Chomolungma: Our Journey

By Sue Zindle

“Chomolungma: Our Journey” is my personal travel narrative about my trek to Mt. Everest Base Camp in the fall of 2012. Written based on my trip journal, it details the trials my Mom and I encountered along the way. Included are many of the beautiful pictures I took along the way. A must read for anyone interested in making such a trek!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: May 24, 2015
• ISBN: 9781329161917

Book preview

Chomolungma: Our Journey

Chomolungma: Our Journey

By Sue Zindle

Dedicated to Anne Yenchko

Sue Zindle

2014

Copyright

Copyright © 2014 by Sue Zindle

All rights reserved.  This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

ISBN 978-1-329-16191-7

Introduction

In my narration, I have included excerpts from the journal I wrote while I was on the trip.  These passages are indicated by quotation marks.

I have included the hiking times as well as distance from the original REI trip itinerary.  Note that the hiking times are estimates – we often took longer as we were hiking slowly.

The Beginning

It started the night of that phone call.   I had always been fascinated with Mt. Everest and decided I was going to trek to base camp.   Upon thinking about it, it occurred to me that Mom might just love to go along.   I thought it was definitely her kind of trip.   Seemed simple enough!    So I called, and when I asked her what she thought, she said are you out of your mind?  I was a bit perplexed and she asked me if I knew how high up base camp was.   I was under the impression it was 11,000 feet or so…. But no, it’s almost 18,000 feet.    (ZOIKES!)

Uh, oh, uh oh!  Well, 18,000 feet or whatever, I was determined to go.  It turned out that my call sparked a grand interest.   In the next few months, I began to get excited emails and calls from Mom about the possibility of going.   Despite her initial response and letting me know that her health issues would probably not permit it, she decided to check with her doctors, and with adequate training, they gave her the green light. 

So the preparation began!   There was definitely a ton of that.   We decided to go with an American tour operator, REI (Recreational Equipment Inc), and go in October of 2012.   I had started going on trips in October for my birthday and figured this would be fabulous.   October is also a good time to go to Nepal and trek.   We started putting our equipment together and started training.   There were a ton of things to get, not the least of which was a heavy duty sleeping bag and the best hiking boots.   I got those right away and started breaking them in. 

Luckily, I moved to Los Angeles in the spring of 2012.  It was much easier to train there, and I credit my friends for helping me that summer, especially Nancie.   She was out with me every weekend hiking difficult trails.  I hiked regularly with the Sierra Club, with Kathy, Alina, and with Lorhn.  I