Top of the World!!!!

Binod (my guide) and I at the start of the trek

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Namaste!

I AM A SUPERSTAR!!! I survived trekking up to Mount Everest Base Camp and Kala Pattar!  Highest point was 5600m (18,368 feet) !!!  The trek was about 200km, I basically walked to Tibet!  It was absolutely amazing, ever last bit of it.  Even through all the pain and suffering!  When I arrived here I was pretty ill (beaten down from Egypt!) so I took a few days to recuperate.  Was getting kind of twitchy so I headed up to Lukla to start my 14 day trek.  The runway in Lukla is very short, uphill and the plane stops 10 feet in front of a brick wall.  Mountain flying in these dinky little planes is an experience!  Each day of the trek we would get an early start and arrive in the next village around 3pm.  Everyday you think you had a hard trek, but the next day gets even harder.  Some hills take 3 hours of a steady uphill climb, very painful.  You have to go slow to acclimatize, I think some days I was too slow!  The old, fat, ill and the ones with nothing to prove are the ones who have no issues.  The young punks who make a fast ascent are the ones who get into trouble.  You see half dead people coming down on horses, not a pretty site.  The sites through the villages and the mountain ranges are unbelievable.  It was great getting out of the polluted city of Kathmandu and enjoying the fresh air.  The path throughout is very different and very challenging in some places.  The path may be a foot wide with a huge drop on one side or you may be scrambling over rocks.  You never know what you are going to get.  You have to share the trail with Yaks and porters who have the right of way.  The porters are amazing and I never got used to the loads that they carry.  Some could carry over 100kg walking straight up in bare feet. They are tiny and as strong as an Ox.  Most are just kids but the Nepalese have been doing this for generations.  It really is slave labor as they usually get $8-10 a day.  Even after all the hard work they always have a smile on their face.  They truly are the most generous and kindest people I have ever encountered.  I stayed in teahouses each night which is a plywood room with a plywood bed.  There is a common area with some heat and that is about it.  The menus is always the same, lots of carbs.  Very basic way of life up there, but all the necessities are taken care of.  You do not know who you are going to meet on the trail as there are all different walks of life up there.  A Japanese group came up on horses with O2 and a gamma bag.  They had to be at least 80 years old.  Why they want to vacation here is beyond me.  If they have that much money they should rent a plane and fly around Everest!  I did meet some climbers, one guy had climbed Everest and now he was going to guide a Vet up (Karen & Brian you might know him, Michael Andrews.  Was the president of the AVMA a few years back).  After talking to them I got really excited about going to base.  Curt told me all about climbing Everest and what it was like on top.  Very cool, I even started dreaming about it!  I read a book on Sir Edmund Hillary (the first climber to reach the summit of Everest), it was really good now that I can relate to everything he wrote about.  The schools and hospitals he built to the glaciers and mountains he climbed.  He even built the runway in Lukla.  Base Camp was very active, even though they can not climb until May 10th because the Olympic torch is being taken up on the Tibet side.  A Japanese guy is going for the world record of the oldest climber (he did it at 70 years old 5 years ago) and  a Canadian crew is filming a commercial for a diabetic instrument.  All the expeditions are waiting for the green light to go past camp 2 which means the mountain side will be very busy with everyone trying to reach the summit before monsoon season hits.  It is Grand Central Station up there!  There are also several people, with lots of cash, pay there way up to the summit.  The scary thing is that many of them are out of shape and have never climbed before!  They put a lot of people's lives at risk just to say they have been to the summit of Everest.  Terrible.  I will give you a run down on what it is like to climb Kala Pattar at 5600m.  The day before I did a 10 hour trek out to Base (where they have great homemade apple pie!) and come back extremely exhausted, I got up at 5am the next morning to do it all again.  There was a light layer of snow on the ground, the air was crisp with a chilly wind that took your breath away.  I had to walk straight up 500m for 2 hours.  Everything is painful, every muscle, blister and cut is throbbing.   Each limb felt like an extra 100lbs was added, my face, hands and feet were tingling from the side effects of the altitude pills, snot is stuck to my face.  I had two right hand gloves (should have checked when I bought them!) so I had trouble holding my left pole.  I was taking these tiny little baby steps never thinking I was going to get to the top.  The best feeling was that tight vice around my heart and lungs with the 45% reduction of oxygen!!  Awesome stuff!!! All  in all  I have never felt better in all my life, altitude totally works for me.  It was a hard 2 days but worth every minute of it!!  I slept 10 hours a night, ate like a pig, felt like a million bucks!!  The total opposite of the effects of altitude.  I need to live here!!  You feel a great sense of accomplishment at the end of each day and get excited to see what the next brings.  Coming down was harder for me, unsure of my footing.  The whole trek is physically and mentally exhausting.  You have to concentrate on every step.  I did have one nasty wipe out, could have been worse though.  I also got violently ill from the food near the end.  Took me 6 hours to do a 3 hour trek, no energy to go up and down the hills.  I even tried to hire a Yak but there was not one in sight!!!!  The mountains are very dangerous and people get hurt all the time, 3 people died during the 2 weeks that I was up there.  Two tourists and one sherpa.  This is a place that cannot be taken lightly.  The city of Kathmandu is fantastic if you over look the populated and pollution.  Tonnes of temples, I even went to one where they were cremating bodies along the river!  The family stays for 13 days to mourn, it was the most unbelievable sight I have ever seen.  The city is full of stray dogs and cows, yes cows.  They are sacred and cannot be killed but they wonder the streets and eat out of the garbage.  Very peculiar sight.  There is something great about this city that I love and always something to do.  Overall, this is the best thing I have ever done!  This is by far my favorite place, can't wait to come back and see more.  A piece of me will always be here.  I almost forgot.   Ladies, if you are wondering where the hot men of the world are, look no further.  They are all trekking or climbing in the Himalayas!!  So if the mountain views are not enough, there is plenty of eye candy to keep you occupied!!!