…. or google earth view. While stading at the top, a choba comes to this height, over six thousand meters height. It looks like the old tales where an animal come to deliver a message from the gods and go.
I have been so afraid during the ascension that I only want to come to safety. Luis goes down and wait on the rappel down line while I have to wait while talking to the australian guy that tells me that yesterday y climbed the Mera peak. X. and Coultin arrive. Xan sprawl on the floor and Karma helps me all the way down by changing the safeties. This is easier and faster than going up.
I think about all this crazyness that I have lived in the last hours and at the moment I think this stuff is not for me.
Going down takes all my strength and the plastic boots are rigid and do not help. Luis and Karm wait for me all the way down.
We reach the base camp where Sonam is getting my backpack. We celebrate with a coke that the cook gives me and I grab a snicker that Tomás offers, when we reach the camp.
We finally have lunch and decide to go down and descend the altitude all we can so we can sleep and regenerate better during the night. It is several hours walking until we reach Dingbuche.
We went to bed at 6pm to be ready to get up at midnight. I used an sleeping pill and ear plugs to avoid the snores of the colleague. The sleeping bag has forst on the outside. I get out early and X. gets mad at me because I did not leave the tent completely open.
We have breakfast and a procession of lights starts moving lead by Karma, and then Luis and Tomas and I join the other groups.
It is a difficult path upwards, full of rocks, and when I look up I only see lights near the rocks , all them ascending towards the stars. Tomás does not feel strong and goes back.
We cross paths where we need to grab ropes and we barely see where we put our feet, but the dark recedes, the sun comes and we reach the snow and the ice, so we start to set up our gear. Karma helps me with the crampons and the harness.
We find the first wall where we need to use the jumar, it is exhausting even if it is only 5 or 10 meters.
Then, it comes….The first pass above the abyss. It is over a several set of aluminium stairs tied to each other. My emotions are frozen so I am able to walk setting my cramponed feet to pass over the crevasse.
Just after passing this, in the distance, it appears a 100 meters wall of ice. I tell Luis that I am afraid and thinking of stopping here but he encourages me continue. We join a queque full of people climbing with crampons and jumar. I reach a point that I am uber thirsty, with so many people the queue takes hours and we need to get strength to keep our arm grabbing the jumar just standing there and trying to avoid to be taken down my the people belows me that draw so near that barely give me space. I get upset with the german below me, because it keeps pushing me to the left, even when I ask him several times to keep the distance.
Looking around I see the snow vertical world where the sherpas moves up and down without difficulty around us, like Spidermen.
At the top, we still have to walk without jumar towards teh very top, a 2 meter square platform. We receive the congratulations from the people there and the beginning I just crawl and sit on the floor, but soon I join Luis and we stand to take some photos. Everything is from eagle point of view.
We walk through a path that seems taken from another planet, full of smashed rocks, like from a film of the Riddick chronicles, a desert.
We don’t cross or see other trekkers but we see the Island Peak on the distance and follow that direction.
Luis, Tomás. and I go first and soon we find Sonam and Coultin, the climbing guide that is helping X.
The base camp is arranged in several clusters of tents and ours seems to be in the last pocket.
We are received in a big yellow tent marked with the sign of Prestige Adventures.
It is tall enough to accomodate us standing up and it featur5es a central table surrounded by camping charis. We received a warm welcome and have our lunch there prepared by a cook in the nearest tent.
When it is getting dark I depart alone for a walk, and I am taken by the beautiful sights and sounds: The sky full of stars, and on the ground everything dark but for the globes of lights that come from the inhabited tents, the contour of the mountains arranged on the horizon…
The captivating sounds of a distant song played by an unknown musical instrument, it is a soothing melody in this distant land.
I slack on the bed while X. prepares his stuff. So without changing clothes I have the breakfast first, and then go to select the pieces that we won’t carry to Chhukkung.
Since the house is powered by solar energy, the powerbank is only charged to a half so the hostess only charge half the price.
We start the ascension even if it’s a smooth one with a steady pace. We are accompanied by the river and when looking back we get an impressive look at the valley and Dingbuche below.
Chhukkung seems to be the typical place here with full of lodges with english signs. Our lodge claims to be one of the highests.
Not so much to do during the evening. L. is having a hard digestion so I give him some almax.
I take a nap, meditate, and notice how attached I became to receive messages from my loved ones, so I spend some time writing letters and letting go of this thoughts.
On this day we went from Gorak Shep to the Everest Base Camp, then Lobuche for lunch and finally to DingBuche
The visit to the Everest Base Camp is iearly in the morning. I love the view of the glaciar.
On the way back we took our backbacks from the lodge. X. almost fell and harmed a bit his foot. However, he recovers very fast and we arrive to Lobuche to have lunch. I have time to lie down and sleep while waiting for a pizza.
At 2pm. we continue down, crossing many trekkers and we see the place with the many memorials for people that lost their lives at Everest.
It is a long trek, and listen to some music from the mp3 player, and we discover some estupas among the fog.
This lodge is awesome, so I have a shower and I feel in good mood and have a bit of sherpa stew.
We leave our baggage behind and carry our sleeping bags only.
At ten, we arrive to Gorak Shep and after an early lunch we set up for ascending the Kala Pather («Black Rock» as later Tundu translated for me).
Gorak Shep, 5.140 metros, último pueblo antes de llegar al Everest Base Camp
At the top of the Kala Pather
From Kala Pather, Everest view.
Gorak Shep
X. didn’t have lunch and we find him on the top. I feel very tired and I talk with some friends and my family at home.
I have some fun with the couple from Madrid and Córdoba: the doctor and the pharmaceutic, and also with L. and T., speaking about our different accents.
I have no records of the morning, although I have some photos:
I remember spending time during the afternoon on the cliff looking towards the glaciar. Feeling the centering that the open spaces can give.
I found myself thinking how this seemed the aftermath of a place where supersaiyans have ravaged the place. It is the immeasurable strength of old glaciars.
Some trekkers find my glasses that I left forgotten on a nearby rock.
Helicopter, we guess they mainly come here to transport someone back to recover in less altitude.
Yaks, even this high
Before that, Tomás and I had an expresso and an apple pie in a shop that claimed to be the highest bakery cafe in the world.
World Highest Bakery Cafe
Chilling out in my room at the lodge
We have dinner with the group of spanish people and I have a cigar with O. and T.
I have not had an entire night sleep in a week. Nonetheless I am happy to spend less time in the bed and get up at 5 am.
My usual muesli with black coffee and I feel full and ready for this journey.
We follow the river upwards in an effort that takes the best of us. Many trekkers are on the same way. On the top we see a new valley that reminisces western film views.
Brown grass, a great expanse, and a river created from the melted snow in the distance, to the east.
There is an ice formation to the west, a valley to the east and a wall of rocks in front of us. That is the Chola Pass. I struggle breathing, forcing me to focus on each step, I remember the book of the Navarra expedition and how they needed to stop after every 5 steps.
We trekkers smile at each other not sharing the language but knowing the feelings we are experiencing with the shared experience. The sherpas, doubling or taking 3 or 4 times or more the weight that we carry, pass us at what is for me nothing less than humbling.
Soon, the sun smiling at us again, and some meters above everyone is celebrating. When we reach the top, we take the photos together and I even take a nap. I remember the Torrecilla trek the past year and how I tried to do the same but was awaken by a snowball.
While going down we start now walking over the ice. Somehow we don’t need crampons and it is beautiful to see streams of water running under our feet.
The next part consists on following a narrow ledge on the rock to our right and very soon a wonderful valley open itself around us.
It seems like arriving to a secret valley, protected and surrounded by giants. Amadablan, on of them, in front of us.
From this height I can see two settlements on the distance.
On each stop to rest I notice the peeps joking with X. about the female nepali guide that he was speaking to yesterday.
It is sunny and in this prairie, even the porters are at the same time enjoying a little pause.
I take the chance to talk a little bit with a french gentleman saluting him in french and promptly being forced to tell him that I don’t know much french and continue in english.
In our Zangla Inn, my remaining strenght only allows to put the cellphone to charge, the necesary visit to the bathroom and taking a nap.
An hour later, Tundu wakes me up to have some masala tea that revitalizes me. It is 2:30.
Soon, another expedition, older men, fills the room.
This has been hard, and surely would dismantle the image some of my friends have of me of being strong.
The top of the eatern hill was hiding a surprise: A view of a barren land of another planet. It is an old glaciar in a receding state. The look of it now is like seeing the bottom of a dry river, full of rocks as if pulverized by the force of ice long ago.
However, Sonam reminds me, «this pass is dangerous, that is why it is recommended to pas it soon in the morning».
And soon, I see the reason of this; some of the walls of white dirty rock are actually ice and we can see and hear how small chunks of rocks and high ground fall from their top into the ponds.
We pass a lot of porters. The two porters that come with us are doing the same way and we pass each other several times. This morning I gave them two snacks asking them to please accept and they did and thanked. Also we talked with a group of spanish people that were doing this path without guides.
This takes from 7:30 to 10:00 and we are in our new destination at the skirts of a mountain.
Tomas, Luis and me took the first shower in days and we washed our clothes. This felt really awesome.
After this, I decide to venture myself into the hills to see the glaciar and have some time of solitude and inspiration.
When topping one hill I see a couple in the distance, also enjoying the view, on of them waves and I wave back.
To find a quieter place I continue climbing and find a good spot.
Time to find the feelings that center myself. The mountains and music from Dances with wolves. I meditate and go back.
I got up from the nap when Luis is ordering his stuff. I found myself annoyed by the noise but I enter in a good mood when I hear people joking outside.
Sonam, Tundu, X. and another sherpa are talking with a female sherpa guide and X. seems interested and everyone is laughing and giggling with the interaction.
I am eager to ross the Chola Pass tomorrow. For safety, it will be something that we will do early in the morning and this can take us even 8 hours. I am tired of sleeping almost all the day in the previous days so I welcome a long day in nature.
Some muesli for breakfast and we depart at around 7:35 am.
Again, the path starts ascending forcing us to walk slowly so we can make our breathing come to normal levels.
I see less and less people in this zone, however we continually are passed by an english and swiss expedition, they take the lead whenever we take a rest.
Again, I see porters carrying three or more times the weight we carry. The main sights today are the three lakes.
Gokkyo lake with the sight of the Cho Oyu peak
We arrive early, it is 11:11 when I see the clock, one hour later we have dal bhat and I go to take a nap.
I get up when L. came to the room to order his stuff, I see that X. needs help to arrange his plane to fly around the Everest during the last day, so we buy an Everst-link that he can use to do a whatsapp call to talk to Cristina.
I take the chance to contact my people back home.
After that, we have a friendly chat around dinner about our jobs, families, girlfriends.
Myself, I have a chowmei and we share some hashbrown with egg.
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