A group of trekkers and nature lovers recently went on an expedition to the Everest Base Camp and Kalapathar, the highest point of the trekking pass. I was in the team of seven that was led by Malay Mukherjee, a 38-year-old trained mountaineer who scaled the Everest on May 21, 2016.
The trekking was for 11 days, including a day’s rest for acclimatisation. There were six others, excluding me, from the Mountaineering Club of Howrah District Mountaineer’s and Trekkers Association affiliated to Indian Mountaineering Foundation in New Delhi.
It was the most difficult trek of the base camp. Of the six others, one member scaled up to the base camp and another ascended up to the peak of Kalapather (5,545m).
I started my journey on May 14. I met the six mountaineers at Howrah Railway Station from where we took the Mithila Express to reach Raxaul on Nepal border.
The other members were S.N Jana (60), a good friend of mine whose proposal for this outstanding expedition I accepted, his wife Bhaswati Jana (57), Swarup Shanyal (49) and the youngest among us was Bappa Das (33). Another member, Ashit Dey (60), met us in Kathmandu.
The seven of us started our journey with an aim to receive another climber from the same club, Kuntal Karar, who was expected to come down to the base camp between May 22-23. Among us, Dey was the entertainer. I called him ‘F.M Radio’. We reached Raxaul around 8 am on May 16. From there, we went to the border in a tonga, a horse-driven vehicle, followed by a Sumo cab. After a quick lunch at a Nepali restaurant, we started our journey to Kathmandu at 12 noon. It was quite a long zigzag hilly road we travelled and reached Kathmandu at about 7 pm.
There we met another friend Bachchu, who works in an FMCG company in Nepal. He was very cooperative and helpful. We were all excited to start for the base camp the next morning (May 17). We reached Kathmandu airport at 8.45 am to board the flight for Lukla, scheduled time of departure being 10.20 am. But it was not our day as the journey began with a glitch. All flights to Lukla were cancelled because of inclement weather.
The group of helpless trekkers then decided to pay obeisance at Pashupatinath Temple.
The next morning again we went to the airport at 8.30 and our flight finally took off at 11.30 am and reached Lukla at 12.15 pm at an elevation of 2,850 meters. After a tea break near the airport, all of us in bright tri-colour jerseys designed especially for the purpose, started a long trekking trail in full enthusiasm to reach to the Everest Base Camp.
Our first stop was Phakding. In the beginning we had descended about 240 meters. The elevation of Phakding is 2,610 meters. From Lukla, the gateway to Mount Everest leads towards north through the boulder-chocked river Dudh Kosi churned with glacial runoff.
At the beginning, the trekking seemed to be encouraging. We had to cross suspension bridges on the river before we reached Phakding around 4 pm and spent the first night at Tashi Ta-Gey Lodge.
On May 19, we started our trekking at 7.30am. It was a day-long trek to reach Namche Bazaar at an elevation of 3,443 meters. From Phakding we were to ascend about 833 meters. In between Phakding and Namche, we crossed Manjo followed by Jorsale where we had our lunch around 12 noon.
After lunch we reached Sagarmatha check post where we had to pay Rs 2,000 per head as entry fees in N.C. It was a panoramic view with every scrap of arable land terraced and planted with barley, bitter buckwheat and potatoes. Sometimes the trekking paths are clogged with trekkers, group of yaks, sherpas and Nepalese carrying back-wrenching loads of foodgrain, firewood, kerosene, gas cylinder etc. We saw many religious strings of prayer flags across hillsides.
We reached Namche Bazar around 4.30 pm at an elevation of 3,440m. Malay Mukherjee had booked accommodation for all of us at Namaste lodge. Body acclimatisation was needed for going ahead for climbing more altitude. On May 20, we took rest till late morning and after breakfast all six members went out to the town and I did not go. I preferred to have some breathing and free-hand exercise for about one and a half hour followed by a hot shower to shed my fatigue.
On May 21, we resumed the trek at 7.30 in the morning from Namche Bazaar towards base camp. Initially we had to ascend about 2,000 feet, slicing a deep crease through the surrounding bed rock, the river Dudh Kosi appeared as silver glinting from the shadows. Around 11.30 am after crossing another hanging bridge with a glass of hot lemon and honey juice, we rested for a while and subsequently began the trekking at 12 noon. We had to obtain the official clearance from the check post by paying Rs 1,675 per head.
We had a very steep ascend till we reached the village known as Khumiung. We took little rest over a cup of tea. We had an amazing sight of Ama Dablam peak, icy thrust of the Everest itself, all but hidden behind the Nuptse. Yet again we took little rest over a cup of tea. The rows of pines and rhododendrons were mesmerising and were enough to sober up a fatigued man.
We reached Tengboche at 4pm. We saw a beautiful monastery at Tengboche at an elevation of 3,860 meters and subsequently we had a cup of tea and some rest. Now we had to descend about 40 meter to reach Deboche at an elevation of 3,820 meters.
Malay had arranged our night stay at Paradise Lodge.
In the evening we got the good news of Kuntal Karar successfully scaling the Everest’ May 21 at 7.30 am (Nepal time). But due to frost bite on his finger he had to be evacuated by helicopter to Kathmandu and was hospitalised at Era Healthcare Pvt Ltd on May 23. We cheered each other with a round of applause. With the positive thoughts and enthusiastic mood we continued our trek on the following day.
On May 22, around 8 o’clock in the morning, I came out of the lodge. The glimpse of the Everest from Khumbu Valley made me feel like I was in real paradise. We set out after some time. That day’s trek was very steep and difficult and we had to climb 790 meters to reach Pheriche at an elevation of 4,240 meters. It is in Solukhumbu district. It is in the lower end of the Khumbu Glacier.
On May 23, we reached Thukla. At 16,000 feet now, we had left behind the last trace of green. There were 20 stone monuments in a row as memorials for climbers who had died on the Everest, most of them were Sherpas. We continued our trekking till we reached Lobuje at 2.30pm. I felt very weak for some time and Mrs Jana also felt nauseated.
The next day I woke up with a headache and burning eyes and the nostrils were too dry and discharging flakes of black blood clots which continued till I was back home. We had a delayed start at 8.15 am for Gorakshep at an elevation of 5,150 meters. We reached Gorakshep around 12.30 pm.
Mrs Jana was able to trek till Gorakshep. But due to her health, she requested her husband to arrange for helicopter service to evacuate her from Gorakshep to Lukla.
At dinner, we had a discussion with another foreign expedition team that at 5am all of us should assemble in the dining room and start for Kalapathar. Even porter Bishnu had assured me that he would be with me.
May 25 was a remarkable morning. I woke up at 4am and got myself ready by 4.30 am. We started at 5am. Despite my double gloves on, my hand felt numb. There was no question of taking any photographs of our trekking. I was praying to the Almighty to give me strength and to enable me to continue the trekking. It was an exceedingly tiring trek.
As the sun shone, the icy cold wave started reducing and I could see a bit of the white peak ahead of me and to my right elevation towards the East, the great Mount Everest and a clear view of the base camp.
I kept up my pace. Bishnu had already joined me. In about 1 hour and 45 minutes, I touched the top peak. By seeing the breathtaking views of Mount Pomuri (7,145m), Mount Nuptse (7,861m), Lhotse (8,526m) and Mount Everest (8,848m) just little above my eye level I lost control of my emotions and I started crying. A few young boys and girls were already there at Kalapathar. They all came to me and embraced me when I said I am above 60 years of age.
I will always cherish the morning of May 25. The last leg of my expedition to Kalapather filled my heart with unfathomable emotions. The enchanting view satiated my desire to pay obeisance to ‘the roof of the world’.
On our return journey we had an amazing experience of trekking in the rain almost for the whole day on the third day of retreat till Lukla. All four of us reached Katmandu on May 28 in good health. Our three members, who had returned earlier, had taken good care of Kuntal, the Everester.
(Contributed by Sushit Kanti
Choudhury, 61, who was the oldest trekker in the group)
