My trip to the top of Everest
Discussion
Zaichik said:
NuckyThompson said:
Any update?
Trying to formulate a plan for my 40th in a few years time. Want to do something special. Not Everest as to much risk but I always had Kilimanjaro on my list until I was told it isn’t that picturesque. So any suggestions of a similar height picturesque mountain? Everest base camp is a possibility. What are the easieer over 5000m mountains?
Everest base camp is very picturesque - especially if you take the less crowded more spectacular Gokyo-RI/Cho-La route. Even so be prepared for a relatively crowded hike, but certainly extraordinary. On this route you will hike up Gokyo-Ri (>5000M), hike over the Cho-La pass (>5000m), see Everest from Kalar-Pathar (>5000m) and visit Everest Base Camp (>5000m). You will stay in the relative luxury of tea houses on routes (sheds).Trying to formulate a plan for my 40th in a few years time. Want to do something special. Not Everest as to much risk but I always had Kilimanjaro on my list until I was told it isn’t that picturesque. So any suggestions of a similar height picturesque mountain? Everest base camp is a possibility. What are the easieer over 5000m mountains?
If an expedition style climb but not requiring complex mountaineering skills is more your thing, then obvious ones would be:
Mera and/or Island (Nepal himalya) 6000m - spectacular and beautiful
Aconcagua (argentina) - 6980m - very spectacular in a brutal I am going hurt you kind of way
Lenin (Kyrgyzstan) 7100m - remote, quiet and spectacular - highest you can do without getting into extreme moutaineering skills, extraordinary country and scenery.
Elbrus (Russia) 5800m - brilliant, not too hard, spectacular - its in Russia which is not everyones cup of tea right now
Toubkal (morocco) 4100m - nice walk. Easy to get to. You are unlikely to die.
But, I'd also throw in the mix considering the K2 basecamp trek. Certainly something far less crowded and 'commercialised' than Everest with what I'm told are even more impressive views etc
Even if I never climb a mountain again I'd like to do the K2 BC trip. Although I think there's a chance I might be too gutted to get to see K2 but not actually be climbing it.
So, we'd now done as much acclimatisation as we could elsewhere before there was no other option than to get higher up Everest to gain more altitude, so we'd now be based at Everest BC for the rest of the trip.
A few more generic photos I obviously took after leaving Lobuche
As our next trip would be heading up through the icefall and through camp 1 to camp 2, time to get back in the swing of ladders down at basecamp level:
In order to stay fit an active we did quite a lot of walks up behind basecamp, not really to anywhere of note, but it was our only option to keep moving on the down days. As ever, it always offered slightly different perspectives of the goal
This is us way above basecamp from the other side.....you can just about make out a tiny helicopter in the top right for scale
Pretty good shot of the Khumbu icefall flowing down the valley
Look closely you can see all the tiny dots that make up basecamp - gives you an idea of how big basecamp is and how many people are actually here!
Sorry, but I'll never tire of photos like these, makes looking out of my window at home fairly mundane:
We had our Puja ceremony as we'd be heading up the mountain for the first time soon - blessing of the climbers and some of their gear
Random shot of us having some wines, can't remember exactly when, maybe our last drink before we potentially go and die in the icefall, who knows!
Actually, that must have been a couple of days before we would head off, as this day we took a walk up basecamp (we were at the very bottom end) to check out the icefall up close for the first time. A walk up basecamp took an hour, it's that big!
Hard to imagine the scale of this beast behind me
And a look down on basecamp from the icefall angle
Looks like we took a stroll down to the last village before basecamp, probably just to keep the legs working and have a beer. Pumori behind me
One of the most enjoyable things about being a climber rather than a basecamp trekker is how obvious acclimatisation actually is. On our first trip to basecamp, we were plodding along fairly slowly, not much faster than all of the other tourists on the same route as we hadn't spent much time any higher than anyone else. But after a couple of weeks living at this altitude and going higher to Lobuche etc, what was originally a few hours from Gorak Shep to basecamp, became a 30 minute actual run! We were pretty much dancing around the tourists on the route, going for a couple of beers on our rest days then pretty much running back, passing the same people who were very slowly making their way there. That never got old.
Anyway, up next we really were heading up the mountain......
A few more generic photos I obviously took after leaving Lobuche
As our next trip would be heading up through the icefall and through camp 1 to camp 2, time to get back in the swing of ladders down at basecamp level:
In order to stay fit an active we did quite a lot of walks up behind basecamp, not really to anywhere of note, but it was our only option to keep moving on the down days. As ever, it always offered slightly different perspectives of the goal
This is us way above basecamp from the other side.....you can just about make out a tiny helicopter in the top right for scale
Pretty good shot of the Khumbu icefall flowing down the valley
Look closely you can see all the tiny dots that make up basecamp - gives you an idea of how big basecamp is and how many people are actually here!
Sorry, but I'll never tire of photos like these, makes looking out of my window at home fairly mundane:
We had our Puja ceremony as we'd be heading up the mountain for the first time soon - blessing of the climbers and some of their gear
Random shot of us having some wines, can't remember exactly when, maybe our last drink before we potentially go and die in the icefall, who knows!
Actually, that must have been a couple of days before we would head off, as this day we took a walk up basecamp (we were at the very bottom end) to check out the icefall up close for the first time. A walk up basecamp took an hour, it's that big!
Hard to imagine the scale of this beast behind me
And a look down on basecamp from the icefall angle
Looks like we took a stroll down to the last village before basecamp, probably just to keep the legs working and have a beer. Pumori behind me
One of the most enjoyable things about being a climber rather than a basecamp trekker is how obvious acclimatisation actually is. On our first trip to basecamp, we were plodding along fairly slowly, not much faster than all of the other tourists on the same route as we hadn't spent much time any higher than anyone else. But after a couple of weeks living at this altitude and going higher to Lobuche etc, what was originally a few hours from Gorak Shep to basecamp, became a 30 minute actual run! We were pretty much dancing around the tourists on the route, going for a couple of beers on our rest days then pretty much running back, passing the same people who were very slowly making their way there. That never got old.
Anyway, up next we really were heading up the mountain......
Mabbs9 said:
Great update thanks. The pics are fascinating. It looks so clear looking up to the South Summit and the last bit of the ridge. Did you have any good binoculars to have a look up?
Stupidly, I never even thought to buy/bring any!! Maybe I told myself not to worry as I'd be seeing it all up close with my own eyes at some point haha Having left before dawn and done the hour of plodding up through basecamp, we reached the bottom of the icefall and time to put the crampons on
You're following the one route so you do come across some people, but nothing really holding us up thankfully as you don't really want to be in the icefall with the sun beating down on it, melting it and making it very unstable
Sun starting to rise and hitting Pumori first.
Looking back down towards BC
Pumori looking awesome in the sun, wish I'd been able to climb it on this trip. Turns out the following year 'my' company switched acclimatising on Lobuche to Pumori, which I am a bit gutted about
Fairly small ladder to cross
At the top of the icefall we reach the area that is camp 1, but we weren't going to stay here, just a quick stop, and a brand new perspective on the summit
I forgot that I had my GoPro on my head taking photos every minute or so, so there were quite a few that turned out quite nicely from the icefall trip:
Particularly cool one, as you can imagine most of the crap I had to sort through was GoPro photos of my own feet
You get a vague sense of the sorts of giant ice seracs looming all over the place....one of these falls down and it might be game over
Not too far from the top of the icefall I think
Finally we're through
So, we'd made it to camp 1, and we rested for a short while, then started a very long, tedious plod to camp 2. Lots of people stay at camp 1, but there's a fairly sizeable avalanche risk coming from Nuptse which could in theory wipe out the whole camp, so we never stayed
Good shot of camp 1 behind us as we plod off
So, our next stop was going to be camp 2 for a few nights and then our first experience of the somewhat fearsome Lhotse Face.......
You're following the one route so you do come across some people, but nothing really holding us up thankfully as you don't really want to be in the icefall with the sun beating down on it, melting it and making it very unstable
Sun starting to rise and hitting Pumori first.
Looking back down towards BC
Pumori looking awesome in the sun, wish I'd been able to climb it on this trip. Turns out the following year 'my' company switched acclimatising on Lobuche to Pumori, which I am a bit gutted about
Fairly small ladder to cross
At the top of the icefall we reach the area that is camp 1, but we weren't going to stay here, just a quick stop, and a brand new perspective on the summit
I forgot that I had my GoPro on my head taking photos every minute or so, so there were quite a few that turned out quite nicely from the icefall trip:
Particularly cool one, as you can imagine most of the crap I had to sort through was GoPro photos of my own feet
You get a vague sense of the sorts of giant ice seracs looming all over the place....one of these falls down and it might be game over
Not too far from the top of the icefall I think
Finally we're through
So, we'd made it to camp 1, and we rested for a short while, then started a very long, tedious plod to camp 2. Lots of people stay at camp 1, but there's a fairly sizeable avalanche risk coming from Nuptse which could in theory wipe out the whole camp, so we never stayed
Good shot of camp 1 behind us as we plod off
So, our next stop was going to be camp 2 for a few nights and then our first experience of the somewhat fearsome Lhotse Face.......
ben5575 said:
UTH said:
If wiki is saying that number you quoted then it's a strange number for it to have wrong!
It wasn't wiki, it was a random tour company that conveniently (for my google fu) gave approximate heights for the various camps.Sorry, I'm distracting from the main thread which wasn't my intention. I just wanted to give a few heights for context that was all
Schwarz930 said:
Great thread, and great achievement. Well Done.
Out of curiosity, you spent weeks aclimatising to the lack of oxygen at those heights, but what happens afterwards when you return to sea level, you must be high as a kite for a while?
Haha sadly I was hoping I might feel like that but it wasn’t the case. If I had the desire to go for a 10km run I probably would have beaten my PB by a hell of a lot though, alas after such a long and tiring expedition all I wanted to do was celebrate and get pissed, and the beneficial effects disappear very quickly. Out of curiosity, you spent weeks aclimatising to the lack of oxygen at those heights, but what happens afterwards when you return to sea level, you must be high as a kite for a while?
The journey from camp 1 to camp 2 this first rotation was weirdly one of the hardest part of my trip. It was a very slow incline, in a straight line, that just felt like it went on forever. It was pretty much the only time our guide and my climbing partner got ahead of me, and by quite some way. No idea why I struggled, maybe just the mental boredom of plodding along in a straight line seemingly getting nowhere closer to the camp you could see way off in the distance.
Seems that slow plod didn't really warrant many photos as it was dull, but we did come up against a pretty impressive wall of ice not far out of camp 1
The idea for the next few days was to spend a fair bit of time at camp 2 with one trip to camp 3 to spend the night, all in the name of letting the body spend more time at much higher altitude before heading back to basecamp to rest before we headed off on our summit push. The daunting part of this part was tackling the Lhotse face for the first time which is bloody steep and bloody long.
We did a walk from camp 2 to the bottom of the Lhotse face as part of the whole 'keep fit and moving' idea
Just about make out people climbing up the face:
Of course the higher we were getting, the closer the top was getting
This is taken from the bottom of the face looking back down the Western Cwm, with camp 2 behind us and camp 1 waaaaaaay back down the valley. Gives you an idea of the scale
And this is what camp 2 looks like from that vantage point
One of my faves
![](https://thumbsnap.com/sc/SQbCv2Uf.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/6Z3rBLQ9" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/6Z3rBLQ9.jpg)
After a night at camp 2 we then headed off in our downsuits for the first time to head up the face to camp 3
Staring up at what we needed to scale
GoPro on my helmet got the best shots
A seemingly never ending wall of ice to keep climbing
Finally arrived and spent a night at camp 3 acclimatising
View back down the valley from camp 3 tent
Best thing of all though is that the top really did start feeling closer....
I think this was the other two descending behind me
We will have spent the night at camp 2 that night then headed back down to the bottom, so a couple of generic shots on the way back down
Back at the bottom our bodies were now ready for the top, so it was a case of waiting for the right weather window and just staying active but rested
One amazing surprise; the doctor who had been on the trekking part of the trip but had flown back to Kathmandu where he lived when the trek was over, had somehow managed to get this sent out with one of the supply helicopters that land at basecamp and it found its way to us!! We certainly had a few merry nights.....
Anyone who knows anything about basecamp treks knows a lot of people head up to this spot as its the highest point 'trekkers' can get to, so we figured we might as well do it as well on our off day.
View from the top, becoming like any other view really!
Naturally had to celebrate getting to the top of that with some beers in the village
And it seems it was only at this point in the trip did I decide to take a couple of photos of basecamp!
Mine and my buddie's tents:
Kitchen
Dining, storage and comms tents
And it looks like this was the final shot I took from basecamp before we'd be heading up the next morning in our attempt to stand on the top
Seems that slow plod didn't really warrant many photos as it was dull, but we did come up against a pretty impressive wall of ice not far out of camp 1
The idea for the next few days was to spend a fair bit of time at camp 2 with one trip to camp 3 to spend the night, all in the name of letting the body spend more time at much higher altitude before heading back to basecamp to rest before we headed off on our summit push. The daunting part of this part was tackling the Lhotse face for the first time which is bloody steep and bloody long.
We did a walk from camp 2 to the bottom of the Lhotse face as part of the whole 'keep fit and moving' idea
Just about make out people climbing up the face:
Of course the higher we were getting, the closer the top was getting
This is taken from the bottom of the face looking back down the Western Cwm, with camp 2 behind us and camp 1 waaaaaaay back down the valley. Gives you an idea of the scale
And this is what camp 2 looks like from that vantage point
One of my faves
After a night at camp 2 we then headed off in our downsuits for the first time to head up the face to camp 3
Staring up at what we needed to scale
GoPro on my helmet got the best shots
A seemingly never ending wall of ice to keep climbing
Finally arrived and spent a night at camp 3 acclimatising
View back down the valley from camp 3 tent
Best thing of all though is that the top really did start feeling closer....
I think this was the other two descending behind me
We will have spent the night at camp 2 that night then headed back down to the bottom, so a couple of generic shots on the way back down
Back at the bottom our bodies were now ready for the top, so it was a case of waiting for the right weather window and just staying active but rested
One amazing surprise; the doctor who had been on the trekking part of the trip but had flown back to Kathmandu where he lived when the trek was over, had somehow managed to get this sent out with one of the supply helicopters that land at basecamp and it found its way to us!! We certainly had a few merry nights.....
Anyone who knows anything about basecamp treks knows a lot of people head up to this spot as its the highest point 'trekkers' can get to, so we figured we might as well do it as well on our off day.
View from the top, becoming like any other view really!
Naturally had to celebrate getting to the top of that with some beers in the village
And it seems it was only at this point in the trip did I decide to take a couple of photos of basecamp!
Mine and my buddie's tents:
Kitchen
Dining, storage and comms tents
And it looks like this was the final shot I took from basecamp before we'd be heading up the next morning in our attempt to stand on the top
McGee_22 said:
Soft Top said:
Totally a virtual beer in it for you - maybe a real one depending where you are in Surrey!
I’m in Surrey too and I’d also buy the OP an actual beer to hear the actual Everest dits. Great thread and patiently waiting for the final push.I’ll even bring the laptop with the video footage.
Concerned of Cheshire said:
K50 DEL said:
Fantastic thread to read and (especially) see the photos.
My first boss died on Everest back in 2005, we were friends as well so I had lived through a lot of the planning and prep for his trip but (obviously) there were never any photos so, even all these years later this thread acts a little bit of closure, thanks for posting it and I look forward to the next installment.
It's a terrific risk that anybody takes whether it be a travellers first attempt or a Sherpa with multiple summits behind them. Was your boss Robert Milne who lost his life above camp four ? My first boss died on Everest back in 2005, we were friends as well so I had lived through a lot of the planning and prep for his trip but (obviously) there were never any photos so, even all these years later this thread acts a little bit of closure, thanks for posting it and I look forward to the next installment.
I successfully summited in May 2010 at the second attempt having been driven back by unimaginable weather conditions at camp four on the first summit push.
I won't hijack the OP's terrific account but will happily contribute should he or anyone else wish.
Edited by Concerned of Cheshire on Thursday 4th January 21:15
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