September 10th- Everest Base Camp Trek: Day 8

The Road Less Travelled (And With Good Reason)

At a shocking 4 am we stumbled out of bed and wrapped up warm. Bleary-eyed we made our way across the dried river bed by the light of flashlights to start our climb of Kalapatar. Our goal was to see the sun rise over Mt. Everest.

Jumping back in time to us walking into Gorak Shep, the dirt path on the hill
is the one we'll take up to the summit of Kalapatar.

The difficulty of the climb surprised us both, from the bottom it looks like a long hill but in reality, it was steep and rocky. Though we didn't make it to the summit in time for sun rise, we managed to snap a couple pictures of Everest from about midway up. Regardless of what anyone says, seeing the sun rise over Everest is spectacular no matter where you see it from!

A mountain looms over us at dawn.

The sun rising over a giant.

Dawn over Mt. E.

Unfortunately, the clouds rolled in and that was our cue to continue climbing up. Winding up the sand covered paths and scrambling over rocks, the summit at last came into view! From here, we became true mountaineers as the path vanished and it was up to us to heave ourselves over the massive boulders. We climbed over our last boulder, stood up high, arms raised in triumph and took in the view...

Mt. Everest (left), Lhotse range (middle) and the Loch Ness Monster (right).

The clouds had come back with a vengeance and what was supposed to be a 360° view was all rather the same. We suffered the cold as long as we could before charging back down, the thought of our pancake breakfasts spurring us on. Eating our breakfast we were quite proud of ourselves. Standing at 5550m in altitude, Kalapatar was an impressive accomplishment and the (literal) high point of our trip.

Two very tired trekkers at the top of
Kalapatar.

The high wearing off slightly (pun intended), we packed up our bags and set off for the next trek of the day. We walked back to Lobuche where we would be stopping for lunch. The clouds had parted and the temperature was pleasant so the hike was nice, if not familiar. We ate our lunch and then began to feel the effects of our early morning start as we dozed off at the table after we'd finished eating!

Off we set again. However, a little ways off at a river we crossed days earlier, we took a right instead of a left, which would have taken us back the way we came. What those of you counting the days might have noticed is we are on a 15 day trek instead of 12, like we told you. Rather spontaneously (from the warmth and safety of our hostel), we decided to take an additional 3 days and visit the Gokyo Lake as well. This right turn was the start of that detour.

The path we took led us up a gentle slope along the side of a mountain. When we had gone through that way a few days earlier, Raju had pointed it out to us. When Matt remarked on its precariousness, Holly had said that the path we were on probably looked the same. It did not.

Matt was right about how precarious the path was. It was barely one person wide and was made up of sand which crumbled threateningly if we got too close. It wound round the mountain and was sometimes interrupted by large rocks that we had to clamber over. If that wasn't terrifying enough, about halfway through it started to rain. We scrambled to put the covers on the bags, and ourselves, when the rain stopped... and the hail started. In disbelief, we continued on and the hail thankfully turned back to rain.

Our nice weather from earlier had left us and we were walking through clouds and rain, now along a less steep hill covered in grass. Visibility was poor so we were glad to be off the sandy path we were on before. Still, we did spot a couple of Tibetan Cocks through the mist!

No Tibetan Cocks here...

Just a couple of sad chickens.

Trudging on, the walk seemed to take forever. Soaked to the bone and dreaming of Sherpa stew we at long last made it to Dzongla. Exhausted from our early start and long day trekking we're excited to fall asleep tonight. Tomorrow, we're up at 5 am to get going of the Cho La Pass...

Due to exhaustion and rain we don't have many pictures from this part of the trip!

Altitude: 4830m
Altitude lost: 310m
Hours trekked: 10.5
Altitude at Kalapatar: 5550m