Life at Everest Base Camp

Just over three weeks ago I left Everest Base Camp (EBC), leaving Robin to tackle his adventure, and it feels like it’s been a lot longer. With two thirds of the Everest climbing season finished, the teams are waiting patiently, and now anxiously, for their “weather window”, the first of which is taking place now (May 15). With several teams high on the mountain as I write, there are still a good number waiting at Base Camp for a longer opportunity to achieve their dreams.

Most climbers descend to lower villages to sleep in a real bed and have real showers when there are long chunks of time without much to do; however, as per my previous posts those beds and showers are still a far cry from first world expectations. The bulk of their time since late April has still been spent at EBC. So, as a self-declared expert because I stayed three whole nights at the heel of the Khumbu Glacier, I thought I’d enlighten you on what you can expect from life at EBC.

 Our Summit Climb EBC Tents

With our chosen expedition agency, we experienced a little bit of "Instagram vs Reality" as many of the posts under #everest2019 which I had been following have been from the larger, more expensive expeditions. Life at EBC when you spend over 70K of any major currency is certainly more comfortable than when you've gone the budget route. Disclaimer here that the budget route is still a small fortune where that money could be a nice down payment on a house. The adage goes "you get what you pay for"; however, I'd argue that you don't get what you don't pay for in this instance. I must also declare that we were/ are well looked after with shelter, food, Sherpa and smiles, so it's not like we were hard done by.

So what is it like? 

Map of EBC courtesy of AlanArnette.com

Everest Base Camp is set on the heel of the Khumbu Glacier, where the ground is mainly rocks vs. glacial ice. A glacier being a dynamic environment, the camp shapeshifts throughout the climbing season. As per my fellow teammate Ian's account from his blog :

"My original tent had become largely uninhabitable as the glacial ice beneath it melted, creating a small 2ft x 5ft plateau in the center of the tent that I slept on in the fetal position, while the rest of the tent (and my gear) sagged below me by a couple feet."

The tents of various shapes and sizes are set atop the rocky base where the Sherpa team arrive before the climbers to try and smooth out the ground as best they can to set up the tents for the climbers’ arrival. There are clusters of tents arranged according to the expedition agency spread across about a 2km length and ½ a km width. The tents within the expedition group are relatively close together- let’s say if you thought the noise carried in the Tea House plywood walled rooms, you’ve got even less privacy at EBC. 

 EBC panoramic view. Tents to the left, right, and behind me.

Personal tents are of the domed, spacious 2-man nature allowing space for one fully grown white adult male, average age 40 (typical demographic) and his 2 large duffel bags. Squeeze a partner in there and you quickly boot one of your bags to the porch of your tent. If you paid for the premium expedition, then you have a rectangular tent where you might be able to stand up. If you paid for luxury digs, then that might even have a small generator-powered heater or at least at turn down service including hot water bottle in your sleeping bag when you return after dinner. 

 Insta vs Reality: what your money buys you

Common room tents include the kitchen tents, separate from the meal tents, separate from the yoga/ movie theatre tents and increase in size. The first two tend to be of the barrack, rectangle style, the latter is a big old dome with a window frontage overlooking the Khumbu Icefall. I can’t say that I personally saw the dome tent of the Climb the Seven Summits team, but I have seen this on Instragram. Again, Instagram vs. Reality: Posh camping has tables, chairs with backs, rugs, and generator heating. Reality of your budget trek: tables, tarps, camping seats, and heating generated by body heat… oh to be fair, also a heater that sits on a gas bottle.

Everything except the kitchen sink... because it doesn't exist. The budget way of working.

Climbing the Seven Summits Common Tent

There is one other style of tent that is dotted around EBC, and that is the toilet tent. As you would expect, a 2m tall, 1m x 1m base to give you some privacy as you go about your business. The tent and base are elevated with a collection receptacle underneath. Reality camping means a quad workout as you squat over a plastic barrel used to capture the waste, and brought down the mountain at a later date (you think your job is bad!). Posh camping you get a makeshift seat built up above the barrel. The toilet tents are usually down wind/ stream/ hill of the camps; however, your camp might be down wind/ stream/ hill of another group’s facilities.

We took a tour de base camp on our first morning which allowed us to take in the scale of the temporary village, as well as the scale of the 7000 - 8000m peaks surrounding us. One enters EBC off a main path, which then splits up and down the slant of the land. This path is frequented by expedition members trying to find their facilities, but also yaks bringing supplies to the groups daily.

 Pony express in this case. The major highway was just at the foot of our tent.

Natural surroundings 

There are natural sculptures of rock on ice dotted throughout the camp reminding you that you are a visitor in a natural environment. The camp is lined with relics of the glacier, towers of ice and snow acting as a playground for the aspiring summiteers to train. You are absolutely dwarfed by the sheer scale of the surrounding challenges, and yet the top of Everest is still not even visible. What you do see are seracs delicately hanging off the sides of Nuptse to the right, Everest to the left, and Pumori at the back (as you face the Khumbu Ice Fall); you might even see, and you certainly hear, avalanches breaking from these seracs throughout your stay at EBC.

He's going that-a-way: over that ice fall and over to the left behind that peak

This rock was the size of a small car.

The purpose of the tour de base camp was to seek out some of the potential luxuries and necessities that we might have access to: WiFi and Medical Help. In the center of the village, up from where our camp lie, there are both an ER and satellite communications tents. Just outside of the comms tent, there is a rock, now dubbed ‘WiFi Rock’ which is the only place our team is able to get any sort of 3G/4G reception. This allows for patchy whatsapp calls, descent whatsapp text messaging, and yet does not really allow for upload of photos nor video. If you do sweet-talk or likely bribe one of the people manning the comms tent, though, you might just be able to update your Instagram. Alternatively, you can choose to walk 1.5 hours down/ 2 hours back to the nearest village Gorekshep which does have a reliable internet signal. Queue another dose of Instagram vs Reality here where it seems that the majority of the pictured posts on Instagram are coming from the luxury expeditions which leaves me to surmise that they have their own comms tents… again, you don’t get what you don’t pay for, or in this case you don’t get what you pay for when the WiFi card costs $75 USD for 2GB of data.

 ER tent rates. Selfies $5.

Surroundings described, how is the time passed, you ask?

When expedition members aren’t practising their jumarring or taking part in an acclimatisation hike up one of the surrounding monoliths, there is plenty of time to get some R&R within the regular schedule of basecamp meals. Breakfast at 8:00am, lunch just after noon, and dinner at 6; each meal prefaced with a selection of hot beverages. I rediscovered hot chocolate, or hot chocolate water during my time at EBC, where in wishing to remain hydrated and avoid the hard caffeine of tea or instant coffee, I tipped some chocolate powder into my stainless steel camp mug with hot water and relished in the emotional warmth of the chocolatey extra calories.

Meals in our camp were pretty tasty, and consisted of extended versions of what we had eaten on our trek up, minus the cakes and in our case, replaced with a few pieces of tinned fruit. If you paid the premium prices, I did see a few instances of gas-powered ovens in kitchen tents. If you paid for luxury, the rumour is that top chefs are even flown in to prepare a few meals for the patrons. I couldn’t comment on the amount of variety, as the three days in which I was at EBC, the only repeats that I ate were from the communal coconut biscuit/cookie pile and tinned fruit dessert. 

After breakfast we were urged to turn out our sleeping bags and hook them to the outside top of our tents to allow them to air and dry. As you exhale in the frigid air of the night, your breath is captured and suspended within the confines of your tent. When you wake up and move about, you undoubtedly knock the fine crystalline layer onto your sleeping bag and jackets. As well, the warmth of the sun from 7am onwards tends to melt the crystals which now become like a dew. In addition to your sleeping bag, other items you would choose to expose to the heat and light are your camping mats, washed (or not) laundry, and solar batteries leaving the camps to look a bit like a yard sale. You might go for a walk to WiFi Rock, you definitely sit outside to enjoy the warmth of the sun. You might choose to take a shower from the bag of hot water the Kitchen Staff will fill for you in the shower tent (similar to the toilet tents). You might choose to recoil from civilisation as your head could be pounding as it acclimatises to the lack of available oxygen in the air. 

Between lunch and dinner, as the temperature begins to drop, you reassemble your tent, use the light and warmth to assess your clothing situation for the following day, take some time for yourself to read or write, and/or begin to speculate with your fellow team members on how to solve the many problems in the world. Remembering the typical demographic at EBC, one might argue that these perspectives are not going to be THAT different from those of the majority political powers making decisions today. 

Somewhere near 5pm, you might migrate to the dinner tent to get a good seat and sneak in a hand or two of cards before the first of your three course dinner is served (soup + main meal + tinned fruit). After dinner, you certainly stay a little while longer to play more cards and listen to the plan for the following day. The main motivation for hanging around after dinner is that the dinner tent is warm comparatively to your lonely personal tent. Warm with company, but also physically warm. By the evenings the temperatures have dropped below zero. Getting changed (or not) to get into your down cocoon IS brisk, and lonely once you’ve tucked in for the night.

Dinner example

Circa 8pm, most of the camps are quiet- that mountain air does tucker you out! If you choose to emerge from your tent for some reason (like you don’t have a pee bottle), it is surprising how light the environment appears. Moonlight reflects off the surrounding snow caps and glaciers, allowing you to manoeuvre around the camp without the need for a head-torch. Tents are lit like lanterns by the head-torches of climbers who are not yet ready to catch their zzz’s.

Everest at night

If you weren’t ready for bed at 8pm, then you might spend a bit of time reading or watching whatever viewing device you brought, stocked with downloadable content, powered by the portable batteries that you charged in the morning daylight. Eventually you tire, likely from the lack of oxygen outside and inside your tent, and you fall asleep. Even as you sleep, you notice that it's difficult to breathe. Just shifting within your cocoon from one side to the other to prevent that jagged rock underneath from bruising your hip or shoulder, you are left panting and taking big gulps of air for the next few breaths.

In the night the camp is quiet from human activity and the sounds you do hear are the deep rumblings of avalanches and the ice cracking beneath you. You hope these are sounds of your dreams, but you confirm with your fellow climbers in the morning that you all heard the same normative yet frightful sounds. 

This is an account of my few days spent at the heel of the Khumbu Glacier and although it was only a few days, it gives you an insight to the month that potentially 800+ people are experiencing during the Everest climbing season in Nepal.

Our latest adventure: Namche to Everest Base Camp

Writing you on my way home from experiencing the outdoors and city life that Nepal has to offer, I thought I’d pick up where I left off (mid trek), and take you along the rest of our journey. Time really does fly, and it’s hard to believe that I did leave you in Namche over 10 days ago. So, what was the rest of the trek in to Everest Base Camp like?

April 13, 2019: Namche (3440m) to Pangboche (3950m) via Tengboche (3875m).

This was due to be one of the longer days on our journey: 13km more. We were briefed it would be 3-4hrs to Tengboche and then another 2-3hrs our rest stop. Although on paper, it seemed like a gentle climb of 500m up with 100m down, this is where we were introduced to the Nepali Downhill.  The Strava account informed us that on the first portion of the hike alone, we did 9.4 km with 900m of elevation gain spread over the undulating hillside. No wonder I felt absolutely bagged by the time we reached our half-way time point. 

Tengboche, although small, is known for two reasons: a Buddhist Monastery and excellent bakery. In fact in all of the media Robin and I consumed, we saw the bakery in an episode of Everest Air Rescue. Not for undue reasons, rather that one of the junior helicopter pilots was sent to pick up a birthday cake for the rest of the group. I don’t blame him! I would not want to do that hike again if I didn’t have to and the cake was deeee-licious!

We had our cake and ate it, too as we waited for Dawa Choling Gompa to reopen after lunch. Basic from the outside and incredibly ornate within. I will ask you to use your imagination as there were no photos allowed, but beyond the coloured Chinese gate, past the white facade dotted with dark brown trapezoidal windows, a courtyard led way to the main interior meditation room. So brightly coloured as it was recently (in the mid ‘90’s) restored after a fire, the walls depict various allegories from Buddhist history. Feeling grounded from the visit as thousands of past trekkers have who have made this visit, we continued forth.

The scenery for our 4hr/1.5hr split was much of the same as the first days, with the dirt/ stone pathways, dotted religious stones (now I know are called Mani stones), and yak-dodging. Unfortunately, we lost the views in the steadily moving clouds taking away the upper mountains which surround us as we trek. This was also to be the last day of trees as we made our way higher to the heavens. 

We arrived (bagged, well at least I was, as mentioned) to our one night home called the Sonam Lodge in Pengboche. The standard of accommodation certainly declined since Namche, and everything is far more rustic. You can read more details about the Tea Houses in my previous entry. 

April 14, 2019: Pangboche (3950m) to Dingboche (4410m)

We started the day with our usual briefing to learn our next village should be a 3-4hr trek, so when we arrived in Dingboche in just under 2 hours, we were pleasantly surprised (and relieved!). The Yak Hotel and Restaurant would be our home for two nights.

As mentioned, today the terrain changed. We said goodbye to the trees. There were now large boulders amongst lower shrubs and slopes of large rocks to the sides of us. The weather changed, as well. It was time to unpack the warmer layers as the warmth from the sunshine quickly passed early in the day to leave us with wind, clouds, and a hail storm.

En route we had heard news that there was a crash killing 3 people at Lukla airport. The desire to know got the better of us and we spent $5 on the Tea House WiFi to find out the details: the crash happened leaving three deceased (co-pilot and two ground officers) when a crew-only plane lost control on the runway, veered to the wrong side and collided with two stationary helicopters. This was certainly a stark reminder of the dangers that lie ahead on the return to Kathmandu. 

We spent the remainder of the day in what would prove to be “bustling” Dingboche searching out good bottled water prices versus those at the Tea Houses (to be found at “The Best Shop” in Dingboche), drinking Bailey’s hot chocolate at one of the local bakeries (glad I had so much money for chocolate cake), and huddled around the yak-poop stove reading to keep warm.

April 15: “Rest” day in Dingboche (4410m)

Rest day actually means acclimatisation hike day, and based on the previous acclimatisation hike, I should have taken caution rather than thinking it would be an easy day.  

At the back of our hotel we saw the impending doom of switchbacks up the steep gradient with what might look to be a never ending hill. This hill in the end was a 2.5 km set of switchbacks with 700m elevation gain at 25-30% incline. Okay, so stairs are typically at a 30% gradient, but imagine doing 2.5 hours of stairs with just over half of the amount of available oxygen in the air... this training will make me faster, right?! 

Relief came in a few ways: the weather was fabulous allowing us to see the beauty of Ama Dablam and the surrounding snow and rock landscape of 7000+ meters; we met a flag-capped summit of whatever molehill we just climbed allowing an actual sense of accomplishment to be felt; I had some emergency chocolate to hand (Cadbury Boost) and man, did that do exactly as it said on the tin! We snapped our practice summit pictures, relished in our chocolate break, and then headed down to Dingboche to rest for the rest of the rest day. 

Not only does Dingboche host “The Best Shop” (every village has its own), it also hosts what I would say is “The Best” cafe of the excursion: Café 4410. A coffee shop that would fit in anywhere in the Western world. Many trekkers pass the time at Café 4410 drinking their NYC-priced latte and eating their apple pies (viable source of much needed fibre) whilst waiting for their phones to charge (free with purchase). Time is also passed by blogging, reading a variety of famous climbing books or playing hours of board games: Monopoly, chess and Jenga being the most popular games.

April 16: Dingboche (4410m) to Lobuche (4900m or 4930m or 5030m depending on which sign you read)

We seem to have gone off piste to the “itinerary” here, bypassed what was a scheduled overnighter in Dugla, and continued onto our next town, higher than any point in Western Europe. Another 3-4 hours of an 8.3km trek with 600+ m of steady upwards elevation, the greenery has now all completely vanished and we are left with boulders along the carved river valley that we follow. Clear skies allow us the views of the surrounding peaks and to feel the strength of the sun in the thinner air. 

We pass the sobering and monumental Climbers’ Memorial, an area decorated with flags, Mani Stones, and plaqued altars. The names of previous climbers who have lost their lives pursuing their endeavours within the Himalayas are presented on these hand-stacked altars dotted around the hillside. There are names of the outwardly well-known, in addition to the everyday men and women who met their fate at the mountain, not just at Everest. We pay respect to the lost climbers, as well as to the mountain before continuing forth.

Entering into Lobuche, we are familiar now with what to expect…. Check-in point, sign saying 6km to EBC (so close!), The Best shop, The World’s Highest Bakery, and a few Tea Houses looking more and more basic. There is rumour that there is a “posh” Tea House here, which Robin and I go to check to see if it is worth staying the night. It’s a little warmer, friendlier, and more brightly painted, perhaps reminiscent of the earlier Tea Houses along the way. However, we decide to stick to the group and stay our one night at Above the Clouds before departing to my end goal the following day.

April 17, 2019: Lobuche (5030m) to Gorak Shep (5164m) to Everest Base Camp (5364m)

We are off to EBC!! 

Slightly nervous based on my Kilimanjaro experience and because as we upped the ante each day resulting in a slight headache, as a precautionary measure I started on the Diamox this morning. Half a tablet, twice a day (based on my body size) should thin my blood just enough to relieve a slight pressure build up in my head. I found that from about 4000m onwards, I’d finish the hike with a headache that would subside after drinking 1L of water and having a nap, and I would feel fresh (except for heavy legs) the next morning. 

We woke up to a cold (-3C) and snowy scene, which meant two things: one, I had all new, clean clothes to put on which I had been saving for the colder temperatures and two, for the duration of the hike, we would here reference to being “North of the Wall” possibly as it was also nearing the premier time for Game of Thrones.

Although the air was cold and snow afoot, the morning sun was strong and as we set out from our last bed, many of us overheated in about 10 minutes. I was certainly starting to feel fatigued from the past 7 days of ascent. As we were at the back of the pack, our supervisor Sherpa Jangbu offered Robin, myself and two others an alternative route. Hoping that this was going to be a shortcut, we followed dutifully. It turned out Jangbu wanted to show us a picture point and hidden gem of a Tea House tucked away from the main path (and to say hello to some of his fellow friends). We had a beautiful view of the mountain Pumori, and a teaser of “what we could have had” for a Tea House. It turned out the 8000 Inn is a more upmarket Tea House (still basic vs a hotel) coupled with a research station. This was where the National Geographic Team were staying en route. 

After our photo stop, we continued to follow Jangbu along the back route: a side hill ridge route with a path only just big enough to hold both feet side-by-side at the widest points before plunging 400m down the valley to the conventional path where we could see the rest of the trekkers. Last time Robin and I walked this type of route, we had crampons, an ice axe to hand, and safety line between us (similar to what was the Grand Couloir on Mont Blanc). Dry dirt covered by about 3 cm of sticky snow now melting in the sun made for some precarious footwork. Each step was deliberate and anchored by walking poles planted to the front of our bodies acting in safety if we should slip. There was no sense nor time to panic or we may slip down the face into the valley with no chance of stopping ourselves. The two split seconds I felt comfortable and shifted by attention were coupled with heart-racing wobbles. It took us about an hour to get across this part of the path. Oh, and the route was 1km further than that of our fellow trekkers!

The Jangbu group of four were briefly reunited with our fellow trekkers at Gorak Shep, a village of a handful of establishments en route to EBC. We stopped for lunch and respite just as a the others were leaving. Refuelled, warm, and with a headache coming on, we geared up and proceeded to our destination. 

About 90 minutes and a final slowly, slowly, step-by-step climb later, we made it to EBC! 

We found the decorated rock to take our pictures, waited our turn, and jumped in. The pictures we took are a testament to how tired I must have been because they were awful. The only sense of relief was that we were nearer to our tent. The whole event felt ever-so anticlimactic. This would be/ should be an achievement of a lifetime to many people, and yet the feelings of accomplishment for such a feat were missing. Perhaps because I’ve done bigger things, perhaps because I managed my expectations too well. I have felt in the past accomplishment comes when I have surmounted my expectations.  As well and partially because of what I alluded to earlier, EBC is NOT the top…. there are still thousands of meters more. Not that I am ungrateful for the past week of rich experience, rather that rationally I know it’s not the finale. We’ve set the scene. Act I is complete. The protagonist, Robin, will continue onward and upwards through Act II and the Finale over the next month. As I write this last sentiment, a smile comes to my face as I feel excited and proud of the endeavor he has on his plate. I’m sure the missing sense of accomplishment will come when Robin has finished his story. 

What it’s like to trek to Everest (with pics!)

Hello to you a little further along on our adventure, one sleep away from EBC (Everest Base Camp), and at an altitude higher than any peak in Western Europe. I’m writing from a village called Lobuche, which is either 5030m or 4930m or 4920m depending on which sign you read ; in any case, we are creeping our way higher and higher to reach our goals.

Dal Baht

I thought I’d keep this one a bit more factual and write about the day-to-day that we have been experiencing on our trek thus far. The walk itself is similar yet not entirely the  “same same” as at the start: the terrain has turned rugged and the temperatures brisk. We have been graced with powerful sunshine in the mornings to counteract the cold wind that lightly blows. Our late afternoons have inevitably turned cloudy with light precipitation (light rain, hail, or snow) hiding the jagged peaks that surround us. If we weren’t sitting in a shipping container heated by the residual sunlight from the day, I could look out my bedroom window now and think we might be in the Lake District as the clouds hide the majesty that awaits us. Those real views will need to wait until the sunny morning, instead.

Accommodation at Phadking (2610m)

vs. Accommodation at Lobuche (4930m)

The standard of accommodation certainly has declined since Namche, everything is far more rustic. The paint in the Tea House less vibrant, the integrity of the stone brickwork a little lighter revealing the graining in the single plywood walls we often sleep within. The Western toilets have also seemed to have been left in Namche: the last thing you want to do when you’ve trekked uphill 14km is do another round of squats 🙈. Actually, one of the reasons why it’s mainly floor cisterns vs toilets is because a Porter or yak otherwise needs to haul the Western comforts all this way that I have been describing so far. And to be fair, I expected to squat from the start and have been spoiled with the availability of Western luxuries for the first part of the trek. The other reason is because there seems to be only ground source water from Namche onwards; running taps are scarce. Toilets are flushed by bucket- there is a jug in a plastic barrel of water for your to wash away your business. There have been shower facilities at a few of the stops where a Tea House Manager has invested in a gas boiler to heat the water pipe through a shower. Of course these are usually in a metal shack just outside the main building- I guess you don’t want a risk of a gas leak in your plywood Tea House.

The Tea Houses or Lodges are all in a similar format. A piled-stone facade or outer frame, with a metal corrugated roof. The interior walls usually made of studs and plywood, except where we are now in Lobuche, the walls look like that of a shipping container/ port-a-office. In any case, the walls are thin and leave you only imagining how your group mates must be sitting in their room as you overhear their conversations. 

Plywood style room. 

Some Tea Houses have a sort of carpet, some do not. The bedrooms are usually two twin mattresses on a wooden frame of sorts. They have all had a sheet covering the foam, and many of the rooms we stayed in had a thick comforter and pillow. Hearing accounts of people catching pink eye from the bedding and seeing bits of debris, we cover our pillow, or use our own, and sleep in our clothes. The latter necessary as the bedrooms are far away from the only heating source in the structure, so tend to be ambient (-5 - +2C so far). Some of our group mates stick to using their own sleeping bags, instead. There is just enough space for you to place your bags and unpack.

The last main features to the Tea Houses are the common spaces next the the rudimentary kitchens. The kitchens look like a slight improvement to those you see in Medieval castles: a chopping place, with some fire sources along the sides to do the cooking. The main upgrade is the line of gas fired camp stoves used as the fire source. 

Industrial oven for chocolate cake at Cafe 4410 Dingboche (+ free phone charging)

There tends to be at least one bakery per village; and amazingly, I have seen industrial ovens along the way. Again, these rare ovens, and gas bottles, and food, and everything need hauling up the mountain as you may remember I previously mentioned there are no roads past Lukla. 

Pony Express

Food and drink consumables tend to be brought up by Human Porter, usually Nepalese men (although we’ve seen some instances of #shecan) in loads up to 50kg. They fill baskets which are looped around their foreheads, wear whatever shoes or flip flops they own, and make the same grind as the tourists so that the tourists can drink bottled water and eat the chocolate they know. One observation in regards to the younger porters and animal herders is that on the surface they seem no different to Western Millennials. They are totally up to date with pop culture: everyone has a smart phone, and a lot of the young Sherpa have man buns, stretched, studded earlobes and stylish clothes, yet living facilities throughout the countryside are still primitive in places. 

Porters carry loads up to 100lb/ 50kg. ALL of the food and consumables.

The food itself has been better than expected and the portions absolutely massive. Each day we have a choice from a menu, with perhaps 20 breakfast items and 50 different lunch/dinner items. Each meal the cooks are able to prepare all of these combinations for us in usually one hour. We are a group of 16 Westerners and 4 Sherpa, so 20 different dinner orders, often with people ordering two choices, shows up piping hot and delicious without fail. There are two routines that help this process along; one, we write our choices in a ledger, and 2, just as we finish our meal, we make our choices for the next meal. As we finish lunch, we choose our dinner; as we finish dinner, we choose our breakfasts. Then it’s out for the day and we repeat at the next Tea House. 

What have we been eating? Breakfasts are usually combinations of pancakes, eggs, omelettes, or porridge. Lunch and dinner is broken into two categories. The first, side dishes: often soups, Sherpa stew (seems to be all the leftovers in a stew base), momos (like gyoza), and spring rolls. Then there are the main dishes: rice, egg noodles, or potato base fried with egg, cabbage, carrot, garlic, onion, sometimes meat and spices. There is usually also pizza and  pasta noodles on the menu topped with tomato sauce and yak cheese. There is also the more traditional yak meat options and well-known dal baht. Dal baht is a green lentil soup/curry, bowl of rice, side of lightly spiced curry fried vegetables, and if you’re lucky topped with a poppadom. This is the standard curry of Nepal and mainly what the Sherpa eat.

There is always tea: black and milk tea (black tea sweetened with sugar and Nak milk)

Sherpa Stew

Going back to the common spaces at the Tea Houses, where many people spend most of their time because they are extroverts or its warmer than the bedrooms, this is where we meet, eat, play cards, recount previous trekking experiences, and buy WiFi. I say buy WiFi because even when it has been purchased, a usable connection is not always available.  The system often goes down because either 20+ trekkers are all trying to update their blogs and instagram posts or there is no power because the towers use solar energy and it’s cloudy in the afternoon.

Yak dung fuelled stove

The sales counter 

The space itself is a large open room, with what looks to be a wood burning stove in the middle. This stove is actually fuelled by dried out yak dung which provides a slow burning, consistent heat to the main common space. There are tables in front of the benches that line the sides of the space, also with windows to the beautiful surroundings. There is a payment counter and tuck shop in the space where you can purchase water, chocolate, Pringles, cookies and beer. This counter is also usually the gateway to the kitchen. The space is often decorated with pictures of the various mountain ranges in the area, an ode to the Dalai Lama, and flags and stickers from various worldwide trekking companies that have passed through.  The common space is a cozy and relatively luxurious place to spend a couple of hours with your fellow trekkers rather than retreating to the confines of your cold, box bedroom.

Food ledger

Common space

Each Tea House also sells a variety of services, where the price has been increasing as we go further and further. The comparative basket of goods would be to track the price of: a 1L bottle of water (100 - 300 rupees), WiFi (200 - 600 rupees and dependent on solar power), a gas shower (200 - 700 rupees), and battery charging, which comes in all sorts of combinations of prices per item or duration of charge. All seem to be the little things that make the trek a little easier along the way.

Now we depart what I’m sure will feel like the luxury of the Tea Houses for our tents at EBC. The anticipation of what is to come is high as we get ready for our 6 hour trek in. I’d love to say I have an understanding of what the next week will entail; however, expectation management information is about as reliable as the WiFi. When in Nepal, best to be in the moment.