
Gokyo Ri (5357 m)
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A quiet moment in the mountains
It is midday a few days before Christmas, I am sitting at over 5000 meters altitude, and I am looking at the tallest mountain in the world in close distance. It feels somehow surreal that I have now hiked to the highest point of my trek in over three weeks and with that the end of it is near. In a few days I will be back in Kathmandu enjoying hot showers, real coffee, and pizza. But for now the absolute silence of the mountains remains and I have the moment to myself.



Exploring the Solukhumbu
My trek started in Jiri, which is where Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary started in 1953, when they climbed Mount Everest, i.e. Sagarmatha (in Nepali) or Chomolungma (in Tibetan), for the first time in history. From here I took two weeks to explore the lower Khumbu region, i.e. Solukhumbu. One highlight was Pikey Peak (4065 m), which offered the first closer view of Chomolungma (8849 m) and six of the other eight mountains above 8000 meters that reside in Nepal.
In my second week Priyanka, a friend of mine from India, joined and we hiked to Dudh Kunda (4600 m), a beautiful milky lake. Along the way I met some local teahouse owners that are putting a new route together to combine the two highlights in a beautiful circular trek. It is unknown even among the guides in Kathmandu, as I learned later on. So I am very keen to lead a Shanti Trek there next year in November and be one of the first ones to explore it. After exploring the Solukhumbu I entered the Sagarmatha National Park to hike up to the Gokyo Lakes with the peak of Gokyo Ri (5357 m) high above the lakes.



Getting to know the locals
In the last two months of trekking around the Manaslu and in the Everest region, I realised that the extreme heights have become less appealing to me. When I first told friends about my plan to trek solo around Everest many asked whether I am going to climb one of the easier 6000-meter peaks. “Easier” is relative, as they still involve crampons, ice axe and rope work, yet are doable even for less (or even not) experienced mountaineers. I did think about it, but in the end, it was too late in the season. In hindsight, I realised that my favourite type of trekking happens between 3000 and 4000 meters, where temperatures are cool but not too cold. The altitude is bearable, and I can still sleep well at night, which is something that worsens the higher you get. And most importantly, the flora and fauna are still manifold and there are many lively villages along the way. Above this altitude the land gets barren and there are no more villages. For me, it is the interaction with locals that make the Himalaya such a beautiful trekking destination.




The name's origin
Luckily, many of the foreign tourists disagree, skip the lower parts of Solukhumbu and fly directly to Lukla to enter the Sagarmatha National Park straight away and trek as fast as possible to Everest Base Camp, which lies above 5000 meters. This approach in itself is problematic as it bears a high risk of acute mountain sickness (AMS). As explained in detail in my previous blog, it is vital to ascend slowly in altitude to give your body time to acclimatise. Even the most common route makes it difficult for some trekkers to finish the EBC-trek, as they are ascending too fast and get fatigue, strong headaches, vomiting, or even severely ill and have to end the trek early. The really sad thing is that many trekkers do not know of AMS and simply trust the travel agency they go with.
Almost everyone I met on the trek was heading to EBC and no one could understand why I had no interest to go there. For me, Mount Everest is the symbol for everything that is going wrong in the way we approach mountains. It all starts with the name “Everest”, which was given by the British during their colonial rule in the 19th century. An Indian mathematician estimated the mountains height, but the name was given after the former Surveyor General of India, head of the country's national mapping agency. George Everest has neither been involved in the discovery of the world’s tallest mountain, nor has he ever laid eyes on it. Besides, the mountain already was named. In Tibetan, it is called Chomolungma, which means "Goddess Mother of the World" and in Nepali, it is called Sagarmatha, which means "Goddess of the Sky". Both names seem to appreciate the significance of this mountain a lot more than naming it after an old white man who had absolutely nothing to do with it. One may think that the mountaineering community of the 21st century may have an incentive to rectify this wrongdoing, but here we are still trotting in masses to EBC (i.e. Everest Basecamp) and most people won’t even know about its name’s origin.



Everest madness
Whilst I was hiking up towards the Gokyo Lakes, a group of locals changed the sign at EBC from “Everest” to “Chomolungma” Base Camp. This started a debate on social media with many foreign trekkers expressing their opinion – as if we had a say in the name-giving of a South Asian mountain. In theory, we shouldn’t even climb it. In Tibetan culture, many peaks of mountains are where the goddesses and gods live and, therefore, are sacred. Chomolungma, the goddess mother of the world, lives on the highest mountain and she should not be disturbed. Hence, the local Sherpa carry out rituals to appease the goddess. Yet if she takes the life of a climber, it is hers and she keeps him or her on the mountain. You have probably seen the queues up to the peak of Chomolungma and you can probably imagine the rubbish along the way that is left behind by every expedition.
There is the argument that climbing Chomolungma is great business for Nepal, but I feel that is a bit short-eyed as the big money only ends up with a handful of rich. I stayed in a guesthouse where the owner works as a high-altitude porter. He told me one evening about the work, which is happening in the month of May, the only month of the year when Chomolungma can be climbed as the winter winds have stopped, and the monsoon not yet arrived. It is good money for sure, but it is hard physical work, and it is dangerous. If he had a choice, he would rather not do the work, but the money is too good to refuse.



No peace and quiet in the mountains
It is not only the summiting business that seems unsustainable and wrong, but the EBC trek itself is utterly different from any trek in Nepal I have been on before. Coming from Solukhumbu the trail changes significantly after you pass Lukla, where the airport is located, and most trekkers start. From that point onwards the houses are bigger and wealthier, and there are lodges every twenty minutes along the way. That in itself is not a bad thing. But I couldn’t believe my eyes when I entered Phakding, the next big village and first popular stop after Lukla, and saw an Irish pub, a snooker bar and a massage salon. Instinctly, I walked on and found a nice small guesthouse in the following village that was a lot quieter again (Magar Kitchen & Home in Toc Toc). In the evening Milan, the owner, came to sit with me by the oven and told me about how the trekking has changed in the past 20 years since he moved there. In the end, he asked me what I think about the jeep road they are planning to build until Monjo, the official entrance of the park, half a day ahead of us. That is always a tricky question – most trekkers enjoy the trekking off the drivable roads, hence there will probably less tourism, but the lives of locals will become a lot easier transporting goods and getting to places.
From Lukla I walked with many trekkers for two days until Namche Bazar where the path splits again – north to the Gokyo lakes and east to EBC. Everyday hundreds of donkeys were passing us transporting goods up to the region’s major town and coming down again. Above us helicopters were flying every twenty minutes. Most of them were transporting (altitude-) sick trekkers from EBC back to Lukla, and some were doing helicopter sight-seeing in the National Park, another controversy on the rise. In October about 50 American CEOs flew from Lukla to the 5545-meter-high viewpoint of Kala Patthar to click selfies in front of Chomolungma and return to Kathmandu, which cost over $ 100,000. The National Park has announced a ban of commercial sight-seeing flights from January 2025, which was initiated by the local community because of concerns for the safety of wildlife and local business. Yet the aviation regulator has not confirmed the ban, and the helicopter companies already announced to continue with these flights.





Off the beaten track again
After leaving the official EBC-trek again and heading toward the Gokyo lakes I find my own rhythm again mostly trekking on my own and only occasionally passing a yak herd or some fellow trekkers. The landscape is incredibly breath-taking, and I understand why the Sagarmatha National Park is so famous for its beauty. Yet, as with every “most famous” something, there are ways to enjoy it without experiencing the crowds and supporting the mass-tourism. I did not stay in Namche or any of the other popular places but hiked a bit further every day. That way I stayed in quiet guesthouses and started the day on my own on the trail. I also came in off-season, which meant cold temperatures at night but also very clear skies during the day. And I chose to hike to the lesser known Gokyo lakes rather than Everest basecamp.
Overall, I loved my experience at the lakes. The guesthouse was fantastic and the lake probably the most beautiful place I have seen in Nepal so far. Arriving in the National Park and seeing how commercialised the EBC-trek is, I didn’t think I would want to organise a Shanti Trek here. But having stayed in the less popular villages, off-season, and seeing the amazing lakes of Gokyo, I am quite excited to put together a trek there, which draws on my experience. I have already spoken to the guesthouse owner, who closed the guesthouse a day after I left until March, whether he may consider keeping it open over Christmas, if I come with a group and he was delighted by the idea. Celebrating Christmas at 4760 m in a hammock overlooking the Gokyo lakes may be quite magical, I think.



Mountains are my therapy
For me the past three weeks were not only to explore new routes with Shanti Treks, but it was the first time in five years that I truly took out time to myself. At the lakes I even shut off my phone for four days – something I have done a lot before starting my own business but not at all since then. When I start long-distance trekking, it always takes me a few days to slow down, enjoy my surroundings and turn inwards to deal with all the uncleared left-over rubbish that accumulated inside over time. There is a lot of hurt feelings, insecurities, and unfinished arguments that stick with us and that we never really work through. The mountains are a place, when I go through these issues, think them over, look at them from every possible angle and try to understand why things happen the way they do, why people say or do things and what all of that means for me. My body is tired and exhausted now, but my mind is clear, calm and cleaned from everything that was left undealt with. And I am ready and excited for everything 2025 has planned for me.


