September 9th- Everest Base Camp Trek: Day 7

Today's the Day! Everest Base Camp!

We awoke this morning very cold and not at all eager to get out of bed. The view from the dining room matched our mood, cloudy and dreary. The whole town was blanketed in a hue of grey. However, once we walked out the front doors, the clouds parted and the sun beamed down on us.

We began walking toward Gorak Shep and we took in the breathtaking view around us. We were walking through a valley with towering, snowcapped mountains on all sides. Better still, all peaks were visible as the clouds had mysteriously vanished, a rare sight indeed.

Not sure what peak but it was cloudless and beautiful.

We headed on, Holly managing to put down her camera at long last! Nearly at our destination, Matt had a go with the camera and managed to capture a couple of pictures of a weasel (ferret? Baby yeti?). 

100 rupees to anyone who can spot and identify this animal.

It is important to note that the past couple days, half the time we say "walking" we actually mean balancing through precarious piles of loose rocks with deep crevices in between. Quite frightening if you stop and think about it, which fortunately we don't have time for!

On our way to Gorak Shep.

After about three hours we arrived in Gorak Shep, put our things away, and headed gleefully for lunch (trekking works up an appetite you know!). Tired as we were, there was no time to rest as the final prize was in sight. We headed off towards Everest Base Camp.

I wonder where this handsome lad is heading to?

The walk was two hours there, and one of the more dodgy treks we've done. We had to first walk across a dry river bed and then up onto a small mountain. We wove our way around the edge of the mountain, sand and rocks underfoot. Footholds weren't the best and we found ourselves skidding down some slopes. Next, the precarious rocks got even more precarious and the crevices became even larger.

Our walk was punctuated by far off rumbling as the mountains around us experienced avalanches. Suddenly, we heard a loud rumble and the mountain just above us broke apart and we saw an avalanche! It was an experience to watch a mass amount of snow carelessly fall down a mountain side like water before settling and completely changing the face of the mountain.

One of the few avalanches we saw happen.

Carrying on from that we continued clambering over the rocks and perching on the most steady ones to take pictures, we finally caught a glimpse of Base Camp.

The rocks we clambered over!

We're getting closer!

EBC keeps some cold company!

Located on a glacier, we had to walk over mud covered ice to reach it. It was quite an experience walking on a glacier, and in our haste we nearly lost our footing as we forgot we were walking on ice! We arrived and looked around, happy to reach our final destination.

We made it!!

As you can see, Base Camp looks slightly underwhelming. It looks like a random spot in the middle of nowhere with a decorated rock. Impressive or not, we had made it and we were happy to take pictures and look around, where 6 months earlier climbers would have set up tents and started their ascent.

The walk back went back the same as the walk there, we felt exhausted as the excitement from being at Base Camp dwindled off and the past couple days caught up with us. We got back to the tea house, had an early dinner and went straight to bed. Our alarms are set for 4 am as we're climbing Kalapatar to watch the sun rise over Mt. Everest.

We are still in shock that we made it here. So proud of ourselves and
will cherish these memories for a lifetime.

Altitude: 5140m
Altitude gained: 230m
Hours trekked: 7
Altitude at Base Camp: 5364m