NOVA Online | Everest Quest | The Approach March (6)

The Approach March
part 6 | back to part 5

Base Camp
Chungba, the head cook, stands waiting with cups of tea in one hand and a welcome wave in the other. After 2 weeks of being "on the trail" the team is relieved to be at what will be their home for the next 2 months. Tent platforms are built by piling rocks into a flat base and tents are erected in their full regalia of colors against the gray and white landscape.

The terrain is otherworldly, with ice spires and shiny blue pinnacles protruding out of the rock-covered snow and ice. The rocks, which Roger informs us are a combination of granite and migmatite, look almost fake, jumbled together into piles by the enormous strength of the ever-moving Khumbu Icefall, a massive glacier at the base of Everest. Looking up the Icefall we can see straight into the high valley of the Western Cwm on Everest (pronounced "Koom", a Welsh word that means valley or basin).

Although we're surrounded by high peaks, the sun sets slowly, creeping behind Pumori's nearly perfect triangular summit. The evening hours serenade us with deep cracking sounds. The glacier that our tents are pitched on shifts centimeter by centimeter each day. Himalayan peaks

Occasionally we hear the roar of a rock fall or an avalanche that always sounds closer than it presumably is. Having reached the end of our two week long approach, we eagerly move into the next phase of the journey: the assault on Everest.

Next week: read all about the climb through the Khumbu Icefall to Camp I.

Liesl Clark, NOVA Online's producer and writer, joined the expedition up to Base Camp.

Photo Credits:(1) courtesy Jenny Dubin.

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