Day 13 - Climb Kala Pattar
Starting before dawn for the double header - Kala Pattar (18,470’) and Everest Base Camp in one day - I make it up Kala Pattar with plenty of time to enjoy the classic, close-up stunning view of Mt. Everest and surrounding monster mountains!
13 Photographs
1
Sherpa Dik and I depart before dawn to head up the Khumbu Glacier towards Kala Pattar, and ultimately Everest Base Camp.
2
Pumori catches the sunlight first, and dwarfs our own destination - Kala Pattar is the darker foreground mound below Pumori’s southern ridge.
3
Starting our climb up Kala Pattar, we look back the way we came up the glacier from Lobuche.
4
The rising sun on Pumori contrasts dramatically with the icy cold appearance of the surrounding slopes.
5
The rocky terrain makes for tricky hiking the entire way up the glacier.
6
Sunshine, at last! Nuptse stands out directly across the glacier, with Mt. Everest peeking out from behind its Northern flanks. The West Shoulder of Everest itself obscures part of the mountain from lower down.
7
Our route up Kala Pattar seems to lead us directly up Pumori...
8
... but our climb ends here! The cliffs off the North and West edges of Kala Pattar separate us from Pumori itself.
9
Pumori is almost close enough to touch! Even at our elevation above 18,000’, the higher peaks loom over us.
10
Dik and I squeeze together for the summit shot against Pumori’s East ridge.
11
Looking back the way we came, even the distant mountains are monster-sized!
12
The best view we’ll get of the summit of Mt. Everest is from the top of Kala Pattar. The South Col is just visible on its right.
13
A 180° panoramic view from the top of Kala Pattar - wow! Pass your cursor over the peaks in the full-sized image to interactively identify them.