My plan was to travel from Kathmandu to Jiri and begin a tough six day hike where I would meet my coworker and friend Brendon and his girlfriend Sarah in Lukla, site of one of the most dangerous airports in the world. They intended to fly in a few days before my arrival. From there we would attempt to climb the three high passes in the Everest area and to visit the most notorious base camp in the world.

Kathmandu to Jiri        October, 28th, 2015

A very long bus ride to Jiri. Eight and half hours of an excruciatingly rough ride. The heights didn’t seem as bad as advertised, although I had my eyes closed for half the ride trying to sleep. It was also quite misty and so the views down to the valley floor weren’t very clear. It started to rain hard when the bus arrived in Jiri and I had to be less picky about where I hung my hat. I went where I saw other tourists. There were a number of other attractive guest houses that have been destroyed. This was the most I had seen the earthquakes affect any one area. So many buildings had collapsed, some buildings had gutted out walls. There were a few other hikers at this guest house, which meant that I wouldn’t be totally alone on the trail. Good news.

I had little trouble on the bus thanks to two milligrams of lorazepam. There is no way otherwise that I could have put up with such a rough ride. Even traveling at 15 miles an hour it was treacherous for those who had to stand up in the aisle, or ride on top.

I sipped lemon tea in the evening as the man of the house watched WWE wrestling. WWE is tremendously popular in Nepal.

I worried about being able to locate the trail the next day. A cold and persistent rain fell through the night far away from the grime and the noise of Kathmandu as I readied for another journey.

Day 1: Jiri to Derauli
October 29th, 2015
Starting elevation: 1995m (6544ft)
Finishing elevation: 2705m (8872ft)
Highest elevation reached: 2705m (8872ft)
Lowest elevation: 1790m (5871ft)
Total elevation gained: 1244m (4080ft)
Total elevation lost: 544m (1784ft)
Departure time: 9:00 AM
Finishing time: 4:45 PM                                                                                      Actual hiking time: 7 hours

The trail between Jiri and Lukla consists of a series of major ups and downs. and it begins on day one. It rained all night and was still raining in the morning, not exactly how I wanted to start. But luckily by the time I headed out at nine o’clock the pattering had turned to a slight drizzle and then to a wet mist. I purposely got a late start in hopes that it would warm up a bit. Late October definitely brings in cooler temperatures in the Himalaya. Rain at 2000 meters no longer feels nice. It was damp and cold.

I spent a good part of the morning getting lost. Luckily lots of locals were gathering leaves and pushing their oxen through their fields. but I received some bad directions from a few of them.

Two helpings of dal bhat for lunch in the wrecked village of Shivalaya and then I made the push to Derauli, over 900 meters up in less than two and a half hours and arrived here with an hour of daylight to spare. It rained pretty steadily for about a half hour on the way up and I had to keep moving to stay warm. I started to feel a little bit run down and was worried that I was pushing myself too hard in the rain. As soon as I stopped for the day I could feel my body cool down immediately. A nice hot shower was well earned after the longest hiking day I have done in Nepal.

An older man who stayed at the same lodge as I last night made it here before me. His name was Bernie. He lives on Vancouver Island, a nice enough fellow, but pretty chatty.

A very chilly evening, I could see my breath in the dining area, and I looked forward to retiring to my warm and snug sleeping bag.

The medication I took for the bus had worn off and I felt nervous. I had had my usual cup of coffee in the morning that I had every morning as well on the Annapurna Trek. Maybe it was time to cut out the caffeine even though it gave me a much appreciated energy boost to get moving in the morning.

It felt good to be back on the trail again. I was really excited about it the night before. I had packed a little more weight on my back than last time. but it didn’t particularly bother me on day one except for some in the shoulders.

Day 2: Derauli to Sete
October 30th, 2015
Starting elevation: 2705m (8872ft)
Finishing elevation: 2575m (8446ft)
Highest elevation reached: 2705m (8872ft)
Lowest elevation: 1630m (5346ft)
Total elevation gained: 945m (3099ft)
Total elevation lost: 1075m (3526ft)
Departure time: 8:40 AM
Finishing time: 3:40 PM                                                                                      Actual hiking time: 5 hours 30 min

Down and back up. Or up and back down. That is the story between Jiri and Lukla. Just past Bandar I saw Bernie coming back the other way. He said that it looked like we were headed on the wrong trail. I got out my compass and studied the map and thought that we were going the right way. But this turned out to be incorrect. We ended up taking a high route way above the river. There was one pretty dicey spot where we had to cross a very narrow section of a dirt trail that was angling downward with a drop off on our right. If I had not been hiking with Bernie at that point, I probably would have turned around. We followed the high route until we were finally able to reach the river crossing at Kinja where we stopped for lunch. Kinja looks like a war zone. There was so much damage there. It seems everywhere we pass there are buildings that are either destroyed or have major structural damage.

After lunch we made the long ascent to Sete, which is situated almost halfway up the highest pass before Namche Bizaar, a 2000 meter ascent in total. The sun finally came out and it was actually warm for part of the climb. I left Bernie behind at the bottom. We had agreed at lunch that if we hiked at different paces that we would just meet up in Sete, but he didn’t check in to the guest house here. I was shocked to learn that Bernie is 61 years old. He looks and hikes like he is in his early to mid 50s. “The army kept me in good shape,” he told me.

I took a shower here, but got the chills afterwards. Nothing that 15 minutes in my sleeping bag couldn’t fix though. The lodge had been without electricity since the earthquakes, and it appeared that the entire village had the same issue. There was however a room with a wood stove where we all kept warm. Four Danes sat by the fire next to me. They were headed the other direction. They’d been to Base Camp and were returning to work on a project where they were building and improving schools throughout this area of Nepal.

One Nepali porter who had partaken in a few spirits, talked to me in Nepali for a good hour. I understood less than five percent of what he was saying.

The hot tea and the fire warmed me up. I relied on my sleeping bag to do the rest throughout the night. I actually had to strip down the night before because I got so warm in it. But I still thought that I was definitely going to have to get some warmer clothes in Lukla or Namche before going on to the three high passes and Everest Base Camp.

I fell asleep hoping that it would clear the next day for the push to the pass. The Danes said that there was still an inch from the snow fall that had come down two days earlier. But they also said that the past two days had been their only days with rain out of their thirteen days total, so that sounded promising.

Lots and lots of eager children in the past few days asked for pens and chocolate.

I felt anxious again in the evening, but kept myself relatively engaged in order to feel better. I hoped I’d be a bit better the next day where I would be on to the village ofJunbesi, a shorter day. I was in good shape to get to Lukla in four more days.

Day 3: Sete to Junbesi
October 31st, 2015
Starting elevation: 2575m (8446ft)
Finishing elevation: 2700m (8856ft)
Highest elevation reached: 3530m (11,568ft)
Lowest elevation: 2575m (8446ft)
Total elevation gained: 955m (3132ft)
Total elevation lost: 830m (2722ft)
Departure time: 7:55 AM
Finishing time: 2:10 PM                                                                                              Actual hiking time: 5 hours 25 min

I peaked out my window in the morning to see clear skies. I got an early start and trudged up the pass. In about an hour I glimpsed a heart stopping view of snow covered peaks to the north from the village of Dakachu. Further on I reached Goyam where I bought some cheese from a family at a tea house. There was a small cat meowing loudly and a little kitten meandering around. I was shocked when the man of the house kicked the little kitten in the head under the table. If I had thought fast enough I would have said no thanks to the cheese. I already had my hands on it, and I didn’t think about boycotting until I was up the hill. I guiltily ate the cheese, but it seemed tainted and didn’t taste quite as good. The treatment of animals here: rocks thrown at dogs, goats bonked on the head, donkeys whipped, chickens taken by the throat and their beaks jammed into the stony ground, and of course for the recent festival of Deshain animals all over the country were sacrificed.

From Goyam, only another 300 meters of elevation to the pass, but the trail turns north and levels off for almost an hour. I could see the little tea house at the pass well before arriving and it seemed so close, but it took forever to get there. The clear skies had disappeared and it turned chilly. Traces of snow could be seen along the trail from three days ago. The surrounding peaks’ snow line lay only a few hundred feet above the pass. I stopped at the tea house and had some soup and tea before making the long rocky descent through pine forest down to Taktor. This was a nice stretch. The valley that I descended into was picturesque with the scent of pine and some fall colors that I was quite surprised to see. Beautiful oranges stood out among the predominantly coniferous forest. The trail was covered with a thin layer of fallen brown leaves. The air held up a cool fall temperature. It made me homesick.

By the time I started down the pass, all the air traffic between Lukla and Kathmandu had ceased for the most part. I counted thirty-four planes flying overhead in the morning. Their flight paths’ seem to barely clear the pass. The forest became quiet and for an hour or so and I held the sense that I actually was walking in wilderness. It started to rain lightly, but by the time I reached Junbesi the sun was out.

Junbesi is a nice little Tibetan village with a couple of large monasteries. Like every village that I had passed through piles of rubble of collapsed buildings littered parts of the town. I had the sense at times that I found myself back in Peru traveling along the Inca trail with the ruins of buildings from half a millennium ago.

Junbesi is also home to the Hillary School. Yet another dirt road that has popped up in recent years and that is not marked on my map ran up the valley on the other side of the river. These dirt roads make the Cold Spring Farm Road in Phippsburg, Maine where I spent parts of childhood summers, look like a superhighway. I was thoroughly entertained in the afternoon watching a tractor come up the road and get stuck on a steep section. It made a number of attempts to overcome the hill. Finally a group of about seven people that had been riding in the trailer behind the tractor unloaded much of the cargo from the trailer. The tractor attempted one last push to finally get up the steep section and found success. The seven riders clamored down the hill to grab the heavy bags of unloaded cargo and brought them back up to the the trailer. The tractor started up again and continued up the valley. Perhaps I was mesmerized because it was the first motorized vehicle I’d seen since getting off the bus three days ago.

Upon the recommendation from the Danes the night before, I stayed at the Sherpa Lodge with a cozy dining area where I and seven other trekkers sat around a wood stove. I quite enjoyed the company of an older Aussie couple, Claire and Dave, who were heading back down. They had been on the trail since September 22nd and moving quite slowly. Claire was anxious to find the Rugby World Cup final between Australia and New Zealand on the satellite TV owned by the lodge owners, but no such luck.

Day 4: Junbesi to Nuntala
November 1st, 2015
Starting elevation: 2700m (8856ft)
Finishing elevation: 2194m (7096ft)
Highest elevation reached: 3150m-ish (10,332ft)
Lowest elevation: 2194m (7096ft)
Total elevation gained: 1000m-ish (3280ft)
Total elevation lost: 1400m-ish (4592ft)
Departure time: 7:50 AM
Finishing time: 3:20 PM                                                                                            Actual hiking time: 6 hours 5 min

A longer day than I had wanted. The estimated times for the day included on my map were incorrect. Another perfectly clear morning, but by mid- afternoon it was raining lightly again. Luckily the sun fought off the clouds until I cleared the pass but it is amazing how quickly they can accumulate.

I stayed at the Shangrila Lodge that was recommended by both the Aussies last night and the Canadians I ate lunch with. However, there was a Nepali guide right outside my “door” that talked on the phone through various points of the night. He was sleeping in the common room where other trekkers were trying to sleep. I did have a nice conversation in the evening with two Italian women, their guide, and a young French Canadian woman. The Italians had spent a lot of time in Nepal over many many years and were a wealth of knowledge.

I had horrendous anxiety in the morning with the planes constantly flying over. Motivated by a book I had been reading written by the Dalai Lama, I was trying to meditate as I walked asking the question, “How can I best serve others?” Maybe the best way I can serve others is to make a lifelong pursuit of knowledge about anxiety and panic and try to help people with similar problems. I have such sympathy for people with irrational fears. But by the evening, I was back on the teaching and traveling kick again. I felt so selfish,  like this trip is helping no one. It’s just self-indulgent. I wanted to go home for Christmas. I was not in a particularly good mental state. I didn’t get a lot of sleep the night before. I was putting in too many trekking hours everyday. I was yelling out loud on the trail during the day because I was tired of going up and because I was tired of the planes overhead. For lack of a better description, they were driving me nuts!

Distressing emotions do not dwell in the nature of the mind; therefore, they can be removed.

Since distressing emotions can be separated from the mind, it is realistic for me to work to achieve enlightenment and to help others do the same.

Resolve:
Even if I have to do it alone, I will free all sentient beings from suffering and the causes of suffering, and join all sentient beings with happiness and it causes.

– The Dalai Lama

Day 5: Nuntala to Bupsa
November 2nd, 2015
Starting elevation: 2194m (7096ft)
Finishing elevation: 2350m (7708ft)
Highest elevation reached: 2350m (7708ft)
Lowest elevation: 1500m (4920ft)
Total elevation gained: 950m (3116ft)
Total elevation lost: 850m (2788ft)
Departure time: 8:15 AM
Finishing time: 2:25 PM                                                                                                Actual hiking time: 4 hours 35 min

I had a panic attack around 5 AM. I skipped the coffee in the morning in hopes that that would help the anxiety. It seemed to make a difference, but boy I felt sluggish without it. Down to the river and back up. At 1500 meters the trail crosses over the Dudh Nadi (Dude, Cola! Naughty!) – which means “Milk River something.” I couldn’t find “nadi” in my dictionary. This river is the lowest point on the entire trek. It was nice and warm and it felt like late summer again. The clouds slowly accumulated again throughout the morning and by mid afternoon pretty much ruled the skies. I was surprised that planes flew overheard until about 2 PM. The weather didn’t seem clear enough for them to be making the passage between Lukla and Kathmandu. Lots of donkey traffic, meaning the constant smell of donkey poop and pee. I didn’t see any earthquake damage during the day. There wasn’t as much the day before either, but the night before at the hostel a number of windows would not close – work of the earthquakes. I took a good long nap in the afternoon. I felt drained. It had been a pretty grueling five days. But I had only one more day to Lukla.

Day 6: Bupsa to Lukla
November 3rd, 2015
Starting elevation: 2350m (7708ft)
Finishing elevation: 2840m (9315ft)
Highest elevation reached: 2945m (9660ft)
Lowest elevation: 2290m (7711ft)
Total elevation gained: 1265m (4148ft)
Total elevation lost: 875m (2872ft)
Departure time: 8:05 AM
Finishing time: 4:05 PM                                                                                          Actual hiking time: 6 hours 25 min

It just wouldn’t have been fitting if on the last day there hadn’t been another long slog of hiking, one where I took the wrong way in the mid afternoon hours to get up to Lukla in a white puff of mist. Cloudy all day, but some beautiful trekking through a section of pristine untouched forest, a rarity in Nepal. It was great to meet up with Brendon and Sarah in the evening. They’d been in Lukla the last two and half days after flying in. Lukla is quite a joint. Lots of fun places to eat or get a drink. The airport is right in the middle of town if you can believe it. The runway runs at a slant of 12 degrees and is only a couple of hundred meters long. I was sure I would here them buzzing in the morning only about a 100 meters away from our hotel. Not sure how I would deal with that anxiety-wise.

Day 7: Lukla to Phakding
November 4th, 2015
Starting elevation: 2840m (9315ft)
Finishing elevation: 2610m (8861ft)
Highest elevation reached: 2840m (9315ft)
Lowest elevation: 2492m (8168ft)
Total elevation gained: 118m (387ft)
Total elevation lost: 348m (1141ft)
Departure time: 9:50 AM
Finishing time: 12:30 PM                                                                                            Actual hiking time: 2 hours 30 min

A nice and short day. Day 1 for Brendon and Sarah. They actually did a side trip in the afternoon while I took a nap and read. It was pretty much a rest day for me which was nice. The next day would  be a much longer day to Namche, but then we would take the day after that off to acclimatize. We actually watched the planes come in and out in the morning. I couldn’t believe I was able to do that, but the reality is that I took a pill at 5:00 AM in morning in anticipation of the anxiety I would feel with all the plane traffic. That and earplugs to mute the noise.

Day 8: Phakding to Namche Bazaar
November 5th, 2015
Starting elevation: 2610m (8861ft)
Finishing elevation: 3440m (11,023ft)
Highest elevation reached: 3440m (11,023ft)
Lowest elevation: 2630m (8626ft)
Total elevation gained: 940m (3083ft)
Total elevation lost: 130m (426ft)
Departure time: 8:15 AM
Finishing time: 2:30 PMActual hiking time: 4 hours

We meant to get an early start, but breakfast was served 35 minutes late. No biggie really. It drizzled through the night and was very cloudy in the early morning. However, the clouds broke some and we managed to do some of the hiking in one layer. We had to make many stops to take off and put layers back on as the sun couldn’t really decide what it wanted to do and we kept going up then down again.

Despite the ups and downs we didn’t really change elevation until we started climbing towards the suspension bridge that would carry us high over the Dhud Khosi. As we walked along the edge of the river, what must be underwater during monsoon floods, we could see the bridge up ahead, and I immediately recognized it as the one in the new Everest movie. In the movie the river looks like it is 2000 feet below the bridge. In reality it is unlikely to be more than 500 feet, but it is still about three times as high as anything I’d crossed on a suspension bridge in Nepal. I thought that according to the map, we were going to be able to hit a place for lunch before the bridge, but there was nothing located there. So there was nothing to do but cross the bridge.

I hesitated, took the opportunity to grab a snack, and was encouraged by Brendon and Sarah. But their arguments were too logical for me; logic won’t get me across a bridge alone. I told Brendon and Sarah to go ahead to Namche, our final destination for the day, and I would meet them there, and that I was better off doing this alone. They went across and I searched into my bag for my medication. The cold nights had turned my pills into brittle little white pellets that disintegrated when you touched them. I stuck the end of my index finger into the white powder and licked a little up. Then I waited. The medication can take up to an hour to have an effect. It started getting cold and I bundled up. In order to stay warm I started doing sprints back up the trail that also had the fortunate effect of driving much of anxiety out of me. I counted meticulously the time of each my sprints. And then finally, after more than an hour it was go time.

I sprinted up the pathway and back one more time, grabbed my pack along the way and attacked that steel cable swinging bridge 500 feet above the river. I focused my eyes on the porter’s load 30 meters in front of me. My progress became slow. I was wearing gloves and using both hands to reach out for the side cables to keep my balance. At one point my left glove got stuck on the wire and a porter behind me bumped into me. (Porters often carry their loads with a strap around their heads and therefore are often looking straight down.) A group of Nepalis came from the other direction and I stopped, and held on to the cable to let them pass. I remained patient. Then I resumed putting my eyes on the porter in front of me. We were closing in on the end of the 100 meter long bridge. The porter took his last step onto solid ground and then stopped in exhaustion, but I wanted off that bridge entirely and I finally found a way around his left.

I was now well behind Brendon and Sarah who crossed the bridge well over an hour before. I booked it up the other side and was able to catch up to them in 45 minutes at the Sagarmatha National Park check in center making really good time.

When we arrived in Namche we split up to find a good hotel. But it quickly got cold and I would’ve taken anywhere. We decided on a lodge that had bedrooms warmed all afternoon by the intermittent sun and a toasty dining area. I paid neatly for a hot shower. But felt great afterwards. We’d stay here for two nights to acclimate to the altitude.