Day 11: Gorak Shep to Everest Base Camp

After a reviving fried egg & chips, it was time for the last push!
We were now trekking through a glacial valley, going along, around and over moraines (the rocks and debris left behind by the glacier). The landscape became more wild and rocky, with a real feeling of being high in the mountains. The trail, when there was one, alternated between snow, earth, mud, scree and rocks. The rocks and boulders were particularly hard, sapping all my energy and in addition the altitude made breathing even harder..

The afternoon sun helped to prevent me from feeling too cold, but it was freezing and the going really tough, much harder than I expected. On the plus side, the views were awesome (for once this adjective is entirely appropriate). As we progressed through the valley we could see glaciers and to the right the peak of Everest, although this disappeared as we got closer to its base camp. Everest is the black peak in the centre of this photo:
After 2 1/2 hours we finally reached the outskirts of EBC and it was nothing like I had imagined. At the moment the camps are in the early stages of being set up, in preparation for the summit teams to arrive later in April, so it just looked like a scattering of tents with no real formation or organisation.

I have read much about the Khumbu Ice fall , so it was really amazing to see it for real, but also poignant to remember this is where 60 Sherpas were caught up in an avalanche April 18 last year, with 16 fatalities.

As you can imagine, to finally arrive at my destination was quite a emotional moment and I'm not ashamed to admit I shed a few tears - relief, happiness, a lifelong ambition achieved - whatever, it was a very special time. 

We celebrated with a few photos, a chocolate bar, a drink of water and then it was all too soon time to head back and retrace our steps to Gorak Shep and a cold restless night.