EBC Trek Overview

The 19 days spent up in the mountains of Nepal were amazing. From the culture and views, to the food and lodging, every bit of it exceeded my already high expectations. A typical question from someone thats never been might be what was it like? The question is impossible to answer though. It is nearly impossible to comprehend the scale of these mountains without witnessing them yourselves. No where that I've been are you forced to look up 2-3 miles to see the peak of a mountain.

An quick excerpt from my journal that I kept along the way does a decent job of summarizing what I mean.

"I was sitting in the teahouse in Namche Bazaar (end of the trek) and I looked out the window. As usual, the afternoon clouds had begun to rise up the valley as the sun was slowly setting. Further down in the valley the clouds were darker, and as I followed top of the clouds up the valley a small peak popped its head out. Further up was another. These clouds were by no means light and airy but rather large formation, yet even with their close proximity you had to look above them to see the peaks."

The mountain I saw? Literally an insignificant peak that fewer than one in a million people would have ever heard of in their lives, but thats the Himalayas for ya. They transcend scale and make it almost impossible to describe.

A typical day on the trek went as follows. Wake up at about 5-6am and not want to leave your nice warm sleeping bag for the freezing cold air and floor. Eventually crawl out and head to the common room of the teahouse you were staying at for some tea and breakfast. The menu consisted primarily of toast and any form of egg you wanted (fried, scrambled, omelettes, etc. ) but my favorite meal was tibetan bread (trekkers bread) with jam or peanut butter. The most similar thing that I can think of to it from the States is a doughboy, but its not really greasy, its just dense bread. Anyway, by about 8am you'd hop on the trail and slowly meander your way along for 3-4 hours, stopping to take pictures along the way. Probably stop at a teahouse along the trail for rest and more tea. On most days you couldn't walk more than 4 hours due to acclimatization reasons, it's unhealthy to hike up more than 1,000 feet per day so we usually got to our final destination for lunch and an afternoon hike around the area. The lunch and dinner menu was the same thing....everywhere, it got old quickly. For the most part it was a fried potatoes/noodles/rice with veggies and egg. Or there was always Dal Bhat, the traditional Nepalese dish. Dal = lentil soup, Bhat = rice, and it was served with a side of curried veggies or meat. Using the advice of our guide I remained vegetarian for the entire trek. You see, there aren't any slaughter houses on the trail itself, nor is there enough power for refrigeration. So the meat is out in the sun, on the porter's backs being hike up the trail. It is probably a few days old at best and everyone that got sick (trekkers that is) along the way usually complained of some bad yak meat. I stayed away and was just fine. At night the temperature dropped quickly after the sun went down. Most nights got into the 20's so everyone in the teahouse would huddle around the wood stove for warmth. Once above the tree-line the wood was replaced with yak dung. Then it was off to bed around 8-9pm where the teahouse would give you a nice warm fleece blanket in addition to the sleeping bag.

The accommodations along the way were surprisingly good. All of the buildings are made from hand chiseled stone and the wood used for furnishing is all carried up by the porters. At first I was thrilled with the accommodations and the craftsmanship of it all but it quickly got old. The teahouses were essentially identical from the top of the trail to the bottom they all looked the same. All decorated with Tibetan Buddhist pictures and drawings, the only thing that varied was their size, and the higher you went didn't mean that they got smaller either, the largest teahouse we stayed in was at the end of the trail. The worst part about them is that they are Nepali sized....small. Nepalese aren't big people, I'm only 5'10 and I had to search to find some any taller than me, so the beds.....tiny.

The trail itself wasn't too different from any hiking trail I'd been on in the past. It was in the shape of a giant Y, we walked up the left side of the Y first to Gokyo, then over Cho La Pass connecting the two sides before getting up the right side to Everest Base Camp and Kala Pathar. The higher you got the tougher the terrain was and above 4500m (13,000 ft) there was virtually no sign of life, the only reason for anything being up there was the hard working locals, most of whom are Sherpas. The porters up here are insane and carry loads twice their body weight. Anything from food and supplies for the teahouses, building supplies for the local towns, or trekkers packs would be piled on their backs with a strap over their head for added support. I'm not sure they'd ever heard of ergonomics before and many have severe back and knee problems due to the severe conditions they work under, usually for less than $1 per day. Many of them cannot even afford to buy shoes and walk in flip flops. It's a scary sight to think that they live in those conditions as millionaire Europeans flock by with all the latest gadgets. I met one guy who said between flights, guides/porters, and gear he spent $6,000 on the trek. His flight was less than $1,000 as was his guide, which means 4 grand for equipment. The dude was decked out in stuff....but really man? Not necessary.

I decided to hire a guide only, no porter as I carried my own pack and went with First Environmental Trekking (www.go2trek.com). They were amazing, and my guide Arjun was first class and a ton of fun. Our relationship evolved from that of a client to that of a friend over the course of the trek. Once we got the gist of it all down we mostly joked along the way and laughed at the huge tour groups that looked like the yaks being herded through the towns. Most groups actually go up there are race to the end of the trails and have a miserable time at it. They don't acclimatize properly and try to do too much too fast and end up not enjoying the trek. So if you ever come up here, TAKE YOUR TIME and do it right. I was actually the youngest person I saw on the trail, except for a few kids with families, most people doing the trek were older, some even into their 70's which was quite impressive.

All in all the trek was amazing, a once in a lifetime experience. Hopefully I'll be able to post some of the 1500 pictures that I took soon, but they were burned to DVDs and apparently not many internet cafes support that around here.

Off to Thailand to relax for a bit :)