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    Everest Base Camp for Normal People
    Everest Base Camp for Normal People
    Everest Base Camp for Normal People
    Ebook119 pages1 hour

    Everest Base Camp for Normal People

    By Robyn Webb

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    About this ebook

    What is it with Everest Base Camp?
    Why do so many people, every year, train for months and then trek to the base of the world's highest mountain?

    What is it like anyway? Is it only for mountaineers and tour groups?

    Everest Base Camp is just breathtaking. Both the view, the achievement and the journey there. The terrain, which I envisaged to be mostly snow, transforms with the journey. it is something I will never forget, for many reasons, and the stillness I found on the earthen path , is still there in my core.

    This is the journal of my trek.

    All of the author's proceeds from the sale of this book are donated to the Trek Climb Ski Nepal Community Fund.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRobyn Webb
    Release dateJul 27, 2016
    ISBN9780987417824
    Everest Base Camp for Normal People
    Author

    Robyn Webb

    Robyn Webb is an avid traveller and bushwalker. She travelled in Asia and Europe before developing a passion for ancient civilisations and history and venturing to many places in the Middle East, Europe and South-East Asia. She works in IT. Robyn's writing experience includes many examples where people of varied backgrounds needed a consistent understanding of a particular topic. Her previous publications include articles on travel and photography. She continues to travel widely to indulge her passion in the human condition, history and belief systems and loves sharing her experiences and learning.

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    • 5/5
      Just good, so good!! Great memoirs!! Wonderful writing!! I wish there is a paper book!!

    Book preview

    Everest Base Camp for Normal People - Robyn Webb

    Everest Base Camp for Normal People

    Copyright © 2016 Robyn Webb

    ISBN: 978-0-9874178-2-4 (Smashwords Edition)

    Edited by Kerry Davies AE

    All rights reserved. Except under the conditions described in the Australian Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent amendments, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, recording, duplicating or otherwise, without written permission from the copyright owner.

    National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

    Creator: Webb, Robyn, 1966- author.

    Title: Everest Base Camp for normal people / Robyn Natalie Webb.

    ISBN: 9780987417817 (ebook)

    Subjects: Webb, Robyn Natalie--Diaries.

    Webb, Robyn Natalie--Travel.

    Mountaineering--Everest, Mount (China and Nepal).

    Everest, Mount (China and Nepal)--Description and travel.

    Dewey Number: 915.496

    Table of Contents

    Preface

    Night 0- Kathmandu

    Day 1 & 2- Kathmandu

    Day 3- Flight to Lukla

    Day 4- Monju to Namche Bazar

    Day 5- Acclimatisation Day

    Day 6- Namche to Deboche

    Day 7- Deboche to Dingboche

    Day 8- Dingboche Acclimatisation day

    Day 9- Dingboche to Lobuche

    Day 10- Lobuche to Gorek Shep and Everest Base Camp

    Day 11- Kala Patter

    Day 12- Lobuche to Dingboche

    Day 13- Dingboche to Khumjuhn

    Day 14- Khumjuhn to Namche

    Day 15- Rest Day in Namche

    Day 16- Namche to Phadking

    Day 17- Phadking to Lukla

    Day 18+- Lukla to Kathmandu and post-EBC

    Preface

    I don’t know why I went to Everest Base Camp, or EBC as some people call it. It was never on my bucket list, never a place I needed to go or something I needed to achieve. It just seemed to be a good idea at the time.

    I had met up with a couple of former work colleagues for drinks when I was trying to decide where to go on my next holiday. One of them started talking about hiking in the Himalayas and it spiked my interest. I booked my flights four months in advance and started planning. It was more preparation than I’d done for any trip. For a start, I had to be fit. Really fit. Fitter than I had ever been, since I would be hiking every day for 16 days. The longest trek I had ever done was about a week.

    Then there would be the altitude, which affects some people and doesn’t affect others. I banked on the former. Symptoms can include a sense of lightness and disorientation, and if you ignore the symptoms and tough it out, as I usually do, it can lead to hospitalisation and death. So for the first time in twenty years, I voluntarily went to a doctor and let them give me vaccinations and drugs. Then they told me the Diamox has side effects too, including tingling in the fingers and toes. It still sounded better than altitude sickness.

    Then I had to be a real hiker. This was the case in my twenties, when I hiked all over Victoria and South Australia and could put up my tent in less than five minutes. I didn’t know how much I had forgotten. My bushwalking uncle reacquainted me with some skills. Turned out I didn’t need to brush up much.

    I had to re-equip myself though, and thought it was very considerate of the Melbourne hiking shops to have sales just when I was looking. I bought all wool clothes – a pair of hiking pants and two sets of thermals. Everything in Nepal would probably be nylon.

    Then I started at the gym. I was already fairly fit but wanted to be prepared for hiking uphill, climbing over rocks and hanging off ledges. The trainer recommended endurance training and arm and hip strength. Then a friend told me about the Kokoda Track Memorial Walk in the hills around Melbourne. I started climbing this on the weekends, managing to go up and down twice per session, totalling over six kilometres of steep hiking with a daypack. At the start, I was pulling myself up using the handrails, and in a few weeks was running up and down the hill, rain or shine. My hips were unimpressed, and the stiffness and pain were worse each Monday morning. Glucosamine helped, as did the chiropractor. How I kept the glucosamine powder down I still don’t know. It tasted like seafood gone wrong, and was the only time I was happy that a supplement didn’t last as long as the packet said. Turned out I was taking double doses.

    It wasn’t until I started mentioning Nepal that I found out how many people had been there. Two friends, who have known me so long they have some real dirt on me, hiked to EBC years ago. Their photos of the tea houses were of trekkers in their sleeping bags, all in the same room. It looked a bit too cosy for someone who likes their privacy. We compared notes about hiking and poles, something that none of us had tried, but a work colleague had suggested. I tried out the double poles going between my work desk and the printer, much to the amusement of the rest of the office. I ended up buying a single; at least it would help me going up and down rocks.

    A project manager in the office turned out to have trained as a Nepalese trekking guide before his parents demanded he get a real job. He was an encyclopaedia for logistics and helped jog my memory.

    ‘Don’t hike alone!’ he yelled one time. After all the travel I’d done on my own, I was comfortable looking after myself. Then my uncle reminded me of the dangers of the Australian bush. I contacted my old colleague’s favourite trekking company and arranged a guide who would also carry my pack.

    I also checked out the history of Nepal. While it was heavily influenced by India from the south, and Tibet and China from the north, it looked quietly religious. The Silk Route went north of the Himalayas, so most of the ancient trade would have missed Nepal, but it wasn’t isolated either. Trade coming from Pakistan to South-east Asia would have brought technology, art and skills. Hinduism has been in the area for centuries; Buddhism, ancient and modern, has come from the east, south and Tibet. Islam would have made its way from the west but its influence would be minimal. Christianity wouldn’t get a look-in. I love seeing remnants of older cultures, artistic styles and religious practices prevailing in a modern culture. There’s not much industry in the Nepalese economy – almost all goods come from India – but the Nepalese are very proud of their education.

    Watching the film Into Thin Air was probably a mistake. A group of people, with two very experienced guides, died on the trek to Everest Summit. Even though I was only going to Base Camp, for a good six weeks afterwards I thought about how to get out of that situation with the minimum loss of life. Some people were going to die; others

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