Day 9 — Kala Pattar and down to Pheriche

10.36 miles
about 2000 feet

We left the lodge at 5:00 am this morning to try and summit Kata Pattar before starting our three day journey down the mountain.  Yesterday, Kala Patar had a dusting of snow, today it is mostly covered with snow.  

While it may not be the prettiest of peaks, it is 5,550 m which will make it the highest point on our trip and it is known for having the best views of the Everest Range.

Kala Pattar is the black peak in front of Pumori (7162 m)

It is also generally considered to be the hardest climb on an Everest Trek.  And it didn’t help that this morning was bitterly cold and that we were already at over 17,000 feet.  

Everyone is wearing their heavy down coats for the first time

After about 20 minutes of climbing in the dawn light it was pretty obvious that the combination of the early hour, the lack of oxygen and the cold was going to whittle down our group.  After a gallant attempt, Kara, Kate and Cannon turned around and left Grace and I to attempt to summit alone.  In hindsight, I am not sure Grace and I made the right decision because everyone the climb to the summit in the snow was a serious slog that took us nearly 3 hours to finish.  

As we approached the summit, what little there was of a a packed snow trail disintegrated into a mount of giant boulders that you had to scramble over to claw closer to the summit.  But finally, Grace and I made it to the top, took some pictures, and reveled in the fact that we were at 18,500 feet.  

Rocks near the summit of Kala Pattar

Everest is in the middle (perspective makes it appear smaller) and base camp is down to the left

At the summit with Pumori behind me

The way down way down was much quicker but exhausting in a different way as we tried our best not to slip on the ice and snow.  When we finally reached the bottom we were exhausted and ready to call it a day.  Unfortunately, we still had 8 miles of hiking to go on our way out of the mountains.

From Gorat Shep, we descended down the same trails that we ascended until the last couple of miles.  This time we didn’t stop to take as many pictures but we all just pressed on in a desire to get to our destination.  There is definitely a difference in attitude on the way down versus the way up.

On our way down Thokla pass

The final two miles were a little different.  We were walking along a braided river bed on our way to Pheriche (a small town close to Dingboche where we stayed on the way up).  As we approached Pheriche, we found acres of yak pasturage with many yaks grazing on some type of grass that grew between the rocks and the sand.  Since it was spring, there were dozens of baby yaks which made Grace, Kate and Cannon excited.

Tomorrow we hike down to Namche Bazar doing in one day what took us two days during the ascent.