Everest Eve
The night before the big trek, I was all jitters. We came up with this crazy idea that we were going to waltz up to the mightiest mountain in the world on some random, lazy day in South Korea..the thing is I never thought we would ACTUALLY do it. And now.. we were catching a mountain flight to start the hike in the morning. "Are you kidding me?!" You might be wondering about our fitness levels, for two people about to endure a 2 week hike to 17,600 ft/5,364m you'd think we would be really fit and ready to trek our butts off. NO. We had just fled India after bumming around and doing nothing productive and anything far from exercise for the last 2 plus months. Now, bring on Everest & all of her altitude, days of trekking, & freezing temperatures.
Our gear was vital for us to make the big walk UP. We spent 2 days running around Kathmandu's backpacker area (Thamel) bartering, buying, bartering, and buying. Rushed. Hurried. With knock-off buys that were going to aid us on our way to base camp. Comforting to say the least. We came to Nepal with a suitcase full of tank tops & ali-baba style pants. All perfect for India's sweltering temperatures, but useless in cooler Nepal. We bought EVERYTHING in 2 days. Down Jackets, socks, t-shirts, wind-breaking pants, snow hats, gloves, thermal underwear,medicine, iodine tablets, and hiking boots... all for under $100. Hiking boots are meant to have 20 miles plus on them before doing a trek like this. We had no choice, but to buy them the day before and hope for the best (and buy an insane amount of band-aids, vaseline, and mole skin to deal with all the blisters!) On a side note, we never got any blisters & I'm slightly in love with my boots, so all those people who tell you that you MUST have boots broken in before... are liars.
So excited. So nervous. Will we make it to base camp? How will the altitude affect us? Will we have to turn around after spending so much money, time, and all of the anticipation for months? Will the cold be too bitter to endure? Will the hike be too much? I was going nutty with questions, and needed to get on that damn flight.
The day before heading out we popped into a popular bar, Rum Doodle, for a little inspiration. The walls are covered with decorated yeti cut-outs, the cut-outs are all signed and put together by various trekking groups. Some were from expeditions to the summit. Others were from Everest base camp groups and other hikes throughout the Nepalese Himalayas. Sir Edmund Hillary, Rob Hall, Scott Fischer, and other famous climbers had even left their marks on the bar's walls.
We were flying into Lukla the following day & following in the footsteps of Everest's most famous climbers. We were ready. Or as ready as we could be after two lazy months in India. Determined & anxious to stroll along the roof of the world!