Images from Everest Base Camp Trek

I went on this trek in November 1998 with Mountain Travel Sobek.

We flew from Kathmandu to Lukla on a de Havilland Twin Otter, which takes about 20 passengers. I snagged a seat right behind the pilot so I could look as we were landing. The runway at Lukla ends on the side of the mountain, so there's no way to go around for a second shot.

The runway is steeply angled uphill to help with landings (toward the wall) and takeoffs (toward the cliff edge).

I believe this one was built by the Swiss. The bridge on the right was destroyed during a flood. You have to be careful on the bridges if pack animals are coming the other way because there's no room to spare.

We spent the night near here at the village of Phakding.

This was on the way between Phakding and the park entrance.

We entered the park on the second day of the walk.

There was a long hard climb (about 2000 feet) into Namche. This was the first sign of the town.

The town is set in a valley. The streets are mostly stairs and the buildings are built on terraces. Since this is the trekking center of the whole area, there are plenty of stores and restaurants.

She was selling jewelry from China and Tibet.

She was sitting in a doorway in Namche. The apron indicates that she's married, I believe.

These were very wild looking guys. They brought goods across the mountains to sell in Nepal. One of our Sherpas bought a jacket made in China.

These people had brought these goods up from lower altitudes. It's obvious they're not used to the temperatures here.

These were on the way to Thame, a town up a side valley. We trekked there and back to acclimatize. There were prayer wheels and Mani stones every once in a while on the trails.

This was a memorial to a trekking group that was killed by an avalanche a few years ago. They were camped on a small flat area between a hillside and a cliff down to the river. The avalanche swept down and killed all but one person.

This was where we camped at the end of one valley. The photo was taken part way up the climb to Gokyo Ri, a nearby mountain.

A lady trekker died that night. They think she took a bunch of pills because she was depressed. This trip was to scatter her borther's ashes on Gokyo Ri.

That's Cho Oyu (8,201m or 26,906 feet) in the background.

She was one of the kitchen crew. The Sherpas have wonderful dispositions.

You have to watch out on narrow trails not to get knocked down the mountainside.

These animals have a mean temper. I saw one get pretty wild at the end of the day when he was being unloaded. During our trek, one killed Pasang's (our sirdar, or chief Sherpa) brother in law in Lobuche, a couple of villages away. He got the message and went on ahead to take care of the funeral arrangments.

They carried most of our stuff, although sometimes we had pack animals along.

She was carrying an amazing amount of stuff.

Whereas the Westerners kept a steady pace, the porters would go very fast, but take many short rests. Here one is using his staff to take the load off his back. This was typical.

I took this picture of myself just after the Sherpas woke us up. This is luxury camping. They bring up coffee to start the morning off, then a pail of hot water to clean up.

Or maybe this was afternoon snack.

I'm listening to the shortwave radio in a lodge near our campsite. I enjoyed the Ramen Noodle soup that they served (which they called Rara Noodle Soup).

This was animal dung drying to be used for fuel later. It was common in the lodges and has an odd smell.

For some reason he found the sleeping trekker fascinating.

We had to cut down on our gear because the pass (Cho La) can't be crossed by pack animals. The heaviest stuff was sent around while we climbed over the pass.

These are an offering to help people.

Chiring was the chief of the kitchen crew, and Pasang the sirdar, or leader of the whole crew.

This is a research station at an altitude of about 5000 meters, but there's also a restaurant at the base. I got a Coke for about 200 rupees ($2.50). The price of stuff gets higher the farther away from the trailhead that you buy it. This was almost as far as you can get up the Khumbu Valley.

We spent the night at the Gorak Shep, the last stop before base camp, and also climbed Kala Pattar (18,192').

This is a portable hyperbaric chamber. Someone hand pumps the bag to increase the air pressure inside. This one had a French trekker in it. Apparently he'd been having a lot of problems.

The highest spot on the trek.

This was the most beautiful setting on the trek.

With Everest in the background.

The Tengboche monastery with Ama Dablam (22,494') in the background.

They were preparing food in the courtyard at the Tengboche monastery. We'd just come out from visiting the Rinpoche, the head of the monastery and the holiest man in Nepal.

She was outside a house off the trail on the way back to Lukla.