Everest Base Camp

A Tibetan at the mountain pass.

Our room of beds.

Yaks.

Rob taking a rest on the way to base camp.

Locals at the tent site.

At the Everest marker, khata around my neck. Everest in the background.

Tying the khata in memory of....

A blue sheep.

The Rong Pu Monastery.

The little stupas.

The base camp marker.

Working yaks.

Monday, May 14^th.

I had almost no sleep all night. I have caught the cold that others have had. With everyone in the van I guess we share germs easily. My nose was congested and I had a really sore throat during the night which kept me awake for most of it.

We were off by 9:00 for a shorter drive to Rombuk which is the nearest town to Everest Base Camp. We drove for about three hours through the mostly desolate landscape with no vegetation and only a few yak, sheep or goat herders to be seen.

We arrived at our ‘hotel’ which is a rectangular group of dormitory rooms. It is owned and run by the Rong Bu monastery across the road, which is the highest monastery in the world. We were assigned our rooms and I was to bunk with Rob, Nick, Yannick and Andrew. Our very cold room was basically wall to wall beds, with little room for luggage or walking around.

We had a quick lunch in the ‘hotel’ and changed into our warmer clothes. Then most of us began the six kilometre walk to Everest Base Camp. The walk was along a paved road on a gradual incline, but at 5000 metres and a stiff cold wind blowing down at as from the mountain, it was very arduous and cold. It took about fifty minutes to get there. Everest should have been visible directly in front of us most of the way, but it was obscured by cloud mostly and we only got a few glimpses. When we arrived, the first thing we found was the family tent compound where there was a rectangular grouping of large black canvas tents where people could stay to be as close to the mountain as possible and it also housed a couple of ‘restaurants’ where they could eat. Of course, there were a couple of tables of souvenir sellers as well. Nick, Dirk, Els, Rob and I arrived first and then waited for the other walkers and the van that brought Shirley and Yannick who didn’t want to walk. BK told us there were two marker stones about a hundred metres ahead that we were allowed to walk to, so we did. One was for Mt Qomolangma (Everest in Tibetan) Base Camp at 5200 metres and the further one was to mark the elevation of Mt Qomolangma at 8844.43 metres, over three kilometres higher than where we stood! We all posed for photos. I had brought my white khata scarf with me that was given to me by Tingsey when we arrived in Tibet. Traditionally people leave them tied to high places or attached to important places. I decided to tie mine to a mound of them at the furthest place we were allowed to go in honour of the five friends I lost last year: John Midgely, Lester Fearman, George Huczek, Ian Jones, Don Gray and Tom O’Malley who died years earlier, who always pops up in my head whenever I see tropical plants and fish. I thought it made a fitting place to remember good friends and wish them farewell.

Off to the left of the markers was the Rong Pu monastery, which is the second highest in the world. I decided to climb the fifty or so steps to it. I found a small monastery of three buildings and a group of stupas very similar to the ones I saw in Bhutan. There were also a small group of wild, what BK calls blue sheep there. I wandered around exploring and ‘Tashi Delek-ing’ (the greeting of one person to another) the two monks I met. Then I went back down and with the group walked back to the van in the tent area. Most people drove back, but for some reason I decided to walk back. It was mostly downhill with the strong wind at my back but the elevation makes it so hard to breathe and walk. My leg muscles were complaining. I arrived back at the camp at about five after the van and was thoroughly exhausted. I went to my room and climbed in wearing everything. The cold I have and the cold in the room and the exertion left me not wanting to do anything. I tried to sleep but had little success. I skipped dinner as I had no desire to eat. About 8:00 BK came in and said that he had another room for our use. Andrew and Rob decided to go and sleep with BK. So, I stayed in bed and shared the room with Yannick and Nick. They came back from the restaurant/bar about 9:00 and we all tried to get some sleep.