Everest base camp via 3 high passes

EVEREST BASE CAMP VIA 3 HIGH PASSES

EVEREST BASE CAMP
VIA 3 HIGH PASSES

WHY CHOOSE THE 3 PASSES ROUTE TO EVEREST BASE CAMP?

The trek to Everest base camp has always been and always will be, a must-do for trekking enthusiasts all over the world. However, Everest’s fame has brought along with it thousands of trekkers all over the world to visit the base camp. On an average day, one will surely encounter at least 100-200 people heading towards or descending down from the base camp.If you are a person looking for some serenity and an off beaten path, the commercial Everest trail is definitely not your cup of tea. The 3 passes trail however, is a path much less trodden. Personally, I would rate this route as one of the best trekking routes in Nepal. The trail brings one not only close to Everest, but Lhotse, Makalu, Cho oyu, Island peak, Baruntse, Nuptse and Ama Dablam, which is also one of the most beautiful peaks in the world. Add 3 adventurous pass crossings , two glacier crossings, the beautiful alpine lakes of Gokyo and you’ve got the perfect trek in the Himalayas!

ITINERARY :-

Please contact Jude @ 8336856747 for complete itinerary and other details. You can also send an email to Jude@tourdeoutdoors.com

PRICE AND BATCH DATES

Price of the experience: 77,000/-

Inclusions :-

1. Two local guides

2. All permits for the trek

3. Food ( 3 times a day)

4. Accommodation in tea houses.

5. Safety equipment such as Oxymeter, Oxygen Cylinder, BP meter and microspikes

6. Experienced Trek Leader

Exclusions :-

1. International and domestic flight fare

2. Travel Insurance

3. Porters

4. Personal expenses, such as hot showers, mineral water, phone charging, snacks

5. Helicopter expenses in case of emergency (usually covered by travel insurance, if any)

6. Sleeping bags

Batch dates :-

9th Nov – 27th Nov, 2019

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Here are a few details that need to be kept in mind for this trek :-

1. It is advisable to reach Lukla 1 day earlier, since flights sometimes get delayed/ cancelled due to bad weather

2. Ama Dablam base camp can be added to the itinerary, depending on the health and performance of trekkers.

3. Itinerary can be changed en route, depending on health and weather conditions.

4. Alcohol and Smoking during the entire trek is not allowed.

5. Accommodation will be in tea houses, found all along the trek.

6. The group size will be 8 members

7. For Indian citizen’s, Voter’s ID or passport is mandatory.

THE 3 PASSES : AN ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME

Nepal. The high Himalayas. Home to 8 of the world’s highest peaks and the legendary Sherpa’s.

I had been dreaming of treading on the route taken by mountaineering legends on their way to the top of the world and I finally got the opportunity in November of 2017.

I had already led two groups of the Annapurna base camp and even though the altitude of ABC is only 13,500 i figured that since I had done it twice, i would be able to cut short a few days on the 3 passes trail, since i would be acclimatized up to a certain altitude. My friends Swati and Prakriti we already ahead of me, the plan was to catch up with them at Namche and we would head forward together.

The flight from KTM to Lukla is not all that scary as it sounds (depends on where you’re sitting in the flight!), but delays are pretty common and my flight was delayed by more than 4 hours.

Arrival at the most dangerous airport in the world, Lukla!

I finally reached Luka at 11.30 and by the time it took me to rest, freshen up and change into my trekking gear and leave, it was already 1 p.m. I realized that if I had to reach Namche the same day, I would have to be really quick on my feet as I had almost 13.5 km’s to cover. I decided against it as I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the trail if all I could think about was reaching my destination. I informed Swati and Prakriti about my plans to stay at Monjo that day , get my permits and meet them at Tengboche the next day.

The streets of Lukla are usually teaming with porters, trekkers and tourists, getting ready for the start of the trek.

The trail from Lukla to Monjo is pretty easy, considering the fact that the first few kilometers’ is a descent, all the way to a place called Phakding and then a climb all the way to Monjo. I reached the tea house by evening and settled in with a hot plate of Dal-bhat, which is the staple food in the Khumbu region.

The next day I headed out with the objective resting at Namche , which was about 4 km’s from Monjo and then head up towards Tengboche, where i would meet my friends.

Namche Bazaar, situated at the 11,286 feet is the capital of the Khumbu region and the first sight of this beautiful town will take your breath away. One wouldn’t expect to find German bakeries , cafe’s , bars with pool tables, 4G connectivity, banking systems and ATM’s. I was awe-struck. I rested for a while at Namche and started for Tengboche by 12 pm

These vertigo inducing suspension bridges have to be crossed en route to Namche Bazaar

Namche Bazaar, the Sherpa capital

This was the first time since I started , where there was no tree cover. While trekking and enjoying the valley view on my right , I came across a small bend on the route. Once i crossed the bend, I was greeted with the best surprise view of my life!

I could see Nuptse , Everest and Lhotse towering above everything else at the end of the valley, with the beautiful Ama Dablam on my right. I was awe-struck and I remember just sitting at that spot for almost an hour admiring what was in front of my eyes.

The best surprise view of my life! First views of Everest, Lhotse and Ama Dablam.

It took me a good 3 hours to reach Tengboche, I was taking my own sweet time trekking and enjoying the view. I reached Tengboche at around 4 pm and finally joined my friends. They had met two other solo travellers who had teamed up to the base camp, Anton from Germany and Su from China. After hearing me rave about the 3 passes, both of them were also convinced to join us. By the end of the trek we had become very good friends , and we were all really glad that we had amazing company and helped each other out whenever needed.

As per the itinerary we had decided upon earlier, we would descend down to Pangboche, where would leave our backpacks and visit Ama Dablam base camp , which was a 5 km trek up to 15,000 feet.I had been excited about visiting the base camp’s of one of the most beautiful peaks in the world for quite a while now and I couldn’t wait to get up there. The others were a little hesitant at first, but the allure of Ama Dablam was too much to resist for them and we set out at around 9 am from Pangboche.

The trek up to the base camp proved tougher than I thought it would be, probably because there were so many false peaks. I would look up at the top and think, “Yes , that is the top for sure” and trek up only to find that the base camp was always a little farther away. I also realized i had been walking really fast and I had left the others behind because of all the excitement. I love places where the footfall is very less, because I met only about 10 people on the way up to the base camp.

It was already almost 12 pm and I was still headed up. I was starting to lose patience, as the elusive base camp was still not in view and I had been trekking for more than 2.5 hours.

“Is it really 4.5 km or did we calculate the distance wrong?”, I thought to myself, looking at a ridge nearby. I could see the trail leading up there so i decided that i would just gain some height and figure out if i was on the right track. It was a pretty steep climb up to the ridge, but as soon as i reached there, the view beyond the ridge literally took my breath away for a moment.

Ama Dablam in all her glory. I have done a lot of treks, but this view, this peak, took the prize as the MOST beautiful , by far. It was incredible. She stood there, like an eagle, stretching her wings with her head held high. It almost looked like the base camp was her nest as it was cradled in a meadow right below her. I stood there, dumbfounded for a long time. I eventually walked down to the base camp and i spoke to a Sherpa who was looking up at the peak with a pair of binoculars. He was nice enough to answer my questions about the routes to the peaks and the locations of the camps en route to the summit. He also told me that his team had already started for the summit the same morning and were almost there! I borrowed his binoculars and gazed at the Dablam. Sure enough, i saw 3 climbers making their way to the summit!

Ama Dablam looks like a bald eagle and the base camp looks like the nest, which is why the base camp is also called ‘The Eagle’s nest’

Witnessing first hand, the magnificence of Ama Dablam was awe inspiring. I was very happy to see the rest of my team also reach the base camp, and we were all ecstatic. We waited there for another half hour, after which we started to head back down, only because we were famished. We reached Pangboche, feasted on some Dal bhat and headed up to Dingboche the same day. It was a tiring day for sure, but we went to bed happy and content.

The next day we headed up to Chukkung, which is our base camp for the first and the highest pass, the Kongma La. The distance from Dingboche to Chukkung is an easy 4.5km trek and we reached by 11 am. Chukkung has got to be one of the most beautiful settlements also, since it is surrounded by a lot peaks above 6000 m.The north face of Ama Dablam was my the view from my room! Chukkung is also the start of the trek to Chukkung Ri and the base camp of Imja tse, also known as Island peak.People who do the 3 passes trail often head up to Chukkung Ri (18,200 feet) to acclamatize before attempting Kongma La.

The view from my window at Chukkung : The north face of Ama Dablam

Since the sun rises from behind the high peaks, I feel the sunset views are always much better. I had decided that i would go for sunset atop Chukkung Ri. The others had planned to rest and head up the next day to acclimatize , however Su decided to join me. We headed up at around 3 pm and reached the top just before sunset. The view from atop Chukkung Ri is by far, the best view I have EVER seen in my life!

Nuptse, Lhotse, Makalu, Cho oyu, Ama Dablam, Pumori, Baruntse, Island peak towered above me like monsters. The aerial distance between Lhotse and me was barely 5 km’s. Everest was so close that i couldn’t see it, since the vertical south face of Lhotse rose more than 8000 feet above me!

I felt so humbled, so insignificant, standing amidst the might of these mountains. The sunset made everything look infinitely more beautiful. As i saw the sun slowly set , I could see clouds dance to the tunes of the wind below , a beautiful yellow engulf the Everest Massif in flames , and prayer flags fluttering in the wind. I felt engulfed in a sense of peace, a sense of tranquility. The 30 minutes i spent up there will always be one of the happiest in my life.

Sunset from Chukkung Ri

We decided to head back down at least 20 minutes before sunset so we would have enough light to get back down to Chukkung without losing our way. The sunset view was so mesmerizing that we ended up staying at the top for a lot longer than what we had planned. It suddenly struck me that we had to head back down as soon as possible, as i could already see the light dimming around us slowly. We decided to take out our head torches and head back down. To my dismay, i realized then that i forgotten my head torch at Chukkung. To make things worse, Su had forgotten the batteries for his head torch!

I felt a chill run down my spine. It was about to get dark and we are at 18000 feet, without a torch, food or shelter. The only light we had was the light from my phone, which was barely enough. Even though the trail up to Chukkung Ri is well made, it would make it really hard to find it if we were to lose our way somehow in the dark. To make things worse, if we took the wrong trail, we could end up at the glacier below, and a glacier is one the last places where we could end up if we were lost.

I told Su that we have about half an hour of daylight left and the best chance that we have is to make a break for it and run down whenever possible.

We did run down whenever we could thought it was safe to do so, and we thought we were making good time. However, 30 mins had past and we were now on a flat meadow, heading towards Chukkung.We were getting tired of the running, even though it was downhill, it was above 17500 feet and we were feeling the altitude.We estimated that it would take us at least one hour more, to get to the base of the peak and decided to stick together and not deviate for the trail at all . Fifteen minutes later it was pitch black, however we could see Chukkung illuminated by lights below us, but couldn’t see more than five feet ahead of us. Thanks to the well-made trail, we thought, it wouldn’t be a problem getting back. We were wrong. There were certain parts where the trail seemed to veer off into different directions and we did end up losing our way. To our relief, Su’s Garmin had good navigation, with the help of which and the lights from Chukkung, we eventually made it back to our tea house safe. Both of us let out a sigh of relief.

I remember Su and I raved about the view and the small adventure we had to our teammates. What a day!

The next day Su and me spent lazing around , a day to just rest , relax and recover , while the others went up Chukkung RI. The next day was going to be a tough one , the first pass, Kongma La.

We woke up and and ate our breakfast and left by 4 am. Instead of eating the usual bread with jam , I decided to eat some fried rice , assuming that I would need the energy for the long day ahead. Bad idea. The food did not do well with me and within an hour, I was suffering with stomach issues. I started dehydrating pretty fast and no matter how much I hydrated, I felt myself growing weaker. To be on the safer side, i popped a Diamox as well. I felt really sick in my stomach but pushed on nonetheless and reached the top of the pass, a few minutes after everyone else. The view from the pass, I feel made my sickness vanish for a while!

View en- route to Kongma La

Prakriti enjoying the view atop Kongma La

I know it was the Adrenalin rush of the accomplishment of reaching the pass , but it was a amazing feeling to be at 18,100 feet and to witness that magnificent view. After crossing the pass, it is another 4 hour descent to Lobuche , and we had to cross the Khumbu glacier. With help from my teammates, especially Swati , I reached Lobuche exhausted, however in one piece. All i needed to do was hydrate well and rest and after two hours of doing just that, i started feeling much better.

Now that we were back on the commercial Everest route, there were more than 40 people in our tea house.We were already missing the peace and calm of Chukkung.

We headed up from Lobuche to Gorakshep the next morning , which is the base for the trek to Everest base camp, as well as Kalapatthar. We decided to do EBC the same day itself and Kalapatthar the next morning. After a simple 6 km trek to Gorakshep , we had lunch and headed up to EBC. I was excited to see the infamous Khumbu ice fall and the origins of the Khumbhu glacier. Having acclimatized well, we did not face any altitude problems and we reached EBC in less than 2.5 hours. We were all so happy to have reached the base camp and it felt like we had really earned it. The ice fall lived up to all the hype about it being the most dangerous part of the Everest climb. The massive crevasses looked very dangerous from where we were standing. It is an absolutely amazing place to stand, surrounded by some of the highest peaks on the planet. A dream of mine had been fulfilled.

The team headed for Gorakshep from Lobuche, with Nuptse towering above us in the background

The Khumbu Glacier!

EVEREST BASE CAMP, CHECK

The Khumbu Icefall : Arguably one of the most difficult parts of the climb to the top of the world!

We headed unto Kalapatthar early the next morning, hoping to get the sunrise from the top. I had expected that it would be very cold, so I layered myself with everything I owned and set out at around 4.30 in the morning. We had calculated an estimated time of about 3 hours, but we reached the summit in only half that time.

The wonders of acclimatization!

The temperature however, while ascending was very low, it felt like -15 at least. I will never forget that morning. We were the first ones on the summit and we forced ourselves to do push ups, jumping jacks, and keep moving around, just to try to keep ourselves warm. The view was really beautiful and this is the first time we got to see the magnitude of Everest. The peak that steals the show, along with Everest is the 7161 m peak Pumori , which is a beautiful triangle shaped peak.

Lho La, Everest and Nuptse from Kalapatthar

We headed back down from Kalapatthar back to Gorakshep by 8 am, ate our breakfast and headed down to our next campsite, Dzongla.

The next morning, we headed out to cross our next pass, the Cho La. The route up Cho La also offers a picturesque view of the valley we had trekked from, with the beautiful peak Cholatse right at the base of Dzongla. It is a straightforward climb, however it does have a lot of boulder fields, which have to be negotiated.This pass is the most adventurous of all the 3, as people have to negotiate a huge ice field en route to the pass. We were equipped with Micro spikes but the route didn’t look dangerous so we felt we did not need it and proceeded slowly and cautiously. After the ice field there is a small section with some exposure, but once that is crossed, it is an easy 200 m scramble on rocks to reach the top.

The Dzongla valley, en route to Cho La.Cholatse towers above everything on the right

Su negotiating the ice field en route to Cho La.

Glacier en route to Cho La.

Cho La, finally in view! The last 200 m is almost a scramble on rocks to get to the top.Fun times!

At the top of Cho La, finally!

The wind was pretty strong and we decided not to spend too much time at the top. We enjoyed the view, rested and headed back down towards our next stop, Thagnag. It took us more than 3 hours more to reach because the route was very picturesque and we were walking quietly, enjoying the views.

We reached Thagnag at around 5 pm and settled in for some tea.

While we were drinking tea and relaxing, a man walked in, looking for someone. To my surprise, he walked up to me and asked me if I could help him with something. I was confused, as there were about 6 other people in the dining area apart from the 5 of us. I thought to myself, ‘Why did he want my help? What could have happened?’ I decided to see what he had to say and went out of the room to talk to him. He introduced himself as Raju, a porter and that he was carrying some things for client, an Indian man from Bangalore. The client had not reached the lodge yet and was suspected to be missing . I recalled that we did pass by a man earlier that morning, who seemed to be struggling, but seemed physically fine. We wished him good luck and passed him by , assuming that his guide was somewhere close. When asked where the guide was, Raju mentioned that the guide had duped the client of his money and never returned. Raju was working two jobs, carrying a heavy load and also guiding the client, which proved to be very stressful at the Cho La, since he had to help him, as well as carry a heavy load. By the time they had reached the pass, Raju was exhausted. The client, noticing this asked Raju to go ahead as the trail looked easy and would meet him at Thagnag. Raju obliged and headed down at 2 pm. The time as per my watch was already 8 pm. 6 hours since Raju left him at the top of Cho La.

I asked him how I could help and he asked me to talk to the lodge owners to ask them to help look for him, since he had already tried and they refused. ‘Refused? Why?’ i asked, taken aback. He says that the no one is willing to go out since it is dark and since it was dinner time.

I couldn’t believe what he was saying so I decided to go and see if i could convince anyone to come out and help look for the guy. Anton accompanied me and we went to the lodge to ask for help from the lodge owner. We were shocked to see a lot of other Nepali guides, porters relaxing by the fireplace, even though they knew that this guy was missing. The lodge owner was also of no help, none of them were willing to go out and look. We tried talking to the trekkers who the guides were leading, hoping that would convince the guides to go help out, but they did not seem to care at all.

The two of us were in a dilemma now. It was already pitch dark and we didn’t know the route ourselves, let alone find the route and look for this guy. We would be placing ourselves in harm’s way if we head out looking for him at this time of night. While we were discussing this, Raju comes back to us and tells us something which made our hearts sink.

The lodge owner was ready to go out himself with a few people to look for him, but he wanted Rs 3000/- for it! We were so angry when we heard this statement. There is a guy out there, lost and cold, with no food or shelter and if not found, he probably would not survive the night. Here are people who want money to go out and look for him? We were disgusted.

We agreed immediately however, we assumed that if not for humanity’s sake, they will atleast go out and look for him for money. We paid the 3000/- and waited for a response from the team which were sent out. We fell asleep waiting and woke up first thing in the morning and went over to the lodge, hoping to hear good news. Unfortunately, they told us that they had looked for him for more than two hours but could not find a trace of him.

We were disappointed, however did not give up. We asked Raju for the name of the company which was providing the services, got in touch with them and informed them that their client was missing. We could not however, get any ids or information, to call his family.

We decided to ask the teams heading up to Cho La to keep an eye out for him and help out if possible. We gave the information of the lodge we were going to stay at Gokyo to the lodge owner and asked him to at least inform us if he is found. As there was nothing more we could do for him, we went on our way.

We left Thangnag at around 9 am, since it was a relatively easy trek up to our next stop, Gokyo. We would have to negotiate the Ngozumpu glacier en route, which is the longest glacier in the Himalayas. After an hour of trekking, we reached a point where the view opened up and we could see the entire glacier below us. When my eyes followed the glacier towards its origin, I saw this massive, 10000 foot wall of snow , ice and rock towering above the glacier. We were all dumbfounded by it. It was Cho oyu, the 6th highest peak in the world. It looked like a steam engine that day, with a huge plume of clouds rising above the summit.

Negotiating the Ngozumpa glacier, with Cho oyu towering in the background.

We negotiated the glacier carefully and crossed over to the other side in about two hours time. The trail climbed up towards a ridge for about another hour and when we reached the top, we were greeted with another magnificent view. The Gokyo Lakes.The village of Gokyo is nestled at the shore of the largest of the lakes and it truly was a view worth remembering. The massive turquoise colored lakes, the quaint village of Gokyo, The massive wall of Cho oyu rising above the background, made for one of the most perfect views in the mountains.

The beautiful Gokyo Lake, another surprise view.

The village of Gokyo, nestled at the base of Gokyo Ri, and Cho oyu, towering in the background. Do you see the steam engine?

We reached our lodge at Gokyo and the attendant gave us some very good news. The guy who was lost below Cho La had been found! Apparently he had no food, however was lucky enough to find a cave and take shelter there. He reached Thangnag the next afternoon, with Raju!.We were ecstatic to hear that he was alive and were glad that our efforts didn’t go in vain.

We had two days at Gokyo to relax and explore. We decided to head up to Gokyo Ri the same day and explore the Gokyo lakes the next day. The view from Gokyo Ri, again, is indescribable. Everest, Lhotse, Makalu, Pumori, Cholatse, Taboche tower above everything in front, the Gokyo village and lakes look gorgeous below, and the clouds behind turned bright red as the sun set below. A magnificent view indeed.

The next day we spent relaxing at the Gokyo Bakery, stuffing ourselves with Danish’s and chocolate cakes. We decided to skip visiting the lakes as we were more than content with just lazing around at the Gokyo bakery. Later in the afternoon i went up to Gokyo Ri again, hoping to get some good time lapses, which I did!

We loved Gokyo so much that we did not want to leave and if we had more time, we would have definitely stayed another day. Oh well, next time!

A timelapse from Gokyo RI, shadows creeping up on the Gokyo Lake and village and some creepy cloudplay.

Sunset on the Everest massif, from Gokyo RI.

That golden color!

The Red clouds!

Gokyo RI

The next morning we set out from Gokyo, towards our last pass, the Renjo La. At first we walked alongside the Gokyo lake for about an hour. It was such a beautiful day. It seemed that even though we had acclimatized really well, we felt that the trek up took longer than we thought it would, probably because of the eating spree we were on the past two day at Gokyo. The Everest massif came into view when we trekked about 1 km from Gokyo, and the view stayed with us all through the route up to the pass. The Renjo La, with an elevation gain of only 1870 feet, was the easiest of the passes. The trail remains mostly gradual until we reached right below the pass, from where it is a steep climb all the way to the top. The entire Everest massif and the Rolwaling range comes into view, with Gokyo and the lakes at the base of the Ngozumpa glacier. A beautiful view!

En route to Renjo La

The view from Renjo La

We headed down towards our next stop, Lungden, after eating our packed lunch at the pass. It took us more than 4 hours to get to Lungden, making it the longest day of our trek. We were already celebrating and couldn’t stop talking about our experiences of the trek, while we sipped our tea in our cozy lodge at Lungden.

The next two days we spent trekking down from Lungden to Namche and back down to Lukla.We reached, took hot showers and re grouped and went to get a celebratory drink at a bar. The night was fun, with a nice pool table, drinks and a lot of conversations.

3 passes, check.

Back to Namche!

We had different flights the next day from Lukla back to Kathmandu,and we said our good bye’s in case we dont meet at Kathmandu.Swati, Prakriti and me got our flight and reached KTM by 10 am and we decided to just relax there, since their flights were at 2 pm. Su and Anton were also lucky to make it out of Lukla and we met again at the restaurant. Finally, we dropped of Swati and Prakriti at the airport and said our good bye’s again. Anton, Su and me decided to stay on at Kathmandu for a day or two to explore and pick up some souvenirs for our loved ones back home. Two days later, we finally parted ways, vowing to meet again someday.

I have done a lot of treks in the past two years, and even though each trek has its own charm, the 3 passes takes the crown as my favorite trek, probably because I am a peak lover.

I feel that the mountains teach a lot about humility, about our insignificance amongst them, about being truly happy. Apart from all of these, the mountains gave me what I have been looking for in life. Direction.

I finally found something that I want to do for the rest of my life. I want, to ‘Tour de Outdoors.’

THE 3 PASSES :
AN ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME

Nepal. The high Himalayas. Home to 8 of the world’s highest peaks and the legendary Sherpa’s.

I had been dreaming of treading on the route taken by mountaineering legends on their way to the top of the world and I finally got the opportunity in November of 2017.

I had already led two groups of the Annapurna base camp and even though the altitude of ABC is only 12,500 i figured that since I had done it twice, i would be able to cut short a few days on the 3 passes trail, since i would be acclimatized up to a certain altitude. My friends Swati and Prakriti we already ahead of me, the plan was to catch up with them at Namche and we would head forward together.

The flight from KTM to Lukla is not all that scary as it sounds (depends on where you’re sitting in the flight!), but delays are pretty common and my flight was delayed by more than 4 hours.

Arrival at the most dangerous airport in the world, Lukla!

I finally reached Luka at 11.30 and by the time it took me to rest, freshen up and change into my trekking gear and leave, it was already 1 p.m.I realized that if i had to reach Namche the same day, i would have to be really quick on my feet as i had almost 13.5 km’s to cover.I decided against it as I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the trail if all I could think about was reaching my destination.I informed Swati and Prakriti about my plans to stay at Monjo that day, get my permits and meet them at Tengboche the nexy day.

The streets of Lukla are usually teaming with porters, trekkers and tourists, getting ready for the start of the trek.

The trail from Lukla to Monjo is pretty easy, considering the fact that the first few kilometers’ is only a descent, all the way to a place called Phakding and then a climb all the way to Monjo. I reached the tea house by evening and settled in with a hot plate of Dal-bhat, which is the staple food in the Khumbu region.

The next day I headed out with the objective resting at Namche, which was about 4 km’s from Monjo and then head up towards Tengboche, where i would meet my friends.

Namche Bazaar, situated at the 11,286 feet is the capital of the Khumbu region and the first sight of this beautiful town will take your breath away.One wouldn’t expect to find German bakeries, cafe’s, bars with pool tables,4G connectivity,banking systems and ATM’s.I was awe-struck.I rested for a while at Namche and started for Tengboche by 12 pm

These vertigo inducing suspension bridges have to be crossed en route to Namche Bazaar

Namche Bazaar, the Sherpa capital

This was the first time since I started where there was no tree cover. While trekking and enjoying the valley view on my right, I came across a small bend on the route. Once i crossed the bend, I was greeted with the best surprise view of my life!

I could see Nuptse , Everest and Lhotse towering above everything else at the end of the valley, with the beautiful Ama Dablam on my right. I was awe-struck and i remember just sitting at that spot for almost an hour admiring what was in front of my eyes.

The best surprise view of my life! First views of Everest, Lhotse and Ama Dablam.

It took me a good 3 hours to reach Tengboche, i was taking my own sweet time trekking and enjoying the view. I reached Tengboche at around 4 pm and finally joined my friends. They had met two other solo travellers who had teamed up to the base camp, Anton from Germany and Su from China. After hearing me rave about the 3 passes, both of them were also convinced to join us. By the end of the trek we had become very good friends, and we were all really glad that we had amazing company and helped each other out whenever needed.

As per the itinerary we had decided upon earlier, we would descend fown to Pangboche, where would leave our backpacks and visit Ama Dablam base camp,which was a 5 km trek upto 15,000 feet.I had been excited about visiting the base camps of one of the most beautiful peaks in the world for quite a while now and i couldn’t wait to get up there. The others were a little hesitant at first, but the allure of Ama Dablam was too much to resist for them and we set out at around 9 am from Pangboche.

The trek upto the base camp proved tougher than i thought it would be, probably because there were so many false peaks.I would look up at the top and think, “Yes that is the top for sure” and trek up only to find that the base camp was always a little farther away. I also realized i had been walking really fast and i had left the others behind because of all the excitement. I love places where the footfall is very less, and i met only about 10 people on the way up to the campsite.

I was already almost 12 pm and i was still headed up. I was starting to lose patience, as the elusive base camp was still not in view and i had been trekking for more than 2.5 hours.

“Is it really 4.5 km or did we calculate the distance wrong?”, i thought to myself, looking at a ridge nearby. I could see the trail leading up there so i decided that i would just gain some height and figure out if i was on the right track. It was a pretty steep climb up to the ridge, but as soon as i reached there, the view beyond the ridge literally took my breath away for a moment.

Ama Dablam in all her glory. I have done a lot of treks, but this view, this peak, took the prize as the MOST beautiful, by far.It was incredible. She stood there, like an eagle, stretching her wings with her head held high. It almost looked like the base camp was her nest as it was cradled in a meadow right below her. I stood there, dumbfounded for a long time. I eventually walked down to the base camp and i spoke to a Sherpa who was looking up at the peak with a pair of binoculars. He was nice enough to answer my questions about the routes to the peaks and the locations of the camps en route to the summit. He also told me that his team had already started for the summit the same morning and were almost there! I borrowed his binoculars and gazed at the Dablam. Sure enough, i saw 3 climbers making their way to the summit!

Ama Dablam looks like a bald eagle and the base camp looks like the nest, which is why the base camp is also called ‘The Eagle’s nest’

The next day we headed up to Chukkung, which is out base camp for the first and the highest pass, the Kongma La. The distance from Dingboche to Chukkung is an easy 4.5km trek and we reached by 11 am.Chukkung has got to be one of the most beautiful settlements also, since it is surrounded by a lot peaks above 6000m.The north face of Ama Dablam was my the view from my room! Chukkung is also the start of the trek to Chukkung Ri and the base camp of Imja tse, also known as Island peak.People who do the 3 passes trail often head up to Chukkung Ri (18,200 feet) to acclamatize before attempting Kongma La.

The view from my window at Chukkung : The north face of Ama Dablam

Since the sun rises from behind the high peaks, I feel the sunset views are always much better. I had decided that i would go for sunset atop Chukkung Ri.The others decided to rest and head up the next day to acclamatize,however Su decided to join me. We headed up at around 3 pm and reached the top just before sunset. The view from atop Chukkung Ri is by far, the best view I have EVER seen in my life!

Nuptse,Lhotse,Makalu,Cho oyu,,Ama Dablam, Pumori, Baruntse, Island peak towered above me like monsters. The arial distance between Lhotse and me was barely 5 km’s.Everest was so close that i couldnt see it, since the vertical south face of Lhotse rose more than 8000 feet above me!

I felt so humbled, so insignificant, standing amidst the might of these mountains. The sunset made everything look infinitely more beautiful. As i saw the sun slowly set,I could see clouds dance to the tunes of the wind below, a beautiful yellow engulf the Everest Massif in flames, and prayer flags fluttering in the wind. I felt engulfed in a sense of peace, a sense of tranquility. The 30 minutes i spent up there will always be one of the happiest in my life.

Sunset from Chukung Ri

I told Su that we have about half an hour of daylight left and the best chance that we have is to make a break for it and run down whenever possible.

We did run down whenever we could thought it was safe to do so, and we thought we were making good time. However, 30 mins had past and we were now on a flat meadow, heading towards Chukkung.We were getting tired of the running, even though it was downhill, it was above 17500 feet and we were feeling the altitude.We estimated that it would take us at least one hour more, to get to the base of the peak and decided to stick together and not deviate for the trail at all.15 minutes later it was pitch black, however we could see Chukkung illuminated by lights below us, but couldn’t see more than 5 feet ahead of us. Thanks to the well-made trail, we thought, it wouldn’t be a problem getting back. We were wrong. There were certain parts where the trail seemed to veer off into different directions and we did end up losing our way. To our relief, Su’s Garmin had good navigation, with the help of which and the lights from Chukkung, we eventually made it back to our tea house safe. Both of us let out a sigh of relief.

I remember Su and I raved about the view and the small adventure we had to our teammates. What a day!

The next day Su and me spent lazing around, a day to just rest, relax and recover, while the others went up Chukkung RI. The next day was going to be a tough one, the first pass, Kongma La.

We woke up and and ate our breakfast and left by 4 am. Instead of eating the usual bread with jam, i decided to eat some fried rice, assuming that i would need the energy for the long day ahead. Bad idea. The food did not do well with me and within an hour, I was suffering with stomach issues. I started dehydrating pretty fast and no matter how much i hydrated, I felt myself growing weaker. To be on the safer side, i popped a Diamox as well. I felt really sick in my stomach but pushed on nonetheless and reached the top of the pass, only a few minutes after everyone else. The view from the pass, i feel made my sickness vanish for a while!

View en- route to Kongma La

Prakriti enjoying the view atop Kongma La

know it was the Adrenalin rush of the accomplishment of reaching the pass, but it was a amazing feeling to be at 18,100 feet and to witness that magnificent view.After crossing the pass, its another 4 hour descent to Lobuche, and we had to cross the Khumbu glacier. With help from my teammates, especially Swati, I reached Lobuche exhausted, however in one piece.All i needed to do was hydrate well and est and after two hours of doing just that, i started feeling much better.

Now that we were back on the commercial Everest route, there were more than 40 people in our tea house.We were already missing the peace and calm of Chukkung.

I We headed up from Lobuche to Gorakshep the next morning, which is the base for the trek to Everest base camp, as well as Kalapatthar.We decided to do EBC the same day itself and Kalapatthar the next morning. After a simple 6 km trek to Gorakshep, we had lunch and headed up to EBC. I was excited to see the infamous Khumbu icefall and the origins of the Khumbhu glacier. Having acclamatized well, we did not face any altitude problems and we reached EBC in less than 2.5 hours. We were all so happy to have reached the base camp and it felt like we had really earned it. The icefall lived up to all the hype about it being the most dangerous part of the Everest climb. The massive crevasses looked very dangerous from where we were standing. It is an absolutely amazing place to stand, surrounded by some of the highest peaks on the planet. A dream of mine had been fulfilled.

The team headed for Gorakshep from Lobuche, with Nuptse towering above us in the background

The Khumbu Glacier!

EVEREST BASE CAMP, CHECK

The Khumbu Icefall : Arguably one of the most difficult parts of the climb to the top of the world!

We headed upto Kalapatthar early the next morning, hoping to get the sunrise from the top. I had expected that it would be very cold, so I layered myself with everything we owned and set out at around 4.30 in the morning. We had calculated an estimated time of about 3 hours, but we reached the summit in only half that time.

The wonders of acclimatization!

The temperature however, while ascending was very low, it felt like -15 at least. I will never forget that morning. We were the first ones on the summit and we forced ourselves to do push ups, jumping jacks, and keep moving around, just to try to keep ourselves warm. The view was really beautiful and this is the first time we get to see the magnitude of Everest. The peak that steals the show, along with Everest is the 7161 m peak Pumori , which is a beautiful triangle shaped peak.

Lho La, Everest and Nuptse from Kalapatthar

We headed back down from Kalapatthar back to Gorakshep by 8 am, ate our breakfast and headed down to our next campsite, Dzongla.

The next morning, we headed out to cross our next pass, the Cho La. The route up Cho La also offers a picturesque view of the valley we had trekked from, with the beautiful peak Cholatse right at the base of Dzongla.It is a straightforward climb, however it does have a lot of boulder fields, which have to be negotiated.This pass is the most adventurous of all the 3, as people have to negotiate a huge ice field en route to the pass. We were equipped with Microspikes but the route didn’t look dangerous so we felt we did not need it and proceeded slowly and cautiously. After the ice field there is a small section with some exposure, but once that is crossed, it is an easy 200m scramble on rocks to reach the top.

The Dzongla valley, en route to Cho La.Cholatse towers above everything on the right

Su negotiating the ice field en route to Cho La.

Glacier en route to Cho La.

Cho La, finally in view! The last 200 m is almost a scramble on rocks to get to the top.Fun times!

At the top of Cho La, finally!

We reached Thagnag at around 5 pm and were settling in for some tea.

While we were drinking tea and relaxing, a man walked in, looking for someone. To my surprise, he walked up to me and asked me i could help him with something. I was confused, as there were about 6 other people in the dining area apart from the 5 of us. i thought to myself, ‘Why did he want my help? What could have happened?’ I decided to see what he had to say and went out of the room to talk to him. He introduced himself as Raju,a porter and that he was carrying some things for client, an Indian man from Bangalore. The client had not reached the lodge yet and is suspected to be missing .I recalled that we did pass by a man earlier that morning, who seemed to be struggling, but seemed physically fine. We wished him good luck and passed him by, assuming that his guide was somewhere close. When asked where the guide was, Raju mentioned that the guide had duped the client of his money and never returned. Raju was working two jobs, carrying a heavy load and also guiding the client, which proved to be very stressful at the Cho La, since he had to help him, as well as carry a heavy load. By the time they had reached the pass, Raju was exhausted. The client, noticing this asked Raju to go ahead as the trail looked easy and would meet him at Thagnag.Raju obliged and headed down at 2 pm. The time as per my watch was already 8 pm. 6 hours since Raju left him at the top of Cho La.

I couldn’t believe what he was saying so I decided to go and see if i could convince anyone to come out and help look for the guy. Anton accompanied me and we went to the lodge to ask for help from the Lodge owner. We were shocked to see a lot of other Nepali guides, porters relaxing by the fireplace, even though they knew that this guy was missing. The lodge owner was also of no help, none of them were willing to go out and look. We tried talking to the trekkers who the guides were leading, hoping that would convince the guides to go help out, but they did not seem to care at all.

We left Thangnag at around 9 am, since it was a relatively easy trek up to our next stop, Gokyo. We would have to negotiate the Ngozumpu glacier en route, which is the longest glacier in the Himalayas. After an hour of trekking, we reached a point where the view opened up and we could see the entire glacier below us. When my eyes followed the glacier towards its origin, I saw this massive, 10000 foot wall of snow and ice and rock towering above the glacier. We were all dumbfounded by it. It was Cho oyu, the 6th highest peak in the world. It looked like a steam engine that day, with a huge plume of clouds rising above the summit.

Negotiating the Ngozumpa glacier, with Cho oyu towering in the background.

We negotiated the glacier carefully and crossed over to the other side in about two hours’ time. The trail climbed up towards a ridge for about another hour and when we reached the top, we were greeted with another magnificent view. The Gokyo Lakes.The village of Gokyo is nestled at the shore of the largest of the lakes and it truly was a view worth remembering. The massive turquoise coloured lakes, the quaint village of Gokyo, The massive wall of Cho oyu rising above the background, made for one of the most perfect views in the mountains.

The beautiful Gokyo Lake, another surprise view.

The village of Gokyo, nestled at the base of Gokyo Ri, and Cho oyu, towering in the background. Do you see the steam engine?

We loved Gokyo so much that we did not want to leave and if we had more time, we would have definitely stayed another day. Oh well, next time!

A timelapse from Gokyo RI, shadows creeping up on the Gokyo Lake and village and some creepy cloudplay.

Sunset on the Everest massif, from Gokyo RI.

That golden color!

The Red clouds!

Gokyo RI

En route to Renjo La

The view from Renjo La

3 passes, check.

Back to Namche!

I have done a lot of treks in the past two years, and even though each trek has its own charm, the 3 passes takes the crown as my favorite trek, probably because i am a peak lover.

I feel that the mountains teach a lot about humility, about our insignificance amongst them, about being truly happy. Apart from all of these, the mountains gave me what i have been looking for in life. Direction.

I finally found something that I want to do for the rest of my life. I want, to ‘Tour de Outdoors.’