BASE CAMP JOURNEY: A NEW VENTURE CALLED “EBC TREK”

“Dedicated to all fellow travellers (friends or strangers), who smiled with me.”

Friends,
Around a year back, I decided to take a break from routine life and wanted to do something different.
While searching for “different “, I fell in love with Everest Base Camp (EBC) trek.

Though I decided to do the mother of all treks but available capital with me for this new venture was
very limited, namely,
1) few leisure trips in Himalaya in recent past.
2) one real trek in Himalaya about 25 years back.
3) Few small treks in nearby mountains (Sahyadri ranges)
4) evening strolls with wife for shortest possible distance when I couldn’t avoid it.

With this minuscule and non-existent capital, I started this new journey. My initial additional
investment was regular training in Gym. This investment was giving good returns and I felt that I was
in good position to reap dividends and go to EBC trek. BUT I was not aware of an impending storm.
One fine evening, I collapsed in the gym and was transported to nearby hospital in a cardiac ambulance
with blaring siren and flashing lights. Thankfully it was neither heart attack nor stroke but a severe
attack of vertigo. However, results were certainly disastrous, forget about going for EBC trek, I was not
even allowed to drive for few meters. Was I disappointed, YES, did I give up, ABSOLUTELY NO.
I restarted from scratch.

Evening stroll with wife, small walks alone, longer walks, small treks in nearby mountains with live
location sharing, cycling etc. No more gym training, it’s outdoors or nothing.
Slowly, it was business as usual. Long brisk walks during weekdays and regular mountain treks during
weekends became a regular habit. There were few success stories (Deo Tibba base trek near Manali
and acclimatisation check during Leh backpacking tour) and few failures (bicycle accident resulting in
few stitches and walking into a glass partition resulting into swollen lip and bruised ego). Walking in
glass partition was really embarrassing, I really know how to walk, I also know that I need to keep my
eyes open. I just missed to clean my glasses off rain drops. Moreover, it was maid’s mistake, she had
cleaned the glass partition very thoroughly that day.

Then came the D day, time to commit, time to test water, to be or not to be. Past experience was still
raw, though a blip in mirror but record was certainly not clean, images of laying on gym floor were still
etched in brain. However, I decided to take cautious plunge, i.e. all investments, fee payments,
purchases were deferred till last moment, outdoor training and weekend treks continued. I was doing
around 8km walk per day. Speed was about 9 min per km on flat road and about 10.5 min per km on
off-road terrain near my home. Sometimes you could have squeezed out a glass of sweat from my Tshirt (though I didn’t try that, my wife would have thrown out that glass along with me).

It’s 13 Oct, time to Go-live, launch the product, no turning back now. It’s time to fly to Kathmandu and
turning myself over to the trek leader there. It’s now or later (I was mentally ready to give my best shot to succeed but was also prepared for some debacle, after all, I truly believe in “Arise, awake and stop
not till the goal is reached”.

Same night we drove down to Ramechhap in a rickety bus on a long potholed road. Original short and
paved road was washed down by recent floods in Nepal. Perhaps, it was a reminder by nature gods
that “ I am THE boss”. A fellow traveller’s head kept on banging my shoulder and I kept on thinking
about the distance between a cup and a lip. In the morning, we reached Ramechhap and there came
first shocker “all the flights to Lukla are cancelled till weather improves “. At about 2 pm, it became
clear that there will be no flight today. We were to go to a nearby resort to take rest and may be take
dip in its swimming pool. Same story was repeated next day also. That day airline didn’t even bother
to open booking window. Was nature taking its revenge when I needed it most? Did someone said
“Karma is a bitch”? Am I repaying for all the damages done by me to the nature? By now, everyone in
the group was desperate, few people were thinking about changing destination to Annapurna Base
Camp, few people were thinking about a longer and more torturous road to Lukla (my back and
shoulder were protesting it) and few (including me) were thinking of looking for helicopter option
at a higher price.

We all went to bed after a series of discussions & heated arguments. Actually, we were dreading next
morning and none of us were sure about next action. It reminded me of a corporate meeting where
some testing failure had happened near product launch and everyone was loudly presenting a
hypothesis and solution for that failure, whereas chief designer was sitting quietly in a corner with
worried looks and failed components in his hands.

Next morning, our Sherpa guide simply mentioned “it will fly today “. No reason or logic was given for
this optimism, similar to the chief designer who quietly gave the solution and started implementing it.
That day nature gods smiled on us and all of us flew to Lukla in two batches. I was in the second batch.
Later we were told that ours was the last flight to flew from Ramechhap that day (and two days hence).
Maybe I was on the threshold of my sins towards nature but yet to cross it. Maybe I was forgiven this
time with light rap on knuckles and a stern warning.

Next few days were a blur of eat-walk-eat-walk-eat-sleep-repeat. This may sound easy but slowly we
were gaining altitude. Shrubs were replacing tall trees and barren land was replacing shrubs. Each step
was more excruciating than the last one. Everyone was trying to spread positivity by smiles and
gestures but at the same time was fighting a personal battle. One of our friends lost the battle and was
ordered by mountain gods to start descending. She accepted the defeat with humility and flew down
to Kathmandu. In Kathmandu, mountain gods once again smiled at her and she was reported to be in
good health. As someone mentioned, “mountains are guardians as well as merciless “. (I would love to
travel with her in next outings for all her gracefulness).

It’s 23rd Oct, our summit day, time for all stars to fall in one line, time to call-in all markers. I started
from Lobuche in morning after breakfast (we were in a group but it was an individual battle). Plan was
to have lunch at Gorakshep and proceed to EBC for photo-op and be back to Gorakshep for evening
tea & dinner. Sounds simple, right? Did I mention about winds or altitude or cold or lack of oxygen or
terrain or fatigue or lonely battles.

Yes sirrrr, all of above were there and I only had my determination and a wish to erase the gym image
from my mind. Somewhere along the way to EBC, I almost gave up, I was searching for a corner with
least wind so as to hunker down for some time and walk back to Gorakshep ‘there is always a next
time’. But a group member walked by and said “come on, keep walking “. It seems those words nudged
the last star into that straight line. I started walking again with new energy. If a camel is given some encouragement, then maybe that last straw will never be able to break its back. Few steps or few
hundred steps later EBC was visible and my straight line of stars just got extended. Victory was in sight.
I just kept on creeping forward and hugged the victory. A photo op on THE STONE, a photo op with
tricolor, shared smiles with fellow travelers, wiping of few hidden tears completed the celebrations.
Return journey to Gorakshep somehow felt shorter. Everyone in our group paid their respects to sacred
site of trekking.

Next day was planned differently for different people, few wanted to visit Kala pathar for better
pictures of Everest at sunrise, few wanted to fly down to Kathmandu. For me it was mission
accomplished. My aim was to walk down to Lukla to conclude the deal. I did it in next three days.
Though every stone during this journey had a story to tell and every individual had a lesson to teach.

Few important lessons can be summarized below
1) Find your own pace and rhythm in life. There is always someone ahead or behind you.
2) Enjoy your own company.
3) A stranger is a biggest secret keeper. There is no danger of being judged or manipulated.
4) sharing few kind words with strangers motivates them as well as you. Keep on spreading those
smiles.
5) it’s not about destination, it’s all about journey.
6) Life is your battle and you only need to fight it.
7) World keeps on moving in your absence.
8) Though age is just a number but listen to your body and take corrective measures.
9) Be aware of the environment. when nature decides to hit back, human being is helpless.
10) Stop being an internet junky.

As per me, this entire deal can be summarised with below parameters.

Initial Capital: mix of serious and leisure trekking in Himalaya and Sahyadri ranges.
Systematic Regular Investment: discipline, determination and stop-not attitude.
Duration: one year.
Final Net Worth: one certificate, few new photos, one debt extinguished i.e. one image erased.
Terminal Bonus: Lots of life lessons.

In my opinion it was very profitable deal with very high return on investments.
What’s your opinion????