Hiking to Everest Base Camp

[Aaron Zagrodnick]

Strong men and women are laid low by this place. Acute mountain sickness, the “Khumbu cough", gastroenteritis, the cold, the food . . . what makes them want to come here? What made me want to come here? Our friend Paul walks down the hall of tonight’s tea house, remarking on the sounds of hacking and coughing emitting from the guest rooms. “This place is full of crazy people.” And I can’t argue otherwise.

I wondered, before I came to Nepal to hike to Mount Everest Base Camp, whether this might be my new “Hardest Thing.” My old Hardest Thing was made that way by high elevation and its effects, hiking the Bear Creek Trail in the Colorado Rockies without acclimatizing. This time, I thought I had it handled. A few years older but in better physical condition, I am taking Diamox to help mitigate the effects of altitude sickness, and am much more aware of the signs, and the dangers, of that ailment…

Susan Dragoo writes on her experience trekking to Everest Base Camp, read the article below in Issue 21:

The New Hardest Thing

Issue 21 Page 1