"Everest trek" Nepal by wetbaloney

After meeting up at the New Delhi YMCA with a crew who had driven overland, I tagged along for a ride to Kathmandu and a trek to Everest base-camp. In those days one started walking from a point on the Nepal-Tibet road just a few kilometers from the border. I think it took about 10 days to get to Namche Bazar. From there it was all downhill, if not in the literal sense. After Tengboche Monastery it became ever more difficult to progress onward. Every 10 steps required a stop to rest and regain my breath. By the time we got to Pheriche, at approximately 15,000 ft, I had an unbearable headache and other problems one should not speak of in polite company. The group headed on and I headed back, selling most of my gear in Namche to pay for a flight out of Lukla in a 4 passenger Cessna with the pilot, the doctor from the Hillary hospital, and a tubercular Sherpa woman.