At last I’ve reached 2900m, around about the altitude of Lukla, where most expeditions to Everest start hiking. I'm starting to realise that this challenge will actually be harder than my actual trek to Everest Base Camp in 2018. We certainly didn't have to hike from sea-level to Lukla airport!
Here's how we got there:
A paved road leads through the town of Lukla from the airport to the trail. The first thing that happens when you leave the town is that the trail descends steeply. The surface is paved with massive granite slabs which make for easy walking. It seems like a very impressive hiking trail until you realise that it is actually the main thoroughfare through the region.
There are no wheeled vehicles to be seen for the remainder of the trip to Everest. The only way to access the villages and towns in the region is on foot. Anything that cannot be produced here (and that's pretty much everything) has to be brought on either two or four legs.
Porters are everywhere carrying immense loads by our standards - up to 50kg. Our group consisted of six people, each of which was permitted 15kg of baggage. This was allocated to our three porters, each of which carried the load of two people! These were not big burly men either, they were young, slight and didn't wear any special clothing (sneakers and jeans basically). Despite this they regularly departed at the same time or behind us (with our measly 5kg of water and weather gear) and arrived well ahead of us at the next destination.
For their efforts they may get as much as US$20 per day.
This is our team taking a break (while they waited for us to catch up)
It's a pretty humbling experience to spend time with these guys. You can donate to my campaign to help them and their families build schools and health centres and a better future.
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