Our Virtual Everest Trek Day Ten

Our Avalanche!

Brigantes Everest Expedition Day 10

Well, we made it to Base Camp! It’s great to have got this far. We’ve climbed to 17,400ft and I have to say it feels like it. There are some tired legs and tired minds.

Sir John Hunt, leader of the successful 1953 British expedition described EBC (we’re into the jargon now) as “lifeless” and “not a beautiful place” and who am I to gainsay him? To be honest the trek to get here wasn’t much better. The path from Gorak Shep followed the moraine mound on the left side of the Khumbu glacier. It’s rocky and you have to be careful where you put your feet or you risk a twisted ankle or even a broken leg. We then descended onto the glacier itself, picking our way through the rock-strewn surface. Glaciers may look great from the air or at a distance but close up they’re a scruffy mixture of ice and rock and pretty difficult to walk on. There are quite a few climbers around at the moment so the path is reasonably well used but at other times it’s apparently quite difficult to find.

Another problem is crevasses. Dowting spoke to us very sternly before we set off on the glacier to insist we follow him precisely. We don’t want anyone disappearing. Sometimes you can’t help looking round. There are spectacular ice pinnacles and seracs (columns of ice). They can crumble and re-form as the ice moves.               Base Camp really is just a collection of tents and people, with numbers depending on the time of year. There are Sherpas busying themselves all over the place and lumbering yaks carting supplies. There are no real views – just steep walls of snow. And herein is something else to look out for. From time to time there are avalanches. They’re usually too far away to pose a threat, Dowting tells us, but we actually saw one just after we arrived and it was spectacular. 

The luxurious toilets at Everest Base Camp

Conditions at EBC are pretty primitive. The toilet is a bucket in a tiny tent and our kitchen – so called – is snug to say the least. I can’t pretend we’re going to be comfortable or warm here but we’ve made it and that’s the main thing. Now we just have to sort out who will carry on up the mountain with our President.

I expect Dowting will have some views on that.

Luke N Brightside

Communications Officer

Yes, they’ve made it. But I had my doubts about one or two across the glacier. Some were clearly out on their feet and some didn’t even know where their feet were – just gazing around as if it was a walk in the park. Now comes the difficult bit – choosing who goes on to Camp One. The President has to go but he looks reasonably sprightly; I think he might be a bit younger than some of the others. One or two are definite non-starters – completely shot. As for the rest, it’s a bit of a lottery. I wouldn’t put my rupees on any of them.

Sherpa Dowting

Head Porter