Nepal 2019 - Day 15 - Lobuche to Gorakshep (Kala Pathar & EBC)

Lobuche to Gorakshep (Kala Pathar & EBC)

Had an excellent previous day, mostly relaxed and narrated the Kongma La adventure to the teahouse staff. I was well rested for another exciting day ahead. The trail towards Gorakshep was full of groups and porters and were busy for the entire way. I had to bob and weave past the groups to make any progress, The trail gradually got steeper and curved through a moraine on route to Gorakshep. Around some of the narrow curving trails through the rock fields, bottlenecks of trekkers formed, everyone was headed towards the same destination. EBC and Kala Pathar was on top of everyone's mind. Finally, I made way past the crowds, I descended into Gorakshep. Took shelter in a small teahouse, dumped my bags and made my way towards the trail up Kala Pathar. 

I had to walk across a large open sandy field to the trailhead. The trail was up in down in nature which was as expected as you were gaining height. There was boulder scramble that you had to deal with as well. I did move pretty decently since I had a good rest the previous day. Eventually, making it to the top of Kala Pathar. While EBC receives all the hype, Kala Pathar offers the best views of Everest along with Gokyo Ri in the Khumbu region. In fact, the summit of Everest wasn't even visible from the low vantage point of EBC. From the top, you are treated to one of the best views on earth with Everest, Nuptse and Lhotse to the east. The Kumbhu glacier sprawled out below them, Pumori to the north and Lobuche to the southwest. At the very top, tattered prayer flags flapped from a pole in the wind, others pressed and flattened between boulders. It felt spectacular and surreal to sit on top of this summit with this ridiculous view. The warmth didn't last long though and I made my way back to Gorakshep.

Back in Gorakshep, I grabbed a quick lunch and was back on the trail for EBC around noon. The prevailing knowledge was that spending a night at Gorakshep at around 17,000ft wasn't a good idea. With rumours that the trail to EBC was relatively flat, I was cursing the undulating rocky traverses for the first half or more of the trek. 

Eventually, the rocky ups and downs, twists and bends spat me out on a long ridge which was the flat portion of the trail. From there, you could see the EBC, set in the rocky Khumbu glacial moraine field.

After a steep descent into the moraine, I found my way along a narrow trail back up through the boulders to the EBC area. Situated in the glacial moraine, the area was strewn with mounds of rock everywhere, not a flat spot in sight. EBC was full of cairns, prayer flags, lot of leftover camps, memorials et al. I only wondered what the place would look like during peak season of Apr-May. Definitely, a place I wouldn't want to trek to for sure. Even though, Everest isn't visible from there, the view of the Kumbhu icefall was stunning. I tried to imagine how deep the crevasses would be through the jagged ice and seracs and the dangerous job of the Sherpas who fix the lines for all climbers. Just a few years ago, 16 Sherpas were killed by an avalanche in the icefall as they worked to fix those ladders. The following season also accounted for multiple deaths due to an earthquake which devastated Nepal. This indeed was a death zone.

After soaking in the views, I hopped over the boulders and out of the moraine and back down on the trail to Gorakshep. It was an exhausting but amazing day and I was happy to have seen everything in one day.