Everest Base Camp Trek - May 9 - 19, 2016
Trek from May 9 to May 19 of 2016. Trek started from Lukla. Places covered were Phakding, Monju, Namche bazar, Tengboche, Dingboche, Pheriche, Thukla, Lobuche, Gorakshep, Kala patthar, Everest base camp.
14 members total. 11 from pune, 1 from Mumbai and 2 from San Francisco decided to do this trek. We knew it would be hard but we trained for it. We went to an altitude of 18,400 feet. We saw lots of peaks Everest, Lhotse, Ama dablam, Nuptse, Lobuche, Tamserku, Kusum kangri, Chola che, Khanteka, Pumori. Here is a detailed account of the trek.
My friend Jai Rawat has written a fantastic photo blog about this trek. Refer to this blog for details.
Trek Itinerary
Day 01- May 8th: Arrival in Kathmandu from India
Day 02- May 9th: Fly to Lukla (2810) and trek to Monju (2660m)
Day 03- May 10th: Trek to Namche Bazar (3440m)
Day 04- May 11th: Namche acclimatization -Hike to Everest view hotel (3800m)
Day 05- May 12th: Trek to Tengboche (3870m)
Day 06- May 13th: Trek from Tengboche to Dingboche (4252m)
Day 07- May 14th: Dingboche – acclimatization – Hike to Nangakarshang (5010m) .
Day 08- May 15th: Trek from Dingboche to Thukla Dhukla , spend night at Thukla Dhukla (4670 mts )
Day 09- May 16th: Trek to Lobuche (4930m)
Day 10- May 17th: Trek to Gorakshep , rest for a few hours , evening hike to Kalapatthar and back .
Day 11- May 18th: Trek to Everest Base camp; come back to Gorakshep and onwards to Lobuche.
Day 12- May 19th: Lobuche to Pheriche
Day 13- May 20th: Pheriche to Monjo
Day 14- May 21st: Monjo to Lukla
Day 15- May 22st: Fly to Kathmandu
Day 16- May 23nd: Extra day in kathmandu (buffer day in case of bad weather).
Day 17- May 24rd: Fly Back from Kathmandu to India
Day 02- May 9th: Fly to Lukla (2810) and trek to Monju (2660m)
Day 03- May 10th: Trek to Namche Bazar (3440m)
Day 04- May 11th: Namche acclimatization -Hike to Everest view hotel (3800m)
Day 05- May 12th: Trek to Tengboche (3870m)
Day 06- May 13th: Trek from Tengboche to Dingboche (4252m)
Day 07- May 14th: Dingboche – acclimatization – Hike to Nangakarshang (5010m) .
Day 08- May 15th: Trek from Dingboche to Thukla Dhukla , spend night at Thukla Dhukla (4670 mts )
Day 09- May 16th: Trek to Lobuche (4930m)
Day 10- May 17th: Trek to Gorakshep , rest for a few hours , evening hike to Kalapatthar and back .
Day 11- May 18th: Trek to Everest Base camp; come back to Gorakshep and onwards to Lobuche.
Day 12- May 19th: Lobuche to Pheriche
Day 13- May 20th: Pheriche to Monjo
Day 14- May 21st: Monjo to Lukla
Day 15- May 22st: Fly to Kathmandu
Day 16- May 23nd: Extra day in kathmandu (buffer day in case of bad weather).
Day 17- May 24rd: Fly Back from Kathmandu to India
Trek Attendees
* Anjali Kothari (Pune, India): Special educator, singer, encyclopedic knowledge about flora and fauna
* Anu Palnitkar (Pune, India): Dietician, close friend, super chirpy!, marathon runner
* Bhushan Ranade (Pune, India): Oncologist, super knoweldegable
* Jai Rawat (California, USA): Entrepreneur, learning to love outdoors
* Pranav Mote (Pune, India): Designer, outdoor enthusiast
* Prashant Kankaria (Mumbai, India): Dentist, exceptional whistler!
* Preeti Athavale (Pune, India): Social worker, marathon runner
* Rupali Wadiyar (Hubli, India): Radiologist, great singing voice
* Sahil Palnitkar (Pune, India): Student, guitar player, super smart
* Samir Palnitkar (Pune, India): Me
* Sudhir Kothari (Pune, India): Top neurologist, great sense of humor, singer/yodeler
* Sujata Mote (Pune, India): Outdoor enthusiast, has been featured in newspapers
* Supriya Gadekar (Pune, India): Radiologist, professional singer - simply amazing voice
* Vikas Gupta (California, USA): Engineer, friend, super nice guy
Here is a day by day description of the trek.
May 8, 2016: Pune to Kathmandu
We started at Pune airport. 11 out of the 14 members were from Pune. Checked in and ready to fly to Kathmandu via Delhi.
We flew Air India from pune to Delhi. Left pune at 7.45 am and landed at 9.45 am. Ourr flight left Delhi at 2.40 pm instead of 1.05 pm, landing at kathmandu airport at 4.15 pm on Sunday. First time in Nepal. All of us 14 members are excited. We were greeted at the airport by Shree Ghimire from base camp adventures. He is our tour operator. He welcomed everyone with garlands.
Hotel access Nepal, our stay. This was a part of the package. Base camp adventures booked it for us. Hotel is in the heart of thamel area with lots of shopping options. Lots of shops with trekking gear.
May 9, 2016: Kathmandu to Lukla, on to Monju
Flying to lukla on Monday, May 9. We left from a small section at the airport. Really small plane. 17 seater. We were 16 people. 14 of us, guide, and air hostess. It was a tiny plane. Landed at lukla at 9.00 am on Monday.Tenzing Hillary airport at Lukla.
We started our trek from Lukla almost immediately. We trekked 19 km on the first day. Lukla to Phakding. Left at 10 am, reached at 2.15 pm. We ate lunch till 3.30, then 3.30 hours from phakding to Monju
From Lukla to Monju. 19 km walk on the first day. Quite tiring. We reached Monju by 7 pm.
May 10, 2016: Monju to Namche Bazar
On the way, we saw porters carrying 50 to 60 kg. All the material on the ebc route is carried by these porters. Our porters were paid 1200 to 1500 Nepali rupees per day. These porters have an interesting t shaped stick on which they rest.
Approx 6 km trek with a net 600 m gain. But we lost a lot of elevation. So overall a very tough climb. We left Monju at 8 am and reached Namche Bazar at 2 pm. Namche Bazar was a major trading post between Nepal and Tibet, before the Chinese took over Tibet.
Full cell phone coverage on the mountains. We were able to talk to Aditya for 30 mins on WhatsApp. I have never seen such connectivity in the mountains. 2g or 3g everywhere
Staying at the Hilton in namche bazar. Our guide told us that we would be staying at the Hilton. Then we found our that it was a small teahouse called Hill Ten, named after Hillary and tenzing. :)
Cafe Danphe at Namche Zazar. In the evening we wandered around in the market and went to a nice coffee shop. We had cinnamon capuccino and ginger lemon tea. Both were very good. We spent almost 2 hours at the café. 7 of us went there.
Dinner at hotel Hill Ten. You can choose anything from the dinner menu. Water, drinks, hot chocolate, and desserts are paid separately. We had tomato soup, noodles, pizza, aloo parathas.
May 11, 2016: Acclimitization Trek to Everest View Hotel
Wed, May 11. Starting our rest day with a dance. Dancing to the tune of Nepali trekking song. "Resham piriri". Tika is the guide dancing with Anu and Jai.
Everest View Hotel. 3 hour trek with a climb of about 500m. 2 hours to come back. This was supposed to be a rest day :) Everest and other peaks are visible
Everest view hotel, luxury hotel at 3880m. We had coffee at the hotel. It was not as expensive as expected. We spent about two hours, drank coffee, sang songs.
Singing and dancing in front of Everest view hotel. Everyone started singing and dancing. We had a great time coming back down to Hill-ten hotel
May 12, 2016: Namche Bazar to Tengboche
Trek from Namche bazar to Tengboche. This was a very tough trek. In the last part of the trek, we climbed about 800m in the last part in 1.30 hrs. Overall, the trek took 5.30 hrs.
Cold during the morning. The clouds were below us. Unending views wherever we could see. We saw monument for Tenzing Norgay. Built in 2003 on the 50th anniversary of the first summit success in 1953. Himalayan yaks carrying baggage.
With Kishor Dhankude who was coming back from EBC. Kishor had summitted Everest before. He was leading a group to EBC. We met him on his way back
Rooms at the Himalayan lodge in tengboche were very cosy rooms.
Tengboche monastery, very old. Lama dorje meditated here in the 16th century
There was a small bakery cafe at Tengboche.
We also saw a soccer between two teams at tengboche.
After the day trek, we also went on a 1.15 hr acclimatization trek to the nearest peak and viewpoint.
May 13, 2016: Tengboche to Sumare (near Dingboche
Starting out on trek to Dingboche. In front of Himalayan lodge. It was a very cosy place. Views of dudhkosi river from bridge. Bridge on the trek from tengboche to dingboche. Very colorfully embellished yaks. Yaks that have a nose ring are supposed to be a little wild
While the trails are very well marked, Everest base camp is not an easy trek. 5-6 hours of walking every single day at high altitude. Not simple.
Sonam restaurant is a very popular name in Nepal. Lots of similar names to Hindi. Lunch at Sonam restaurant in Sumare at 1.00 pm. Instead of going to Dingboche, we stayed over for the night at this hotel in Sumare because Anu had some altitude sickness symptoms
May 14, 2016: Sumare to Dingboche, Rest Day in Dingboche
Anu was not feeling well. Hence, we stopped over in sumare. Anu took diamox and felt better in the morning. Hence we decided to continue with the trek. Stunning views in clear weather. We saw lots of peaks. Lhotse, amadablam, and many others. Sunny but cold. We were decked up in warm clothes. Anu was able to trek the distance. Reached dingboche in 2.30 hrs by 10.45 am.
The trek was so beautiful. anu was fine throughout the trek. Himalayan landscapes are simply unbelievable. Every mountain is massive.
Acclimitization trek 3 hrs from Dingboche. Started at 1.20 pm reached the local peak Nangkarshang by 3.10 pm. Reached back at the hotel by 3.55 pm. Ascent was 300 m.
Evening session with lots of fun songs. We stayed at hotel family in dingboche. Lots of Hindi songs and ghazals. Fun evening.
May 15, 2016: Dingboche to Lobuche
Starting from Dingboche to Lobuche. Very cold. Below freezing. Clouds covering the mountains. We started at 6.30 am. Terrain was fairly even. Stunning views.
Anu was feeling much better today. Ama dablam means mother and daughter in Sherpa language. Two peaks next to reach other. Ama dablam is also known as ama chori in Nepalese.
At Thukhla pass. Everest climbers memorial. A steep climb after thukhla. A memorial for all climbers who died on Everest
At Mother Earth lodge in lobuche. We reached Lobuche by 1.15 pm.
May 16, 2016: Lobuche to Gorakshep
Last leg of our journey to Everest base camp. We started at 7.10 am from Mother Earth lodge. Amazing views in the morning. The mountains tower above us.
Could never get enough of the mountains. Arrived at Himalayan lodge in Gorakshep. Arrived at 10.20 am. There is a statue of shivaji installed by Giripremi group from Pune. They run a social service to raise money for the Sherpas.
Left for Everest base camp from Gorakshep. We left at 12.00 noon immediately after arriving from Lobuche. Arrived at EBC at 1.45 pm. At EBC, See the khumbu glacier in the distance. That is the glacier from which people summit Everest and go to base camp one. We saw yellow tents at EBC . These are the standard type of tents at base camp.
There was euphoria at having made it. It took us 8 days of summer serious trekking to make it to base camp. We reached about 18,000 feet. Hard to imagine that people who go on Everest summit have to climb another 11,000 feet.
We had heard the Indian army was summiting from Everest base camp. So we went looking for the Indian army tent. Apparently, about 700 people live in base camp at one time. Started walking looking for Indian army tent . We ended up walking nearly 45 mins to the far end of everest base camp. Saw many interesting views on the way. We reached the Indian army camp around 2.45 pm, about 45 mins from the photo point. Unfortunately, the expedition had left the morning of may 16. Thus, we did not meet the Indian army summitters. At the camp, we saw photos of different Gods. Shows the secular nature of our army. We saw the Indian tricolor. Proud feeling and a feeling of being at home.
We enjoyed the hospitality of the army. We met major Karan from Jaipur, Dorje from ladakh and Aman from Darjeeling. We were served some tea and biscuits. Felt great to meet sometime from home. We left the army camp at around 2.45 pm and arrived at the photo point by 3.20 pm.
We left Everest base photo point at 3.30 pm and arrived by 5.30 pm. We had walked for nearly 11 hours since the time we left Lobuche in the morning.
May 17, 2016: Kala Patthar, Gorakshep to Pheriche
Left for Kala patthar at 6.47 am. Kala patthar is a mountain near gorakshep which provides the best views of everest. This was the last difficult trek the we had planned to do. It was very cold. We had our down jackets on. We saw a view of everest from kala patthar. Everest had a cloud halo around it.
We reached almost the top of Kala Patthar by 7.45 am. We decided not to go all the way to the top because the views of everest were the same. Also, we had to come back all the way to Pheriche the same day.
On the way back from gorakshep to Lobuche. We climbed down from kala patthar and reached back at the Himalyan lodge by about 8.45 am. We left the Himalyan lodge at 9.35 am. Reached Lobuche by 11.10 am. Since we were descending, the walk seemed much easier.
Left Lobuche at 11.17 am for thukla. Couldn't get enough of the stunning Himalyan views. Reached thukhla by 12.20 pm. Much faster than when we had come. We had lunch at thukhla.
Left thukla at 1.20 pm for Pheriche. Pheriche is in a huge valley. From gorakshep to the valley, we descended almost 1000m in one day. Reached pumori lodge in pheriche by 2.45 pm Pheriche is very close to dingboche except pheriche is at a much lower altitude in the basket. It started snowing in pheriche by 4.30 pm. We experienced snowfall. The location of pheriche is beautiful.
May 18, 2016: Pheriche to Namche Bazar
Left Pheriche for Namche bazar 7.10 am. Beautiful day after snow in the previous evening. We decided to go directly from Pheriche to namche bazar via tengboche. It was challenging, but we decided to do it.
Reached tengboche at 10.30 am. We decided to have coffee and then Anu was speaking with Aditya on the phone. So we spent about 45 mins.
11.15 am Steep climb down from Tengboche. There was a step climb down when we started climbing down.. We had to encounter that on our way to Everest base camp.
12.20 pm. Lunch at a village near the river. It took anu and I about 1.05 hrs to climb down. Sahil and Jai did it in about 23 mins. He almost ran down. The lunch was simple Nepali dal, sabji and some roti.. But delicious.
1.15 pm from Lunch place to 3.45 pm at Namche. It took us 2.30 hrs from the lunch place toNnamche bazar. After lunch it was difficult to climb the steep ascent on a full stomach. But we finally reached Namche bazar.
At 3.45 pm we were back in our room at Hill ten hotel at Namche bazar. We realized that coming back, due to increased oxygen and a general descent, we were able to do 2 to 2.5 times the speed on our way to Everest base camp.
4.30 pm, we went to Cafe Danphe in Namche bazar. Cafe danphe was a nice cafe in the heart of namche bazar. The café had great ginger honey tea and also cinnamon capuccino. Btw, "Danphe" is Nepali national bird, similar to the peacock. The male bird is very colorful.
May 19, 2016: Namche Bazar to Lukla
Final day, namche bazar to lukla. We decided to go straight from Namche bazar to lukla. Almost a 25 km distance. We could have done it in two parts, but we decided to do it straight.
Another beautiful day at Namche bazar. During the entire trek, we were blessed with fantastic weather in the mornings when we started trekking. Typically, during the evening around 3 pm, clouds would gather and around 5.30 pm, it would rain.
Long trek from Namche to Lukla. We were going back via phakding and monju. We left namche at 7.10 We reached monju at 10.30 am. Then phakding at 12 noon. We left phakding at 1.30 pm and arrived in lukla at 4 pm, a nearly 25 km walk.
Looked forward to relaxing in lukla. After trek party at khumbu resort in lukla. Jwala tamang was the main guide. Bhim, tika and ganesh were the assistant guides. We had 6 porters. Total party and dancing. A little Nepali song and dance routine turned into a full blown party. Lots of English, Nepali and Bollywood songs. Party continued till late. The guides, porters and tourists all joined in. Other groups joined in as well. It was one big party.
May 20, 21, 21: Lukla to Kathmandu to Pune
The weather in Lukla was bad. So we stayed in Lukla for two days and flew on May 21 from Lukla to Kathmandu. The Gorkha pilots of our plane barely made it through the cloud cover. The visibility was about 50 ft.
On May 22, we flew from Kathmandu to Pune. It was a glorious trek.
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