Hiking to earth’s highest mountain base camp

In 11 days I hiked to Mount Everest’s South Base Camp in Nepal at an altitude of 5,364 meters. Tibetans call Mount Everest Chomolungma, meaning “"Goddess Mother of the World”, while Nepali’s call it by the name Sagarmatha meaning “Goddess of the Sky”.

The iconic trek began by flying from Kathmandu into the small airport of Lukla, the famous airport in the sky due to it’s hair-raising landing strip on the edge of the Himalayan mountains. This was my first trip to Nepal, a country that would captivate my heart and call me back. Along the ascent the hiking days were short in an attempt to acclimatize correctly. I would spend the mornings hiking and the afternoons to evenings sitting in tea houses, sipping hot ginger tea, playing cards, reading books by the fire and awaiting a gigantic serving of the Nepali staple dish for dinner — dal bhat, consisting of steamed rice, cooked lentils, and an occasional curried vegetable.

Hiking amongst some of the world’s tallest giants shook me to my core and reminded me of my place in the world. When the time came to hike up to Kala Patthar (18,519 feet) for a sunset view of Chomolungma, my head felt in the clouds of altitude but my heart carried me to witness the world-famous peak. There it was in all of it's glory: Mount Everest.

The next morning at sunrise I walked the remaining distance to Base Camp. That season’s mountaineers were just starting to appear, and the glaciers exuded an eerie silence looming in the thin air. As I approached the tents I saw an arctic fox calmly resting on the ice. As I watched it saunter away, I felt like one of the luckiest humans in the world. The luck continued as my friend and I were invited in for tea by a porter. The climbers hadn’t arrived yet to the tent, and he welcomed us by pouring us cup after cup as we sat sipping tea in our dazed altitude-induced stupor.

On the descent I felt like I could fly. The nine days it took to hike up flew by in just two days to get down. When the whirlwind subsided and my head finally cleared, I looked back at the Himalayas that I was fortunate enough to call home for a few weeks as I flew out of the Lukla airport and back to Kathmandu for Holi Festival.

Post-Trail Rambles

"One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things."

— words by Henry Miller, mindset by the Roof of the World

I savored many moments on the EBC (Everest Base Camp Trek) where I would turn a corner on the trail and just take a moment to revel in the peaceful silence, symbols of culture and natural mystery of my surroundings. I find myself in those times often, when I breathe in a "brain shot" before digitizing an image. My journey through the Himalayas had a myriad of these moments, a delicate balance of enjoying the moment and documenting it.

I think we all battle with that decision these days, and it's different for each of us, in each unique situation. I look back on this photo and am reminded of times when I could find that balance - soaking in the moment and also snapping a quick memory for myself to never forget where my mind was wondering and feet were wandering.