EBC Days 10 and 11 - Lobuche to Gorak Shep

Before we left Lobuche, we were told to only bring whatever we need for the last two days in Gorak Shep.  Our hardworking porters were going to take our extra stuff and start their hike back to Lukla.  By the time we arrive at our hotel in Lukla, our stuff will all be there.

It's another beautiful sunny day as we walked out of the tea house at Lobuche at about 8am.  In front of the tea house is the helicopter pad where the sick woman was evacuated yesterday.  We could see the top of the glacier lake ahead of us in a distance.  It was a beautiful open area, again with mountains all around.  The trail is relatively flat and dotted with rocks here and there; nothing it seems that will slow us down.  Lobuche is at about 4,910m or about 16,108ft.  Some trekkers are already getting altitude sickness.  The hike to Gorak Shep is supposed to be 3 hours, as we were told by our guide.  Gorak Shep, our last stop, is at 5,140m or about 16,863ft.

Distance-wise, Gorak Shep is not very far from Lobuche.  Perhaps about 3km.  However, the terrain is anything but easy.  After the initial flat part, we started to encounter rocky terrain and lots of up and down.  Many hikers slowed down.

The terrain started flat and easy

Many hikers on the trail

Rocky and uphill 

Beautiful mountains surrounding us at a rest stop

Stopping to rest and admire the scenery

A lot of climbing

More rocks and climbing

The pace is slow because of the crowd and difficulty of the trail

I finally arrived at Gorak Shep at about 10:30am, two and a half hours after we started.  I passed a lot of hikers who struggled with the rocky terrain.  If you are not used to stepping from rock to rock, your pace will be very slow.  You have to maintain your balance while not losing your stride.  I practice this on the mountain behind my house.  Balance and agility is something you lose as you get older, unless you keep practicing it.

I had a lot of time to rest after I arrived at the Himalayan Lodge.  I thought I was at the wrong tea house, but the rest of my group arrived at about noon.  They looked very tired.  We had lunch, then a couple of hours of rest.  Our plan that afternoon is to climb Kala Pathar.

Approaching Gorak Shep

A sign welcoming us to Gorak Shep

That was the longest 3km from Lobuche

Buildings around Gorak Shep

Although Gorak Shep is the last stop, it is not the end of the trek.  Two more challenges lie ahead:  hike to Everest Base Camp (EBC) and climbing up Kala Pathar (KP), an intimidating mountain that offers an unobstructed view of the peak of Mt. Everest.  By this time most of the hikers are very, very tired.  Hiking to EBC is the primary goal of most but if you still have some energy left and a few loose screws in your head, you can try to climb to the top of KP.  So that afternoon, four of us tried to climb as high as possible up KP.

View of the Mt. Everest Peak from Kala Pathar

Starting the slow climb up KP with view of Gorak Shep

Mt. Everest starting to come into view

Gorak Shep start to look smaller

The trail up KP

A panoramic view of the peaks

The views get more beautiful as you go higher

Almost there!

At the top of KP, with Mt. Everest just next to my right shoulder

A transmitter and prayer flags up at the top

Many try to climb KP but few make it all the way to the top.  It peaks at 5,550m or 18,208ft.  This would be the highest point that we would climb on this trek.  Even at the half-way point you have an excellent view of Mt. Everest and the mountains next to it.  In the panoramic picture above, I captured this image.  A few days later in Kathmandu I found this view immortalized in many posters and postcards.  I bought one of the posters.  I plan to frame it and hang it on my wall one day.  That evening I was dead tired.  I had dinner and went to bed at 8pm.