It stood right in front of me. Not even 100 meters away. Or in the mountain terminology, another small ascent of 15 minutes at the most. And yet, I never felt further away from my dream spot. They say after a certain amount of pain, you kind of become numb to it. They are right in most cases. But at this moment, only I knew how wrong they were. 2 hours back when we started, I only felt extreme cold, breathlessness, fatigue and growing numbness in my extremities. Right now it felt as if 1000 needles had been simultaneously poked into each of my fingertips. After all the trials and tribulations that I had been through, I didn’t want to give up. But I was also practical enough to not cause any permanent damage. So I asked my elder brother to go ahead without me. I just stood there asking the almighty for a little more strength and a sense of direction. While I was engrossed in my thoughts, our trek leader approached me. He probably sensed my hesitation to go ahead. He said a quote in Bengali which basically meant, the capability of human body depends on the hardships you make it endure. He also assured that I will be just fine. It kind of motivated me and I gave it my all. And there I was. I made it. We made it. Standing at the top of Kala Pathar at around 18200 feet, with temperature somewhere between -15 degrees to -10 degrees, I never felt so warm at heart. A few drops of tear rolled down, as I soaked in the views of Mt Everest, the grand Khubhu Icefall and a few other 8000mtr peaks all in one single frame. After a very long period of time, I felt so alive and proud of myself. And surprisingly, I didn’t feel that cold, the breathlessness was history and I swear I had the energy to run a half marathon right then and there. I even got the courage to remove my snow gloves, take out my phone and make a small recording of the 360 degree view that I was enjoying. I guess, at that point of time, I was truly happy and content. But all of this didn’t come easy. It was nothing less than a roller coaster ride to arrive at this beautiful moment.
Let us go back in time. Not much. Only 14 days. I stood at the Ranchi airport wondering what is going to happen with our trek. There was some issue with the Check in and for some time we felt like we might have to book our super expensive flight tickets once again. Thankfully the customer care came through and we avoided the first bouncer of the trip. I say first bouncer because, as I take you through our journey, you will get to read about many more fatal bouncers thrown at our way. We were about to get on an extremely volatile and overwhelming journey of hope and despair. As we landed in Kathmandu, our spirits were once again high. We explored the local markets around our hostel and then took the 4 hours drive to Ramechhap airport. Due to certain new regulations, all the flights to Lulka now take off from Ramechhap airport in the autumn season. Like the over excited kids, we were the first ones to reach the airport hoping to be able to pre pone our flights in case there was an empty seat. Little did we know what was about to come later? After an hour we were told that a lot of flights from the previous day were cancelled due to bad weather. This meant, instead of getting on an early flight, we would rather be spending our entire day at the airport waiting for our turn. A few hours later we were informed, no more flights for the day. Even the next day prospects seemed bleak. It was 15th of October that day. We had to reach Lukla by 16th early morning, or we wouldn’t be able to join our group. Suddenly we were informed (or, rather misinformed) about an alternative. We could take a flight to Fablu and then a “short” jeep ride to Thangla. From there, our base camp was supposedly very near. We had to make a decision right then and there, because there were more than 100 trekkers stranded at the airport. We chose to take the flight. As we landed at the new airport, we got the shock out lives. The jeep could only take us up to Bupsa which happened to be miles before the place we were supposed to reach. How were we supposed to reach our base camp in time to join the rest of the group? Once again our entire trek was at risk. Everyone had a different opinion on how to deal with it. We decided, to first talk to our trek leader and ask if he had any solution to the mess we were in. We knew trekking with a trolley bag and a duffel bag (which we were supposed to drop at our base camp) was out of question. As if the gods were on our side, we came to know that our TL also took this very route and he knew all about it. He was a Godsend. He described the plan and said it wasn’t going to be easy. The 60 km drive ahead of us would take 6-8 hours. We would be transported, literally like cargo, or worse, mules. Then a 20 minute night trek with our luggage to reach our homestay. From there we were given a 3 day plan to Namche Bazar where we would catch up with the team. The trail was going to be long, muddy up to the knees and a fairly good amount of ascent. At that point, it all seemed like good news because a few moments earlier our entire trek was at peril. The best part was our porters would reach Bupsa next day in the morning. It was all we wanted to hear. I don’t even want to write about the 7 hour drive that we went through. Every single bone, nerve, organ and cell of our body was shook to its core in those 7 long hours. In short, at the end of the drive we were more than happy to walk towards our homestay.
Next day we started off at 8am towards Phakinaka which was supposed to be our next campsite. No breakfast after the kind of dinner we had to forcibly shove down our throats last night in order to survive. When we reached our tea house at around 3pm, all our trousers resembled the mud. We were exhausted and tired because of lack of decent food, especially veg food. And while sitting there, we overheard this group who planned to reach Phakding the same night. Phakding was the place where the rest of our team had already reached that day. I casually remarked that it is way too far and almost impossible. One of them said, “Nothing is impossible my dear friend.’ I looked at him. He stood there trekking with just one hand and made up for the other lost hand with his immense zeal and confidence. It shook something inside of me. I, rather, we decided to at least think about it. We asked around and concluded that with our speed it would take around 7 hours from where we were. We saw each other and decided, let’s do it. It was going to be extremely challenging and tiring and may be a little stupid or crazy to exert so much. But somehow we knew it could be done. So we set off. And the next 7 hours were truly exhausting. But the excitement of making it there a day before kept us going. For the last 2 kilometers we basically dragged ourselves to Phakding, the place where rest of the team was, and the place where we were supposed to be. And at around 10pm in the dark and drizzle, we reached our home for the night. Even though it was just another tea house, it did feel like home that night. And the welcome we received from rest of the group just took away all our pains and exhaustion. We were happy to be there after trekking for almost 27 odd kilometers at that altitude for 14 hours straight.
The next day (Day3) we all started for our next stop, Namce bazaar. It was a steep climb and we reached late in the evening. But, in the hindsight, it was truly a beautiful day. From the beautiful picturesque village to the dense steep jungle, from the long suspension bridges over the roaring Dhudh Kosi river which sometimes swayed vehemently while we crossed them to the innumerable big and small waterfalls, it was a day filled with exquisite sites and scene. When we entered the Namche Bazaar, for a second, it didn’t feel like a usual trekking route. It was bustling with energy and light and a vibe that can only be felt not explained. Day 4 was an acclimatization day. We just hiked to a hotel, had an overpriced tea and got back to our tea house. The idea behind such days is to climb high and sleep low so that the body gets used to the high altitude and the risk of AMS is reduced. Next day we reached this beautiful place called Dole. As we reached the small village we were awestruck with the beauty of the place. It was as if we were magically teleported to Kashmir. Small wooden huts were built on the green meadows which were surrounded by these huge ice covered mountains and the magical sound of a river which meandered in the near distance. You could spend weeks or months here and not be bored. Although we had trekked a considerable distance that day, we were fully energized just by the place. We even ended up playing football without worrying about the altitude and the single digit temperature as the sun slowly set behind the mountains.
The next day was a tough one. The trek to Machermo involved steep ascent and strong icy winds. By the time we reached the tea house around the lunch time, the temperature touched 0 degrees. But more than the temperature, the winds caused the trouble. We were already at a high altitude of 14600 feet and the party had just started. We had 7 more days of ascent which would take us to 18000 feet. We instinctively knew the tougher days had arrived.
Everest base camp trek has 2 routes. One is the traditional route and the other one is via gokyo ri and chola Pass. We took the latter. It adds up on the number of days and also makes an already difficult trek a little more challenging. But it more than makes up for it by providing super views and an adrenaline rush difficult to get anywhere else. As a cherry on cake, this route sees fewer trekkers and thus more of nature and less of people. The route from machermo to gokyo ri was as usual beautiful and wide. It was as if we were looking at the mother nature at its finest in a largest canvas possible. The snow ladded peaks just appeared a stone throw away. The massive mountains and the 8000 mtr peaks I had only read about in the past were right infront of me playing hide and seek as we traversed through the trail. People from farthest corners of the world had come all the way to see this majestic and raw beauty. Just before we reached Gokyo ri we were in for a pleasant surprise. At that altitude, amongst the biggest of the mountain peaks, lay the pristine blue and emerald green lakes. Lakes that were so wide and big that one couldn’t see the end of it. It was certainly the most beautiful sight of the trek until then. It was here when the local guide asked us to wait for what was in store for us on the next day. I wondered, what could be more beautiful than this.
I got my answer the next day. After a grueling, bone chilling and heart racing climb of 3 hours as I stood on the top of Gokyo ri, I was left speechless. I have to quite a lot of beautiful places and I normally don’t get too excited. Yet, as I stood there and took in the 360 degree view of the place I truly felt blessed. Right infront of me was “the best” unobstructed view of the world’s highest mountain peak , followed by another 3 8000 mtr peaks. Down below them was one of the world’s the largest glacier which extended for as long as my eye could see. And as if this wasn’t enough, in its full glory and beauty lay the most beautiful emerald green lake and a large snow laden mountain peak by its side. Even the most creative minds couldn’t have imagines this set up. It was a beautiful moment. And at that moment I could only thank the mountain gods who had allowed me to be there, stand tall and soak in all the beauty with such clear skies. At that moment, even if the trek came to an end, it would have been more than enough. You have to go see it to believe it. I don’t think I can even attempt to further describe the beauty we witnessed.
The next day wasn’t really difficult. But it was surreal. And it was risky. We had to walk on the glacier, we saw yesterday and one wrong step meant broken bones or worse. Also, while I walked on the glacier, I realized the significance and the enormity of it. Suddenly all those forgotten geography lessons came rushing back to my mind. I realized how small we are in the time space dimension. And yet, we take ourselves so seriously all the time. That day, I just fell in love with that glacier.
That night we all slept early. Not because we were tired. But because we knew the next day was going to be long, tedious and adventurous. And it would begin way before the first ray of sunlight hit the mountains. Chola pass was supposedly the most difficult part of the trek as per most people we met. It was a long day in terms of distance. It had really steep ascent. It had a couple of slightly risky sections which had to be tackled carefully and with the help of ropes. It was at an even higher altitude of 17600 feet where every step takes your breath away literally. And the temperature was only -5 degrees which meant our water bottles had icy cold water with chunks of fresh ice. And our extremities were going to be cold and numb. And if all this wasn’t enough, the cold, bone chilling winds could also join the party. At 4 am in the morning, with my 10 kg backpack, I stood there under the clear sky with millions of stars visible to the naked eye. It was a beautiful night sky. I wish I could have captured it on camera. But who in their right minds would remove the hand gloves. The climb on the chola pass was truly exhilarating. With those ropes in one had and a trek pole in the other, we slowly made our way to the top. It took quite a lot of energy and will power and some dry fruits, but finally as we stood on the top, it felt really satisfying. The hard work of last few months paid off that day. And as if to celebrate our successful summit, we were greeted with a huge snowscape while we descended down. The child in us took over and all the fatigue just vanished. That day we all had this incessant smile on our face. It said, ‘We did it.’
The next two days were fairly moderate. The only continuing difficult part was the altitude factor which had its own affect on everyone. As we reached Gorakshep, our highest campsite, we realized we had come so far. We only had 2 major milestones to cover before we started to descend down. One was the excursion to EBC( the Everest base camp) and the other one was the “climb to Kala Pathar.”
Everest Base camp, or popularly known as EBC was both overwhelming and underwhelming at the same time. It was special because, this is where those courageous souls gather before making an attempt to summit Mt. Everest. It was the truly majestic in that regard. However, the famous rock with EBC written over it was a little underwhelming. Even though I was one of the first ones to go and get a photo clicked because it meant a lot for me, I was also left wondering, why even bother to write this on a randomly huge piece of rock. But nevertheless, the place had its own charm. Once again, a huge glacier all around with towering mountain peaks and a degree of rawness to the beauty all around, made it worthwhile.
Next day, was the most anticipated day for me. I knew it was going to be challenging. Much more challenging than the Gokyo ri excursion or the climb over the Chola Pass. But I wanted to do it. And I was so excited about the challenges and the pain ahead that it made me question my own sanity. At 4am in the morning, once again I was ready. Small and consistent baby steps for the first 2 hours took us to very near to the top of Kala Pathar. In between we took sips of ice mixed with some water. The cold temperature pierced through all the layers and made me question my decision more than once. Why on earth was I subjugating myself to all this cold and pain and breathlessness? I could hardly feel my finger tips and toes. What was I trying to prove? And who was I trying to prove it to? I realized I wasn’t trying to prove anything. I was only doing it because deep down, it made me feel really happy. It made me feel alive. I made me feel like I belong. But this chain of thought was suddenly broken down by an excruciating pain I felt in all 10 of my finger tips.
It stood right in front of me. Not even 100 meters away. Or in the mountain terminology, another small ascent of 15 minutes at the most. And yet, I never felt further away from my dream spot…..
-Sriram
P.S. Tried writing after a really long time. Pardon my errors and thank you if you read it all the way to the end.
