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Everest with the famous Khumbu Icefall; view from
Kala Patthar |
Our friend Owen Floody has embarked on numerous treks in the past year and a half, including the ambitious "Ultimate Everest" trek in the Himalayas. Owen recently retired from a career of
teaching and research at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. He has always
been an avid photographer and in his retirement has taken numerous trips that
allow him to pursue his passion. He is a frequent contributor to The Intrepid
Tourist. Here is the report of his Everest trek and a few of his excellent
photographs.
Since
my retirement in mid-2012, I have completed 12 international treks. Of these, the longest and most demanding was
Wilderness Travel’s “Ultimate Everest”, a trek that extended over 25 days in
November-December of 2016. My group of five
trekkers assembled in Kathmandu and spent several days exploring this and other
sites and royal cities in the Kathmandu Valley.
We then were flown to Lukla, where the trekking began. The trek’s initial leg took us to the vibrant
town of Namche Bazaar. Beyond this
point, our route followed an elongated loop, with the town of Lobuche at its
far end. At Lobuche, we spent several
days following a spur out to and back from the Mount Everest base camp before
circling back to Namche Bazaar along a different route. Though we had hiked from Lukla to Namche
Bazaar at the trek’s start, all in my group opted to return to Lukla by
helicopter. In addition to its obvious
attraction of ease, this provided a very useful bird’s eye perspective on some
of the terrain through which we had trekked.
Except in Kathmandu, we stayed in basic lodges and were fed well by our
own traveling kitchen staff.
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| Everest (marked by the leftmost
cloud) is just behind the Nuptse Ridge, with Lhotse to the right and below the
larger cloud formation |
As you would expect, views of Everest and
other Himalayan peaks (especially Ama Dablam, Lhotse and Nuptse) were a primary
goal and achievement. However, the
closest and best views of these (e.g., Everest with the famous Khumbu Icefall ) were not easy to come
by, requiring climbs to 17,500 ft (at Gokyo Ri) and 18,365 ft (at Kala Patthar).
To some extent, but only this, the earlier parts of the trek prepared us
for later demands by exposing us to gradually increasing altitudes. For example, our lodges on days 4, 8 and 12
were at 11,270, 12,650 and 14,100 ft, respectively. And Lobuche, the gateway to the base camp,
sits at 16,200 ft. Still, there is a significant
difference between 14,000-16,000 and 17,000-18,000 ft and all of us found our
highest climbs to be very challenging, even with the help of the Diamox that we
took to ward off altitude sickness. One
tip I would give future Ultimate Everest trekkers is to strenuously avoid
exposure to colds or other illnesses borne by fellow travelers. All in my group paid the price for failing to
do this.
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| Icefield at the top of Cho La Pass |
Most of this trek’s figurative highpoints
coincided with literal highpoints. These
included the aforementioned views of Ama Dablam, Everest, Lhotse and
Nuptse. In addition, I very much enjoyed
the Cho La Pass,
Ngozumba Glacier and some of the mountain views near the town of Dingboche.
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| Views from Dingboche |
In contrast, I
found our visit to the Mount Everest base camp to be anticlimactic: The time of
year at which the trek runs is not the Everest climbing season so that the base
camp amounted to a sign-posted rock field, not a bustling climbers’ village.
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| Mani Rimdu Festival |
On the other hand, an unexpected personal high point
was the opportunity to see the Mani Rimdu Festival in Tengboche, as we passed
through this town. This visit was an
option on just one of the season’s three Ultimate Everest treks and I would
strongly urge any future trekkers to take advantage of the opportunity, if
available.
The festival highlights a set
of 16 masked dances performed by the monks at the Tengboche monastery. These dances depict the establishment of
Buddhism in the Himalayas, partly by representing the struggle between the
legendary Padmasambhava (aka Guru Rinpoche) and demonic forces. They were complex, incredibly colorful and provided the opportunity to hear traditional
Nepalese musical instruments and music.
All told, this trek
was very demanding but also unique in both artistry and landscapes. What other trek can boast sightings of two of
the four tallest mountains in the world (Everest and Lhotse) that begin early
and continue to improve as you approach the ultimate destination more and more
closely? If this sort of experience
appeals to you and you’re ready for the challenging altitudes, then this trek
belongs on your bucket list.
