EVEREST BASE CAMP - A Zebra at Altitude
8th October 2019 - Snippets from my EBC Diary:
An early 4:45 am wake-up call. The time had come. This was it. The trek starts today (yeah baby!). I couldn't wait. Butterflies. But this flipping flight was still waiting for me (the photo explains maybe half of it). During my year of training, I visited primary schools and talked to the kids about resilience and raised awareness for EDS at the same time. I told them about my dream to see Everest and that I would not give up until I saw my mountain, but I’m different. I have an invisible illness - like many people around us. But we are ALL made for greatness and have to follow our dreams regardless of our circumstances. In my presentation, I spent some time telling them about Lukla Airport and even showed them a video clip of the planes landing and taking off at a gradient of 12 degrees (equivalent to a 10-story building). I was already scared then 🤪. Being transported to the airport I remember thinking “What on earth have I gotten myself into!?” I’m a nervous flyer to start with …. if only I knew… Check-in time with my 10kg bag. Ladies, I stuffed things into places unthinkable, only to find out that they weigh you with your bags 😳. It turned out, that due to the Dashain festival, there were limited flights available and that we were going to be taking a helicopter there. Jesus take the wheel. I drew the short straw and my roommate and I were up first. It was incredible flying over Kathmandu into the majestic mountains. Flying into Lukla was as surreal as I envisioned for months. Not being in a small aircraft was not bad at all and I enjoyed the experience.
We waited for the rest of our team to arrive in a local teahouse. Cosy and warm in the main living area but the rest of the house was cold. Walking through Lukla I came face to face with my first yak - well, it turned out that it wasn’t a yak but a yow. Yows live at a lower altitude up to Namche Bazaar and from a higher altitude I’ll meet the yaks - they are massive. I made the decision early on to take Acetazolamide (altitude sickness tablets) in Lukla and for the duration of my trek. Our team arrived and we made our way to Phakding where we spent our first night. Stunning views and the best was yet to come.
... to be continued