During the long holiday in early May, instead of choosing to travel to places where you can relax and check in luxuriously, Hong Anh and her group of friends "tortured themselves" by joining the journey to conquer Everest Base Camp (EBC) - to reach the base camp of the roof of the world at an altitude of 5,364m. For her, it was an extremely interesting journey, leaving many unforgettable memories. And long-distance mountain climbing, which seems to be a very individual sport, turns out to be marked by team spirit.
At noon on May 1, the young girl and her group of friends boasted that they had conquered EBC at an altitude of 5,364m in a red-star-red-flag ao dai at EBC base camp in the cold of -18 degrees, in the midst of heavy snowfall and everything frozen, with the admiring and admiring looks of many other climbing groups around the world.
Hong Anh smiled brightly in a red-starred ao dai in the -18 degree cold and white snow.
"I brought this ao dai from Vietnam, carrying it on my backpack throughout the 12-day journey all the way here, waiting for the moment to wear it. When I got to EBC, it was so cold, I thought I would never be able to take off my down jacket and windbreaker to put on the ao dai! But I was still determined to 'play big', change into the ao dai in the snow and then go home even if I got sick. Because if I missed that moment, I knew I would regret it forever!", Hong Anh shared about the moment of enduring the cold to change into the ao dai.
Teammates tried to stay in the cold and windy weather to wait for all members of the group to reach the finish line to take a group photo to complete the EBC 5,364m target.
To reach EBC, the group had to trek continuously for 12 days, from an altitude of 2,800m to an altitude of 5,364m in prolonged sub-zero cold.
"To be fair, the terrain to the EBC base camp is not too difficult compared to other mountain climbing routes I have done, but the most difficult thing is that this is a long route, a total of 12 consecutive days of trekking, each day trekking from 5-6 hours in the cold snow and can be longer if the weather gets worse. Not to mention the higher you go, the thinner the air, the lower the oxygen level and the colder the weather, having to walk on slippery ice and snow really adds to the difficulty of this 'game'", she shared.
Imagine you are in Vietnam with the heat of nearly 40 degrees, suddenly put in a giant freezer at -5 degrees and then every day it drops a few degrees and you have to move, live and sleep in that freezer for 12 days, it's really not easy.
Therefore, any young person who intends to choose this journey to conquer needs to seriously consider their physical strength and endurance as well as their ability to cope with the risk of "altitude shock". The shock will cause you to have mild headaches, fever, insomnia, numbness in your limbs, even nausea along the way and still have to continue the journey, or worse, you may have pleural or meningeal effusion, forcing you to urgently lower your altitude and abandon the journey.
The white snow and the gray of the rocks make this place look like another planet.
Romantic moment on the mountain climbing path when the group discovered a heart-shaped ice lake
Hong Anh and her friendly dog on the way to the top of Everest
The higher you go, the more severe the altitude sickness becomes, and the team members begin to get more tired. Some can't sleep all night because of the cold, and some get a fever from being out in the snow for too long. That's when team spirit really comes into play.
"We shared each pair of socks, each broken pill, each headscarf, and even mixed each package of noodles, each cup of ginger water to keep our bodies warm, applied each patch to each other, applied each bit of medicine to treat chapped lips, to help each other recover and continue. For me, at that time, the strongest member was not the member who walked the fastest and got home the earliest, but the one who was willing to slow down to support his weaker friend, to carry his backpack for his friend, to let his friend fly down by helicopter first, to continuously pour warm water for his friend and constantly remind him to drink water and take medicine. And the weakest member was not the one who returned the slowest in the group, but the one who, out of love for his friend, for his guide because he had been out in the cold for a long time, tried to drag his feet faster than his ability and fatigue, not giving up so that he and his friend could reach the destination sooner. I truly saw the sparkling light emanating from those warm hearts of comradeship. At that time, I saw my friends as beautiful. more than ever!", she said emotionally.
Hong Anh and her group members help each other after a day of climbing.
What is the most important thing for a trekker to conquer EBC? According to Anh and the members of the group: "In addition to physical strength and the will to complete the trek, who you go with is also very important. I am lucky to be with a team where I have close friends and brothers and sisters who take care of each other and everyone in the group is always happy, positive and optimistic."
The exciting atmosphere of the group starting every morning after warming up together to trek to a new, higher stop
Hong Anh shared that the reason she likes this long-distance trekking is because it helps her reconnect with herself, with every step, every breath, finding her original self inside, when the lines of communication with the outside world are temporarily cut off: No more work, no more phone signal, no social networks, just you facing yourself under the vast sky and the majestic Himalayas.
Hong Anh and her companions on Mount Everest
Hong Anh's group bought plane tickets from Ho Chi Minh City to Nepal, then traveled with a local tour guide.
In addition to observing yourself, you can also observe and understand more deeply about the people around you when trekking with them. "If I were to choose a life partner, I would probably invite him to go on a long and difficult trip like EBC, to see what kind of person he will reveal when things are difficult and not as expected, in unsafe and uncomfortable situations. To see what he will choose when he has to choose between me and us?", the girl confided.
Source link
Comment (0)