There can be few sights more awe inspiring than watching the sun rise over Everest, especially when you have trekked uphill for two hours to see it. At four o'clock in the morning.
Kala Patar sits at 5,600 metres above sea level, almost 300 metres above Everest Base Camp and 500 metres above Gorak Shep where we had spent the night after reaching EBC. But I'm getting ahead of myself - there was a whole trek that came before this.
When I told my brother I was going to Nepal, he laughed, and said 'if you're going to find yourself, don't bother. You're already here.' Dad lives on. Nepal was less about trying to find myself and more about going somewhere completely outside my comfort zone to take on another big physical and mental challenge. If I happened to find anything out about it myself on the way then all the better.
Before the trek began I spent a few nights in Kathmandu. This place is mental. I mean, properly bat shit crazy. Smelly, dirty, crowded, busy, in your face. Or so it seems to someone who spends most of his time either in the City or the leafy streets of Blackheath, an area so genteel and friendly that we refer to it as the Bubble.
It probably sounds like I didn't enjoy it - I loved it.
What a city. Wow. Settlement in the valley believed to have been here since the 4th century, devastated by a major earthquake in 2015 but not broken. I've had temple overload - there is virtually a temple on every corner, some modest, others mind blowing.
Durbar Square is the focal point of the city and nowhere are the effects of the 2015 earthquake more apparent. A number of the temples are being restored. Others were dismantled because they were unsafe. I arrived planning a quick walk around but 3 hours later was still there, seeing new things, revisiting places I had been to an hour before having learnt something new about them. Like the Kumari Bahal which houses the city's living deity, a girl selected as their goddess until she reaches puberty when she reverts to being a mere mortal. Or the courtyard of the Royal Palace - once you step inside the hustle and bustle of the square disappears and you are stood where Nepalese kings have been crowned since 1775 but built somewhere between the 4th and 8th century. And temple, after temple, after temple.
The Swamarmyth is perhaps the city's highlight. This stupa dominates a hill overlooking Kathmandu. Accessed up 365 steps known as the Eastern Stairway it is quite an undertaking, but worth the effort. Known as the Monkey Temple because of it's resident population of Macaws it was built in the 4th century. Devotees (and a fair few tourists) scale it's steps and pass around the stupor spinning it's prayer wheels to bring good fortune. It is surrounded by a number of smaller temples, each magnificent in their own right. The view over the city gives you a sense of the scale of the place.
But the main event was just over the horizon - a trek to Everest Base Camp.
An early morning alarm call for our flight to Lukla. We had been warned that the weather in the mountains can make the flights notoriously unreliable but when we arrived at the airport everything looked on time. Our plane, a sort of Eastern European Trabant with wings and propellor was a cosy fit for our group and leader and our pilot was an extra from Top Gun - all leather jacket and Ray Bans.
The landing at Lukla was an experience. This place isn't regarded as the world's most dangerous airport for nothing. The runway appears through the clouds and plane banks steeply towards it. At only 600 metres long it is banked upwards to make sure the planes stop. It is also at an elevation of 2,800 metres. Takeoff will be an interesting experience on the way home.
After a brief stop for breakfast we started the trek. A gentle introduction to the days to come. 5.4 miles with an overall decrease in altitude of 200m from Lukla leaving us at 2610m for the night. A number of stops to make sure that everyone was okay. Overtaken a number of times by porters carrying seemingly impossible loads, some with big wooden pallets on their backs as they transported supplies up the trail. Each time it was time to move on our guide would shout 'jam jam' which became a phrase that started to grate over the next few days. The scenery is unsurprisingly spectacular, even at this altitude, with huge hills on either side of the trail and awe inspiring bridges over rivers.
Our days developed a familiar pattern for the remainder of the trek. Wake up a bit chilly in your sleeping bag before packing up before a 7am breakfast to enable our porters to get on their way. Set off just after 8 for the day's trek before staggering into a tea hut for dinner, gentle ribbing about the day's events, a game of cards or two and then back to bed. But each day treks became more stunning as we advanced up through the Himalayas. It is difficult to describe the sheer scale of the landscape. You thought you had it in perspective and then the clouds would clear and reveal a new layer of even taller snow capped mountains standing 3,000 metres above us.
Awesome. Doesn't. Do. It. Justice.
Highlights were seeing Everest for the first time, the sight of the just as impressive Ama Dablim, Nuptse and Lohtse peaks, visiting the Khumbu glacier, seeing the whole of our team at Base Camp, going higher than I had ever been before, feeling like you're trekking in the footsteps of great men and women before, the amazing spirit of our Guide Gunesh and his assistant guides meeting s Sherpa who has summited Everest 8 times, visiting a Buddhist Monastery at Tengbuche and being privileged to watch a tea ceremony taking place full of symbolism that none us were able to fully appreciate, the sobering sight of the memorials to those who have lost their lives on Everest and the absolute feeling of triumph and awe at the top of Kala Patar as the sun rose over the highest peak in the world.
EBC is at the bottom of the Khumbu ice fall, the first major obstacle that those attempting to stand on top of the world have to overcome. When we hit it there was a palpable feeling of relief amongst the group - we had all made it, a rare occurrence in a group of 13 people of different ages, fitness levels and states of health. It felt awe inspiring to stand there, knowing that Hillary and Tensing had past this way in 1953 on their way to conquer Everest for the first time. It also felt sobering to remember that there were still 3 vertical kilometres to the summit. We cracked a few beers for photographs and lingered for as long as we could before starting our 3 hour descent to our base for the night.
Kala Patar was an added extra for the small group who had the energy and insanity to get up at 3:45 for a two hour uphill hike. My lungs were bursting out of my chest for the first 30 minutes as we part walked, part scrambled up what felt like the steepest incline we had come across so far. Suriya, our guide, was moving quickly, keen to get us the top in time for sunrise which just added to the discomfort. Having spent the previous 8 days carefully acclimatising to the altitude here we were trying to do 500m vertical change as quickly as possible. Cold and drained we reached the top to wait for the sun to gradually illuminate the mountains in front of us. At minus 10 I could barely feel my fingers or toes but it was well worth the discomfort. The sunrise was spectacular, unlike anything I have watched before as it illuminated the minor peaks, then Amu Dablin, Lhotse and finally surrounded Everest with a glow that appeared to shoot off it's peak into the sky. Wow. What a way to end our high altitude adventure before starting to descend back to Lukla.
It wasn't all plain sailing along the trek. We had tonsillitis, a stomach ulcer, chest infection, cold, altitude sickness and of course blisters. My biggest battle was mental. Every long distance event I have done has had a period where I questioned what I was doing, whether I was good enough to be there, or just what was the point. It might last a minute, an hour or a day but it always crops up and this was no different. This time it lasted a day from Phortse to Dengbuche. I was missing my family having spent too much time away, questioning whether I would make it to EBC, questioning whether I had given myself enough recovery after the Grand 2 Grand Ultra and just spending too much time naval gazing about where I was going in life. I came across a quote that night which sums up my thoughts on the matter - it has taken me a long time to get to this place of confidence in myself and my abilities. I don't believe in God or the Devil but I believe in the sentiment of the quote:
The Devil whispered in my ear 'you are not strong enough to withstand the storm.' Today I whispered back 'I am the storm......'
Josh, Jules, Jill, Matt, Emily, Zach, Graham, Caroline, Ross, Eliza, Will, Diana, Alex - can't think of a better bunch of people to have done this with. You rock. But my oh my, am I glad to be heading back to the Bubble......
Note : I can't stress highly enough that this trek is no walk in the park. It is hard. Lots of people have completed it but lots of people were being helicoptered off the mountain range as we trekked. You need to be fit both mentally a physically. I'm not taking about marathon fit but you need to be conscious that this is a serious hike, both in terms of distance and altitude. Go to the gym, do long walks, get prepared. The altitude is the real kicker - at sea level we have 100% of the oxygen we need (20.9% of the air we breathe) by 2,800m (Lukla), this has reduced to 14.8% of the air you are breathing, by Namche Bazaar you have 13.7% and at EBC you have 10.8%. It is difficult to imagine the effect this has - shortness of breath, increased heart rate, headaches, nausea and at worst High Altitude Pulmonary Adeema (HAPE) or Hugh Altitude Cerebral Adeema (HACE). Be aware of the symptoms, don't hide them and get help as soon as they occur (NHS). I train at The Altitude Centre in London which undoubtedly helped with my acclimatisation.
Our route:
Day 1: Lukla (2,800m) to Phakding (2,610m) - 5.4 miles/190m descent
Day 2: Phakding (2,610m) to Namche Bazar (3,440m) - 9.7miles/830m ascent
Day 3: Namche Bazaar acclimatisation day - 3.8miles/490metres ascent/descent
Day 4: Namche Bazaar (3,440m) to Phortse (3,810m) - 7miles/370metres ascent
Day 5: Phortse (3,810m) to Dengboche (4,410m) - 8.7 miles/600metres ascent
Day 6: Dengboche acclimatisation day - 1.9 miles/300 metres ascent/descent
Day 7: Dengbuche (4,410m) to Lobuche (4,900m) - 5.6 miles/490metres ascent
Day 8: Lobuche (4,900m) to Everest Base Camp (5,364m) to Gorak Shep (5,140m) - 7.5 miles
Day 9: Gorak Shep (5,140m) to Kala Patar (5,600m) return - 2.5 miles/460 metres ascent
Gorak Shep (5,140m) to Orsho - 9.6 miles
Day 10: Orsho to Tengbuche (3,840) - 4.8 miles
Day 11: Tengbuche (3,840m) to Monjo (2,860m) - 11.4 miles/1,000m descent
Day 12: Monjo (2860m) to Lukla (2,840m) - 8 miles
