Jiri
to Everest Base Camp in 18 days
Mount
Everest (8848 meters) is everyone’s dream to see by their naked eyes. Some of us also wish to
climb to reach at the roof of the world. To summit Everest, one should spend
their time, money and courage in full. But only to see it and feel it in front
of you, it may need to go for Everest Base Camp trek and climb up at
Kalapatthar (5550 meters) to witness the Everest.
There
is several way of reaching Everest Base Camp but here I am talking about the
old Jiri to Everest Base camp trail. At recent time only 5% of trekkers use
this trail as there is option to fly from Kathmandu to Lukla which is widely
followed. Flying direct to Lukla will save about a week but of course there are
so many things to miss; different landscape and vegetation, culture, local
livelihood, and many more. Another good reason for walking from Jiri is that
one get proper acclimatization as they slowly gain the altitude. It is said
that there will be less possibility to have Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) when
one starts walking from Jiri.
My
words of Gratitude: I would like to thanks Trekking Partners for
bringing us in one place as a trekking companion. I also thank AFA Travels for travel arrangement
and support. Thanks to my old DC by which I could have some memorable shots,
thanks to all my gears and stuffs that I used during trek. How could I forget
those locals and hoteliers for their warm welcome and wishes? Thanks for every
smile and every ‘Namaste’! Thanks to all my companions for being with me during
the whole trail. Thanks to all known and unknown factors that made my trail
possible.
A bus drive from Kathmandu to Jiri was about 8 hours passing winding roads. It was a dizzy moment to travel in bus for most of all. We found a hotel for our first overnight halt and after a short rest there, we went to explore Jiri. It is a small village 184 km far away from Kathmandu which is now the trail-head for many treks into the Everest region and is referred to as the classic route to Everest. The day was falling down and we could hardly see movements in the market.
We passed the trail from jiri with overnight halt at Bhandar, Sete, Junbesi, Nunthala, Bupsadanda, Chheplung and finally reached to Namche Bazar in 8th day. We crossed Lamjura pass with its elevation 3530 meters which is the highest between Jiri and Namche Bazar. We climbed uphill and downhill all these days experiencing locals harvesting millet, constructing new houses, running local trades etc. We saw mule, yak and porter for the transportation of food and other stuff from Salleri/Phaplu towards Lukla, Namche and Khumbu area. All food materials and other stuffs are either transported by air cargo till Lukla airport or heli cargo to desired place or by road till Salleri. Again yak, mule, horse or porter carries the load to transport from Salleri, Lukla or after the helicopter drop the material. It is the main reason that you will find everything over-priced than MRP during your whole trail. As higher you reach as expensive the things are!
There
are tea houses in every stop from Jiri. Small shops are well available for
breakfast and lunch break and if it is not possible to reach your destination,
you can stay at any tea houses comfortable to you. Tea houses provide you bed
and blankets, cost is varying from one to another. It was like 100 to 500 Rupees
for double bed room. Most of them will compulsion you to eat your food at their
place and European and continental food are available in their menu.
Trail is narrow and sometime it is difficult to pass by two people. It is more difficult when some porter or mule or yak passed by. It is very important to keep in mind to take wall-side so that you will not be pushed down. There were several stories of falling down from the way pushed by mule.
The trail
sometime descends and gradually ascends after the Tengboche. As there is altitude
gained in every step, you should have careful moves. It was gradual ascending
from Pheriche and from now we were feeling low air pressure. We were very
careful and doing slowly for adopting ourselves in high altitude.
From Kalapatthar view during sunset was the most excellent view I ever had. The sun was drowning down and only the Everest was holding the light at that moment with a full pride of being highest peak of the world. I felt the cold air and I am sure they came towards me touching Everest. These cold winds will not let you stand in front of Everest for so long. We waited until the sun drowns completely and hurriedly climbed down so that we could enter to the hotel and warm-up ourselves. All the tea houses use Yak-shit to fire the iron heater in the higher elevation and also wood are used in lower region where available.
My
words of Gratitude: I would like to thanks Trekking Partners for
bringing us in one place as a trekking companion. I also thank AFA Travels for travel arrangement
and support. Thanks to my old DC by which I could have some memorable shots,
thanks to all my gears and stuffs that I used during trek. How could I forget
those locals and hoteliers for their warm welcome and wishes? Thanks for every
smile and every ‘Namaste’! Thanks to all my companions for being with me during
the whole trail. Thanks to all known and unknown factors that made my trail
possible.
A bus drive from Kathmandu to Jiri was about 8 hours passing winding roads. It was a dizzy moment to travel in bus for most of all. We found a hotel for our first overnight halt and after a short rest there, we went to explore Jiri. It is a small village 184 km far away from Kathmandu which is now the trail-head for many treks into the Everest region and is referred to as the classic route to Everest. The day was falling down and we could hardly see movements in the market.
We passed the trail from jiri with overnight halt at Bhandar, Sete, Junbesi, Nunthala, Bupsadanda, Chheplung and finally reached to Namche Bazar in 8th day. We crossed Lamjura pass with its elevation 3530 meters which is the highest between Jiri and Namche Bazar. We climbed uphill and downhill all these days experiencing locals harvesting millet, constructing new houses, running local trades etc. We saw mule, yak and porter for the transportation of food and other stuff from Salleri/Phaplu towards Lukla, Namche and Khumbu area. All food materials and other stuffs are either transported by air cargo till Lukla airport or heli cargo to desired place or by road till Salleri. Again yak, mule, horse or porter carries the load to transport from Salleri, Lukla or after the helicopter drop the material. It is the main reason that you will find everything over-priced than MRP during your whole trail. As higher you reach as expensive the things are!
There
are tea houses in every stop from Jiri. Small shops are well available for
breakfast and lunch break and if it is not possible to reach your destination,
you can stay at any tea houses comfortable to you. Tea houses provide you bed
and blankets, cost is varying from one to another. It was like 100 to 500 Rupees
for double bed room. Most of them will compulsion you to eat your food at their
place and European and continental food are available in their menu.
Trail is narrow and sometime it is difficult to pass by two people. It is more difficult when some porter or mule or yak passed by. It is very important to keep in mind to take wall-side so that you will not be pushed down. There were several stories of falling down from the way pushed by mule.
Bring mask along
with you to prevent yourself from dust as it is sometime so dusty when there is
mule, yak or people walking along with you. Be sure that you have good gloves
and shocks so that you can prevent finger and toe pain because of cold which I was
suffered a bit. Be careful for your every step, every night and day you spend
during trail to keep your mind, body and strength so that you won’t need to give
up!
We were not
able to see the Everest properly until we started climbing Kalapatthar. Ama
Dablam, Lhotse, Nuptse and other Himalayas were standing in front of us most of
time but the Everest we could only see from few view points. Those hide and seek
with the Everest ended when we climbed half of the Kalapatthar. When we stand
at the top at an elevation of 5550 meters, we were surrounded by great
Himalayas and worlds several tallest mountains were just in front of our eyes.
From Kalapatthar view during sunset was the most excellent view I ever had. The sun was drowning down and only the Everest was holding the light at that moment with a full pride of being highest peak of the world. I felt the cold air and I am sure they came towards me touching Everest. These cold winds will not let you stand in front of Everest for so long. We waited until the sun drowns completely and hurriedly climbed down so that we could enter to the hotel and warm-up ourselves. All the tea houses use Yak-shit to fire the iron heater in the higher elevation and also wood are used in lower region where available.
Next
day was nothing to do except heading towards Everest Base Camp but it was not that
much exciting as there was nobody for Everest summit camping at base camp. I
prefer not to go base camp so that I will have best reason to repeat this trail
at least for one time.
See more Pictures from my EBC trek.
D.R. Pandey (16 Nov - 03 Dec)
See more Pictures from my EBC trek.
D.R. Pandey (16 Nov - 03 Dec)
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