Everest Base Camp Trek Wrap-Up

The trail to Phortse is one of my favorites, con­tour­ing high on the moun­tain and offer­ing great views up and down the val­ley. As hoped, we run across a herd of ~25 tahr (wild Himalayan moun­tain goats) who are utter­ly at ease graz­ing on the steep hill­side. We have left the main trail behind and find our­selves alone in the qui­et of the moun­tain today. It’s a wel­come change not to see anoth­er tourist the whole afternoon.

The morn­ing we leave Phortse, we drop down to cross the riv­er and have a stiff climb up the oth­er side. After 2 weeks of hik­ing, how­ev­er, it’s clear the group is gen­er­al­ly stronger. At the top, we pause for some snacks and then cruise gen­tly down to Nam­che through the after­noon. One more long day of hik­ing brings us to Luk­la for a cel­e­bra­tion with all our staff. Beers, sodas, and choco­late – before one last heap­ing plate of rice with chick­en curry!

The fol­low­ing morn­ing we slide off the side of the moun­tain on Luk­la’s inclined run­way, and we’re back in Kath­man­du in an hour. The crum­bling chaos has been trans­formed into a cos­mopoli­tan metrop­o­lis after two weeks in the moun­tains. We can’t wait to rev­el in all the com­forts of the city before a final par­ty to cel­e­brate and close the trip! Strangers three weeks ago, we are now all famil­iar friends. Once you’ve walked in the Himalayas, you are for­ev­er changed – and you will always feel con­nect­ed to the peo­ple who have been there with you!

Many thanks to all our Nepali part­ners and staff who made this trip pos­si­ble – espe­cial­ly Kili, Sagar, and Shankar in Kath­man­du and Pem­ba, Dawa, and Yubaraj on the moun­tain!! You’ve been amaz­ing! As always. I’m already look­ing for­ward to the next trip!

–Deana Zabal­do, Team Leader