Hello Hoomans , it’s Jerry again! I’m here to share the most awesome experience I ever had with my trek to Everest Base Camp. Before I tell you my story about the Everest Base Camp, let me tell you how I feel about mountains.
Mountains are these majestic beasts which have been standing tall for millions of years and will be for a couple more. Whenever I see a mountain or experience them I get this feeling that I’m at a different time and world , looking at something which has seen everything the world has to put out. I feel this way whenever I see something old or ancient, and mountains are these ancient beings that guard the world’s of nature. And to experience these ancient gods of nature which have been in my bucket list for a long time, I packed my bags and tightened my boots for an adventure of a lifetime.
Preparations
I don’t think any Everest Base camp trek is complete without proper preparations. It will be awesome to start thinking of doing Everest Base camp trekking and then suddenly Volaaa you are at the starting point ( we all wish) , that’s not the case folks we have to prepare mentally and physically which is as hard as doing the EBC trek. I did mine like this, I knew I had to concentrate More on my cardio since I have never done any cardio in my life before so I started running. As for the Internet, you should try to reach a 5KM distance in 30 minutes ( I never achieved it ).
I did my best to increase my capacity and since I have to carry my backpack alone ( doing solo ) I also did a stair climbing with my backpack to the similar weights I will be carrying.
Preparing Physically was tough , it goes the same for mental preparations. You need to know exactly what you are doing. You need to know your limits, when to stop, when to push and most of all I’m doing solo. Until this point I had never done a multi day trek nor a high altitude trek. Everything was new to me.
After all these, then there is the packing. If you’re like me and tend to pack for all “what if” scenarios, you know how tricky it is to balance packing everything without overloading yourself. What’s essential for Everest Base Camp? Well, here’s what I brought along:
Warm clothing (I mean layers on layers, those Himalayan winds are no joke)
Sturdy trekking boots (the ones I wore on multiple hikes to break them in)
A down jacket (best decision ever)
Water Bottles (because staying hydrated at altitude is a MUST)
A personal first aid kit, because let’s face it, my luck isn’t always great.
The journey begins : Flying to Kathmandu
Alright, let’s start our journey. After all those preparations I finally landed in Kathmandu , and what was waiting for me over there was my first obstacle. I lost my luggage. Yeah , you read that right. All the excitement turned into a tragedy once I found out that my luggage is not in Kathmandu. With hopes of getting it back and with the only dress I’m wearing I left for my hotel ( All my trekking warmers, shoes jackets everything was in that luggage).
Planning a few extra days in Kathmandu before flying to Lukla made a lot of sense now. Next first thing I did after waking up was looking for the airline office in Kathmandu. They told me I will get my luggage by the end of the day. Everything seemed good.
I made a friend from the flight the day before. She was also planning to do a hike. So we teamed up to look for shops so that we can rent our rest essential gears for our trek. Sleeping bags, extra layer jackets, trekking poles… the list goes on.
By evening I found out that the airlines still haven’t tracked my luggage. I took a connection flight through Kuala Lumpur before reaching Kathmandu. Later that night I received a photo of my luggage sitting alone in the vast corners of Kuala Lumpur airport. It was only then my mind found some peace.
I still had one more day before leaving for the most dangerous airport in the world. So my friend and I decided to visit some famous places in Kathmandu.
Flying into Lukla
Doing something adventurous is already challenging, and starting that adventure by flying into the most dangerous airport in the world, makes it a lot more fun ( Haha.. I hope you have a safe flight to Lukla). Finally the day is here.. I’m starting my trek after landing in Lukla. I can start my walk to the base of the top of the world. Yes , everything is just as simple as that. The only problem was, it just didn’t happen.
See, flying to Lukla is not that simple. The weather plays a major role in it. Since it’s a high altitude flight and the runway at the Lukla airport is extremely small we are flying on a light aircraft. The flight needed around 5 Km visibility towards the runway for the flight to even take off from Kathmandu. And for my luck it didn’t just happen that day. We reached the airport before 5.30 and the flight was scheduled at 6.20. We waited all the way up-to 10 am to know that the flight had been cancelled for the day due to bad weather.
Pro Tip:
If there is a possibility that your flight is about to get cancelled , you can switch to a helicopter ride all the way to Lukla (Bit expensive, but if you are lucky you will get a chance).
If you are not planning to take the helicopter , don’t wait until the last minute to change your flights to the next day. It might get full and you may have to wait for another few days.
I was lucky enough to get a seat on the flight for the next day (I got the last ticket). My friend Jieyu whom I met earlier had already booked her return tickets from Kathmandu and couldn’t wait one more day to trek Everest base camp. So she decided to switch to another trek and went to Annapurna base camp trek ( If you are looking for any substitute trek other than EBC, Annapurna base camp trek is a good option).
And finally I boarded the flight to Lukla only to stop half way on the runway because of some technical issue. There was another pilot who was traveling to Lukla on our flight , and when the engine started he was like, “ That sound is not supposed to happen “. Luckily it was a smaller issue and after a 1 hour delay we flew beside the beautiful Himalayan ranges and landed in Lukla. The stories about Lukla being the most dangerous airport in the world are true, I can confirm: YES, it’s as terrifying and exciting as people say! A short runway, a plane that felt like a rollercoaster, and a cliff drop, what a way to kick off my journey.
My initial plan was to do the trek solo without any guide or porter, but since it was my first high altitude trek and i didnt have any experiences prior to this trek and didn’t want to drop dead half way on the trek, I decided to hire a porter(Best decision ever).
I met Ngima at the airport , my guide, porter ,friend and everything for the next few days.
Tip:
Nepal changed the rules and banned Solo trekking. But the Khumbu region is currently exempt from Nepal’s general solo-trekking bans and some people are still doing it from what I understand. I highly suggest you get yourself a guide , especially If you are less experienced.
My plan was to start from Lukla on day 1 and reach Phakding and continue to Namche Bazaar the next day. Everyone follows this plan. I will ask you to do something else. Let me tell you why.
It’s our first day of trek, we are excited , we have a lot of energy. Make use of it to the best. From Lukla to Phakding is more of a descent. You are going from Lukla 2840M to Phakding 2610M. So we decided to go a bit further all the way to Monjo. You should know I started My trek at noon because of the delayed flight and all the drama.
Pro Tip:
Try to cover maximum in your first day. It’s still low altitude and you are fresh. Because the next day’s trek to Namche Bazaar at 3440M is not a joke.
Namche Bazaar: the last major township in the Everest region
Reaching Namche Bazaar was really challenging, I will say one of the hardest days during my Everest Base Camp trek. The uphill to the Namche market was so steep that I had to take breaks every 10 minutes. Probably because I was weak, there was an 80 year old Japanese couple walking beside me. It was probably a piece of cake for them.
I stayed in Namche Bazaar for 2 nights. I need to acclimate myself to the higher altitudes. Acclimatising is a major thing while doing the high altitude treks ,if you are someone with very low experience like me, the thought of skipping this should never even cross your mind. And take note, drink a lot of water, this will help you to avoid altitude sickness, not a good thing to have during your trip.
Namche is one of those places you read about and think, “Is it really that beautiful?” And the answer is YES! Nestled in the mountains, Namche was where I finally laid my eyes on the famous mountain, which I have been waiting to see myself for a long time. YES, I FINALLY SAW MT.EVEREST. The acclimatization hike on my second day at Namche, paved my way to meet the Most famous giant Mt.Everest standing tall at a whopping 8848M. Even Though the nearby giants draw a great picture to the Himalayan ranges, this giant is everyone’s favorite. And to honor the first people who claimed Everest there’s a statue of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay too.
A wake-up call from the Night
It’s been 2 days since we left Namche. After walking a few days in the himalayan ranges one thing is sure, I’m too slow for this. But one thing i’m proud of myself is that, after all these slow and tired walking it never even crossed my mind that I couldn’t do it.. I always knew that I would make it to the Everest Base Camp no matter what.
We are going to spend 2 nights here in Dingboche. This is our next stop to acclimatize before we push ourselves to the Base camp. And as always I was the last one to reach the tea house.. everyone already settled in. I came and took a sip from my Ginger lemon honey tea( A must try after your long hard walks ) while looking at the beautiful scenery outside. After refreshing myself I left to witness the Beautiful landscapes near Me.
Forgot to mention something, I visited a monastery the day before. Tengboche Monastery is located in the Himalayan ranges and walking inside the monastery will help you to calm Your mind a bit. You should definitely visit here and a Pro Travel Tip: book your rooms to the left ..you will have an awesome View of mount Everest in the morning.
Dingboche gave me one of the craziest nights in the Himalayas. A true terror. Imagine you waking up to loud noise and a shaking room, where you can’t seem to see anything and a continuous downpour of dust and sand from the cracks of your room ceiling and walls, yeah.. that was i wake up into my first night at Dingboche.
I ran out of my room, I knew I was experiencing something far beyond my control.. what is it , an earthquake, a tornado. I hoped I didn’t crash into the building and become a newspaper headline for my family to read.. my mind was running crazy..it took me some time to calm down and release myself from my tight sleeping bags and blankets covering me from the cold. I went to look through my windows Only to witness pitch black nothing else…
I walked out of my room and everyone Was in the hall not knowing what was happening outside.. and it was later after sometime we got to know it wasn’t an earthquake but a super windy storm that took us captive. Our tea house owners had never experienced anything like that before. We opened our doors to witness the disaster caused by the storm.. nearby houses shattered, ceilings flew off, no Internet connection anymore. I couldn’t connect to my family back in India until I reached my next stop.
The final push
It’s been 2 days since that catastrophic Night. I’m at a higher altitude, breathing seems difficult than before, it’s more cold and the wind is not helping it. I started early towards Gorak Shep , the place we are going to stay for the night. It’s the place everyone stops before the final push to the Everest Base camp. Since i was a slow walker and i had to reach the base camp at the same time with the friends i made along, i needed a head start.
I pushed harder, I can’t be late. I have a 45 minute lead. But not all things will end up as we wish, don’t they..! I had that lead until I reached Gorak Shep but the tea house i stayed that day was different from others and they ended up delaying my food causing me loose all the lead I had and I started late to the final push towards the Everest Base Camp. But still the excitement to reach the Base camp never let me down and finally after walking for 7 days and through all those hurdles, I made it to Everest Base Camp.
Let me ask you this, what is the biggest dream you achieved, something you wanted to do ? Somewhere you wanted to go? After going through all the hurdles to reach that goal how did you feel ? How happy and proud were you when you achieved something which is a dream for a lot of others? That’s exactly how I felt at the Everest Base Camp. I am at the moment in which I have been waiting for a long time.
Happiness
At its absolute peak…
I don’t know what I’m doing, I lost myself in my happiness.
Since it was off season ,it was not crowded, I had the entire place just for myself, I wanted to dance , I wanted to say great things from there for my Vlog, but the joy of reaching there made me forget everything , I AM AT MY PEAK . I am someone who collects rocks from wherever I go.. and i also wanted to take one from the Base Camp, I forgot that too.. but lucky for me I have mentioned this idea a few times to my guide, he helped me pick one. It wasn’t prettiest, but it’s mine , MY PRECIOUS.
The descent down
Going down was much faster, because I was a stupid little kid without enough knowledge. I decided to challenge myself to go all the way down within 2 days instead of 3 days like the normal people. So in total, in the last 3 days i did 25 km + every day. But I got something from it which I am so happy about.
See in a normal way, you are choosing to take your time to go down, without walking a lot everyday you will most probably finish your hike by 3 or 4 PM. And for me that was not the case, since I decided to walk a lot. I walked almost until 7 , without any lights before reaching the tea house on both days. Which gave me something you normally won’t get on those hikes.
Since it’s evening and less people walking around , it is time for the wild animals for their small little walks, i was lucky enough to see few Himalayan Tahr, few musk Deer and few Himalayan Monal the national first of Nepal. I never thought I would get a chance to see the famous Vampire deer’s ( Musk Deer)
haha lucky Mee …
Challenges along the way
I wish I could say the trek was smooth. But for a beginner I did pretty good, I’m proud of that.
For me the most challenging thing was the hike itself, especially the one towards Namche Bazaar. It’s one hell of a hike, extremely steep, something I had never done before and add the altitude along with those , you will get the idea. I had to take breaks every Few minutes to take a breath. And altitude sickness is real guys, lucky I didn’t get caught in it ,but my friend Tim got sick and had a bad headache. It’s better to take precautions, as doctors say precautions are better than a cure. There’s no point taking medication after you have altitude sickness.
Overall all these hurdles make the memories, it helps to feel a sense of achievement after each and every day once you complete your hard trek.
Final thoughts
As I made my way back to Kathmandu, I couldn’t stop thinking about the entire experience. Trekking to Everest Base Camp isn’t just a hike; it’s a journey that tests you physically and mentally. It’s challenging, beautiful, and humbling all at the same time.
If you’re considering doing this trek, don’t hesitate. Start preparing, get your gears in order, and most importantly, go into it with an open mind. The mountains have a way of teaching you more about yourself than you ever imagined.
Some dreams stay on your bucket list for years.
Mine became a memory.
Everest Base Camp…
Done and dusted
Got any questions about the trek? Drop me a message below, and I’d be happy to help!
