EBC Day 13 Gorak Shep – Kala Patthar – Pheriche

I was already awake when my alarm went off at 3.20am, having gone to bed early but not slept terribly well – I’m blaming the altitude. I got dressed by the light of my iPhone torch as the batteries had died on my head torch and there was no functioning light in my room. Packing a minimum of items in my backpack and dressing for the dark and cold I was ready to leave. The lodge restaurant was in darkness and porters were asleep on the benches as a number of people gathered for the ascent of Kala Patthar – aiming to see the sunrise behind the peak of Mount Everest across the valley. Jacek lent me his spare head torch and we set off just after 4am, following a path of lights winding their way up the steep hillside. We had about 500m to climb which would take about 2 hours. After the initial steep shock I got into a decent slow pace rhythm, not over exerting but periodically interrupted by rocks to negotiate. Across the valley to the right we could see the lights of Everest climbers scaling the Khumbu icefall on their way up to Camp 1. As the path got higher the lack of oxygen supply began to tell and my pace slowed further. I took a number of opportunities to rest and catch my breath – the sun began to rise over the skyline and warm the air as the view of the peak of Mount Everest became clearer – the closest view yet but still 2 miles vertically higher than our position.

So with the sun on my back I negotiated the last rocky scramble to the top, already occupied by a number of people and a small group of Chinese photographers who had spent the night up there in a tent – I checked my GPS which showed an altitude of 5640m (more about my GPS in a future post). We sat for a while and had the amazing view of Everest silhouetted against a whispy white cloud, it was quite spectacular. A few photos and a video later and it was time to get back down to the lodge for breakfast, bag packing and setting off for the 13k hike back down the EBC trail.

We left at about 10.30am and completed the estimated 2hour return to Lobuche in about 90 minutes. After a brief tea break we then had a further 3km to go before lunch at Thukla, passing the point where numerous memorials are standing to remember climbers who have lost their lives in the high mountains including some of those involved in the 1996 disaster, the subject of the movie and the book I am reading. We descended rapidly, taking only one hour for this section and had a decent lunch before setting off again to cover the final miles to Pheriche. This began with a river crossing on a very suspect bridge ( in fact we found a bag of rusty nuts and bolts on the other side) and then a long descent initially down a valley before eventually a long flat flood plain took us through a yak farm as the low clouds and increasing winds threatened some rain. Pace was good – we are now benefiting at lower altitude from the time spent starved of oxygen higher up. Feels good! So another long day done and I have to say I feel stronger and looking forward to the next 3 days. We have not succumbed to the temptation for a beer, how disciplined is that? Still working on my appetite – managed to force down half a plate of egg fried rice tonight. Will sleep well – a shorter, more relaxed day awaits tomorrow as we continue to descend. Today we went up above 5600m and finished over 1300m lower.