From 0 to 5300 in 60

…or should I say “40 to -8”?

Well, here I am with a mandate “under duress” by Nisha to give “lots and lots of stories” for Lemonicks.com 🙂 She opines that now that I am back from the enjoyable trip and rested enough (an understatement as it is more than 2 months since I returned ), I must start writing or else(!). The portentous “else” did the trick, although I have no clue as to what that “else” meant. I think if there ever was a veiled threat, this was it and I was not going to find out, what.

Last year the nature wreaked a havoc in the Himalayan country not seen in many decades. Last year, my own plans of trekking to Everest Base Camp had to be cancelled at the last minute because of this. As a consolation I did go for a small trek to Kuari Pass in our own Uttarakhand. Psssst….I have still not written about it yet!

A couple of questions needed answers quickly. First Question to answer was should I go in the 2015 autumn season, 2016 summer or just shelve it for future. 2015 autumn / winter was quite packed with personal and professional work. Shelving it did not seem a great idea. I was not growing any younger. So it had to be the summer of 2016.

Second Question- Was I fit enough? Well there is really nothing wrong with me except for a small niggle in my left knee, acting up once in a while. My stamina was, however, found to be wanting, even after the numerous hikes to the hills in our backyard or climbing stairs of our 17 floor building (up and down) 3 or 4 times day. Then I thought if I went on my own with my own porter-guide, I could set my own pace and stop or continue wherever I wanted and stay the night where I wanted. I had kept 3 days buffer for this. If need arose one could walk the whole day, of course.

Walking long hours was never a problem for either Nisha or Me. I decided it had to be mental thing. Not mental as in crazy but mind-set with just one goal. Maybe it is one and the same thing. After all, thousands of people of all ages go there and after all this was not the most difficult of the treks.

Was there 3rd Q?
Yes of course. There were many more questions but they were quite pale in comparison to the first two.

Now having returned I will also probably squeeze in what worked for me. There are stories and stories within stories, which I hope, I will remember well enough to capture truthfully in these pages. There are over 3500 photographs to sift through, select and present to you folks.

One of the decisions that worked like a charm was to carry a second camera which I gave to the porter so that he could take my photos (wink wink) including what he thought was important while I focused on other mundane things like trekking and trying to move from one place to another. Of course the primary reason was if my main camera malfunctioned I would not be found with my back to the wall or rather back to the mountains.

The title 0 to 5300 in 60, by now you may have guessed refers to the altitude from sea level in Mumbai to the Everest Base Camp or EBC, as it is fondly called, which is at an altitude of 5300 meters at a trek distance of about 60 Kilometres. Can you guess what the second title refers to? 😀

Wait for more stories. I have yet to decide on the structure. Should it be the classic day-wise experiences or something else? One thing you can be sure of is, this is about the last time you will see me in any pictures 🙂 . I hope that will be a good motivation for you to read the future stories on my EBC trek.

In the meanwhile, I hope you enjoy the 1 minute time-lapse video of the Sun rising behind the big guy!

If you want to travel places with us, I suggest you to join us on my Facebook travel page.
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