ABOVE 5,000 METRES
Lobuche, Gorak Shep, Kala Patthar & Everest Base Camp
March 22–25, 2019
GORAK SHEP
Beyond Dingboche the landscape became harsher.
The villages thinned out, the nights grew colder and the mountains seemed to press closer around us. We climbed towards Dughla and Lobuche through a world of rock, ice and moraine, with the air becoming noticeably thinner with every gain in height.
In my notebook I wrote:
“Thugla/Lobuche. Remarkable view of the 7000 metre peaks. I could only manage 5000m. Exhausted.”
KALA PATTHAR
From Gorak Shep we climbed Kala Patthar before dawn.
The ascent was slow and bitterly cold, but the reward was the first clear sense of Everest sitting among the surrounding peaks. Pumori rose behind us while Nuptse and Lhotse dominated the view ahead.
I sketched and painted whenever the cold allowed, trying to record something of the scale before moving on.
At this height, everything felt stripped back. Walking, eating, painting and sleeping all became slower.
EVEREST BASE CAMP
From Gorak Shep we followed the edge of the Khumbu Glacier towards Everest Base Camp.
The landscape was almost entirely rock and ice, broken by prayer flags and expedition tents. Base Camp itself sits at 5,364 metres, surrounded by the glacier and the great walls of the Himalayas.
“In some ways, it felt very much like a pilgrimage towards the world’s tallest cathedral, Mt. Everest. At the end of each weary day, we knew we were getting closer to something majestic.
At 70% oxygen, fatigued and in a biting cold wind, it was difficult to find words for arriving at the foot of Everest. Mainly the feeling was awe, with an underbelly of relief and a total sense of escape.
It was beautiful, but that beauty was a collection of all the moments getting there. If you dropped us at Base Camp in a helicopter, it might simply look like a great scoop of ice beneath an eroded black rock. But after ten days eating, sleeping and dreaming of Everest Base Camp, it had become a rite of passage towards something bigger, shared with others.”
“To the foot of the world’s tallest cathedral.”