Day 12: The Final Day

We made it to base camp! We trekked close to 80 miles (which we like to say was all uphill) and had an AMAZING time doing it. After a challenging, but incredible week in the Himalayas, it’s hard to describe how rewarding it was when the sign reading, “You’ve arrived at Everest Base Camp” came into view. We cheered, laughed, hugged, and congratulated. All of which is easier said than done when the altitude is high and oxygen is low! We were so fortunate to have the opportunity to spend a couple nights in base camp, which was only possible because the official climbing season hasn’t started so it wasn’t full of summit attempters. A lot of it has been set up in preparation for climbers so it felt like walking through an empty city of tents, almost eery! It was unbelievable to see how it all operates, what right now is occupied by probably sub-100 base camp staff (and the five of us) but will soon be a few thousand people living at 17,500 feet. It’s a whole world we knew nothing about! It’s all rocks and ice up there but there’s nothing quite like the views. It has been the trip of a lifetime and truly was topped off in an unbelievable way!

-Hailey Young