Everest Base Camp - 17,880 Ft.

More clouds today. Like I said before, it's really frustrating to be walking right beneath the most gigantic, spectacular mountains in the world, but to see nothing but white mist because of the cloud cover. It's alright though, I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that tomorrow will be better. I actually had a really good view of the top of Nuptse for a few minutes this morning. The sun was rising right behind the peak and the clouds cleared away just for a few seconds to reveal the towering, rocky, snow-covered face of the mountain.
Now that I've made it from Lukla to the Everest Base Camp, I've decided that anyone in decent shape could easily make the same hike. The trail to Base Camp is about as hard as hiking to the top of Mount Timpanogas, except that you make a hike about that difficult six times in seven days. Anyone in decent shape could do it though.

Min and I left Lobuche early this morning and hiked about two hours to Gorak Shep, the last high-altitude outpost before base camp. Gorek Shep is really just a collection of two or three lodges in a small rocky valley, nothing else is here. I dumped off my stuff at the lodge and after an hour of resting Min and I continued on to Base Camp. From Lobuche to Gorek Shep the terrain changes from rocky brown plains to massive piles of rocks. Except for a few slivers of grass poking through the stones and the occasional bird flying by, the area is completely lifeless. A long, narrow valley leads from Gorek Shep to Base Camp. As Min and I followed a trail along the West end of the valley, ice pinnacles came into view across from us. We hiked further and more and more ice pinnacles appeared until they all merged together and formed a giant glacier.The Khumbu Glacier marks the beginning of the ascent to the summit of Everest, and Base Camp sits at the foot of the glacier. To pass the glacier and continue upwards to the summit, climbers walk across ladders used to bridge crevasses in the glacier that are hundreds of feet deep. The runoff from the glacier forms a rushing stream of crystal clear water. Smaller, icy tributaries cut through different parts of the glacier and run into the stream to form the origin of the Dudh Kosi - the river that I've crossed over so many times on the way up to Base Camp. Min and I crossed over the stream and wandered up through the bottom portion of the Khumbu. It was incredible to see and touch the glacier in real life and to imagine mountaineers on their way to the summit of Everest climbing across the ice-field and up to one of the camps high on the mountain.
I thought briefly about a suggestion that one of my co-workers made before I left Salt Lake. He said that when I finally got to the Everest Base Camp I should start running towards the summit to see how far I could get. I decided not to do that.

After exploring the glacier Min and I hiked for a few minutes to an area where most expeditions set up camp. I noticed a crude wall made of stones that I've been told is used as part a kitchen during the climbing season. Several square piles of stones in the distance marked the locations of the camps of different expeditions. A few times while exploring I heard the rumble of avalanches high above me. I looked through the mist and noticed that Base Camp sits at the end of a large, U-shaped valley surrounded on three sides by Everest, Pumori, and Nuptse, some of the tallest mountains in the Himalayas.
Back in Gorek Shep I had a spaghetti dinner and talked with a few other travelers. A group of five Americans is staying at the lodge, and they all happen to be about my age. I talked for a while with a kid named Ben, who is pursuing a graduate degree in Physics at Cambridge University and has spent time researching at the prestigious CERN Laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland. Ben and I talked about our educational backgrounds, graduate school, and our future careers. Another kid named Chris piped in and boasted that he's paying for a year-long trip around the world using money he earned from investing in the stock market. For the next hour or so Chris and I debated about the feasability of consistantly outperforming the S&P 500 Index. I think made a few good points. It's obvious that Chris knows a lot about stocks, but he really just had a lucky break. Ben laughed the whole time and debated to himself whether he should aim to beat the market, as Chris claims he can do, or invest in index funds, as I argued is the better strategy.

Tomorrow I really need good weather. I'm getting up early in the morning to hike to the top of Kala Pattar, a peak that offers the best views of Pumori, Nuptse, and, of course, Everest. The last three days have been cloudy and really unfortunate in the views department. I really need tomorrow to be better...