Week 9 - 3 June 2020
Gorak Shep to EBC: 3.5km, 2 hours, 360 floors
We are almost there. It's just around the corner, it's just 5 more minutes... After 9 weeks and over 6,000 floors, your mind starts to play tricks with your eyes. You begin to see base camps at the turn of each floor, in your kitchen, in your toilet bowl.
You should have reached Gorak Shep by about lunch time. Depending on weather conditions, you either 1) go straight on to EBC or 2) climb Kala Patthar first.
If we go with option 1) then we will do a sunrise climb up to Kala Patthar the next day. Option 2) means we will do a freezing sunset climb up Kala Patthar and go to EBC the next day.
With the oxygen level at 50% less than at sea level, you slowly ascend from 5100m at Gorak Shep to 5364m at EBC (Kala Patthar is even higher at 5640m). The 360 floors needed to reach EBC pales in comparison to the thousands of floors you have climbed since you started this epic journey. But the altitude is getting to you and you have to stop after every 10 steps, your lungs crying out for air.
Just when you think that your lungs will burst and your legs about to crumble with fatigue on the dust of the Khumbu glacier, you see the light. It's not El Dorado, the mythical city of gold, it's not Shangri-La, the place of immortality. It's Everest Base Camp. You have arrived!
Begin your Stage 9 trek by taking part in a Zoom video chat on 3 June 8pm Singapore time. Please observe all social distancing rules.