Trekking in the Himalayas: Everest Base Camp and Gokyo Ri
March 25th
We arrived in Kathmandu! Our guide, Jangbu, met us at the airport and our first shared experience was zipping through the city in a tiny car with inoperable rear seat belts. After shoving our duffle bags into the back of the late 90’s sedan, the taxi driver saw Grady reaching for the seat belt and said emphatically “no need, no need”. It made the “share bag” in Ms. Stevens feel safe! We arrived to our hotel which was strikingly similar to the Grand Budapest hotel - in the most positive ways. We met with our guide and the head of the guiding company in the lobby from 11 pm - 12 am before we all said goodnight, to reconvene again at 6:30 am. It was 2 am by the time we got our stuff re-packed into our backpacks and a duffle bag for our porter. 6 am arrived quickly and me, Grady, and Jangbu were back at the Kathmandu airport again a short 8 hours after our arrival.
March 26th
When we arrived to the airport we needed to present our ticket to the airline operators in exchange for a boarding pass. It wasn’t an orderly process. There was a line of people trying to push towards the front to ensure they’d get a seat on the plane. We didn’t think it was crazy to think that if you have a ticket you should get a boarding pass, but here it might be. After finally getting a boarding pass we proceeded through security and to the gate. The departure time for our 8 am flight to Lukla came and went. We waited there until noon with nothing but radio silence from the airline. Then a man came around and said, your flight is cancelled. You can be on the first flight tomorrow.
We were seeking more confirmation that we’d have a flight tomorrow, but Jangbu said not to worry - it will happen when it happens. We went back to Kathmandu, had lunch, and walked around Thamel. Thamel is full of a bunch of shops and artisans selling crafts. There are lots of street vendors with these tiny narrow shops that extend into the shadows off the street. Each place was packed full of merchandise, most of which wasn’t labeled with prices, so it was another fun negotiating experience like Bali. We tried to use our down time as best as possible, buying some artwork for our house and gifts. The streets were crowded with pedestrians, bikes, cars, and rickshaws driving around. With the limited traffic signals, police were everywhere directing traffic. It was incredibly hazy walking around Kathmandu and you couldn’t see much past the streets you were walking on. We noticed maybe 30% of the people were wearing masks, prompting us to check the AQI - 157.
There were beehives of electrical wires running along the road and dangling out of the windows. I wouldn’t want to be the person troubleshooting a power outage! The architecture and just seeing it was beautiful. Beautiful chaos, but beautiful.
We got back to our hotel and saw a quote on the pillow from Buddha, “The mind is everything. What you think you become”. We went to sleep thinking that we would get to Lukla tomorrow, we hoped Buddha was right!
March 27th
We were rebooked onto the 6 am flight for the next day, but it was again rescheduled for 9 am in advance. We arrived back to the same waiting area at the Kathmandu airport for our third day in a row. For a little bit of background, the flight from Kathmandu to Lukla is 45 minutes, but the logistics of the flight are very difficult. There are limited planes, a very short (and inclined) runway in Lukla, and rapidly changing weather conditions. It doesn’t help that Lukla is known as the most dangerous airport in the world and pilots have to fly visually - not instrumented. The only other airport that flies to Lukla is in Ramecchap (4 hours east of Kathmandu) and the planes alternate (or so they say) between Kathmandu and Ramecchap.
We were bummed because the weather had been perfectly clear at 6 am, but the plane was apparently stuck in Rammecchap. We waited again until 2 pm until the flight was cancelled again. We learned that if your flight is cancelled you aren’t bumped to the top of the priority list for future flights, but rather you’re put in the “sauce pan” as Jangbu described it. With cancellation numbers mounting, that was one big sauce pan and our chances weren’t looking good. Our long delay at the airport gave us time to think of several backup plans:
Plan A: fly to Lukla 3/26 at 8AM
Plan B: fly to Lukla 3/27 at 6AM
Plan C: helicopter to Lukla 3/27 at 2 pm
Plan D: helicopter to Lukla 3/28 at 7AM
Plan E: Jeep to Puiya, trek to Lukla 3/28
The weather was looking cloudy and rainy the next several days in Lukla which was not helping our chances for a flight. Between the weather and the fact that our contingency travel days were quickly disappearing, we tried to book a helicopter. Apparently the helicopters can fly in slightly worse conditions than the planes, but the operators told us that they did no expect even any helicopter flights on 3/27 or 3/28.
The only alternative to flying is to take a Jeep “12 hours” to the farthest village you can go by car. From there, you can hike 1.5 days to Lukla. It didn’t sound great, but it sounded like a more confident option to get into the mountains this week. So much for all of the reviews about good, clear, climbing and trekking weather this time of year!
We got in a taxi that took us to a 2-ft wide stand wedged between two buildings. Jangbu said we would get our jeep here. We felt totally out of control and just had to follow his queues. One of the two buildings had a bunch of chicken cages outside. Within an hour a man pulled up in a late-90s, Tato Sumo Gold CX SUV, and Jangbu said our “Jeep” had arrived. We were told that this driver would take us 10 hours to Salleri where we would catch another “Jeep” to drive us the remaining 6 hours to Puiya. This 12 hour planned journey was starting to sound a lot longer than 12 hours.
A possible silver lining of two consecutive flight cancellations and our alternative Jeep plans is that we no longer needed to fly into the most dangerous airport in the world. Although, unlike the other taxis we’d been in thus far, all of which had inoperable seatbelts, this late-90’s Tata SUV didn’t even have seatbelts. Flying into the world’s most dangerous airport in the world was starting to not sound so bad after all.
The ride was mostly silent. Jangbu and the driver would speak to each other in Nepalese occassionally, but there was no music. The only sounds were honking. Two traffic jams were so bad that the driver turned off the engine. There was one diversion due to road construction where traffic split… Our driver took the oncoming route since traffic was moving too slowly for him in the regular lane. At this point the one and only seatbelt in the vehicle was being worn by the driver. We were starting to wonder what we’d gotten ourselves into.
We passed a lot of wild scenes during the drive. There were roads completely full of wet mud, a goat riding on the top of a bus, busses stuck in the mud, and cars just stopped in the middle of the road on blind turns. Our driver sometimes honked using the Bali-style traffic signaling to let people know he was coming around the blind corners, but other times, he just went for it. We were wishing there were seat belts.
After 5 hours of driving, we were told that the road was temporarily closed and we would need to eat dinner and rest until 4 am at this random restaurant/home/hotel on the side of the road.
There was a family living there so there may have been 2 guest rooms at most, or perhaps they put us in one of the kids rooms. We really aren’t sure. The family who ran the place was nice, but it was very basic. I was concerned when I saw there was no soap at the sink stations and was super cautious with what I ate. We didn’t really have a choice for food because they were serving everyone Dahl bat so I stuck to the white rice and lentils.
When the owner showed us our room he kept joking it was a 5 star hotel. The beds didn’t have mattresses, but rather plywood wrapped in blankets. They were firm as a board (literally) which was hard for us side sleepers, but we tried to get some rest and hope the journey would get easier. By this point we were really questioning what we had gotten ourselves into.
March 28th
We met Jangbu and the Jeep driver at 4 am. We were fortunate that this SUV had 3 rows so Grady and I could lay down and sleep some more. The place we stopped for breakfast gave off “lair vibes” with its dark, crowded interior, but people were all smiling when we went in. They made sure that we had silverware (something the locals don’t use much) and it felt oddly cozy and welcoming despite our first impressions.
We continued to Salleri where we changed jeeps. Our first Jeep made Ms. Stevens look and feel luxurious. Our second Jeep made the first seem luxurious. We rolled four in the back three in the front, in a Tacoma-sized pickup truck - “Nepali style”. A territory battle for the back seat ensued. It was us and two big French guys, both over 6’ tall. They were consistently claiming more than half of the back seat, leaving Grady and I sharing the area behind the driver only. At each stop, we’d try to get in the truck first to assert our position, but they slowly and surely regained their land.
This was hands-down the gnarliest off-roading we’ve ever done. It was 6 hours of 1000+ ft exposure driving with no guard rails, deep mud ruts, 20 ft visibility through fog, on roads that were 1.25 vehicles wide with blind turns and big rock shelves. All of this with no seat belts while we were getting thrown around the back seat, nearly knocking skulls like coconuts in a clothes dryer. On each of the huge bumps, we’d all (as a unit) get some air since we were effectively glued at the hip. The French guys would make the funniest noises on the bumps “Oyeee” as if to imply that the driver should go a little slower. At 5-10 km per hour, I don’t think slower was possible. The total “Jeep” trip ended up being 15 hours of driving, 22 hours total, not the 12 hours stated.
Pro: We didn’t fly into the most dangerous airport in the world
Con: Our off-roading in low visibility and fresh mud was probably more dangerous
Pro: The music was bumping in the second Jeep with some Nepali tunes
Con: Our bodies were also bumping literally off of each other and the walls - getting shaken around as we drove
The whole Jeep ride was an experience to say the least. The last hour was so particularly rough that Grady had to hold my head against his chest because we would otherwise all uncontrollably bash heads.
We passed a ton of little villages. Most had two to three buildings, but some were larger. We were mostly just trying to take in this unique experience of driving through the Nepal countryside, but there were some strange moments too. Our driver made a random stop on the side of the road where a man was waiting. He delivered him half a wheel of cheese and a Manila folder in exchange for money. No clue what happened there because there was no explanation offered and nothing was said. Similarly, nothing was said when one of the guys in the front started throwing up. The driver didn’t stop or acknowledge it. The guy just grabbed a plastic bag, continued throwing up, and threw the plastic bag out of the window. We were horrified of the situation and the silence. We also saw pigs being carried in bags and a bunch of other odd sights. It was a long journey that didn’t even get us to our desired destination. The road ends in Puiya so we hoped to be dropped off there. Turns out, there was a landslide that morning that blocked the road. We had to stop 40 minutes early and hike the extra distance. We just couldn’t catch a break. There was a bonfire party of the locals helping to clear the path at the closure. It was not quite the welcome we expected to the Himalayas with smoke, fog, and a landslide - but we’d made it. So now we had to add Plan F to our list…
Plan A: fly to Lukla 3/26 at 8AM
Plan B: fly to Lukla 3/27 at 6AM
Plan C: helicopter to Lukla 3/27 at 2 pm
Plan D: helicopter to Lukla 3/28 at 7AM
Plan E: Jeep to Puiya, trek to Lukla 3/28
Plan F: Jeep to 40 min before Puiya, trek to Lukla 3/28
Our porter, Sonam, kindly walked all the way to the landslide closure to meet us in light of the changing plans. We were all happy to finally be walking. At this point we still needed to hike that day and the next day to get to where the plane would have dropped us off. Little did we know, our “trail” from Puiya to Surke was actually the donkey trail. It’s not often used for visitors except in cases like this where you have to take a Jeep. It was so muddy. They use donkeys as the primary way to get goods from the lower villages up to Namche. On this trail we couldn’t tell what was donkey poop versus mud. It was really low visibility so we couldn’t see much more than what was right ahead of us. Plus, the slippery steps in the muddy conditions had us moving slower than expected.
About 3 hours later we arrived to our tea house. Since we lost 3 days of trekking, we worked with Jangbu to figure out a new plan and we were thrilled to have a semblance of a real mattress here. It’s amazing how the simple things can feel so nice! We were excited to be on the trail and within one day of our original starting point.
March 29th
Things went downhill the next morning when Grady started feeling unwell. He felt nauseous and tired, but was determined to hike that day.
As we started our hike we saw porters carrying 2-3 duffle bags. The strength and grit a person must have to carry that much weight is almost incomprehensible. Some were wearing wool suit coats, jeans, and sneakers or rain boots. Yet, many were passing us in our boots and trail runners with small packs. Nothing could stop them. There’s a lot of variety in how they carry the loads with head straps, wooden frames, baskets, and duffle bags, but in all cases it was so impressive. Some were even were 50+ years old!
Along the trail we had to stop frequently for donkeys to pass. We were told we were off of the main donkey trail now, but it sure felt like we were still on it for a good chunk of the day. We stopped 6 times yesterday for donkeys to pass during our 3.5 hour hike and 15 times today!
Grady wasn’t hungry at all for lunch which is super unlike him and soon he started feeling really sick. Me, Grady, and Jangbu all agreed it was likely food poisoning. We think it might’ve been the dinner where the Jeep driver stopped for our 7 hour sleep. I ate limited foods, but Grady ate the chicken... He kept pushing through but didn’t feel good when we arrived to the tea house. He started some meds we brought from home for this sort of thing and we were hoping for the best.
While Grady rested, I hung out in the dining room by the fire. Soon, four guys in their late-50s walked in who I recognized from the Kathmandu airport on Wednesday. They were supposed to be on our second cancelled flight and recognized me too. We chatted about our journeys to get here. It turns out they drove the 4+ hours to Ramecchap in hopes to improve their chances of a flight. They, like us, were told they’d be on the first flight the next day. No such luck. In fact, no flights left Ramecchap or Kathmandu yesterday. They arranged a helicopter for today (Friday) and there was a line of people there for helicopters. People were trying to force their way on. They were able to get on the third and final helicopter before all air travel stopped, again. It’s funny, they said they’d never have done the jeep, but after hearing their story - I was feeling as good as we could with our decision. We probably would’ve still been waiting in the helicopter queue along with everyone else! It was also cute how excited they all were. They’re friends from many years ago and hiked Kilimanjaro together 10 years ago. The boys are back together and they’re heading to Everest Base Camp! Despite setbacks we all shared the excitement and energy to be on the way to Everest.
We’re excited that the weather forecast is looking better as we go higher. We hope we’ll finally get some views of the mountain and Grady’s stomach will feel better to enjoy them!
March 30th
It’s finally sunny! Grady woke up feeling a little better so we were optimistic. He was still really tired with no appetite, but was improving. Jangbu checked in with us early in the morning and Grady felt good enough to hike. It was a short day of walking from Monjo to Namche which is a much bigger village with shops, restaurants, and even medical facilities at 11,300 feet.
It felt so good to see mountains and be in the sun. The fresh air helped Grady a bunch and we kept a good slow and steady pace to Namche. Jangbu was happy as his token saying was, “Slowly, slowly”. Instead of saying, “Okay, let’s go” or “Are you ready?” He would say, “We’ll go, slowly”. It’s honestly getting us in a great rhythm to keep it slow and steady at the higher elevations. We were walking on the trail and saw three beautiful, but “normal looking” mountains. Turns out, they’re all 6000m+ peaks (19,800 ft+)… The scale of everything here is just remarkable and hard to capture.
We also had to cross some wild suspension bridges. We rounded a corner and saw two bridges suspended high in the air. I asked Jangbu if we take the high or low bridge. He confidently said “High bridge - the low one is old”. I’m glad he was so confident because it was intimidating looking at them from afar!
Namche Bazaar far exceeded expectations. We walked through the streets to get to our tea house and it reminded us of a smaller version of Thamel in Kathmandu. There were tons of small store fronts selling locally made products and even restaurants, bars, pharmacies, and stores selling familiar snacks like Oreos and Pringles! It’s a full community up here. Our tea house was called the Hotel Hill-ten, which is a funny (maybe intentional) play on Hilton. There’s also a Comfort Inn that has a shockingly close logo to the Comfort Inns of the US, and apparently one called the Four Seasons too.
Grady was finally able to eat some toast and juice so we were really glad things seemed to be improving. He rested while I went out to explore the streets of Namche. I browsed some of the local shops and soon bumped into a man in his 60s, Andrew, who we had met at the Kathmandu airport on Tuesday. He’s been hiking peaks in Nepal for decades. It’s amazing how many people we met through our whole travel saga. He told me that his flight did leave Kathmandu on Tuesday. He was on a later flight than us and while they cancelled ours, they didn’t cancel his. Andrew has flown from Kathmandu to Lukla dozens of times and he said this time was by far the worst. The clouds rolled in and the pilot had to do some crazy abrupt maneuvers right before landing. He said the plane was shaking violently the entire flight and people onboard were throwing up. At one point he thought they might not make it. Thankfully he made it safely, but maybe it’s better our flight didn’t go that day…
I brought Grady takeout pizza from a place Andrew recommended. He said he eats there multiple times during each visit to Namche. The idea of wood fired pizza sounded incredible after eating only Dahl bat, fried rice, and Asian noodles for every meal. The guys who ran the place were great. They asked where I was from and one had family in Colorado. This place felt like the most hygienic restaurant we’d seen anywhere along our trek! They wash all of the food in iodine and the place was pristine inside. The pizza was delicious and Grady was finally able to eat some substantial food. Our fingers are crossed for tomorrow!
March 31st
Our acclimatization day was spent hiking up to a viewpoint of Everest (Sagarmatha), Lhotse, and Ama Dablam. It was stunning. It was our first clear day and honestly, our first day feeling like “this is what we came here for”. It was making us so excited about the views and experiences to come.
We walked a big loop all around, including over to the village of Khumjung. We learned about all of the peaks we could see from Jangbu - ranging from between 5500 - 8848m peaks (18,044 - 29,032 ft). One of the standouts was Ama Dablam, which in Sherpa Culture means, “Mother’s Necklace” because the long ridges are considered the arms of mother (ama) protecting her child. . We couldn’t believe how incredible it was to see it in person.
We learned a bunch more about the Sherpa culture at the Sherpa museum too. Our biggest takeaway was how incredible it is that the Sherpa people have been living in these remote villages for over 400 years. It was inspiring to learn how deeply the Sherpa people prioritize their community. It can be seen day-to-day and via all of their communally shared celebrations and festivals. The impact of tourism is ever-present in these villages. Even since the mid-1900s, the villages have undergone huge transformation - much of which has been positive with the building of schools, hospitals, and more services in the high alpine villages. It’s also the source of a lot more trash and waste. We learned about the cool initiatives of Sagarmatha Next, in collaboration with the locally-run Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, to change the way waste is handled in the valley. Right now, the SPCC packs out trash from tea houses and restaurants and keeps the trails clean. Sagarmatha next is trying to change the public perception of trash and make everyone accountable. It’s a powerful mission and cool to see the transformation in action. The other big takeaway from the Sherpa Museum was the incredible grit and strength of all of the Sherpa climbers. The museum had really moving exhibits for the Sherpa climbers who have lost their lives in Sagarmatha NP as well as for all people who have climbed the 8000m peaks in the park. There were people from many countries listed, and of many ages, but rarely an expedition without the expertise of local Sherpa people. As we were leaving the exhibit, we got to see that our guide, Jangbu, will be featured in the museum because he climbed Everest in 2022. It’s incredible how differently the Sherpa people view climbing Everest and their humility in the incredible feat. We were fortunate to meet the owner of the museum as we were leaving. He asked us where we were from and then asked if we could trace the name of the country on his hands because he was deaf. We wrote, “USA” and then he asked us to spell the state name on his hand. I started with “CO” and he quickly exclaimed, “Colorado! One of my lifelong friends retired to Colorado and runs a Yak farm there”. We told him we’d look out for it and he was thrilled.
As we walked back towards Namche, we could see Himalayan Golden Eagles soaring over the village right in front of the mountains. Their wing span is so huge (averages over 7 ft!) and it looks like they’re just floating in mid air.
Grady and I opted to go get lunch in Namche since this was our only opportunity with “outside food” along our tea house journey. We, to no surprise, went back to the Wood Fired Pizza place. It was just as great the second time! We revisited an art studio that I’d discovered the day before and the same incredible artist was painting a new painting. We could see both his finished work from yesterday on a 5ft wide canvas and the start of his new work. He was looking at a photo on his phone of Everest, Lhotse, and Nuptse, and just sketching the entire thing free-hand. We couldn’t believe it.
Grady was finally feeling mostly recovered from the bout of food poisoning, but in the spirit of this trip - it’s just one thing after another. This time, I noticed a rash all over my stomach. I couldn’t figure out what had caused it and allergy meds weren’t helping. Namche is one of the rare villages with a medical clinic so we decided I should get it checked out and identify the right meds to take before we kept going up. The doctor was very helpful and said that many travelers present rashes like this - how lovely. She thought it was either caused by a tick bite or a viral infection. She prescribed me an antibiotic to prevent Lyme disease and Rickettsial diseases. All of her suggestions were aligned to the CDC and Mayo Clinic guidance so we carried on.
At this point we’re both on antibiotics and managing a whole regimen of meds which is a blast. We otherwise feel great so we’re hoping for calmer trekking in the days to come!
April 1st
Today we trekked from Namche to Pangboche, visiting the Tengboche Monastery on the way. We couldn’t believe the intricate, beautiful, symbolic artwork of the Buddhist monastery. We were fortunate to see the inside of the Monastery and even witnessed a monk praying with a family for their loved ones.
Along our hike, we saw a bunch of dzo (male) and dzoma (female), which are crosses between yak and cow. We’re just waiting to see real yak! At this point, we’d also already seen the Nepali National Bird, the Nepali National Flower, and the Himalayan Eagle. Along our trek we also passed a bunch of other hikers, one of whom was saying that 800 people landed in Lukla yesterday. This is an astounding number given each plane seats only 15 people! The backlog of hundreds of people from days of bad weather had finally arrived.
Things went a bit downhill, again, when we reached Pangboche. Grady now had the same rash on his abdomen as me. This new development made the tick bite very unlikely so we tried to reason what it could be.
We came up with a few theories: allergic reaction to Aqua tabs (what we’re using to treat our water) or Dengue Fever. We were just in Bali and dengue is fairly common there so we got worried when symptoms appeared to align somewhat closely. In googling “allergic reaction to aqua tabs” there were no search results so that theory was unlikely at best. Dengue is often mild, but a percentage of cases (1/20) can be very severe. We became concerned when we considered the statistics applied to two of us...leaving a potential 10% chance one of us would develop severe dengue, requiring immediate hospitalization. We tried to look up photos and symptoms until the wifi and the power at the tea house went out, at which time we were already in a deep spiral.
It seemed like each day we were enjoying the incredible scenery of the mountains and each night we were dealing with health issues. We went to sleep worried and hopeful that we wouldn’t need to turn around.
April 2nd
The WiFi came back on the next morning so we continued our research, which was definitely inconclusive. We decided to stick to the original plan and hike the short three hours to Dingboche. Dingboche coincidentally has a medical clinic making us more confident to press forward. We thought this would give us time to see how the symptoms progressed and visit the Doctor to get a professional opinion.
We had a great walk and saw plenty of Dzo/Dzoma and Himalayan Tahrs along the way. Dingboche is at 14,400 feet and altitude-wise, we felt very good. We dropped our packs at the tea house and went straight to the medical clinic. We were so lucky to see such a knowledgeable, thorough Doctor. We each made appointments and he felt very confident, for a number of reasons, that it wasn’t Dengue. This was a huge relief. In fact, he was super confident that we each had a respiratory infection. It was good news / bad news because we were glad it wasn’t dengue, but there wasn’t adequate testing at this facility to identify the respiratory infection. He gave us a bunch of medications to help knock it out of our systems and advised us of the “red flags” to look for as we continued our hike. In fact, he encouraged us to keep hiking because of our strong vitals. He was so professional and gave us, by memory, the US names of all the drugs and explained why each was important. We felt so relieved and happy with our decision to continue to Dingboche and couldn’t be more grateful to find such great medical care in a remote village.
We had a quick lunch after the medical stop and started our acclimatization hike. We hiked to over 15,000 feet today to make sure we would be ready to sleep at 16,000 feet tomorrow. As we neared the top of the hike, the sun dipped behind the mountains and the temperature dropped quickly. It was even lightly snowing! Despite our respiratory symptoms making the day-to-day hiking harder, we felt good about the altitude and continuing forward. The only bummer was that Grady’s oxygen level was 93% and mine was 92%, but alas… Onwards and upwards tomorrow!
April 3rd
Today we hiked from Dingboche at 14,400 feet to Lobuche at 16,200 feet and were thrilled to feel pretty good. The cough syrups, broncho dilators, and z-packs were kicking in and helping mask some of our symptoms.
At lunch we saw a lot of people struggling, presumably with altitude. Some people were tripping and nearly falling from light headedness and others were getting sick at lunch. Seeing others helped put our health issues into perspective too. We can tackle this thing!
Along the last part of our trek to Lobuche we finally saw the renowned yaks.
Yaks are super common in the high altitude regions of the Himalayas and are used to help transport food and supplies between the villages. Interestingly, in the local language the term yaks are only used for the male of the species and nags are what they call female yaks.
When we arrived to the tea house in Lobuche we were greeted by dried yak dung burning in the fireplace. They don’t have any wood at these high elevations so they dry “pellets” of yak dung to use as fuel. Grady kept calling them “cookies” which was gross even though they did kind of look like big, burnt chocolate chip cookies. Even Jangbu laughed. Despite the unusual smell, the fire was much appreciated because the snow storm rolled in around 3 pm. It looked like a full-blown whiteout outside. We both beginning to get worried that we were losing weight so I ate multiple enormous portions of Dahl Bat for the second day in a row. It’s the only entree where seconds and thirds are standard and I absolutely dug in. I think Grady was intimidated.
Tomorrow we will be hiking to Gorak Shep and Everest Base Camp. We caught a beautiful sunset from our window and for the first night in a few nights, we went to sleep excited and ready for the next day. We’re hoping things keep trending up.
April 4th
Today we are heading for Everest Base camp! We trekked from Lobuche (16,200) to Gorak Shep (17,000 ft) where we’d be spending the night. We had tea and soup at the tea house and dropped off our bags before continuing to base camp. Grady, Jangbu, Sonam, and I made the trek together - topping out at 17,600 feet!
It felt even more gratifying to make it to Everest Base Camp after the ups and downs of our recent trekking days. We felt even more fortunate to be there.
Our experience at EBC was really unique compared to most trekkers. Jangbu’s uncle operates an expedition climbing company with an established 2024 setup at EBC. His uncle invited us to have lunch there since the climbers hadn’t arrived for the season yet.
We saw firsthand how much difficult labor from the Sherpa people goes into constructing the village that is EBC every year. Porters were hauling up beds, couches, tables, chairs, and at camp, people were using pick axes to chip away at the ice to create flat spots for the cooking, dining, and sleeping tents. The dome shaped dining tent was already set up and it was toasty warm compared to the really cold temperatures outside. It had insulated floors, two layers of tents, and a heater. The Sherpa people come for a month or more prior to when the clients arrive to ensure the whole camp is setup perfectly for their arrival. Our experience at Base Camp was far more than just taking a picture at the sign and it made it way more special to be there.
Along our way back to Gorak Shep we saw the Kongma Tse, a bird local to the Everest Base Camp and Gokyo Ri areas. You know those memes about how bird watching sneaks up on you? Where one day you don’t care about birds and the next day you’re identifying Kongma Tse in the wild… Well, we are living that. Our bird enthusiasm from NZ continues!
We retreated back to our tea house and loved spending time in the dining room there. The ceilings and walls of the lodge were covered in flags, shirts, and photos that people had brought up and signed. There were tons of passport photos plastered all over the wall, displaying the straight-face, non-smiling images of people who had been there before. The fire going in the dining room helped keep things mostly comfortable, but as soon as we got back to our room we went straight into our sleeping bags! The lodges provide blankets so we ended up piling those over our sleeping bags to stay warm that night. The temperature was projected to be -15C and there was absolutely zero insulation. From our room we could hear the guy next to us zipping up his sleeping bag, and on the other side, a French couple whispering to each other. We think the walls were made of 1/8” thick plywood.
I felt like I was just starting to turn the corner on this virus so I wanted to get a full night sleep in hopes to start feeling better. Grady was doing a bit better than me so he and Jangbu decided to wake up at 3 am to hike up to Kala Patthar at 18,400 feet for sunrise. We’re hoping we will feel better soon!
April 5th
The sunrise expedition was a huge success. Grady and Jangbu had clear views of Everest, Lhotse, and Nuptse from Kala Patthar and they were the first ones to arrive up there in the morning! As they were hiking up they could see the steady trickle of headlamps following them up the switchbacks.
We all had breakfast together once they returned to the tea house. We thought we were both feeling better when we woke up, but that gradually changed when we started to hike towards Dzongla. Most of the day was spent hiking along this cold and windy ridge, which made our cough, congestion, and everything else far worse. We both were starting to feel worn down from this virus and frustrated that it felt impossible to kick it in these conditions. Our route took us up a new valley, introducing us to many more new mountains - all towering high over us even at our elevation of 16,000 feet. Despite the tough conditions, we enjoyed the quietness of this trail now that we left the EBC “highway”.
It was a relief when we finally arrived to Dzongla and sat down with some hot chocolate. This particular tea house in Dzongla was a great example of what we’d been experiencing all along the way - the pride of the Tea House owners. All of our personal interactions in Nepal have been really positive, and the people are just incredibly welcoming, kind, and resilient. Living in these villages would be really difficult, but it’s where they’re from and they’re all family here. They welcome people from all different countries into their guest houses daily, sharing their culture along the way - and you can tell they take great pride in doing so. At this tea house the tables were set with flowers and battery powered candles, that the owner came around and turned on when you sat down to eat. Many times, it’s the family running the tea house with older kids helping to prep and cook the meals. You can just feel the strong sense of community and pride in their village and it’s refreshing to see compared to normal city/suburban life where you often don’t even know all of your neighbors.
As we were eating dinner, the lights went out and we saw one of the guides walking out with a birthday cake, candles lit and all, for their client. The whole tea house started singing happy birthday and shared in the cake. It was pretty cool because the cake was baked in Lobuche at the highest bakery in the world, and carried over to Dzongla by the guide.
The party continued with everyone checking their oxygen levels. It turned into a game when one person pulled out an oxygen meter. Grady’s was 85% and mine was 86%, I’ve taken the lead!
We were starting to feel worn down from this persistent sickness, but really wanted to press on to Gokyo, as it’s one of the highlights of the trek. We set early alarms for the next morning to start our journey up and over Cho La Pass to Gokyo.
April 6th
Unlike most days prior where we had a leisurely 8 am start, Jangbu informed us we’d be starting at 6 am to give us time to cross 2 glaciers and Cho La Pass. The positive side to starting early was the incredible morning light on the peaks as we set out towards the pass.
It was one of those perfect mornings to be in the mountains - low wind, sunshine, and beautiful lighting.
We worked our way up the trail to the toe of the glacier. The first glacier crossing was easy, just walking on the ice, along a route marked with posts. We probably didn’t need the micro spikes, but they let us cruise across easily.
We reached the top of the pass by 9 am and couldn’t believe that there was no wind there either. We spent a while there enjoying some snacks in the really calm conditions.
We had a long descent to Thangnag where we planned to have lunch. Our sicknesses were progressing and making hiking uncomfortable. We worried that things may keep worsening and it would be better to get out of the remote mountains sooner than later. Our last big highlight of the trek was planned to be the next morning hiking Gokyo Ri. We thought we could make it that far and it felt like from there we had two options:
Hike 3 days from Gokyo to Lukla, catch a flight (in a forecasted bad weather window), and keep our 3 contingency days planned in Kathmandu in case our Lukla flight was cancelled
Helicopter from Gokyo to Lukla and hopefully catch a flight same day during a more optimistic weather window, enabling us to potentially move our international flight earlier
The biggest driver was our sicknesses. We were both starting to get worried that things were worsening and not improving so the idea of moving our international flights to get home earlier was appealing. We started browsing alternate flight options at lunch and couldn’t believe what happened. John Denver came on the radio playing “Take Me Home, Country Roads” after only Nepali music was played before that. Between that and bountiful good flight options available, we felt like it was a sign that we were supposed to take our bodies queues and go home.
We continued the journey up and over to our crossing of the Ngozumpa Glacier - the longest glacier in the Himalayas at over 36 km long. This time, we were crossing the rocks/boulders on the glacier, not the white ice itself. It took a while to navigate all of the ups and downs of the rocky, glacier crossing, but soon we arrived to Gokyo.
This tea house was situated right on the lake with beautiful views right from the dining room. We had tea, the precursor to anything here, and then Grady, Jangbu, and I chatted with the heli operator. The heli operator isn’t a business, or a storefront, but the same man who owns our tea house - and as we later learned, many other tea houses in the valley. He did refer to himself as a business man a few times, maybe one or two more times than would be normal, and it was clear he was highly respected and had a great deal of influence in the valley. We later learned he most certainly did have some* degree of control over all of the helicopter traffic - managed through the reputable operating platform of WhatsApp. For context, this man was the largest Nepali man we’d seen in all of our travels by several inches and dozens of pounds so he had the intimidation factor going for him too.
He quoted us the standard fare for a helicopter from Gokyo to Lukla and we thanked him for the information. The head of our guiding company was able to arrange a helicopter for the same price so we opted for certainty and booked it through our guiding company. A few minutes later, the local operator came back and offered us a deal nearly half price to take advantage of an otherwise empty helicopter. We got excited, but needed to confirm we could cancel the other helicopter. We told him we’d call to cancel and get back to him in a few minutes. A few minutes later, we went to find him but were told he was eating dinner and couldn’t be disturbed. We patiently waited, checking in maybe 10-15 minutes later, but again - he wasn’t available. He came back to us about a half hour later and when we said we were in, he said the deal didn’t exist anymore. Apparently, there are just a bunch of helicopter flights offered at various prices in a WhatsApp group and people can snatch up the good deals. It’s just another example of how things happen when they happen and work mostly through back channels here. After some back and forth, he offered us a price in the middle. When we asked what time to be ready, he said it might come at 8, but it could be 10, he wasn’t sure. After some back and forth he tentatively said it should come at 8 which would work out great to catch the helicopter after our sunrise hike. We shook hands and with no ticket, or confirm, or anything, we were hopeful that the heli would show up the next morning.
April 7th
It was a very cold morning in Goyko, with temperatures right around -12C. We started our hike up to Gokyo Ri at 3 am and the cold became more biting as we went higher. I was wearing three down jackets and Jangbu’s mittens he wore on the summit of Everest - and was still cold. I was so lucky that Jangbu carried his summit mittens as a backup in case anyone was cold. My brand new Black Diamond Pro Gloves had a manufacturing defect with no thumb hole so his mittens ended up being so helpful and it felt like an honor to wear them! We kept moving to stay warm enough as we ascended to 17,500 feet. The way up was uncomfortable, challenging, and mentally taxing (at least it was for me in the cold), but we did it and it was so worth it.
Seeing sunrise from Gokyo Ri was a really special experience. It’s a 360 degree view of the biggest mountains in the world and the sunrise was spectacular. We could see Everest, Lhotse, Makalu, Pumori, Cho Oyu, Cho Latse and more. All of the mountains were so clear and it was special to see Everest so unobstructed - no clouds and a perfect view of the tallest peak in the world.
We kept our fingers and toes wiggling to prevent frostbite (not even kidding) for the 30 or so minutes we spent at the summit before we quickly descended back into Gokyo. Our helicopter was “scheduled” for 8, so when we arrived back down around 6:45 we had plenty of time to enjoy breakfast before our flight. In our last few days we had discovered Tibetan Bread, which is fried bread that basically tastes like a funnel cake. We felt like we were unable to eat enough to avoid losing weight so we started eating Tibetan Bread every day and I think it’s helping. It’s a very nutritious breakfast ;)
The helicopter would be flying us from 15,600 feet to Lukla, at about 9,200 feet. Given we’d be flying at such high elevations, there are strict weight requirements for the flight. Typically, they only have 3 people go per heli plus their gear. We didn’t have very much stuff so me, Grady, our 5’4” guide, Janbgu, and our similarly sized porter, Sonam, were told we would all be able to fit. It’s customary that only the clients and the guide fly out, while the porters walk out so we were really happy to be able to include Sonam and drop him off near where he lives near Lukla. We all arrived to the heli pad around 7:45 to wait for our flight. There were 5 helicopters in a row that arrived shortly after 8. Surely we were next. We were enjoying watching them take off and land over Gokyo Lake, causing the lake to ripple in their wake, as we anxiously awaited the arrival of our chopper. Around 8:30, we were told it’d be 5 more minutes, but 5 minutes turned to an hour and 15, and our helicopter finally arrived.
We quickly loaded into the helicopter and within a minute of it touching down, we were back in the air. I was trying to put my seat belt on before they closed the door, and was coming to the realization that the seatbelt didn’t work in the helicopter either. The pilot looked back at me and said, no need - and the door slammed shut and the helicopter took off. So not only are all of the seatbelts we’ve seen in cars in Nepal not working or removed, but in the helicopter too! It was unsettling, but I just gripped the seat as we flew away.
The flight was gorgeous. We flew through all of the narrow valleys we had hiked, past all of the 6000, 7000, and 8000m peaks, and over many of the villages we’d stayed. It was beautiful and humbling to see it from the air. Grady sat up front with the pilot, and I sat in the back with Jangbu and Sonam. From the backseat, one of the coolest parts of the flight was seeing how giddy our porter, Sonam, was for the entire flight. I think he filmed the whole thing and had the biggest smile ear-to-ear. Helicopters are colloquially called the “Himalayan Taxi” in this area, and you see them flying overhead constantly each clear day. After seeing the helicopters fly over head each day, while carrying a heavy bag around, it was probably even cooler to be able to be the one flying in it. Grady and I have only been in a helicopter one other time so it was really cool for us too, but seeing Sonam’s excitement made it even more special.
After we landed, Jangbu and Sonam were taking pics in front of the helicopter and even thanked us for taking them on the heli flight. Given this was what we wanted (needed) to do to get home earlier, it was cool that it was such a fun experience for them too.
We landed at the Lukla airport around 10 am. The weather only looked clear until about noon, so Grady and I were naturally worried about getting on a flight that morning. Jangbu said we would go get tea with the ground operator for our airline and he’d get us a ticket printed. It’s hard to argue with that, so the four of us went to have tea. As soon as we finished our tea, he said our tickets would be waiting at the counter and we should be leaving within 30 minutes. We would have been absolutely lost without Jangbu helping us navigate the local “processes” that aren’t clear to anyone other than the locals. We said bye to Sonam and proceeded through security.
The Lukla Airport is considered the most dangerous airport in the world because it has such a short runway that it is built on an incline. When you land at Lukla, you land uphill to help slow you down. When you leave, you go downhill to help you get enough lift to take off into the valley below. We watched a few planes take off and land and couldn’t believe how the pilots have to take off. They rev the engine as high as it goes with the brake on, then release the brake and go. Soon, our plane arrived and there were only 5 of us on the flight. It seats 14 people in a 1x1 configuration with 7 rows. There were two pilots and the 5 of us - me, Grady, Jangbu, and another woman and her guide.
My stomach dropped a little on the downhill runway as we accelerated as fast as the plane would go on a serious downhill slope. It almost felt like a rollercoaster starting up. We lifted off beautifully into the valley beyond the Lukla Airport and enjoyed a really easy, turbulence-free, 17-minute flight to the Manthali Airport in Ramechhap. After April 1st, they apparently stop flying from Kathmandu to Lukla because of weather conditions and low visibility in Kathmandu - or so we were told. This made our travel back to Kathmandu a bit more of a journey because we had to take yet another “Jeep”… here we go again. We were told that Ramechhap was 3-4 hours from Kathmandu, but like everything else - this was a sporty estimate. The same 5 people from our flight ended up being in Jeep #3 plus one other woman. It was a tight squeeze again.
About an hour into our drive we passed another Jeep on the turn and both drivers stopped, rolled down their windows, and the other driver gave our driver a phone charger. There were more than 12 people (including kids) in the other Jeep… Even beyond that interaction, we noticed that every Jeep driver seems to know each other and wave. Similar to our other two jeep rides, the car was a manual and the driver hardly ever got out of 2nd gear which thanks to a suspect gear box, landed the gear stick nearly in the passenger’s lap. The roads in Nepal are very narrow and mostly in poor condition. You can be driving on decent asphalt and then all of the sudden it abruptly changes to unpaved rocks with no warning or signage. There was a ton of road work due to erosion, but we didn’t see many construction vehicles or machinery in the more rural areas. In those places, the people were wearing flip flops doing manual labor with pick axes and raking asphalt onto the road from old garbage cans.
One of the most distinct parts about driving in Nepal is all of the honks. This “jeep” had the most feeble honk. It sounded like it was whispering, “hey, excuse me I’m coming around the corner if it is ok with you?” Other honks were much louder and more distinct. There were these huge public busses jam packed full of people, most with stuffed tigers on the dashboard, with honks that sounded like circus music. All of the little cars have big horns and the big cars have little horns. Perhaps the funniest of which is the big honks on the 3-wheeled vehicles (auto rickshaws) that seem to be unable to crest 30 mph. It all feels a bit sarcastic which makes it all the funnier.
As we drove along the road, we were dismayed to see roadside pull offs piled high with loose trash. We saw locals throwing trash out the window, our driver included. It didn’t seem like they thought anything of it which was a bit disheartening. The drive was hot and sticky with 7 of us in the car. We started the day at -15C (5F) and were now driving at 30C (86F). Grady and I each kept refreshing google maps to check our progress. When we were 90 km (55 miles) outside of Kathmandu, our projected driving time was still 4 hours.
The drive continued until a high voltage electrical wire fell on our jeep. Again, you can’t make this stuff up. A dump truck kept the “dumper” up while driving and snapped a high voltage electrical wire. The wire fell right onto our jeep. My window was open and I could’ve reached out and touched it, but of course I was keeping my distance. Meanwhile, one of the guys in the backseat reached out to try and fling it back towards the operator. The bare-foot operator came over and (we think) said “don’t touch it”, and then he grabbed it with his bare hands, detangled it from our roof rack and bags where it had gotten caught, and threw it on the ground. We then drove right over it and it was nearly tripping the motorbikes traveling the other direction. Truly unbelievable.
After the helicopter, plane, and a 7 hour drive, we were back in Kathmandu. Phew! We had a quick meeting with our guide and the head of the guiding company and thanked them for an incredible adventure. We celebrated our return to Kathmandu with pizza at a highly recommended restaurant called Fire & Ice. It felt great to get pizza and a beer and celebrate the wild adventure that Nepal became.
April 8th
We spent the morning re-booking our flight and our last afternoon in Kathmandu exploring more of Thamel. We went to another nice restaurant called Roadhouse Cafe and were so glad to be able to broaden our food choices after the limited menus at the tea houses. That being said, we still ordered a pizza as one of our selections and it didn’t disappoint. It’s amazing how much we just want to eat pizza after traveling and hiking! This was a top-10 pizza ever though so if you ever travel to Kathmandu, we can’t recommend Roadhouse Cafe enough.
April 9th
We’re flying home today! After four months of traveling, we are ready to be heading home. I think we’d feel that way regardless, but our persistent illnesses in Nepal made the comforts of home sound that much sweeter. It’s been the most incredible, rejuvenating, and adventurous several months and we couldn’t be happier to have had this experience.
Our excitement for home grew even more on our final morning when we stepped outside. The air quality index had been poor for the duration of our time in Kathmandu, but it was 214 when we left for the airport and 285 when our flight left. We had to wear masks due to the dense, hazy air, and our already compromised respiratory functions. It felt good to know we were heading home! Nepal was a beautiful, chaotic, journey full of the highest highs, and some low, lows, but all worth it.
Retrospective
Nepal was amazing. The natural beauty of the landscapes paired with the friendly, welcoming, and hard-working people was really special. It’s not the easiest place to travel and we learned a lot through our time there, but I think part of that is what makes it special. It turns out that our unknown sickness was Scarlet Fever, which I think threw us and our US doctors for a surprise upon our return home. After a month on several antibiotics, we have recovered! It now makes sense why trekking was a bit more challenging and the urgency of medical care upon returning home to the US confirmed what our gut told us - it’s good we left when we did.
The Himalayas are unlike anywhere else in the world that we’ve experienced. The steep, narrow valleys with 10,000+ feet of relief is amazing almost inconceivable. It’s a wonder that these valleys and mountains could have even formed in the first place. Pairing that with the incredible 7000+ people that live in the Khumbu Valley makes it a very special, memorable place to visit. Not everything went according to plan, but I think that’s how it works in Nepal and we couldn’t be happier to have experienced it.
Things we were so happy we brought:
Aquaphor (saved our dry, sad noses)
Hut booties (thank you TNF)
Really warm sleeping bags
Multiple down jackets
Small, 22-26L backpacks (perfect size!)
Backpack clip for the camera for quick photo taking
Buff (breathed through it to help with dry air)
Tons of socks to make sure we’d have comfy, warm socks in the tea houses
Lots of external batteries
Heaps of sunscreen and face wipes!
Hand sanitizer
Things we wish we’d brought:
Sweatshirt for the hut
Not shorts…
More chocolate! Options are limited to Snickers & Kit Kats in the villages
Thermometer (would’ve helped us monitor the whole fever situation)
Amoxicillin (would’ve solved the scarlet fever earlier!)
Even more hand sanitizer (had to buy a bunch of little bottles along the way)
Things that went really well:
The Tea Houses that our guide company picked were fantastic, we think we lucked out!
Sunrise hikes were stunning - cold, but stunning & luckily no wind!
Diamox - we had no issues with altitude
Hiking pace and the duration of our days
Safe travels in the jeep, helicopter, and the flight back (so thankful)
Trusting our gut for our plans and when we needed to adjust
The Nepali Ghar hotel in Kathmandu was an incredibly lovely place to stay & their flexibility with our evolving travel plans was great
Hiring a local Sherpa guide and porter! We truly couldn’t have navigated the logistical hurdles without our guide and given our sickness, we would’ve had a tough time schlepping our own bags. Plus, we really enjoyed getting to know Jangbu and Sonam along the way and learned so much about the local culture and history from them. They know everyone and their connections are invaluable.
Surprising / Eye Opening Things:
Most of the coordination/planning happened through back doors (no real processs, all connections)
Seems like most people get some sort of respiratory infection along the EBC route - load up on vitamin C before!
The wildly, massive loads that the porters carry - we’d read about it, but seeing it is a different ballgame
Road conditions, traffic conventions, and how many people are in each vehicle
The toilets being a hole in the ground
How cool solar powered tea kettles are!