Today we woke up to snow on the ground and a bright sky. It was beautiful and as usual we had to pack, breakfast and hit the road. Today was a pretty easy hike of about 3.5 hours and about a 1,000 ft elevation gain. We are now at 17,000 ft and at the base of Mt. Kala Patar (18,500 ft) and the entrance of Everest base camp. The hike today was cold and it began to snow for the last hour. The cold and snow this early in the day are a bit unusual. We had to hike on rocks, snow and ice so you had to watch your step. For us, this is kind of a rest day as tomorrow is the big one.

We are going to leave at 5 am to summit kala Patar and watch the sun rise over the mountains. That is about a 2,500 ft vertical climb and provides the best views of Everest. Kala Patar is higher than any peak in the Continental US or in Europe so that is pretty cool. We will climb back down and then head to Everest base camp for 2 days.

We could see the glacier entrance to bace camp and some of the tents. Base camp should be crazy as there will be all of the climbers, the discovery/NBC team there to climb Joby jumping off Everest, and they are filming the movie version of “into thin air” the book about the year I believe 11 climbers died on Everest which was in 1995 or 96. Base camp is big. About 1/4 – 1/2 mile long of tents and people. This is where most of the climbers stay for 5-6 weeks while they prepare for summit day. Most Trekkers like me don’t ever get to stay at base camp. Most climb and get their picture and climb back down. We are lucky as we are climbing with my friend john as we are being allowed to stay for 2 nights. That is going to be awesome, but be careful for what you ask for as it will be very cold.