Trekking to Everest Base Camp

To visit Nepal and see Everest would be a betrayal of the Himalayas, so the question to go to Everest Camp Bays or not, did not stand. Need to guide it or not, was also immediately clear, well, Porter - it is generally funny. Therefore, we again issued new individual TIMS (trekkers individual card, $ 20), paid off the permits (permission to enter the national park, 30 bucks), bought sneakers, canned and bought plane tickets.

For a start it was necessary to fly from Kathmandu to Lukla - the starting point of the track. Although after a semi-circle on the bike around Annapurna see something weird, I did not expect adventure began at the airport. Departure was appointed to 6.15, we, as Europeans decent, arrived at the airport at 5, there met 7-8 people. And only in the 7:00 opened the mouth of the first employee of the airport to yawn. Immediately after this signal, the airport began to fill people and they were filled to 9 am, we have not yet started to cancel flights.

All the sightseeing flights that day were canceled and, thinking that we have to sit here for a few hours, we decided to go out to eat. Somewhere between the third and fourth spoon of chicken soup, I heard through the noise handsfree Airport "Mr. Nizaev Ilia, Mr. Nizaev Elia," which as it suggests that breakfast is finished. The last sitting in the bus, I went to our vehicle. What was my joy when I saw this:

On these I have not yet flown, so the very first jumped in, that would take the best seats. The best place was all because the plane has only two rows of seats. After maneuvering with protruding through the window with his elbow on the runway, we took off. Such crumbs are not destined, and do not need to soar above 9,000 meters, so we flew on a par with the mountains, enjoying the fact that passes by

Arriving at Lukla only for 12 hours, did not waste any time and immediately went to the airport route, hoping to pass as much as possible to make up for lost time. Our route through the national park Sagarmatha

All payment for the Nepalese gluttony came at this moment, when the legs feel a load in the form of a rocky rise. So we just walked and breathed. Aims to reach any settlement would not. It was decided to stop where that time begins to darken. We arrived at 12, exactly 18 hours by this point become a tiny Dzhorsale where we cut. Several times during the night woke up from what drove weaned from the foot loads. Not only the head is experiencing altitude sickness, I thought, and turned over on its side less bolevshy

The next day, the main objective was to reach the first major transit point - Namche Bazaar, that we are a success, but not without difficulty, and made

By the way, we certainly admired the local nature. Dense vegetation, rivers, and views of the giants of Ama Dablam and Everest. Immediately come to understand how lucky we are to be here at this time of year. Passing by another check-post, I noticed a table with the number of tourists in every month of the year. So, in January 2012 passed 600 tourists, and in October - 9600. Indeed, it was a pleasure to go, no one bothered to enjoy the world's best mountain views.

With all those who came with us on this path we are already familiar, as is often encountered in the field of rest. This company, 8-10 people and we went upstairs, once ahead, once the lagging behind of the caravan. There were days in which we are all the way have not met any foreigner. The price paid for this course was followed, but I would not for that did not change from the comfort of privacy in the comfort of the air temperature.

The next sunset after Namche Bazaar plan was to reach at least Pangboche. By this time the body has adapted to the stress and behaved well, so we kept a decent pace. With time ahead we reached Tengboche, a very beautiful place with a beautiful view and a Tibetan monastery

Without stopping, we went on and came to some suspiciously narrow and too beautiful trail

At first it was like a tourist, but then it became obviously clear that it was not her. Glad that we found sherpovskuyu shortened trail we moved on it. It was a very beautiful forest path between fallen trees, with seating areas in the rocks and skulls of dead tigers animals. We were not disturbed by the movement of her 2:00, not confused and 4. As a result, we went out to some abandoned pastures for yaks. After going through them, we came to another path. Thinking that this path even though it leads to the locality, we went for it. An hour later, the movement started to come into question. Doubts on the knees do not press, so we went with them for another hour. When it became clear that we do go astray, I climbed a tree to survey the area. Exploration has shown us that the right location is in front of us, but on the next hill, and to climb on it, you need to go across the river. To the river 150 meters down and we decide to go down the steep forested slopes to find the river crossing

The photo was taken the next day, we are on the opposite side, where the forest.

After 40 minutes we were at the bottom, peeled and iznemozhdennye. Seeing the river, one muscle too obviously shrunk a little stronger than the others. The river was deepest, and very powerful, but with stones, which made it possible to ferry to the condition that we are able to jump from place 3 meters in length. Throwing the backpack, I jumped to seek safer places to cross. So I spent another hour and came back with nothing. Dusk. Ahead of any settlements do not look through, so we decided to go back. Back up, back on the second path, and again after some abandoned pasture. By that time it was already quite dark. For two we had only one lamp, so the speed has decreased significantly. An hour later, the movement became clear that we did not come to the old path, and go for some barely noticeable goat trail. We were warmly dressed, the body permanently ached from fatigue for a few hours, so I stopped noticing it, so it was quite comfortable to move, if not for one detail. At night, he would not interfere with people who come out to hunt Nepalese Tigers. Out of my head did not come out of the skull seen on the road, and the reaction paid attention to every rustle and otblik from the lantern. In order to calm, I did not speak about his companion thought, so as not to sow panic. At this time, we still jump from one path to another, it is possible that we even walk in a circle in a dense mountain forest.

The only direction we tried to adhere strictly - it down. At such moments, it is impossible not to think about death. Every branch, every hole in this way suggests that the accident - a thing very sudden. Myocardial as sudden as Tiger claws into my back among the Nepalese shrubs. And although it is possible at the time and was not around no tiger, perhaps he was afraid of us in the same way, but the brain is constantly analyzed thousands of variations of the meeting with him, it was the understanding and the fact that if he saw us, it will track to the last, and therefore meeting face to face is inevitable. My ears and attention sharpened, and a folding knife from his breast pocket he moved to improvised, in case the animal would be sick and will probably join him in the fight.

In thinking about it, I saw how I resist, I saw looks like my instinct of self-preservation. This allowed me to look for him. There was pure and naked death. Without color fears and stereotypes, without wrappers of future lives, without any floor, wall and space. And I accepted it. Just I realized her presence in my life. It is as real as sneakers or fridge, as my character as I am. It does not need to wait or be afraid, it just is With all these thoughts in my mind fit point, and I was carrying this point in my head for the rest of the way. It was easy and simple, it has become even easier to move your feet. A few more hours and we saw first light. It was a town. 2 local homes. We knocked, opened the Nepalese with regret that he did not have proper food and rooming house, a tourist town is still half an hour away. In the trance state, we dobreli before the first Gest, ate first thing that came to the menu and go to sleep. The day we spent on my feet 12 hours, and consciousness survived a couple of lives

The next day we went to Toklu. The population size of one hotel and three tent with yak dung at an altitude of about 4500 m. During this day, we have raised the height of about one kilometer, in the hope that we still acclimatized 2 weeks ago in Muktinath. However, such a sharp climb has had an effect, because as part of the security should be raised no more than 600 meters per day. Headache was tolerable, eyes out of their sockets did not get out, so we still decided to get to the destination, where would spend acclimatization day. The road went up almost all the time, so the landscape changes with some unearthly speed

In the beginning, the way we met and even be friends with mega-woman Doreti that have noticed at the airport. Grandmother this bundle of energy is difficult to call, because hurried to which it climbed up the stones and rocks, he would have envied the Prince of Persia, and she does not look that this elderly man. Meet Doreti

61-year-old Australian, who constantly asks questions, with the body of a young model and the mood of the child. I'd love to cut one in the grandmother at every meeting. I was just a thrill to watch a demonstration of the fact that the aging of the body follows the mind. If the mind does not age, everything else is just equal to it and remain alive. Arriving Toklu, tired and hungry, with the pressure in each cell of the body, settled in a single hotel. The first thing that caught my eye - it's sitting in the dining room in a semi-conscious state of an old Korean and feeding his son. Grandpa caught one hundred percent clear gornyashka son was not easy. We have thrown things and sat down at the table. Before we started to turn the old man's salvation scene.

At first, we are hoping that after a meal and tea he gets better, but before he could finish eating, he lost consciousness. It became clear that the need to haul it down to the next village, and how I could not even imagine. While the hotel was attended by only a few people: me, my companion, an old man with altitude sickness, his son, thirty-five, their guide and twenty fellow cook, hotel worker. His grandfather was very bad, as soon as it rastryasali and somehow brought to life, he again lost consciousness. At this time, the boy chef started to collect blankets, pillows and stuffing them sherpovskuyu basket. Sherpovskaya basket consists of a woven wood container with supports for the back, as in modern backpacks. Through the bottom of the basket extends a rope which is fixed at the carrier on the forehead, thereby redistributing the weight of the entire basket to backbone

Throughout the track there are young guys who walk in these baskets are taken to the village of everything that is possible, from food to building materials and gas cylinders. When I saw that this fragile basket stuffed with blankets and put back to 90-pound old man could not believe his eyes. And when he saw that the basket vogruzhaet the 20-year-old boy chef, he began to believe in the impossible.

From the first time it did not work out and I helped the old man to ship in the next. After fixing the whole expedition popped up in the night, which is a descent into the bed of a river with giant stones. Along the way - 2 hours each way. Seeing that on the whole accounts for only grandfather boy, guide and poplohevshy son, I put on all existing things and went with them. From the very beginning it was clear that his grandfather the basket will not be able to go, because it consistently outweighed and he crashed. After that, the boy chef plunged old man on his back, took the back of his legs and ran. He ran long, the old man was too big and heavy. It was further decided to drag him under the arms together taking. So we drove for some time, the guide, the boy and I, one after another. The son of the old man had the strength to drag himself and only a backpack. After that, the guide and the boy went into the rhythm and dragged him only two. Only one of them had a flashlight, which is already so was planted and illuminated a small circle of half a meter from the carriers. I also had a powerful headlamp with fresh batteries, so I ran ahead of them and illuminated the road. The old man, meanwhile, is lost, then regained consciousness, his feet dragged along the ground and out of the mouth drooled. When he ochuhivaetsya, it was constantly asking how much more time to go and kept saying "sorry". The guide also kept saying that to go another 25 minutes, even when the going was still half an hour. It is added to all the troubles even temperature. It was cold and strong winds, the old man was cold and shivering, so in between when porters were resting, I rubbed his calves and thighs. Guide and fellow chef came very quickly, and when it was necessary to cross the river, the boy endured the old one. When we walked down the hill and came out on the plane, my grandfather was a little better and he was able to help the porters that stepped on the ground rather than dragged his feet along. I do not know how much time has passed, because the body was working on reserves, but we somehow reached the bottom of the village

There we loaded grandfather on a chair and began to otpaivat his tea. Here he became lechge. He asked where he was and who we are, and thanked all the snoring. Our group was also given to drink soup and unlimited free masala. After that, we kid chef moved back. Noticing his condition would be disrespectful to the old man, so I'm just going to include a donkey, who was able to enjoy the mountain air. And it represents a whole celestial map, which without a magnifying glass you can see every star. Pauses were not in the sky, it just shone somewhere more, somewhere less. Some of the galaxies and led me back into the house. Next recollection - is bursting head and runny nose, shifting from side to side, the thought of St. Petersburg and the rising sun

The next day was devoted to acclimatization. We walked slowly, breathing deeply and trying to somehow bring down the blood pressure rose. Midnight in an attempt to go to sleep, sleep at midnight - have a good result.

The next day. Morning is excellent, feeling much better. Decide not to hurry with the release and potorchat a little bit more at this altitude, and in the afternoon to advance higher, the benefit to go long. The next destination was Lobuche, 4930 m. In this time we have raised only 300 meters, so the feeling is normal, sleep more than half the night. The next day - the ultimate village route, Gorak Shep, 5140 meters. From this point of start of track 2 final.

On Kalapattar - panoramic view of Everest and its neighbors. And to Everest Base Camp - Base Camp, from where will start the ascent to the top of the world.

Neighborhood changed completely, we have gone peaks and glaciers. Each step has been necessary to ponder, conversations ceased, everyone went into a kind of meditation. Time of the year began to show its character, the weather deteriorated significantly. The temperature dropped and the clouds, the wind blew. Prior to Gorak Shep reached quickly. We decided not to waste any time and immediately go up to Kala Pattar, the lookout on Mount Everest, the highest point of the route, 5545 meters.

Why I made this decision, and it remains a mystery. In terms of acclimatization, it would be better not to go at all, in terms of visibility, it would be better to go to Everest Base Camp. There's no other reason other than my stupidity, just needed to consult with the local. As a result, we still moved up to look at Everest in low clouds. The weather got worse with each passing hour, the wind had already endured a path, my toes were already beginning to freeze. All this inspired me to my native Norilsk, where each campaign in schools was comparable to the conquest Kalapattara, so I felt at ease, bouncing in the wind when it blew in the back and not turning to face him. At this height already contains only 50% oxygen, that is, that would saturate the body with a normal amount of oxygen needs to be done has not one, but two breaths. The route represented the permanent donkey uphill, so we climbed quickly enough. With endpoint opened here is a view of the Nupttse (7861 m)

Everest was not visible because of the clouds

The complete moral decline, but with the idea that I come back here, went back. Immediately upon returning I caught a kick for his stupidity, in the form of enhanced headaches, pressure and the toilet disease. So I live to see the evening. In the evening we met two Australians who just now came to Gorak Shep. The next day, they wanted to go to Everest Base Camp, and we asked for it to go with them and their guide. By the time it was dark, and it means that it was time to go to bed that already represent a problem. A 9 o'clock weather raged so much that there was no certainty that our hotel will carry the barracks for the night somewhere to Lobuche. By 11 o'clock it began to snow. Late at night is very cold, wind flapped doors and window in front of each slit formed small snowdrift. So, under three blankets, with pressure like running a sprint, I, slightly powdered with fresh snow all night thinking about the next day. The joy of the come of the day was marred by street view. Everything was white and cloudy. Trop was no visibility, too. Going down into the central hall Guest, I found Australians discussing the meaning of today's hike at Camp Bays. After long meetings, it was decided to go, we moved with them. The weather was certainly not the best, wind, fog and frost, but we should not forget that we were at an altitude of 5300 meters. Compared to other distances hike to Base Camp - a walk in the park, so we have come quickly, within 2 hours. And although the weather and create some inconvenience, she also adds charm our way

Sooner or later it had to happen for another pass in front of us to spread out a legendary area - the base camp of the highest in the world top. There have been thousands of like-minded people and dream about this place more

Hence, through the glacier, the expedition will start up

His head was in a dispersed state on the scale of what is looking. Wikipedia a little: on average, the ascent from the base camp takes 2 months. All on top of Mount Everest visited by 4,000 people, 200 people were killed when trying to climb. State permission for the conquest of Everest is worth $ 10,000, all expedition costs an average of $ 70,000. After 8000 meters begins a dead zone, at this altitude the air contains only a third of the necessary oxygen person. But in practice, many cases where the tip bent under without the use of oxygen tanks. This place - the champion of everything that you can imagine.

Standing there, I found myself thinking that this acquaintance. Walk around, smell, feel the weather, the nature of this great place to some time to come to the familiar Everest and hug him for the crown.

It seems that after this route was supposed to be over, but the itching in the head the idea that a better view of Everest, I could not see because of the bad weather. After a couple of hours of deliberation, it was decided to remain in Gorakshep until until dispelled the clouds and opens the view from Kalapattara. Again overnight at 5140 meters. Perhaps it is the highest town in the world and it has a significant impact on the body, especially at night. When you go to bed, so much pressure, if you run trot. I want to sleep, the body asks holiday, but I think few people could sleep on the run, so I just waited. I straightened body to be as small as possible bends slowed breathing and waited until pressure is normalized. Sometimes patience enough and I went to sleep, and sometimes turned over on his side and gave rise to endless rotation around its axis in a semi-conscious state The next morning I was conscious of the fact that someone in the wild early hour running around the Guest and shouted the word "clean!". I realized what was happening and sleep could not, therefore, began to slowly gather. Out on the street, I saw a long-awaited landscape - blue sky and clear trails. To celebrate, I just ran on Kalapattar where and opened the most coveted and final appearance

In the foreground - an equally impressive giant Nupttse, for him, no snow and pokazushnichestva located Everest. This type consists of a mosaic of all the passed days, mixed with fatigue and euphoria. It was a victory over himself, over fears and physical limitations. It was a triumph of will

We stayed there for a long time, just being aware of the place where we are. Conceited selfmeyd photo on memory and we go way back

Up to Lukla, the starting point of the route, we ran for 3 days, passing a day for 7-9 hours. We were pleased, mashed and confident after such adventures, so this path was anything but easy. In addition to all the joys, came to me the confidence that I still repair my knees who successfully ditched on Elbrus two years earlier. I do not like hospitals, tablets and other outside interference, and prefers to listen to your body. And when I realized that there is a problem in the form of frayed cords and probably even some cartilage defects, then methodically began to work with her. At first I just walked a lot, preferring sometimes do not even take the car for some cases. Six months later, I started to run. First it was 6 kilometers per week, then 10. After 2 months, I ran 30 kilometers a week. It finished all this two-hour half-marathon, which marked my recovery. It is one thing to run on smooth asphalt in special sneakers, the other - in the trekking boots and 15-pound backpack jumping over rocks. This challenge my knees were successful, and I am very glad Nevoshedshih a little story in pictures. Sometimes you stop noticing the fatigue, because completely distracted by the surrounding views