It is 6:30 am.
It’s freezing cold outside. There’s a layer of condensation on the outer layer of my sleeping bag. I hear faint murmurs of others starting their day, and noises from the kitchen tent.
The first sight as I step out of my tent is the towering mountains. The first light of the sun is beaming from Everest towards the Pumori range. These majestic peaks beckon thousands of people every year to this corner of the world. Some keep coming back again and again.
I am one of those people. I have been coming to this world’s highest tent city for the last ten years. My first time was in 2011 when I came as part of the Nepal Government’s Civil Servants’ Expedition to climb Everest for the promotion of Nepal Tourism Year 2011. My deep attachment with Everest began right then. I was one among a few civil servants in our expedition who summited it.
Since my first Everest ascent, I have returned to its base camp almost every year. I come as a Liaison Officer of Nepal Government who are deployed to oversee the summits and expeditions in the mountains. I spend about a month each year.
I climbed Everest for a second time in 2019. My goal was far greater this time; that of re-measuring Everest. As part of the Everest remeasurement mission from the Government of Nepal, I led the summit observation, the most difficult task of the height measurement project.
It’s 2022. I am here in Everest base camp once again as a Liaison Officer. I am also the member-secretary of a task force formed to suggest ways for organizing expeditions in a better way.
At the base camp, the day starts out with pretty normal rituals — brushing teeth, washing faces. But people rarely bathe or shower due to the cold.
This football ground-sized area remains filled with colorful tents during expedition season. Climbers from all continents assemble here with a singular goal: to stand at the top of the world. Some trekkers also come to see expedition camps. Every one, trekkers and climbers alike, return with life-long memories. While people may call Everest base camp a temporary settlement, for climbers it’s a permanent home. Climbers, guides and support staff stay here for two and half months and enjoy their life to the fullest. This sort of life cannot be experienced anywhere in the world.
There are no toilets at the base camp. We have to poop into a drum. Drums, blue barrels, are placed outside each camp. I estimate that there are more than 150 blue barrels in the whole area. Workers assigned from the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee collect the poop and dump them in the lower part of the base camp, about 5km south near Lobuche. This is also an employment opportunity as one gets Rs 375 or $3.5 for collecting a kg of poop.
Having breakfast is another important early morning routine. Climbers and Sherpas eat breakfast early in the morning at around 6-8AM. Popular breakfast items are omelet, bread, tea, coffee and juice. Helicopters ferry fresh food from Kathmandu early in the morning. Generally, expedition agencies serve food to their clients which is no less than what is on the menus of the most luxurious Kathmandu hotels. What kind of food is served also depends on schemes purchased by the clients.
Acclimatization
Expedition leaders constantly take weather updates and are busy formulating climbing strategies. People play card, table tennis and nowadays scroll through social media sites. As people acclimatize, they rest in between their practice rounds, and Sherpas coordinate between different logistics actions on their end. There is surprisingly a lot of rest and leisure time in between. Time is affluent here before the actual summit push. To kill time, I visit different camps.
I see climbers, mainly first-time visitors, complaining of headache and diarrhea. These symptoms usually resolve on their own once they are acclimatized to the environment. This is one reason why first-time climbers need to arrive at base camp early. They climb smaller peaks – Island Peak, Lobuche and Mera Peak. Some climbers hike to Pumori base camp or Kalapathar to increase their fitness. The practice makes them stronger and boosts climbing stamina.
At the end of April, inexperienced climbers go to high camp and then climb back for acclimatization. Some will do this twice. But more seasoned climbers don’t need this mock practice. They climb up directly during summit push.
Before people head up to the higher camps for acclimatization, their faces look good. But when they return to the base camp 3-4 days later, their faces are burnt due to the high altitude sun. As I see every person returning with the same mark of nature, I am reminded of how nature actually does not discriminate. Once people spend a few days at the base camp – no matter what their usual looks are– they will start looking the same as their other fellow base camp residents.
While climbers are acclimatizing or resting, Sherpas or the support staff are busy fulfilling another important task as part of their regular duty – they carry loads up to higher camps, and make sure that every life-saving logistics is in place. They train climbers on how to wear crampons, harnesses and use of climbing equipment like ice axe, screw bar and regulate supplemental oxygen. They still have the most important job of guiding their clients safely upto the top and bringing them down.
Hi-tech base camp
As I stroll around these tents, these words keep popping in my head “hi-tech base camp.” Until 2012, everyone had to rely on satellite phones to talk to their relatives which was really expensive. I’ve met climbers who abandoned their expedition due to homesickness. A few bored and broke climbers used to return home when they couldn’t speak with their loved ones.
Now there’s internet here. Even though it’s slow and expensive, it does the job. I’m always online. I often talk to friends and family members on Facebook messenger. Dish Home antennas are installed at every camp. Climbers watch adventurous movies, and documentaries to keep them inspired.
Expedition agencies now provide all kinds of facilities to their clients based on how much they have shelled out. These days, expedition agencies charge $30,000 to $300,000 per climber. One can now enjoy insulated sleeping tents with a heating system, relaxing tent, space heating system, dining tent, coffee lounge, bakery, drinks bar, portable bed, free wifi, movies, hot shower and what not at the base camp. You only need to be able to pay for these.
Air conditioned tents are now used at the base camp. Tents are becoming more luxurious -both for climbers and staff. I lay two layers of mattress inside my tent and sleep. It’s comfortable and basic. For high-paid climbers, expedition agencies arrange Swiss/ Korean portable beds.
Climate change at base camp
Over the years, I have noticed significant changes in the Himalayas especially in the Everest region. Climate Change is remaking the entire landscape of the Everest region.
I remember not many years ago when kitchen staff used to collect big pieces of ice, and boil them in huge pots to make water. These days, we can fetch water directly from Khumbu glacier.
While some factors for climate change are global, some are more local.
In 2013, the minimum temperature of the base camp was recorded as -270c. In January 2022, the minimum temperature was recorded as -230c . Just within 9 years, there has been an increase of 40c. This is perhaps one of the most alarming indications that climate change is remaking Everest base camp. It is getting hotter each passing year, the mountain snow melting more rapidly than ever anticipated. And human activities are a significant contributor in this whole saga.
Every spring season, about 1500 people assemble at the base camp and stay for 50 or more days. The morning of May 5 this year was a bit colder than other days. As I entered the dining tent for breakfast, I saw that a gas heater was on for the climbers.
LP gas use is now very common. It is used to cook food and boil water for nearly two months. I’m an engineer so I start making some calculations in my head.
On average, about 50 cylinders of 14.2 kg LP gas cylinders are used daily now. Taking into account the gas consumed, the number of people and average stay, roughly we are adding 1,600 billion Joule heat in the surrounding area. This is enough to melt more than 3 million kg of ice. I do another simple sum. Assuming one person discharges about 2.5 liters of urine daily, over the 2 month of spring season, humans produce about 2,000 billion joule heat in just the act of relieving themselves.
There are numerous other human activities which knowingly and unknowingly are aiding in the warming up of the base camp. If timely action is not taken to save it, our base camp will soon be without snow– similar to the base camp of Tibet side, China.
Given this context, the best way of saving our icefall is to shift the base camp to another place where snow has already melted. Base of Kala Patthar, where Nepal had organized the first Cabinet meeting to sensitize impacts of climate change in the Everest region in 2010, can be one alternative.
Night Time at the Base Camp
Generally, dinner time is 6:30 to 7 pm. Sizzlers, rice, soup, chicken, mutton, buff items and salmon fish are some of the options in the menu. For special functions—birthday parties, festivals and summit success – there is also beer and whisky at the end of the day adding to the celebrations.
As night falls, the base camp becomes an even more other-wordly place – under the starry night of the Himalayas the tent city transforms itself into a city of lights. At midnight, if one gets a chance to gaze at this silent but bright city of lights, under the majestic peaks, one is sure to be spellbound -as I’ve been countless times.
Our sleep is often disturbed by loud noises of avalanches. They keep falling at Lola Pass, Nuptse and Pumori peaks. My mattress also caves-in as we have to sleep above snow or glaciers. Like our life, base camp is not stable. Base camp keeps changing its size every year just as amoeba keeps changing its body size.
In recent days, apart from climbers, wealthy trekkers go to the base camp and stay there for a few days to experience mountaineering life. Some expedition agencies charge hefty amounts of money from them and this sort of trend is becoming a new business.
But they are not legally allowed to stay the night as base camp is for climbers, not trekkers. While I understand their desire to spend a night at the lap of Everest, which humans wouldn’t if they had the chance, I have sent people back for breaching the rule.
Life’s Big Questions at the Base Camp
I’ll be back in Kathmandu in less than a month. I enjoy my role as a liaison officer. Crisp mountain air re-energizes me, the freezing cold makes me rational. But not everybody loves this place. I’m one among a few officers here who is stationed for the entire season. Sherpas and expedition agencies complain to me about the role of LOs . Other LOs not showing up or not staying for long. I try to appease them, while also managing issues as best as I can. As times have changed, every small thing happening in one place gets reported in every corner of the world in a millisecond. So I feel like the existing LO policy needs to be revised to ensure all appointed LOs can make it to the base camp and stay for the entire season. This way the government can have a better handle on things during the Everest season ensuring maximum safety, efficiency and accountability.
All these years and base camp still surprises me every time. It teaches me the value of life. It refreshes me. It reduces my pain and hardship. And maybe that’s why I keep going back.
And yet I don’t have an answer to THE question: why do people climb Everest? They spend tens of thousands of dollars. They sacrifice their life trying to conquer this beautiful mountain. I climbed Everest twice. I have met hundreds of summitters. I work here yet I don’t know why people are so fascinated to reach its top?
People go to such lengths to fulfill their ambition in life. Some even break up with loved ones. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from the mountain; it is that nothing is permanent in life. Like the ever changing snow shapes or mountain ecosystem, all life achievements are also temporary. No matter how rich you are or how influential, eventually we all will descend down to the ground one day. Just as every climber will have to descend to base camp after summit.
Geomatics Engineer Khimlal Gautam, a senior surveyor at the Survey Department, has twice summitted Mount Everest. In 2019, Gautam led an Everest summit observation team that measured the actual height of the peak as 8848.86 meter. He has also authored ‘Pandhrau Chuli (Peak XV), a book on Everest measurement.
