We set off early for Gorak Shep, the highest camping site for our trip, as we had heard that accomodation was hard to get. Unfortunately it seems that we were not the only ones to think of this and along the way we must have passed over 100 trekkers, Sherpa's and porters. We followed the lateral moraine of the Khumbu Glacier all the way up the valley. We were pretty fast and got into Gorak Shep before most but still had some difficulty securing accomodation (which we eventually managed for 300/- per night).
Gorak Shep is the last town before Everest Base Camp and is located right at the foot of Kala Pattar. There are perhaps 7 buildings in the town all together and one gets a sense that no one wants to be here for too long.
We got in around 10am and made plans to head up Kala Pattar (5550m) for what would probably be our best views of Everest. Before heading off we sat up on the helicopter pad that over looked the town and Khumbu Glacier and had a nice relaxing time. We saw some beautiful native fowl which were not afraid of us at all and also got an amazing view of an avalanche some 5km away.
After lunch we started off for Kala Pattar and I must say that it was one of the hardest treks we have done so far. The heavy snow fall had left the path covered with ice and snow and there were several times where we slipped and nearly fell. After a very difficult almost 2 hour trek we reached the top, marked by a huge assortment of Buddhist prayer flags, and what an amazing view we had!
The sky was cloudless and blue and Everest could be seen in all her ugly glory. We were treated to views over the back of Kala Pattar of blue glacial lakes and pristine snowy mountains. We witnessed a massive avalanche down the face of Nuptse and were kept company by some native birds that were so fearless they were almost eating out of our hands. Ama Dablam stood strong and high way off in the distance, it was amazing to think that only 2 days ago we had been standing at its base. The view of the Khumbu Glacier was like no other and we were in awe of its brutal power, pushing aside mountains to get where it wanted to go.
We stayed up on the mountain for the sunset where we were treated to an amazing view. Everest and the surrounding mountains slowly went from brilliant white to an amazing orange as the sky changed from blue to purple to grey. Clouds crept up the valley way below us and the entire view was just incredible. The temperature dropped suddenly below freezing and as we made our way down by the light of our head torches over slippery ice and snow we couldn't help but be amazed at what we had seen.
When we arrived back to Gorak Shep we were covered with ice and as we entered exhausted into our room we realised that it would give us no comfort as temperatures inside were close to -10 degrees.
