Mayo couple tell story of conquering Everest Base Camp trek

By Tom Gillespie

A CASTLEBAR couple who trekked up 80 miles to reach the South Base Camp on Mount Everest encountered the worst snow on the mountains in 16 years.

However, Rowena Gillespie and Oisin Herraghty completed the 12-day, 17,598 feet climb to arrive at the South Base Camp in Nepal on the southeast ridge of Everest.

Both are associated with the Castlebar International Four Day Walks, Rowena being the director for the past two years.

For the past 18 months the pair have been in training for the Everest expedition, scaling Croagh Patrick and the booster station (Croaghmoyle) on a weekly basis.

They booked their trip through Graham Tobin at venture2adventures in Longford and Nepal Sanctuary Treks (P.) Ltd. in Kathmandu.

Rowena, an employee of Penneys, Castlebar, and lighting technician Oisin had been planning the trip for 18 months.

Explained Rowena: “We incorporated the cross-country treks at the Four Day Walks as part of the training as well as climbing Croagh Patrick and the booster station. The steps on the Reek really helped us as they are very similar to the paths leading to base camp.”

They flew from Dublin to Dubai and from there to Kathmandu and got a domestic flight to the remote airstrip at Lukla.

Rowena confessed: “This was a truly spectacular beginning to the trek as we flew over the rolling foothills of Nepal with the huge Himalayan peaks visible to the north.”

Oisin added: “We went from lush green to snow capped peaks. When we approached the runway at Lukla, which is 3,000 metres above sea level, we saw it was uphill, which slows the plane down, and we landed in 10 seconds.

“That flight was one of the last for two days because the weather was so bad. We had met our Sherpa guide, Mangal Dhoj Tamli, in Kathmandu who introduced us to our porter. They brought us to a lodge we would be staying in on the last night and we got a chance to put on our wet gear, as it was raining, and went to the loo, before we set off on the five-hour walk to Phakding at 2,610 metres, through the Dudh Khosi Valley.

“We had a 2½ hours hike to our first lunch stop. The rain had stopped and we saw our first animals, a yakow - a cross between a cow and a yak. We discovered that yaks cannot survive below 3,500 metres as the air is too thick for them.

“We spent another two hours before we reached Phakding where we overnighted.”

Rowena took up the story: “It was a tough enough trek as there were a lot of ups and downs. We were so taken in by the scenery. There are no roads, just tracks, and the porters were carrying massive loads. They are super human people.

“There are two types of porters - business and tourist. The business porters can carry up to 100kg with their loads strapped on (pictured), and they walk bent down and with the aid of a small stick they make their way up and down the mountain, and the rule was to give the porters and animals the right of way to pass.”

Phakding was their first overnight stay in a nice lodge and the food was nice. It was their first time feeling a bit cold at night.

Rowena said they had their first shower there but did not realise it would be another nine days more before they had another.

Oisin continued: “It started raining and it did not stop for two days. The next day we set off in really heavy rain. It started to clear a bit and we took the jackets off.

“We entered the Sagarmatha National Park - an exceptional area with dramatic mountains, glaciers and deep valleys, dominated by Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world (8,848 m). Several rare species, such as the snow leopard and the lesser panda, are found in the park.

“That day we hiked the long and steep climb to the trading town of Namche Bazar and half way up we were rewarded with our first views of Everest.”

Rowena went on: “We were there for two nights as we had to acclimatise to the altitude.

“We got in there soaked to the bone so everything had to come off. But there was no heat as they would not put it on as we were the only people staying there. The only place you got heat was in the dining room. Once you went out you had to put on all the layers of clothes as it was down to -10.

“The next day we set off for Deboche, which involved a lot of ups and downs. It was a five-hour trek, joining the main trail emerging into a precipitous canon wall above the Dudh Kosi River.

“We had our first food there and we found that all the food was the same type of stuff (pictured)."

"It is a very religious country and all along the tracks are the Buddah prayer wheels which you must cross on your right hand side and spin them with your right hand. The vegetarian food was recommended because meat is taken up by the porters and there is no refrigeration.

“Likewise when you saw some of the toilets (pictured) they were anything but hygienic. But we had lovely honey and ginger tea.”

Oisin said the higher up they went the facilities became less and less.

He had the local garlic soup because he was told it helped with altitude sickness.

WORST SNOW IN 16 YEARS

Rowena added: “On October 7 we had a six-hour trek to Dingboche. Our guide told us because we got rain low down they expected snow higher up. They did not expect snow there until the end of November. But what we encountered was the worst snow in 16 years. It was totally unexpected.

“When we went in to the teahouse in Dingboche they had cut a passage to the doorway so climbers could get in. The snow was as high as I am.”

Oisin went on: “When we started out in the morning the snow was frozen solid. By 11 o'clock the sun made it slushy which made it slippy.

“Because of the heavy rains we started to see some of the destruction - the paths were washed away. When we were having lunch there were three lads working nearby. We asked them where the toilets were and they told us the toilet for that actual restaurant had been washed down into the river. The lads were rebuilding the toilet and by the time we came back, on the return journey, the toilet was rebuilt.

“There was one section of the track which had just dropped 200 feet and for us to get to the other side there was just a path the width of our boot to walk across and by the time we got back it was all built up again.”

Rowena continued: “Our trek into Dingboche (at 4,350 metres) was our first sight of the snow. There was a police station there - the highest in the world - it was there because if people suffered from altitude sickness it can send people doolally and the police are there to prevent any trouble.”

It was here they first saw people starting to fall from altitude sickness. It was days since they had a shower and had to make do with baby-wipes.

Each night their heart rate and oxogen levels were tested and they were told the only cure for altitude sickness was to ‘go down, go down, go down’.

Rowena continued: “The next morning we set off and we started going uphill. It was snow full on. We have never trekked in snow. The guide said it would take an hour-and-a-half up. But it was 3½ hours up. We climbed 740 metres - just less than the height of the Reek. When we got to the top we were at 5,090 metres. You walked the narrow track and we had to step in to let those coming down pass. But when you did so you were into deep snow and we had difficulty in pulling our legs out of it.

“That was a tough day and it was the day we got sun burn from the reflection of the snow even though we had factor 50 on. I hadn’t the buff on to cover my face and both our lips got burned.”

FLAGS FLYING

Oisin said: “The next morning we set off for Lobuche (4,931 m) for a five-hour trek. That was our first experience where standards went down as we went up. The lodge where we were staying had perspex windows and the sun coming in on that was lovely but as soon as the sun went down the temperatures plummeted.”

Rowena added: “Coming outside we had a fleece, a jacket and hat on and it was freezing. Getting in to your sleeping bag you had to bring with you your phone, battery packs and anything electrical as the cold drained the batteries.”

Oisin continued: “The next day we set out for Gorakshep on a nine-hour trek. After 20 minutes we could not feel our hands with the cold where it was -12. Once the sun was out we warmed up. To Gorakshep was 4½k and it took us three hours. We only had 1½k to base camp which took another two hours.

“When we got there we produced a Mayo flag, an Irish flag and a ‘Mayo for Sam’ flag and had our picture taken. We came back to Gorakshep and we stayed there that night.

“On the way down we met business porters coming up and they were carrying eight sheets of plywood each on their back and one who passed up was wearing flip-flops and no socks.”

Rowena, who is a Sergeant in the Reserve Defence Forces, 6th Battalion, and an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) with the Irish Red Cross, admitted: “I was terrified of the downhill because the snow had compacted but thankfully the path had defrosted and we headed for Pheriche where we had almost hotel-like service and where we had a much-needed shower.”

The next morning they set off from there to Namche Bazar. And after dinner Rowena started to feel unwell.

She said: “I thought I had altitude sickness but it was that my lips got so infected from the sunburn and my resting heart rate was 117 while lying in the bed. My chest became infected and I felt exhausted.

“I knew what they would offer would be a horse to take me down but there was no way I was going on a horse like a sack of spuds. Mangal, our guide, got onto his boss and a helicopter was organised. That 18k down took just five minutes back to Lukla Airport. We paid extra to get the helicopter back to Kathmandu, which took 45 minutes.”

Rowena summed up the experience: “Oh my God we were on the highest place we were ever going to be in the world.” And Oisin added: “It was a great sense of achievement as we had walked to the highest place on earth that we’ll ever walk again.”