In November 2010, Old Witleian Chris Cooper went on a high altitude trek to Everest Base Camp and raised funds for Bridewell in the process. Here is a brief account of his experiences.
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During November of 2010, I went on the trip of a lifetime. There were so many firsts for me that I have lost count. It was my first trek, first time in Asia, first view of mount Everest, first time above 2,000m (on the ground anyway), first crossing of a glacier, first long holiday in the 30 years since I was a student, and so on. It was a truly amazing experience.
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The scenery on our route was spectacular
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We flew from Kathmandu into Lukla, the world’s most dangerous airport. We walked along a well beaten trail to the world’s highest market town, Namche Bazaar. The skies were blue every day and the nights were very cold.
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The altitude was our biggest health concern. We took the walking steadily in order to acclimatize our bodies to the lack of Oxygen. Sometimes it was hard to sleep lying down. I recall being woken up one night by a feeling of choking and shortness of breath, spending the rest of the night dozing in an upright position for fear that it might return. After that, I took a Diamox tablet before turning in each night until I dropped back below 4,000m and the problem didn’t return.
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Everest Base Camp with the Khumbu Ice Falls and the summit of Everest from Kala Patthar
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Our party consisted of 22 trekkers from various parts of the world, with varying degrees of trekking experience but all from a forces background. We were accompanied by 6 Sherpa guides and 10 local porters, all organized by our Sirdar (or head Sherpa), Norbu. The whole party was led by Ann, a highly experienced leader of many treks in the region.
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The highest cenotaph on the planet
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We stayed in lodges along the way, called tea houses. These are very basic stone and plywood buildings, often with no running water and sparsely heated by a fire of dried yak dung. The food was mostly Dal Bhat, a dish of lentils and plain rice with Tibetan bread and tea. We very quickly got bored with this and managed to negotiate alternative treats like porridge or yak burger and chips in order to try to stimulate our taste buds. Another symptom of the altitude seemed to be a partial loss of taste. The almost total lack of fruit and vegetables couldn’t have done us a lot of good either. We all developed coughs due to the dryness of the air and the dustiness of the trail. However, any hardships were counteracted by being able to walk amongst 3 of the world’s 10 highest mountains (Everest, Lhotse and Cho Oyu).
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Keeping it all in perspective
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The views were truly spectacular, surrounded by forest in steep valleys rising to white peaks shining in the bright sunshine against the clear blue sky. We took a quieter route up the Gokyo valley leading to the summit of Gokyo Ri ( 5360m) where at dawn on November 11th we had a clear view of the splendor of Everest while overlooking the Ngozumpa glacier below us. Then we descended to the sacred glacial lake to conduct what must have been the highest Remembrance Day ceremony on the planet that day.
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We crossed the glacier after that and next day we made the arduous and long crossing of the Cho La pass ( 5330m) into the Khumbu valley. We climbed Kala Patthar ( 5540m) for a second clear view of Everest before following in the footsteps of Hillary and Tenzing to the site of the base camp (at 5364m) from which they were to make their historic conquest of Everest in 1953.
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Our trek was also enriched by visiting the ancient temples, local markets and museums which were to be found in abundance. Our finale was a reception at the British Embassy in Kathmandu with a Gurkha curry laid on.
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We had all agreed to raise funds for a charity of our choice, but preferably a military one as we all have an armed forces background. I decided to blend this requirement with my desire to raise bursary funds for King Edward’s School and set my fund up to be used to help with bursaries for disadvantaged children from a forces background. I am very pleased to say that my current funds raised stand at £1955, plus gift aid. There are more photos and information about the trek on my Justgiving page (www.justgiving.com/helpforheroesfamilies) and any further donations to the fund will still be most welcome.
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Coincidentally, the night before we set off from London, I was privileged to be presented to Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester at a dinner in London. The Duchess is the President of Bridewell Royal Hospital which is the governing body of the charity for which I was raising funds.
