Trekking Distance: 6.1km
Trekking Time: 3hrs
Timing:
1200hrs - Left Chhukhung Resort (4730m)
1430hrs:1500hrs - Arrived at Island Peak Base Camp (4970m)
It was finally time for Yew Hoong, Yew Choon, Agnes, Kin Peng and I to head off for Island Peak Base Camp.
We took the morning to pack our duffle and daypack. ND had 3 yaks but they were only meant for carrying food and our climbing equipment. So we were shocked when we were told that we had to carry our own duffles. I made a mental note to scream at Mahendra (the boss of Equator Expeditions) when I see him! Thankfully we managed to arrange with Furba to get Sonam to carry 2 duffle bags up to base camp for us. We were definitely going to pay him for this much needed service. We quickly repacked and headed off.
The entire trek was generally Nepali-flat, with the first part and midway being steeper. One-third way, Kin Peng and I broke away from the group and went ahead first. Without the pressure of having to keep up with the group (and Yew Hoong), we moved relatively fast and in a less stressful manner. By 1.30pm, Yew Hoong caught up with us. At 2.05pm, we saw a sole wooden hut awkwardly located in the "middle-of-nowhere". Yew Hoong said that it was base camp. I replied with an "ohh"..but I didn't quite believe. True enough it wasn't. Base camp was sprawled 20mins beyond a rocky patch ahead of us.
Yew Hoong arriving Island Peak Base Camp
By 3.00pm plus, snow flakes started to fall and the temperature dropped further. We quickly helped ND and Sonam set up the our tents. Midway PK and our yak-man arrived with our yaks and we hailed with joy (for no apparent reasons..it wasn't like we were going to slaughter the yaks for dinner). Maybe we were just too happy to be at Base Camp. We hid in our 2-men tents for a period of time to keep warm and at the same time to pack our daypacks for tomorrow's summit attack.
The tent-sharing grouping for the night was as follow:
- Yew Choon and Lester
- Agnes and Kin Peng
- Yew Hoong and Kamel (Israeli Climber)
Yew Choon and Kin Peng standing at the kitchen tent watching our yak roam
Helping with the pitching of our 2-men tents
Yew Choon and I comfortably in our tent
Meanwhile, ND and PK were preparing dinner - cabbage, potato and carrot curry rice - in the kitchen tent. Dinner was to be served in our sleeping tents and so we decided to huddle into Agnes/Kin's tent and had a warm dinner together.
PK cooking with a pressure pot
By 7.00pm, the skies had turned dark. Some of us made a last port of call at the toilet before retiring for a super early night. No one wanted to wake in the middle of the cold cold night to pee, though we had our pee bottles with us.
Did not expect to find toilets at Base Camp...
Talking about toilets, the ones at Island Peak Base Camp were most interesting. Usually toilets at the guesthouses or along the trek would have a bin for people to throw used toilet papers (we were not allowed to throw toilet papers into the "shit hole" for various reasons). But at Base Camp there were no such bins and so the used toilet papers piled in huge quantity along the inside of the cubicle. Thankfully the stench was bearable (maybe due to blocked nose). There were also traces of burnt toilet papers. It wasn't clear if the burning was to clear the toilet paper (which is a stupid idea because the entire floorboard of the toilet is wooden) or to have the smoke mask the shitty smell.
Slightly past 7.00pm, we were all in our tent trying to get the much need sleep before waking at 1.00am for the summit attack.
Index Page / Day 13: Summit Attack
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