We had planned to walk up Kalapathar (5650m with good views of Everest) in the morning but since Dad, Tim and I had a bit of a cold still, and the young girls had still a decent day of walking, just Sarah went with the guides before breakfast. I don’t want to risk getting any sicker just for a tiny bit more acclimatisation.
We had breaky, and headed out towards Everest Base Camp! It had snowed the night before and it was the most beautiful day of walking, with views of Pumori, Nuptse, Lho-La, Everest (and many others that I can’t name).
It was a little scrambly with some “yak-attack” scares – on a hands-on section, the yaks tried to barge through, forcing us to quickly jump to the side before we get pushed off the mountain by the careless yaks.
We then arrived at “the rock” – this is the one that most people stop at, that says “Everest Base Camp 5364m”. We of course took a group photo on top of it!!
If you have been to EBC, you will know that the actual base camp is a decent walk from this rock, depending on which company’s camp you are at. We continued on, and it was so exciting to see all of the camps before ours, and seeing climbers training in the icefall! I just LOVE the uplifting vibe of Everest Base Camp, filled with likeminded people!
We finally arrived at our camp with SST! The base camp life is new for our friends who trekked in with us (they are staying 2 nights at ebc) so we showed them the dining tent and their sleeping tents. The Sherpas have been working here for a very long time, and the amount of effort it takes to organise and set up such a huge camp is incredible!!!
We ate lunch, and it was so refreshing to have some different food, as the menus in every lodge on the trek are the same. Everyone was excited to have coleslaw, steamed veggies, and fresh apple!!
I organised my tent and we relaxed for the rest of the afternoon! We had dinner, and afterwards I went to another different dining tent (our one was just Dad and I and our friends for now) and met up with some more climbers.
Surprisingly, this season on Everest, there are a lot of people who were on the same Manaslu expedition as me, in September 2024! So I saw Rajan and Chris (more are coming) which was so great!! I also saw Kristen, who is one of the most incredible climbers! She was on this expedition last year and she taught me so much, and I’m so grateful I know her! There were some people I didn’t know too, and we chatted before heading to bed.
It is VERY cold in the tents at base camp, as they are quite big and open for 1 person. This time around, Paddy Pallin have supported me with a much warmer sleeping bag (SeaToSummit -29°) – I’m writing this the next morning, and I can confirm it helps a lot! It is so cold inside the tents that my water bottle froze!
