Day 7, Dingbuche, max elevation about 4900m

Today was another acclimatization day. Despite feeling much better the prior evening, Valeria’s stomach was again in a bad mood. But we still decided to do the acclimatization walk to the nearby hill (if 5000m can be counted as a hill). The walk was pretty much straight upwards, it was a really slow and in some places pretty though hike.

As a reward we got to see Ama Dablam (6858m) in all its glory, and also some huge Himalayan vultures. Most  people  don’t  climb all the way to the top. We went almost all the way but not quite. When we went down it started to get clowdy and cold.

We tried a new hit on a movie cafe but again no luck. Ville bought then there something that reminded of pulla, but it was pretty dry and not so good.

Day 8, Dingbuche – Lobuche, max elevation 4910

After acclimatization day we slept much better, and Valeria even finished her breakfast pancake successfully. We started the days walk, which was almost flat for some time. Then we got to a river, crossed it and took a good rest before the next feat, a pretty long climb up.

The sun came out and started to shine and it was warm, but we did not sweat, cause in this altitude you run out of breath before you start to sweat. Accompanied by Raj’s “slowly, slowly”, we ascented. We were feeling like snails with concrete feet that had been smoking all their lives.When we got to the top, we saw all these memorials to those who died on Everest. It looked like there were so many of them… 

After another rest here, we continued along the valley to Lobuche while a couple of helicopters soared by. When we reached Lobuche, it was time for lunch. Ville even tried local green chili, but turned totally red from one tiny piece. In Lobuche we were pretty tired, Ville fell asleep while Valeria was reading. In the evening we were again playing cards and Raj offered us some apples he had been carrying all the way from Kathmandu.

Day 9, Lobuche – Gorak Shep & Everest Base Camp, max elevation 5330m

Today was the day. Everest Base Camp was waiting for us. We had slept surprisingly well (although woke up at 5.30am). When we were having breakfast we saw yaks getting their daily load. And then we left around seven.

Morning was foggy. The first step was to get to Ghorak Shep, where we would sleep the next night. It took us two hours. The way was up and down, and we saw many familiar faces from the plane coming back our way (since we were one day behind the schedule).

We actually had lunch at Gorak Shep half past nine, probably the earliest lunch we’ve ever had. Troubling news was that there were three groups with sick people waiting for helicopters that could not come due to bad weather. They were thinking about taking poor people down with horses.

But after lunch we headed towards Everest Base Camp. It started to snow while we were walking. We heard and saw land slides and avalanches, reminding of the dangers in the high mountains. Actually, the old Everest Base Camp was destroyed in an avalanche caused by the earth quake in 2015. The new one is at the bottom of Khumbu glacier that has taken many lives, including 16 Sherpas in 2014.

When we got to EBC, we had to wait till three Americans had their million insta-perfect pictures. Luckily we got there before the bigger group! All in all, there were not that many people. We were amazed how people can have tents there, since base camp is on the glacier covered with rocks, there are no even spots.

When we left back, the sun started to shine. The weather was getting better, and the snow melted. And then we heard the helicopters that could finally get the sick people.

With sunnier weather we went to take a couple more pictures, and then had lemon tea with cookies(!) courtesy of Raj.