Besant Nagar to Base Camp

On the morning of the 28th, we commenced what was to the final day of our ascent to the EBC. We were to reach Gorakshep (5190m) in 2 hours, have lunch, and then continue on to the goal-- Everest Base Camp for another 2-3 hours, celebrate our achievement and return to Gorakshep for the night.  However, we made extremely slow progress, struggling to move forward as we neared the snow line. All vegetation barring hardy weeds had long since disappeared. We ascended and descended peak after peak, but Gorakshep remained as far away as ever. The stunning, stark beauty of the massive mountains all around us-- Pumori, Lingtren, Khumbutse, Nuptse, did partly compensate for the pain that we were putting ourselves through. We spied a tiny, insignificant peak, well, peeking over the shoulder of the mighty Nuptse, and were stunned to learn that peak was Mt Everest 😁 . The whole journey was ethereal, so much so that as I write this a year later, those mountains are as fresh in my mind as if I ha...

Today was the most beautiful day of the Trek.  Once again we woke up to the magnificent sight of the mighty mountains ringing our picturesque tea house. Played with the doggies and with the little two-year-old. After a hearty breakfast and a complimentary cup of lemon tea, we set off again, to our destination that would take is for the first time to an elevation over 5000m.  We found ponies for slower members of the team who were finding it difficult to keep pace with the rest of the group and that greatly improved the speed of the group as a whole. We trekked through beautiful rolling alpine meadows, covered with tiny flowers of every hue, giving the entire area a watercolor painting-like feel. From time to time, we could see and hear Alpine Choughs, both red-and yellow-billed. These corvid birds are found at very high altitudes, having been sighted as high as in Camp 4 of Mt Everest (27600 feet!). Though they are locally called "Chinese Crow" their call is musical and not h...