2,860M · Lukla
Fly in.
Fly in.
Walk up.
The runway tilts uphill because everything here does. From this strip it is eleven days of walking to Base Camp — your lungs will complain, then negotiate, then join the expedition.
Gear check — tap to pack
✓Double boots, broken in (not new — we can tell)
✓Down suit, −40° rated
✓Ice axe & crampons, sharpened
✓Headlamp + the spare you think is optional
✓A book for Base Camp. Trust us.
✓ Packed. The yaks approve. Keep scrolling.
Day 2 — the hills teach patience
5,364M · Base Camp
Rest is
Rest is
training.
Three weeks of up-a-bit, down-a-bit. Your blood quietly builds more red cells; the kitchen tent builds better dal bhat. Both are essential. Neither can be rushed.
House rule: no summit talk at dinner. The mountain hears everything.
Prayer flags first, ambitions second
6,400M · Camp II
The icefall
The icefall
moves at night.
We cross before dawn, when the ice is asleep. Fourteen ladders, every one roped twice, every crossing led by an icefall doctor who has done it a thousand times and still counts.
Start time 03:40. Breakfast is a formality; the real fuel is focus.
Above the icefall — the long white mile
7,925M · South Col
The death zone
The death zone
keeps hours.
Above this line the body only subtracts. We arrive by noon, brew, breathe bottled air, and leave for the summit at 23:00 — into the dark, so the sunrise meets us at the top.
Oxygen ledger — per climber
Bottles above the Col2 + 1 spare
Flow on the push2.5 L/min
Sherpa carrying yoursBy name: Pasang
23:00 — headlamps on, voices off