Mt. Everest - We Made It To Everest Base Camp (day 8)


Mt. Everest: We Made it to Everest Base Camp
September 19, 2018
(Day 8)

We made it to Everest Base Camp.  It was an exhilarating moment.  We were out of breath but climbed up the ceremonial hill and had our pictures taken.  Our little man of 11 years of age had made the trek with us all the way right to the top of the world.


I should note that it was an ordeal of the body, mind, and spirit.  It was a 12-hour day to get there.  We left Lobouche at 4:00 am to get to Gorek Shep at 8:20 am. It was an absolutely beautiful (albeit hard) trek.  We had breakfast in Gorek Shep and off we went to Everest Base Camp.  We could hear the avalanches around us – some dirt, some snow.  They were a constant reminder of the 2015 avalanche that killed 19 Everest Base Camp trekkers.

We saw both Andree and Hemant (from Mombi) along the way.  They were still alive and well. It was great to see part of our extended family make it this far. We were actually concerned that they might not have survived in part because of the treacherous terrain and because Andree was going without a guide.  We had heard too many stories of trekkers going off to a secondary trail and falling to their deaths to not consider a guide a requirement.

We were climbing higher and higher in elevation and it became difficult to speak. Our breathing was seriously labored at this point.  Even with the acclimatization apparatus we used to prepare ourselves, I must have been operating at 70-75% oxygen at best.

As we neared our destination, we had to climb over massive rocks and small boulders.  My walking stick got stuck between the rocks and when I attempted to remove it the stick broke.  I had to straddle the boulders without the assistance of my trusty walking stick to make it to safety. 

I carried medical adhesive tape with me in case of a twisted ankle or strained ankle, but the tape worked wonders on this broken walking stick. David asked: “Why do you carry things like medical tape around in your backpack.”  I explained: “because things like this happen”.  Once repaired I used that walking stick to the arrive at Everest Base Camp.

The moment we arrived it was like a glorious miracle.  We had made it to our destination on top of the world.  We had to reflect on what we asked our bodies to do for us.  They carry our spirit and consciousness through life.  The body carried us to this pinnacle and we thank it for doing precisely that.

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