So what’s in Nepal, anyway? Oh right! Mount Everest, better known as Sagarmatha to Nepalis and Chomolungma to Tibetans. What better way to inaugurate my arrival to this beautiful country than to visit the highest mountain in the world, in DECEMBER. Did I visit this mountain by bike, you ask? No way, no how. Much of Nepal is road-less, and people get around on their own two feet, sometimes with a donkey or yak in tow. I met an elderly man who said that he used to walk for two weeks at a time to get from his home in the foothills of Everest to Kathmandu. Need a new TV, porcelain toilet, or espresso maker? That has to be carried in, sometimes for DAYS on some poor soul’s back (and forehead). Mike and I found it hard enough to traverse this rugged terrain with just our daypacks, which weighed in at only 10kg or so (20lbs).
So here’s the skinny:
Above: Logistics
Part I – Getting to your starting point. We took a bus from Kathmandu to a small town called Jiri, which is where the road ends. From there, the walking begins! Our route took us about a month of walking to get to Everest Base Camp and the vicinity, and then hike back out to Phaplu, another small town where the road begins again and one can transport one’s self back to Kathmandu. If you’re short on time or manliness, and you like getting altitude sickness, you can fly from Kathmandu to Lukla, reputed to be the highest airstrip in the world, and start your hike from there, cutting the total trip time in half, but also your joy of walking.
Above: Map of the trekking region
Part II – Jiri to Lukla. If you’ve been pedaling for too long and your knees aren’t acclimated to the added impact stress of ambulation, take it slow, walking about 4 hours per day, and it will take you roughly 10 days to get to Lukla, where you can heckle all of the lesser alpinists disembarking their winged vehicles, who have just done in 45 minutes by airplane what took you 10 days of walking and 1 day of bus riding.Part III – Lukla to Everest. In a way, this is actually the easy part of the trek. The terrain, although at a much higher elevation, is not as rough and your ascents more gradual than the first leg of the trip. However, because of the ever-increasing altitude, every step you take will feel like 10, and every few minutes you will have to stop and hyperventilate for a moment before continuing on. You also run the danger of getting altitude sickness, which includes nausea, headaches, vomiting, diarrhea, and the remote possibility of your lungs or brain filling with liquid and ensuing death. You will most likely experience one or more of these symptoms along the way, especially if you have chosen to fly straight to high-altitude Lukla from low-lying Kathmandu. I had to run off behind a rock or yak several times for an emergency “long toilet.” From the last place with accommodation, Gorak Shep, you can (and should) visit base camp, as well as climb Kala Patar, a 5600 meter (18,500ft) peak, which is one of the only mountains you’re allowed to ascend with out a permit, and which provides an incredible view of Everest at sunset.
Part IV – Everest to Gokyo and surroundings. Once you get up to EBC, you will have begun to acclimatize, and any further trekking will be much easier and more free of illness, so I recommend to stay up there for as long as possible! From EBC you can hike over Cho-La pass, or if that is closed you can hike, as we did, back down towards Namche, around the end of the valley at Tengboche, and back up to get to Gokyo and Gokyo Ri. Gokyo Ri is another small mountain, from the peak of which you gain a 360 degree panoramic view of the region. You can see Everest and all its brethren, see well into Tibet, and pretty far towards whence you came. Also good at sunset. From Gokyo there is another pass you can cross to take a different valley back to Namche and Lukla, or you can go back down the Gokyo valley.
Part V – Heading home. From Gokyo, we walked back to Lukla, and as far as Junbesi along our ascent route. From Junbesi we turned south to Phaplu, where we caught a jeep back to Kathmandu. The jeep ride took about 12 hours vs the bus ride in’s 9, and was over much rougher terrain, but in the end it cut off several days of walking along the same path we took coming in, so we decided to go for it. I would not wish that last jeep ride on my worst enemy, as we spent most of the time packed like sardines in a rickety old vehicle, traversing riverbeds and carefully negotiating precipitous dirt roads while half the folks in the vehicle vomited out of the windows.
Accommodation: Although it is indeed possible to camp in this region, every few kilometers there is a small village with a “tea house,” a place frequented by both trekkers and locals, where if you promise to take your meals for an inflated price, they will give you a simple room with a bed and blanket for a small fee, sometimes even free. These are really nice places to chat people up and get information about the route ahead, do laundry, not to mention get warm, and play Carcassonne. The vast majority of trekkers who are not planning to summit a peak choose to forego camping and stay only at tea houses along the way, which I also recommend doing. Remember, this part of the world has been populated for several thousand years, and so there is no “wilderness” to speak of, rather you are simply walking between small towns, with huge mountains in between.
Costs: The first few days out of Jiri, costs are very low, less than $10/day (1000 rupees). They slowly increase as you gain altitude and distance from fossil-fuel-fueled transport, and the cost of living at Gorak Shep and the other places above tree line was about $25 per day (2500 r). All in all, I spent about $600 on food, accommodation, transport, and national park permits. The bus and jeep rides were a total of $30, vs $300 for a round-trip flight. In Kathmandu I bought about $100 of equipment, including a pair of used hiking boots, which I plan to resell at some point, so if you have all the equipment at home already, I suggest bringing it with you, otherwise you will need to rent or buy everything in Kathmandu.
You will need: A 25 or so liter backpack, which should have in it clothing appropriate for down to –20 degree Celsius weather (-4F), a similarly rated sleeping bag, any medication/first aid equipment you need, a board game (I took Carcassonne), your camera and iPod, and about 10 snickers bars. On your feet you should have a sturdy pair of waterproof hiking boots, as you will most likely encounter deep snow along the way, although up to Lukla and maybe higher, you would be fine in just hiking sandals and a good pair of socks. At higher elevations, the water is probably unsafe to drink, so I recommend bringing a water filter or purification tablets.
Permits: You have to make a TIMS (Trekkers Information System) Card and get two national park permits (total $70, 7000r), which can all be done in just a couple hours at the tourist board office across from the bus station where you will depart.
Stay tuned for more photo-centric posts detailing all the mountain-tastic adventures had by shaky and associates!
