venturing above 5000m in the high Himalayas, you enter the bitterly harsh lands of permanent glaciers and their gravelly moraines, where the thin air and significant altitude gradually slow you down draining your energy with every step you take…
from Lobuche village (4940m), you’ll be hiking alongside Khumbu’s glacial moraine, tackling a short push up the ridge of and into Changri Shar Glacier’s terminal moraine. though it might not be the easiest stage of your Everest Base Camp trek, you’ll be hiking surrounded by an outstanding panorama of high Himalayan peaks from Pumori (7165m), Lingtern (6713m), Khumbutse (6639m), Changtse (7550m), to Nuptse (7861m).
negotiating your way on an ever-shifting footpath traversing the uneven and debris covered moraine of Changri Shar Glacier, you’ll have to summon the stamina to wrestle several steep ascents and descents until
an enormous 10km long tongue of ice covered by a hodgepodge of large boulders, gravel, sand and ice, Khumbu Glacier’s moraine resembles a gigantically plowed field of debris pushed up by the glacier’s ceaseless movement below the surface. marching down from the West Cwm, laying between Everest and Lhotse, Khumbu Glacier is the world’s highest glacier extending from 8000m to 4900m and creating an impressive sight before the base of Nuptse’s towering ramparts.
the final stop on your way to Everest Base Camp is Gorak Shep, a small temporarily inhabited settlement nestled at the junction of Changri Shar Glacier with Khumbu Glacier. hemmed by a diadem of snow-capped peaks from Pumori (7165m) to Nuptse (7861m), Gorak Shep sits on the sandy bed of a vanished lake with Kala Patthar (5545m) looming like a giant dark dune directly above it.
Gorak Shep used to be the original Everest Base Camp used by Everest expeditions before 1953. however, subsequent expeditions moved the base camp closer to the mountain, at the mouth of Khumbu Icefall.
finding yourself literally at the base of the world’s highest mountain, contrary to what you might expect, you’ll find Everest completely obscured by Nuptse’s gigantic pyramid…
to marvel at Everest’s magnificent peak, you’ll need to hike up Kala Patthar (5545m), while a final push on your already drained batteries will bring you to the world’s largest base camp – the famous southern Everest Base Camp.
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