The Epic Trek: Cho La Pass & Everest Base Camp

The morning started the way the past several mornings started:  picture-perfect.  Being surrounded by behemoth snow-capped mountains accented with clear blue skies had not grown old.  We ate breakfast and hurried to catch up with Steve to take him up on his offer.

The previous evening we chatted with a small group that had just crossed the Cho La Pass.  It wasn't long into our conversation that they had instilled into us a sense of fear by saying that it was nearly impossible to cross the Ngojumba glacier without a guide.  In one of our previous conversations, Steve had graciously extended an invitation for us to follow along with his group as we were all heading the same direction.

With our room emptied and all of our gear on our backs we met up with Steve and the boys and marched out of town and up the moraine.  We had almost made it out of town when our hotel owner shouted good-bye and pointed us in the direction of the trail.  It was really quite sweet because in our conversations with her we mentioned that we were going to make the trek on our own and she just wanted us to be safe.  Once on the top of the ridge the full glacier revealed itself to us:  a moon-scape of grey rock hills and turquoise lakes accompanied by the constant splashing of rocks falling into the lakes and the cracking and popping of the glacial ice.  As a group we walked for just over a half an hour before taking a break.  Steve's group powered through at their breakneck pace while we lumbered on at what they had affectionately dubbed "Katie speed."  Throughout our trek we were always told that "slowly-slowly" is the best way to go through the Himalayas and, to be honest, it's impossible to go any faster when you're hauling all of your own gear.  We rested once more after climbing out of the other side glacier before reaching Tagnag.

In Tagnag we all enjoyed lunch before Steve's group headed out and continued down the valley.  The previous day one of his boys over exerted himself, by not going "Katie speed" up Gokyo Ri (5360m), so instead of risking any possible altitude sickness crossing the 5420m Cho La Pass they opted to go down and around.  The remainder of the day we rested and chatted with people at the lodge and even peeked at a few photos of the pass taken by other trekkers.  Our next morning's start was going to arrive painfully early so we headed off to our plywood room in an attempt to get enough rest for our longest day of hiking yet.

It was an hour before sunrise when we arrived in the dining hall for our breakfast and to pick up our pack lunch.  We made it outside and started the climb about 30 minutes before sunrise.  It would be another two hours of climbing in the shadow of the mountains before the direct rays of the sun would fall upon us and start to melt the morning frost and overnight snow.  It was after those two hours when we finally crested a ridge and got a glimpse of the Cho La Pass and what lay before us.  Across the boulder strewn valley were four towering peaks accented with blindingly fresh snow and highlighted by the beautiful clear blue sky.  Somewhere wedged between two of those peaks was our destination.  Katie spotted some prayer flags, and the pass, long before I did; probably because I didn't think we could possibly have to climb to where they were located - it looked impossible.

We followed the trail down into the valley cursing at every inch of elevation we were giving up because we knew only too well that we would have to regain every one of those precious inches on our climb up the rock wall that we now faced.  What we did not expect was our encounter with a boulder field in the middle of the valley.  And by encounter I mean at times literally crawling over frost and snow covered boulders the size of refrigerators and small cars that stretched for nearly a kilometer all the while fearing that any misplacement of our feet could easily lead to a broken appendage with the only hope of rescue being a life-flight helicopter ride back to Kathmandu.

After having spent the better part of an hour following footprints over that rocky, frosty, hell-scape we came to the base of the pass, and the "start" of our climb, never mind the previous three hours of up and one hour of down it took to get to the start.  From here we could see several groups of people coming down and we watched as the small group and lone porter we had been following crested the top.  Following footprints got much easier at this point thanks to the several inches of snow the previous night.  But with the snow also came some fear because everything we had read said not to try the pass on your own if there was fresh snow.  Well, too late for that now.

We labored for nearly an hour and a half before we reached the top.  Along the way we took frequent stops to regain our breath and let oncoming groups pass.  We came to the realization that anyone with any amount of experience, common sense, or lack thereof, could hike these majestic mountains with complete disregard to their or anyone else's safety by being babysat along the whole way.  My case and point was when I saw a young lady that needed her guide to literally point to where she should place her feet.  I'll say that again, she needed her guide to tell her how to walk.  I felt sorry for her guide and his face showed his frustration as well.

Having reached the top of the pass we removed our packs and grabbed our sack lunches and snickers bars.  We didn't spend any extended amount of time at the top because it started to get cloudy and windy and at an elevation of 5420m that combination, along with being sweaty, doesn't mix well.

Apart from a short, but steep and icy/snow-packed, down and up at the top and the occasional small boulder field our walk across the small glacier was unremarkable.  Well, except for the remarkable views it provided of the valley when we started our rather steep descent.  After that we finally reached easy walking but by that point we were hungry and tired and nearly out of water.  By the time we reached Dzonglha we had been hiking for eight and a half hours and were more than ready to be done for the day.

Dzonglha is a tiny village that consists of only two lodges, however a third lodge was under construction while we were there.  By chance we were staying in the same lodge as the two other couples, one Italian and the other Israeli, who preceeded us over the pass.   We talked with them a bit about our day as well as with others in the lodge eager to walk the pass from the other direction.  Our evening ended pretty early though due to exhaustion.

When morning broke I felt the call of the mountains coupled with my need to play photographer.  The skies were again magnificently blue and everything was covered with an inch or so of new snow.  I marched myself up to the top of a "small", only a couple hundred meters, hill in the middle of the valley and got an amazing panoramic.  I was awestruck by Mount Cholatse (6443m) towering over Dzonglha and how it managed to conceal itself from us the day before.  I remained on my perch and watched the yak train lumber on further down the hill before lumbering myself back down for breakfast. 

Our trek this day was only supposed to take three hours so we weren't in any hurry to punish our feet.  We headed out at around the same time as our new Israeli friends so for the first hour or so we passed each other a couple of times and chatted a bit as we went.  The views were absolutely spectacular so we kept stopping for photo ops.

As per what we've come to expect the skies clouded up around 1pm as we pulled into Lobuche.  That didn't matter though as we sauntered into a busy lodge and grabbed ourselves a room.  Lunch was next followed by a nap.  At dinner we met a mother/daughter couple from New Zealand and chatted a bit with one of our Israeli friends, as the other wasn't feeling well and went to bed early.

The following day we rewarded ourselves with a rest day.  We thought about resting immediately following our grueling day over Cho La, but we pushed on with the understanding that Lobuche was ever so larger, and with the hopes of maybe running into our friend Cameron on his way down - we didn't.  Katie spent some time searching for a hot shower, and finally found it in the neighboring lodge for $5 - but if you ask her it was worth over $20 - while I played photographer again and climbed up the ridge of the glacier.

Being relatively early, the clouds had not yet rolled in, so I got to see some amazing views of what the valley had further up.  I also got to peek at the Italian research station cleverly dubbed the "Pyramid" because it is in the shape of a pyramid.  Throughout the remainder of the day we enjoyed tea and played some card games.  Our Israeli friends had also decided to take a rest day and that evening they taught us how to play Yaniv - a card game of skill, luck, and even some bluffing that can go on for days with the right people.  We also heard the sad news of an unfortunate helicopter crash in Lukla that claimed the life of a local lodge owner.  So that put a bit of a damper on things.

We had our gear packed, breakfast eaten, and were on the trail around 7:30 the next morning with the aspirations of finally reaching Everest Base Camp.  The first hour and a half was a nice gradual climb but that turned into a steep uphill scramble when the trail intersected with another glacier.  Luckily for us though, there was only one steeper bit until we would ascend into Gorak Shep.

We chose the lodge right at the edge of the village, but that was not before we circled the entire place once and briefly became misplaced – all this in a village smaller than your average Cost Co.  After we checked in we emptied the vast majority of the contents of our bags and kept only what we'd need to reach Everest Base Camp.  Before embarking on this endeavor we ate lunch and talked with a few other hikers about the route.  One of the guys did the hike the day before but couldn't see much due to the clouds so he was going to try again.

The trail beyond Gorak Shep took us up to the top edge of the Khumbu Glacier where we hiked for almost the next two hours until we were nearly perpendicular to camp.  From there we dropped down to the glacier where we had to meticulously work our way around areas that had recently melted/dropped away or even opened up into crevasses.  Those last 15 minutes were a little unnerving at times but finally, after 14 days of hiking, we had reached Everest Base Camp.

Everest Base Camp at this time of year was nothing more than a dozen tents as almost all climbing attempts are made in May.  I had heard several times over the past two weeks that EBC should not be your destination, rather your journey should be, or you may be disappointed.  I agreed with that sentiment but there still was something special about being at EBC.

After snapping a few photos and given the fact that there wasn't anything to "do" there, we made our way off the glacier and back up its moraine.  We walked for roughly 30 minutes when we heard some shouting and waving ahead of us.  We were almost startled by the commotion but we soon recognized that it was one of Steve's boys!  He was blazing his way up the trail in his usual fashion with the rest of the group right behind him.  They had successfully completed their detour around the Cho La Pass and were just about to reach EBC themselves.  It was great to see them again and hear that everything was going well.  We finally remembered to take a group photo but neither group wanted to keep the other waiting and with EBC still in sight we headed in opposite directions.

Back in Gorak Shep we settled into the dining hall with a group of new friends and talked about finally reaching EBC, the weather, and who was going to climb Kala Pattar in the morning.  It was deemed to be more mental exhaustion than physical that was keeping some people from attempting it.  Plus you could never depend on the weather so views were not guaranteed.  Katie decided that it wasn't worth it to her while I decided that I was going to give it my all.  I thought briefly about going up for sunrise but there was no way I was willing to start my climb at 4:30am and with that being the general consensus among our group we decided to meet in the dining hall at 7am to head up together.

I was awakened around 5am from the noise in the room above me and with the bated anticipation of a kid at Christmas, I peeked outside to see nothing obstructing the stars and moon.  It was clear for the moment, which meant that I would hopefully have good views while I climbed.  I jumped back in bed for another hour, barely sleeping another minute, and then grabbed my gear and headed to the dining hall.

Upon reaching the hall and looking outside I was thoroughly confused when I saw an inch of new snow on the ground.  Within the past hour the weather changed from clear to snow to mostly clear.  I ate my breakfast and waited for the rest of the group to show up.  At 7am we left the lodge and marched our way across the village and started our ascent.

The typical climb takes around two hours but I climbed like a man possessed.  Even with an emergency executive bathroom break I made it up in under an hour and a half.  When I reached the top, I was greeted by a "hippie dude" asking if I was going to join him up where he was sitting above the prayer flags.  I replied, "If there is room."  His response was a chill, "Yeah, man.  We're all in this together."

We sat above the prayer flags on a narrow ledge drinking in the quiet beauty of the Himalayas in the rising sun.  The only sounds emanated from just above us, a Buddhist with his feet dangling over a 100+ meter cliff was doing his morning chants.  It was surreal.  I remained at my 5600m/18370ft perch for only about 10 minutes before descending to an area more suitable to take photos.  The cloud cover, while generally cooperative, constantly changed; clouds would originate in the valley, wrap themselves around the mountains, and then drift away.  As time passed more and more people started to show up.  With the early morning serenity quickly fading I decided it was best to head down the mountain.

Katie spent her morning wandering around the village enjoying the sun, taking photos, and talking with Steve.  Neither he nor his boys made the trip up Kala Pattar because, as he so eloquently put it in his Tasmanian accent, he "couldn't be bothered."  Katie agreed wholeheartedly, it had indeed been a long and exhausting trek.

Back at our lodge we packed our gear and ate our lunch.  As we headed outside and took one last look up at the mountains we realized we were going to do something we hadn't done in two weeks, hike downhill.

Click on the collage to see the full album, complete with panoramics!