The alarm went off at 6 am; it was time to get ready for another day of high altitude trekking; our eighth day on the Everest base camp trek. The trek to Lobuche was to take about 4-5 hours. After a good breakfast, we set out in the same route as the one we had taken the previous day to the Nagarjuna peak. We took the turn towards Lobuche and headed in the direction of the stupas. After the stupas, the trail went downhill for a while, after which, it was a gradual ascent or a flat trail with some steep ascents. For most part until tea, the trail was along the Doodh Kosi river. And we passed several herds of yaks on the way.
It was a overcast day but all of a sudden the cloud cover cleared and we could see Ama Dablam; it was an enchanting view of a majestic peak. As we walked, the tiny village of Periche came in view. There were a couple of choppers ferrying people from Periche, we were slated to stay at this village on our way back. The sky was overcast again and there was a slight drizzle. We had to cross the Doodh Kosi river one more time, this time there wasn’t much of a bridge, just some large rocks and a wooden plank.
The trail again went up and after much effort we reached our tea stop, Thukla, at 11 am. The big question facing us was whether we should continue on the trail after a lunch break or would it be better to do the steep ascent just with tea in our stomach, deriving energy from the stash of energy bars we were carrying. The group decided to plod on after tea and reach Lobuche for lunch.
We did not know what we had in store for us in the next couple of hours. Right after we started off from our tea stop, the ascent was and there wasn’t much of a trail, there were boulders and rocks all along the path. It was a challenge to find a path and the temperature rapidly dropped to less than 5 C. There was thick fog in the air and visibility was less than 100 m. We soon lost visual contact of each other and each of us was pretty much on our own.
After another 30 minutes of climbing up, I reached flat ground, and I could see several monuments erected in memory of climbers who had lost their life in their quest to summit Everest with and without oxygen. At this point, one of our fastest group members who was way ahead of us and was accompanied our guide Nima was nowhere to be seen and I could guess she was already headed to Lobuche. One of our other group members was waiting at the flat ground. He had figured out that there was a fork and there were 2 trails at this point and did not know which one to take. He had been waiting for about 15 minutes when I reached the flat ground.
We could not see anything beyond 100 m and there was no one in sight to check the route before we proceeded forward. It was extremely cold, I had to get my balaclava out and wear it as my face was freezing, the rain was pounding heavily and the visibility was poor. Considering this flat ground was at an higher altitude, there were strong winds. We tried to find some protection behind large rocks but it wasn’t helping much.
Intuitively, I felt the trail that turned right would be the one we would need to take; I decided to walk further on that trail until the edge of the flat ground to check if I could get a glimpse of any other groups that were walking towards Lobuche. After a 10 minute walk, I was an the edge but could not see anyone; I did not even encounter any locals carrying loads to check on the route. I made my way to the flat ground where my group member who had reached before me was waiting. We were lost! After ten minutes, another member of our group arrived. Now, there were three of us who were lost and we could not reach our guides. Our group member with the ankle injury was going to take another hour possibly to get to the point where we were waiting and she was accompanies by Minmar. We knew we did not have a guide with us and the weather was getting worse. We were freezing and wondering if this would be the end of our Everest base camp trek; so close yet so far. There was a hot debate amongst the 3 of us on which trail to take; we were all extremely tired from an hour long steep ascent at almost 60 degrees incline on large boulders and rocks, the weather was getting worse, visibility was poor and now tempers were flaring. I wondered if this was to do with the altitude or exhaustion or sheer helplessness that we were experiencing.
Another 15 minutes went by and then we saw the group that we had met at the tea stop come up the mountain to the flat ground. We were relieved. We checked with their guide on the route and we were told that the trail on the right would take us to Lobuche and the one on the left would have taken us to Cho-la pass at an altitude of 5420 m. Another 6 hours of brisk walking and managing the altitude would have taken us to Cho-la pass, had we taken the trail on the left; we would have never gotten there or anywhere for that matter!
We took the trail on the right and descended down the mountain. The rain was heavier and the visibility was poorer. Lobuche was another hour and a half away. I was tired, cold and exhausted; I was struggling to pace myself, rain was hitting hard on the face and the balaclava was not helping me with my breathing. I tried to calm myself and suddenly I could sense my perseverance and will power take over; I just kept walking in the direction of Lobuche, a large part of the trail was along the river, I don’t remember uttering a word or stopping for a moment. As I kept walking, the only thing my brain could comprehend was that I had to reach Lobuche and nothing was going to stop me from getting there. We could hear helicopters overhead on rescue missions; ferrying trekkers with altitude sickness to lower altitudes. I was sure I didn’t want to be in one of them. Finally, I walked into the village of Lobuche and into the dining area of our tea house. Soon the three of us were in the tea house and expressed our displeasure to Nima who ideally should have waited for us at the flat ground where the trail went in two different directions. There was tension is the air; we were tired and cold and some hot tea seemed like the best option to soothe the nerves.
Lobuche is a small settlement in the Khumbu region of Nepal and is the last stop with lodging prior to Gorakshep and is the base for mountaineers attempting Everest from the south east route or for trekkers attempting the Everest base camp trek. From Lobuche, Everest base camp is about 8.5 kms.
Our rooms were on the first floor, the rooms were much smaller than the other tea houses we had stayed in and for the first time, we were going to be using 2 common toilets for about 15 odd rooms. These toilets did not have water inlets and required a manual flush using water placed in drums. Luckily, the tea house was not very busy, but it was busy enough to put strain on the resources in general. The tea house did not have lights in the rooms and we had to manage with our head lamps. Earlier, we had used our head lamps only when there were power failures in the evenings/nights, now we needed to use the head lamps all through. The dining area did have some lights though. It was very cold outside and with no heating, it was freezing inside. We were hoping the stove in the dining area would be lit soon and it would help us warm up a bit.
Our friend with the ankle injury arrived at the tea house about 2 hours after we arrived. It was an extremely tiring and difficult day for all of us. The group of trekkers that had helped us find our trail were in the same tea house. We also met a Korean who was doing the Everest base camp and several other trails alone. We met another person from Portugal who was excited to be in Nepal considering Europe did not offer such high altitude climbing. All of us were seated in the dining area and catching up on our adventures, drinking tea; I took some time off to write my blog. Soon, the stove was lit and we tried to warm ourselves up. It was dinner time and dinner consisted of Sherpa stew and vegetable fried rice. There was no mobile network and so there was no way to call home; we were completely disconnected from the world. None of us had symptoms of altitude sickness; though one of my friends had a headache and was struggling to distinguish if it was due to a sinus infection or altitude related. Another friend was beginning to have symptoms of an upset stomach and was unable to eat dinner and again we were not sure if it was due to the altitude and the extreme cold we had been exposed to when we waited at the flat ground or a stomach bug of some kind.
We were headed to Gorakshep (5164 m) the next day. It was so close yet, Everest base camp seemed so far!
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