From Gorak Shep, we hiked to the Everest Base Camp. Base Camp is actually not a particularly good campsite seeing as it is on a glacier covered with rock debris which is quite uneven and cracks and creeks at random. It also has ice pinnacles and underground springs from the melt as well as random pools within the glacier. In addition, you can't even see Mt. Everest from base camp.
The HRA also has a tent at Everest Base Camp (aka Everest ER) which we went to visit and spend the night. Three of our colleagues are stationed here, Suzi, Kirsty, and Pranav. In order to work at the EBC tent, you have to already have volunteered at either the Pheriche or Manang clinics for a season. The clinic tent was well-stocked for a tent and warmer than our clinic room.
They also have a mess tent which was well stocked with snacks and warm drinks. The Everest ER crew is supported by a commercial group which also supported a group of climbers, so they had a cooking tent and staff of at least four as well as more "exotic" foods than we had seen in weeks. When we arrived, they had just brought out a plateful of fresh watermelon.
We arrived in time for lunch which included freshly baked croissants, tuna, and potato salad which contained pieces of fresh apple. Amazing. After lunch, we wandered around base camp until it started to snow, when we retreated to the mess tent and spent more time hanging out with the crew. The commercial group supporting the HRA is also supporting the summit attempt of a Brazilian doctor and TV personality named Karina. She will be videoed and photographed by Scott, the shooter that interviewed Hillary and Chris earlier in the season. Karina and Scott were in the tent with us, discussing the possibility of a "weather window" in the upcoming days. Basically climbers in the base camp hang out for weeks on end for such a window: a break in the winds that is long enough for them to go from base camp to camps I, II, III, and finally to the summit and back. Last year, there was a single, 2 day weather window and there are photos of climbers literally waiting in line to make their summit attempt because there were so many of them. Scott was conferring with other groups and acquiring weather predictions from a variety of sources to verify the likelihood of the window. It was an exciting time to be at EBC!
Later we met for a dinner of dahl bhat...but dahl bhat unlike any other on us trip. It was served with a curried hard boiled egg (delicious) and a dollop of fresh salsa. Then, fruit for dessert! After dinner we enjoyed a hot tottie (whiskey + hot water + honey) courtesy of Lakpa and then went to see a movie at a large tent near the clinic tent. We had been invited by another expedition group to join them for the movie, and this was the real deal. They served wine and popcorn, and projected the movie on the back of the tent such that it was about 15 ft diagonal in size. Might as well have been at a movie theater!
After the movie we retired to a tent set up for us by the expedition company. Despite being located on a rather mobile and unstable pile of hard glacial rock, we slept soundly. Only the occasional shift in underlying rock or ice woke us up.
In the morning we enjoyed a breakfast of fried egg over spicy potato and some coco puffs on the side. We then packed up our stuff and started our descent back to Pheriche. We were sad to go! Such an incredible experience!
HRA's EverestER tent and 2013 Team: Kirstie (in blue), Suzi, and Pranav. Scott is at left getting advice on de-worming.
View of the Khumbu Icefall from Everest Base Camp. This is one of the most treacherous parts of the ascent as it involves traversing very unstable rock and ice as well as crevasses with ladders and ropes. Teams of Sherpas scout the route each year.
The HRA also has a tent at Everest Base Camp (aka Everest ER) which we went to visit and spend the night. Three of our colleagues are stationed here, Suzi, Kirsty, and Pranav. In order to work at the EBC tent, you have to already have volunteered at either the Pheriche or Manang clinics for a season. The clinic tent was well-stocked for a tent and warmer than our clinic room.
They also have a mess tent which was well stocked with snacks and warm drinks. The Everest ER crew is supported by a commercial group which also supported a group of climbers, so they had a cooking tent and staff of at least four as well as more "exotic" foods than we had seen in weeks. When we arrived, they had just brought out a plateful of fresh watermelon.
We arrived in time for lunch which included freshly baked croissants, tuna, and potato salad which contained pieces of fresh apple. Amazing. After lunch, we wandered around base camp until it started to snow, when we retreated to the mess tent and spent more time hanging out with the crew. The commercial group supporting the HRA is also supporting the summit attempt of a Brazilian doctor and TV personality named Karina. She will be videoed and photographed by Scott, the shooter that interviewed Hillary and Chris earlier in the season. Karina and Scott were in the tent with us, discussing the possibility of a "weather window" in the upcoming days. Basically climbers in the base camp hang out for weeks on end for such a window: a break in the winds that is long enough for them to go from base camp to camps I, II, III, and finally to the summit and back. Last year, there was a single, 2 day weather window and there are photos of climbers literally waiting in line to make their summit attempt because there were so many of them. Scott was conferring with other groups and acquiring weather predictions from a variety of sources to verify the likelihood of the window. It was an exciting time to be at EBC!
Later we met for a dinner of dahl bhat...but dahl bhat unlike any other on us trip. It was served with a curried hard boiled egg (delicious) and a dollop of fresh salsa. Then, fruit for dessert! After dinner we enjoyed a hot tottie (whiskey + hot water + honey) courtesy of Lakpa and then went to see a movie at a large tent near the clinic tent. We had been invited by another expedition group to join them for the movie, and this was the real deal. They served wine and popcorn, and projected the movie on the back of the tent such that it was about 15 ft diagonal in size. Might as well have been at a movie theater!
After the movie we retired to a tent set up for us by the expedition company. Despite being located on a rather mobile and unstable pile of hard glacial rock, we slept soundly. Only the occasional shift in underlying rock or ice woke us up.
In the morning we enjoyed a breakfast of fried egg over spicy potato and some coco puffs on the side. We then packed up our stuff and started our descent back to Pheriche. We were sad to go! Such an incredible experience!
HRA's EverestER tent and 2013 Team: Kirstie (in blue), Suzi, and Pranav. Scott is at left getting advice on de-worming.
Ice pinnacles within the glacier. These were all over the place in base camp. So much ice and rock comingled and simultanesouly highly ordered and disheveled. The icefall looks remarkbly like a river or even the ocean with rises in falls in the ice that resemble waves. In many ways it is just a river that moves much more slowly than liquid rivers.
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