Never imagined that we would be sleeping at Everest Base Camp, on the Khumbu Glacier at 17,650 ft, the highest we have ever stayed at over night. We borrowed Kevin’s -40 and -30 degree sleeping bags, so we were warm and cozy inside the tent. However, getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom was not fun at all. The sun woke us up around 7am it was so bright inside our yellow tent. Breakfast at 8am with the sound of the helicopters flying over head. It was a massive evacuation from Everest Base Camp. All day the helicopters flew people down the mountain or up to Camp 2 to remove all the gear that had been taken there before the avalanche happened. The sun was shining brightly and we were able to walk around Base Camp to experience the overwhelming magnitude of this “city on ice” nestled in a valley at the base of the highest mountains in the world. As far as the eye could see were tents filled with the climbers and Sherpas who were preparing for their ascent of Everest, which unfortunately was cancelled this year. Now sadly leaving their camps to return to Kathmandu and places beyond.
Lunch was served at noon in our mess tent. Afterwards we all went with Panuru to watch Kevin, B-1, Brad and Ake practice ice climbing on the ice wall near our camp. With crampons ready and ice picks in hands each had their turn climbing the 40 foot ice wall as Bob and I watched. It started to snow so we returned to our tents before dinner to try and warm up. When the sun is out it is very warm here but once it is cloudy it gets very cold. At dinner we planned our descent down the mountain tomorrow to Lobuche and then Kevin, Brad, B-1 and Ake with Tashi will hike to Lobuche high base camp to spend the night getting ready to climb Mt Lobuche.
