When I fell in love with Himalayas: EBC and High Passes: Part II

In continuation with my previous write up, wherein I have detailed about my experience trekking in Himalayas for the first five days on a 20 days long trek to Everest base camp and high Passes, here is how the next few days were like.

I was getting much fitter, stronger not only physically, but mentally as well each passing day along with better acclimatized which is must when you are going or moving towards higher altitudes every day.

The views were started to change from green forests and larger village to snow capped mountains and villages with just a fee huts and stay!

Day 6 & 7: To Deboche (3770 M) & then to Dingboche (4360 M)

After spending a rest day in Namche, next 2 days were spent moving up to higher camps and for another rest day before we moved to the base of the first high pass of our trip – Kongma-La pass.

While moving to Deboche, I witnessed one of the coolest views of my trip – thick clouds all trapped below in the mountain valley on a sunny day. These clouds looked like a big cotton ball, so clean and fluffy. It felt like I am literally floating above the clouds ☺️

We also crossed Thyangboche monastery and village in between, which was re-built with the help of Sir Edmund Hillary after it was destroyed by a fire in 1989.

The next was progressed further to Dingboche passing “Pangboche Gompa” – the oldest monastery in the Khumbu, said to be over 300 years old.

Day 8: Rest day at Dingboche

This was another acclimatization and rest day before we moved much higher, with an option to trek uphill just behind our camps where we were staying on the day. We, as a group, started to walk up this mountain, which initially seemed easy to climb, with a small hill-like structure. However, as soon as we crossed that hill, there was this whole big mountain to climb up ahead of us.

I decided to move on with 2 other folks in our group despite feeling a bit lazy (I guess due to the fact that we were told that today is going to be a rest day and I guess my mind was already set for a rest day). Honestly, it was a bit tough for me to climb all the way up to a height of 5000 M. However, I didn’t give up, and slowly and steadily reached the top where my trek mates were waiting for me. The 3 of us started our descent back to our base after enjoying the views and reaping the rewards of our effort.

Trekking for me is always more about being prepared mentally than physically, this is what keeps me going on such days.

Though it was cloudy when I reached the peak and I could hardly see anything around, but the sense of reaching the top itself was so rewarding that I didn’t mind not being able to see the views around.

Rest of the evening was spent relaxing, having our dinner & playing a game or two as usual.

Day 9: Kongma La Base (4800 M)

From this day on, the trek was generally tough, until we started descending back after completing the base camp and the 3 high passes.

We started with an easy walk followed by a steep ascent into the deep valley between Pokalde Peak and Chhukung. However, as we moved higher up in the mountains, the landscapes were changing from green meadows with distant views of mountains, to the dry mountainous landscapes with ice capped peaks moving closer to us with every step.

Unlike our stays so far at the tea houses and large eco-camps, today we had 2-men wilderness tents to sleep, at an altitude of 4800 meters. Honestly, it took me some time to get myself acclimatized for the first ‘cold’ night of our trip. The great sense of being so close to nature, over-shadowed all the cold and non-comforts for the night though

I know people say that one of the good thing about trekking in Nepal is the luxury of staying in the tea houses on most of the treks, however for me I really enjoy staying in tents as it poses a great challenge and the sense of being in wilderness. This is one thing I like about trekking in Indian Himalayas wherein most of the times you stay in tents and are in wilderness. There are ofcourse pros and cons of both!

Day 10: Crossing Kongma La (5500 M) to Lobuche (4930 M)

Since we now were camping high, and had chosen a very serene patch to camp, we were rewarded with a chilly but a beautiful clear morning, giving us a view of the mighty Mt. Makalu (8563 M) and Lobuche peaks before we started our day; another long and challenging day lay in front of us, wherein we had to cross the Kongma-La pass. For me, this was the toughest pass of the three which were planned for the trip

We also had an “open air breakfast with a view”, right in the lap of mother nature J

The hike started with a steep ascent on an unmarked/undefined route. As soon as I made it to the top of the first ascent, it started to snow and there were suddenly a lot of clouds over us. After progressing on to a plateau, we got the view of this glacial lake – just mind-blowing. We were three of us, who dared the chill to take some pictures, and quickly moved ahead to the last leg of the Kongma La pass. It was all about a steep climb on the mountain ahead of us & we could spot the prayer flags at a distance, which actually was the top. Since we three were already pumped up, it didn’t take us a lot of time to reach the top. And then that satisfaction of reaching the top, the feeling of achievement, and the freshness of the air around us, can’t be defined in words!

The next leg was to cross the Khumbu glacier traversing the best visible path. It is quiet tricky as it involves moving over small glacial water lakes, glaciers covered with soft moraine & a few deadly crevasses. We formed a sub-group of 3 trekkers with one junior guide, and started traversing over the most suitable path that we could find. It ended when we reached a big glacial lake with no route ahead! We could see our lead guide, leading the rest of the group, trying to traverse along a different path to cross the glacier. We had to walk off route to join him and ensure that we were back on a proper course. We finally ended up taking a route that wasn’t very easy, and we along with our guides and porters had to literally make a bridge across the flowing glacial river with the help of large rocks. Some steep climb again followed by a flat trail, and we reached our camp site. A hard day was finally done J

It was certainly the longest and the toughest day of the trek, however, I was still feeling fresh as by now I was well acclimatized, and overwhelmed to see the mountains & glaciers all around me.

It was amazing trekking deeper into Himalayas each passing day. The best part until so far was the dramatic changes in the terrains and landscapes around.

For now, I will stop here and let you soak in the pictures of the next 5 days of my Trekking experience before I move to next few days which involves reaching to the base camp, famous Kala Patthar and beyond ☺️

Till then, Keep Exploring!!!