Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Everest Base Camp Trek - Trained on Mt. Whitney

Hi,

This message has dual purposes:

1. To thank the portal members for their advice June last year when I trekked up Mt. Whitney - wanted to train for Everest Base Camp, but was too chicken to point it out that time - in case I did not make it. Thanks again, guys!

2. To announce availability of a Photobook: 94 pages of stunning full-color photographs annottated with text. A handy preview and reference for those attempting the Everest Base Camp Trek and Kala Patthar.

Beautiful images of Kathmandu, Lukla (gateway to Everest) airport, and the amazingly beautiful Everst Base Camp Trail.

Contains a separate Chronology section with a Google Earth(TM) map of trek route, and day-by-day summary of elevations, overnight stops and what to expect: villages, lodges, scenery, grade-difficulty and the varying price of bottled water as you climb to higher elevations.

This book is available for purchase at: Everest Base Camp Trek

Prices are reasonable and you have a choice of soft or hard cover. Get the book if you are planning to do Everest Base Camp. Been laid off from my job - every little bit helps...

Neel, I remember your previous posts, and am happy to hear that the advice you got here was helpful, and also helped you in your quest "over there."

I've advised quite a number of prominent people on this board that they should publish a book of their adventures. I think they would really add to the book world, and the publishing options at this time has made this amazingly easy to do.

Good on ya, that you've actually done it, for an adventure of a lifetime. If no one else ever reads it, it will be a real treasure in your family, the wonderful aspect of such books beyond the documentation of the adventure.

I look at your posting about it as sharing it with this community, of which you are a part.

Thanks, Ken!

The advise and practice sure turned out handy!

Appreciate your comments about the memories, beyond the documentation. I also took time to research a lot about the places, customs, religion and so forth, and the book turned out real nice. We were a team of 9 people, all of whom bought copies - some multiple!

We also had some "adventure", by the way. We were supposed to be ascending from close to 10,000 feet up to 18,200 (summit of Kala Patthar) and then be back down in a total of 14 days, including two days of rest for acclimatization. There was, however, a tragedy on the day of our departure. A Yeti Airlines plane crashed at the destination airport of Lukla (where the trek starts), killing 18 of 19 on board. (Providentially for us, our agent failed to secure seats on that flight for us - we had requested it since it was the first flight of the day out of Kathmandu). Actual crash video here . Look at the far end of the runway, and slightly to the right.I found this video, claimed to be the only one, on YouTube, filmed by a German couple. The voices are too indistinct for the most part for me to translate, but in the end the guy filming says "... hopefully..." and then "Oh shit!" as the fireball breaks out. There seemed to be no sound of impact; only engine noise.

The airport remained closed for a day, and then for another two days because of weather. We realized we couldn't take a chance on the return with international reservations out of KTM difficult to change, and hence had to pull in the return. Upshot was, we lost 4 days. We still pushed on, dropping both the rest days and also gaining far more than the 1500 feet per day elevation change recommended at the higher altitudes. We knew we were doing something borderline when 2 of our Sherpa porters quit half way when they got wind of our schedule. A doctor (from Milbrae, CA) at the American run high-altitude-sickness clinic at a place called Pheriche actually noted down our schedule, saying he had seen nothing quite like it before!

It was gruelling, but, then, that's half the fun!

Just ordered your book! Good luck!

Thanks, nmerritt!