We left Lobuche en route to Gorak Shep by way of the Italian Pyramid. The Italian pyramid is a landmark on the Everest base camp trek and has been around for over 20 years. We decided last-minute to check it out, and we were glad we did. We approached the pyramid around 7:30a and found the Nepali staff enjoying their morning tea and biscuits. We chatted and took tea with Kagi, the Nepali manager there for a while, basking in the sun outside the pyramid. The pyramid is composed of steel and glass, mostly, with numerous solar panels covering the south and west faces. It houses laboratory space, a modest medical suite, radio room, and office space. Quite remarkably, the entire pyramid and attached lodge can be operated remotely from Italy via a satellite Internet connection. Nepalis and Italians collaborate to staff and run the pyramid, and the focus of their efforts is monitoring the weather and geological changes in the Khumbu region. There is a piece of instrumentation called "Doris" that measures changes in the absolute position of the ground, and there are numerous weather instruments in the region that are connected wirelessly to data acquisition systems at the pyramid. Interestingly, the chinese forced the nepalis to remove seismic sensors from the grounds of the pyramid...presumably because of the close proximity to the Nepal/chinese border. The facility also has an impressive solar array beyond what is attached to the pyramid. Supposedly the rooms in the lodge for the staff are heated. Crazy!
Kagi advised us to take a "high trail" behind the pyramid back to the main trekking route towards Gorak Shep, the next stop on our way to Everest base camp. Though a bit slower going than the main route, we had incredible views of the glacier from our elevated trail. The trail to Gorak Shep then turns into a rough morrain with a rolling up and down approach- you really feel like your in glacier territory here. It was a tough stretch but the weather was ideal and we were in no rush so it was a pleasant trek. We arrived at Gorak Shep in early afternoon, ordered a bunch of pasta for a late lunch, and then wandered along the trail to EBC for a while before returning to the Himalayan hotel for dinner. We reconnected with Mike too (he had shot ahead for lunch at EBC) and killed a few hours playing No Peak and eating dinner. We marveled at the availability of 3G cell coverage here - our first since leaving the states! We retired early because we planned to wake up around 4am to ascend Kala Patthar ("black rock" in Nepali/Hindi), a high point in Gorak Shep that provides views of Mt. Everest which are particularly beautiful at dawn and dusk.
Waking that early was somewhat painful, but since we went to bed at 8pm it could've been worse...and in any case it was worth it! We started our ascent in the dark of course, but even halfway up to the 5550m peak (our highest point of the trip) we were capturing exceptional views of the Khumbu valley as dawn broke. Ama Dablam was one of the first peaks to be hit with light and Loboche peak was hit early too. Mike was burning up the hill and beat us to KP by about 30min. Nevertheless, we made it in time to see the sun shine first from behind Everest and then from over Everest. Breathtaking. Some of the best views were of Pumori, the mountain opposite Everest on the other side of the valley and just above KP. Randomly, we arrived at KP just as a Chinese trekker arrived, breathless and carrying an iPad. He intended to take a picture of the iPad, which had a picture of his friends, next to a Chinese inscription on the rock. But his camera battery was dead (probably from the cold) and so he asked us to take the picture for him. We obliged and he was so grateful he managed to insert himself into several of our photos up there!
We had the top of KP to ourselves for perhaps 20min before numerous other trekkers arrived. There is not much space up there so we decided to descend and get some breakfast. We hadn't realized how hungry we had gotten in ascending KP - upon finishing our breakfasts of egg sandwiches, we all immediately ordered second breakfasts of an additional sandwich! After recovering a bit, Hill and I packed our things and made for EBC, while a mike headed in the other direction towards the Cho La pass on his way back to Machermo.
Italian Research Pyramid:
Kagi advised us to take a "high trail" behind the pyramid back to the main trekking route towards Gorak Shep, the next stop on our way to Everest base camp. Though a bit slower going than the main route, we had incredible views of the glacier from our elevated trail. The trail to Gorak Shep then turns into a rough morrain with a rolling up and down approach- you really feel like your in glacier territory here. It was a tough stretch but the weather was ideal and we were in no rush so it was a pleasant trek. We arrived at Gorak Shep in early afternoon, ordered a bunch of pasta for a late lunch, and then wandered along the trail to EBC for a while before returning to the Himalayan hotel for dinner. We reconnected with Mike too (he had shot ahead for lunch at EBC) and killed a few hours playing No Peak and eating dinner. We marveled at the availability of 3G cell coverage here - our first since leaving the states! We retired early because we planned to wake up around 4am to ascend Kala Patthar ("black rock" in Nepali/Hindi), a high point in Gorak Shep that provides views of Mt. Everest which are particularly beautiful at dawn and dusk.
Waking that early was somewhat painful, but since we went to bed at 8pm it could've been worse...and in any case it was worth it! We started our ascent in the dark of course, but even halfway up to the 5550m peak (our highest point of the trip) we were capturing exceptional views of the Khumbu valley as dawn broke. Ama Dablam was one of the first peaks to be hit with light and Loboche peak was hit early too. Mike was burning up the hill and beat us to KP by about 30min. Nevertheless, we made it in time to see the sun shine first from behind Everest and then from over Everest. Breathtaking. Some of the best views were of Pumori, the mountain opposite Everest on the other side of the valley and just above KP. Randomly, we arrived at KP just as a Chinese trekker arrived, breathless and carrying an iPad. He intended to take a picture of the iPad, which had a picture of his friends, next to a Chinese inscription on the rock. But his camera battery was dead (probably from the cold) and so he asked us to take the picture for him. We obliged and he was so grateful he managed to insert himself into several of our photos up there!
We had the top of KP to ourselves for perhaps 20min before numerous other trekkers arrived. There is not much space up there so we decided to descend and get some breakfast. We hadn't realized how hungry we had gotten in ascending KP - upon finishing our breakfasts of egg sandwiches, we all immediately ordered second breakfasts of an additional sandwich! After recovering a bit, Hill and I packed our things and made for EBC, while a mike headed in the other direction towards the Cho La pass on his way back to Machermo.
Italian Research Pyramid:
First light hitting Ama Dablam, from near Kala Patthar.
View of dawn breaking over Mt. Everest (dark peak near the center of the pic) from Kala Patthar. ~5a
What an amazing morning!
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