Approaching base camp

Over the past five days we completed our trek to base camp. Leaving the village of Namche Bazaar at 11,300 feet, we climbed progressively higher to 17,500 feet, pacing ourselves carefully to allow our bodies to adjust to the increasing altitude. This is a critical component of preparing for an Everest climb, as the elevation at base camp is higher than all of the summits in the Alps and most of the summits in North America.

The initial days of the second half of the trek looked a lot like the first; passing through pine and rhododendron forests, villages perched among terraced hillsides, and river crossings with colorful prayer flags streaming off suspension bridges. The character then changed as we climbed above tree line onto vast, open glacial moraines surrounded by towering peaks. The landscape at that elevation doesn’t support year round agriculture, so the “villages” are extensions of seasonal stone yak grazing compounds. The only real commerce is rudimentary lodges catering to trekking and mountaineering.

The Khumbu remains relatively empty of foreigners. Where typically this time of year the trails would be full of trekking groups, we encountered almost none. Consequently, the vast majority of the so-called “tea houses”, (lodges), remain closed. One or two in each village are open to climbing teams, who are here in reduced but still meaningful numbers.

Happily, the winds shifted and cleared out the wildfire haze we experienced earlier in the trek, providing us stunning views of the surrounding summits. The typical pattern was crystal clear mornings and then clouds drifting up the valleys in the afternoon. Most mornings, I sat outside bundled up in my down jacket and pants, a cup of coffee in hand, feeling the sun’s warmth as I gazed up at impossibly white peaks against impossibly blue skies. Moments to cherish if you are a mountain lover.

As I walked up the trail, I thought often of being here with Jill in 1990. Some parts of the trail I remembered exactly, other parts I had completely forgotten. I also recalled sitting at home in Dover several years ago when daughter Holly was trekking this route, savoring the occasional photos she posted and trying to imagine where she was on a given day. As I walked along, Holly’s and my steps were separated by just a few years, and I enjoyed wondering how it all looked to her.

Here is a photo of our team hiking up a ridge on one of those clear mornings. Everest base camp is located at the end the valley, behind the person with the yellow pack. You can’t see Everest itself, as it is hidden by the ridge on the right.

And here is a photo taken a day’s walk below base camp, looking back down the valley as the afternoon clouds moved in. The stone cairns are memorials to lost climbers.

A couple of days earlier, before we broke tree line, we passed through the village of Pangboche. Pangboche monastery is the oldest monastery in the Khumbu. The current structure is over 300 years old, and the original structure centuries older. Here is a photo of two of our team members outside of it:

We were fortune to be able to arrange a blessing from the Lama, which turned out to be far more powerful than I expected.

We took off our shoes, left our cameras behind, and climbed up a worn wooden staircase to a prayer room on the upper floor of the monastery. Colorful images of deities surrounded us, the walls were lined with old cloth prayer books, and incense burned in a small pot. We sat cross legged on carpets while the lama chanted prayers and beat steadily on several drums. After the drumming stopped, we bowed before the lama and presented our kata scarves, (the ones we received from the mother and son in Namche), to be blessed. The lama then also placed a protection cord around our neck.

No matter what you believe, it is powerful to sit in the same smokey room where people have sat for centuries, on the same ancient carpets, hearing prayers chanted out of the same prayer books, receiving the same blessings that people in that mountain village have received for generations.

Some notes:

– There is a specific way to fold your kata scarf in order to receive the blessing. I kept dropping a fold. No one would have noticed, but our climbing guide Jangbu wouldn’t let me go up to the second floor until I got it right.

– The drill is to place a small monetary offering inside one of the top folds. When the lama takes your scarf to bless it, he casually shakes the rupee notes out of the fold without missing a beat in his chanting. Instead of feeling commercial, this felt as appropriate as any offering in a church at home.

– Above his robes, the lama wore a down mountaineering jacket. During the ceremony, he flicked holy water onto statues of various gods from a plastic Sprite bottle. At the end of the blessing, the lama concluded with two words in English: “Good Luck!”

– Our guides explained that our kata scarves, now blessed by a lama, have acquired a new level of power and importance. We need to be extra careful where we place them in our packs; e.g. not near dirty clothing.

– As we returned to the first floor after the ceremony, Jangbu entered the main hall, knelt before a golden statue of the deity, and prostrated himself multiple times – forehead to the floor. As context: Jangbu grew up in Nepal but now lives in Seattle. He is a top mountaineer who travels the world guiding. Most mornings on our trek, WiFi signal permitting, he started the day connecting by video with his four month old daughter back in Seattle.

So I arrive at base camp well prepared spiritually. Not leaving my neck until I descend safely from the mountain are three things: the yellow protection cord blessed by the monks of Sharminub monastery in Kathmandu, the red protection cord blessed by the lama of Pangboche, and my wedding ring, hung on a small piece of line. (Fingers swell significantly at high altitude. By the time a ring starts cutting off your circulation it is too late to take it off, so you need to do so in advance.) My ring will accompany me to the summit, mountain gods willing.

I actually felt well prepared spiritually, on my own terms, before arriving in Nepal, but all forms of help are welcome.

We pulled into base camp yesterday afternoon, completing the first chapter of our expedition. The trek was all that I hoped for and more. Now the focus shifts dramatically, as we settle into our home for the next seven week and turn our attention to what brought us here: climbing to the top of the world.

Base camp is an amazing place. It deserves its own detailed description, which I promise to provide in the days ahead. We are all thrilled to be here.

Namaste!