Everest Trek - Day 12

Day 12 - Kalla Pattar and back to Lobuche Base Camp

Up top of Kalla Pattar

We jerked awake at 5am and tried to shut the alarm off. Then Pema came knocking at our doora t 5:05. It was time to get up and climb Kalla Pattar. With bloodshot red eyes, we crawled out of bed. Ian went first to meet Pema. Christa was still in no good shape to tackle the mountain. At 5:30, departure time, she worked her boots on and coat on, like a boss.

We leave the safety of the hut and into the blanket of fog. We could barely see 5 meters ahead and rain began its' pitter patter. We needed to acclimitize, even Christa said so, especially after she had gotten sick before EBC. We meet some familiar faces along the way and decide to keep pace with them.

The mountain decided to give us some really mixed reviews of weather as the monsoon season was coming near. It rained and then became sunny and rained again all within a span of 3 hours hiking up and down.

The valley between Lobuche and Everest

We reach the top quite climatically as it was our highest point of the trek yet, 5,900 meters. The air is super thin and we are feeling the altitude big time now. We spend 20 minutes at the top breathing in whatever oxygen is available at that altitude and snapped a few pictures. We being our journey down. Not to Gorakshep, but all the way down to Lobuche Base Camp, where were were on Day 10. A full verticle kilometer away, which took 6 hours to climb.

As we approached Lobuche village, it began hailing. It was about 2pm at that stage and we were both exhausted. We hadn't eaten anything significant as our bodies weren't very happy with the altitude. Plus all the hiking we had gone through just earlier. We stop in a restaurant and meet our second climbing guide, Won. We were another hour or two from Lobuche Base Camp where we could actually crash and sleep.

After a grueling longest 2 hours ever, we collaspe in our tent after a small bite to eat. Pema tried to shove as much as he could down our throats. Shortly after, we were shown how to use our climbing equipment, which we are all too familiar with. Funny thing is, never showed us how to use the ice axe, which Christa could use some instructions on. In hindsight, more focus on the ice axes and less on equipment we already know how to use.

After the quick demo and orientation Pema tried to shove more food into our stomachs.

"You're climbing at 2am!" He shouted as he left the tent.

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