Trek to Everest Base Camp - Part VI

One of our porters, Kami, walks down from Base Camp to climb a glacier below.

At 4:00 AM the next morning, we're back on the trail to climb from our hotel at
Gorak Shep (5100 m) to the summit of Kala Patthar (5545 m), to watch the
sun rise over Everest.
(an Indian name

The name Kala Patthar is an Indian name meaning "black rock"

 

The very, very top. Behind me is a sheer cliff which drops off several
hundred meters into a rocky ravine. I really didn't want to slip!

The team!

Squinting in the bright morning light, I celebrate my trek to Everest and
my 30th country since 2006!

 

The light was so good, all of our photos look like we're standing in a photo
studio, in front of a curtain!

The clouds start to clear, and we get our first
glimpse of Everest (the big black one)

A trip like this reminds you just how small you are in this world

Everest, the black mountain straight above my head, is somewhat outshined
by it's sexier sister peak, Lhotse, on the right.

a spectacular arrival at our destination

I saw this weird looking bird on my way down from Kala Patthar!
Can you imagine what kind of animal lives at 18,000 feet?

Eggs Cram Bowl? I think you mean Egg Scramble...or rather, Scrambled Eggs.
Typical Nepali English :)

Gorak Shep, 5164 m (16,492 ft), the highest village in the world.
Not too much higher, and you need the assistance of bottled oxygen
to function.
And someone's smoking here? 

We climbed Kala Patthar on the 8th day of our trek.
We made the trip down from Kala Patthar to our monastery in three 10-hour days!
This is Khumjung, where we spent our last night before home.

On our way out the next morning, we walked through the
school built by Sir Edmund Hillary, who remained an
active philanthropist in the Solukhumbu region after
summiting Everest.

Mani stones welcome us back into Namche

Portrait of a yak