Everest Base Camp Day 6

Oh yes, it also snowed overnight which made it really cold. You see below some of the left over snow.

The trek ahead is to follow the path until we end up next to the river and then climb over the pass.

A memorial at the site where over 20 Sherpas and trekkers died in an avalanche.

A snowcock.

Around halfway through the first part of the trek.

We’re definitely at the snow level as you’ll soon see.

These steps up were very cool – nothing holding them together – just rocks placed on top of each other. Quite a climb.

The top of the river as we cross it.

Looks pretty cold eh!

The first of the Gokyo lakes.

A male and female duck – the only inhabitants of the lake.

The second Gokyo lake – frozen over.

And the large third Gokyo lake.

And finally Gokyo itself. Yay. Again I had headaches and altitude sickness and found it tough going. It was pretty cold the final stretch also – had on three layers of merino up top and a jacket as well. The wind bites into your face and reminds you how high up you are – 4,800 metres which is twice the height of many NZ mountains.

It started snowing soon after we got here, as you can see on the poor yaks.

Thankfully tomorrow is an acclimatisation day so my headaches should reduce or go away, and the day after tomorrow we actually end up 100 metres or so lower.

However the snow means that the pass over to Everest Base Camp may become too dangerous. One day is an eight hour trek between lodges with no shelters inbetween. The height gets up to 5,300 metres but the real danger is the snow means you don’t know if you are on the trail or not, as there are no markers or signs.

We’ll decide tomorrow night probably whether to try going over the pass, or to head back down and try going up the main route to Everest Base Camp.