Thursday, June 6, 2024

Mount Everest Basecamp was a beast, but we can do hard things



Well well well, and we are back climbing another mountain. I think this is like another marathon-like life where we go through the pain, complain bitterly while we do it, swear this is the last one, and then a few months later are back to planning another climb. 

This 12-day climb with four of my friends was the most painful one I've done, mostly because of the physical illnesses that came during the climb. So let me start by saying that. My team was the dopest team there is, but it was tough. If you are thinking of going to Everest Basecamp, just as I said with Kilimanjaro, it is one of the hardest things you will ever do. So adequate preparation is key. I will do my best to tell you as much as I possibly can to prepare you mentally, but also to prepare you physically.

Let's start with what you need for the climb first, and then we'll get into my detailed summary of the actual experience.


1. Clothes: We froze. It was cold. Prepare accordingly. You may have access to laundry at some of the teahouses so what you need depends on how much you are willing to spend on laundry. However, in my opinion, you need the following at a minimum:
  • 3-4 long sleeved thermal tops
  • 3-4 long thermal bottoms (I suggest either fleece-lined or HEATTECH)
  • 3 non-cotton absorbent t-shirts
  • 4 Sports bras for the girlies
  • 4 trekking bottoms (a mix of shorts, leggings, and pants)
  • 1 waterproof rain poncho
  • 1 down jacket
  • 1 balaclava
  • 1 sun hat/baseball cap
  • Sunglasses
  • 1 pair of think gloves
  • 4 pairs of thermal socks
  • As much underwear as can fit in your 15kg allowance (we will discuss this later)

2. Shoes: You know you need hiking boots for the daytime climb, but with the uber cold temperatures, also invest in good shoes you can wear in the teahouse at night. 
  • Trekking boots
  • Crocs, sneakers or some sort of easily washable slip-on shoes AND/OR
  • Flip-flops you can wear to shower

3. Toiletries: We were only able to shower for a few days during this climb. Because it was so cold and a lot of the places we stayed had solar powered water heating systems, there was no way to safely shower every single day and not be sick. So we had to be creative with our cleaning techniques. We'd always be able to brush our teeth, but when we couldn't shower, we had to use wipes and other substitutes to stay clean enough. And we were also using public restrooms without toilet rolls so we needed to always carry wipes of our own.
  • Tooth brush
  • Tooth paste
  • Soap 
  • Lotion
  • Deodorant
  • Towel
  • Lots of wipes (do not underestimate how many you'd need)
  • Vaseline (for cold, dryness, and sunburn)
  • Sunscreen
  • Hand sanitizer
  • Body mist (just to feel good)

4. Drugs: All five of us needed some drugs at some point during this hike. Please confirm all of this with your doctor and get an exam before you put your body through this.
  • Altitude sickness medicine (prescribed by your doctor as dosages vary but I was taking 125mg twice a day)
  • Painkillers
  • Peptobismol or something for your stomach
  • Band-aids
  • Allergy medication
  • Cough medicine

5. Food: The difference between Everest and other climbs is that you actually have villages that you stop at to sleep in, so you don't have to put up tents and sleep outside. This also means you buy ready-made food during meal-times and are restricted to whatever they serve. You should not eat meat or food that takes too much energy to digest so we were eating noodles and carb-heavy food a lot. And the food got progressively worse as we climbed higher making it more important to have snacks on hand. I bought about 20 of each snack:
  • Protein bars
  • Granola bars
  • Fruit gummies or energy gels

6. Sleeping gear: Although we slept at the teahouses in the villages, it was very very cold at night and there were no heaters in sight. And so we needed additional gear for the beds.
  • Sleeping bags (provided by our tour company)
  • Sleeping bag liners and pillowcases
7. Bags: If you are trekking with a company, ask them if they will be carrying some of your items each day. The company we used carried the large duffel bags, while we only carried what we needed to get through that day's hike in a small backpack. I made sure my backpack was big enough for my hydration pack and rain gear.
  • Large duffel bag (provided by our tour company)
  • Small backpack 

8. Other items: There is so much to consider like how to keep your phone charged for all the photos you want to take, how to hydrate, and how to stay safe if you have a time when you have to trek in the dark.
  • Trekking poles (absolutely necessary)
  • Hydration packs or water bottles (you need about 3 liters of water each day)
  • Power banks 
  • Headlamp and batteries
  • Cold, hard cash to buy wifi, showers, water, and any other miscellaneous items at the tea houses
I'm sure others may have more to add, but these were the basics for me. Planning is absolutely key. We hiked with a tour company called Nepal Hiking Team and selecting the right tour company could make or break your hike. 

Alright then! Let's talk about the experience itself and what to expect! 

Day 0: Kathmandu

From Kathmandu airport, Nepal Hiking Team (NPT) sent a driver to pick us up, took us to our hotel, and briefed us. We stayed at the Woodapple Hotel in Kathmandu. Kathmandu is about 1,400m above sea level so while it is a little high, it is not enough to warrant acclimatization. The company spent time introducing the guide, and briefing us on what to expect for the next day as we were meant to be flying from Kathmandu to Lukla. The provided us the large duffel bags, sleeping bags, and down jackets (which we mostly chose to return as we had ours). We had to spend some time that evening repacking the items we needed into the duffel bags, and get this: not exceeding the 15kg allowance for the flight from Kathmandu to Lukla.


After weighing our bags and being appropriately satisfied that we wouldn't have to throw things out at the airport the next day, we went to bed. Had to leave at 6am!


Day 1: Kathmandu to Lukla to Phakding

Elevation at Kathmandu: 1,400m
Elevation at Lukla: 2,840m
Elevation at Phakding: 2,600m

We woke up and were off to the airport to head to Lukla. It was very exciting to actually start our journey. We got to the airport with our duffel bags and backpacks and some packed breakfast ready to catch an 8am flight. This flight is known to be pretty dangerous because the runway in Lukla airport is quite small, and you are flying right through the mountains. Well, 8am turned to 10am turned to 12pm, and then to 1pm. Unfortunately, the weather was quite rainy and it happens fairly frequently that flights just don't take off on some days. After about 6 hours and no hope of going anywhere on a plane, we decided to talk about alternatives. The alternative we chose was to take a helicopter up to Lukla rather than wait for what could possibly be a few days.



We finally arrived at Lukla airport after about 45 mins or so. And yes, the runway was very very small.


Soooo... counting this as day 1, we ate lunch (our last meal with meat) and were ready to begin! We were supposed to hike from Lukla to Phakding. Note that it was already probably about 4pm when we started the hike, which was hours after we were supposed to start. This meant it was going to be dark before long and we'd need our headlamps. We did the walk and got to our hotel way after dark. This was one of the least fun parts of the hike for me because we were walking in the dark and not knowing what we were stepping in or how far we were from our destination. However, we were not gaining altitude this day so the walk itself was not very difficult.



We got to our teahouse hotel (or rather, motel) probably around 8pm, ate some dinner, and ended day one! We were still able to take showers at this point so we did, used our first Turkish toilets, and went to bed. 


Day 2: Phakding to Namche

Elevation at Phakding: 2,600m
Elevation at Namche: 3,400m

Another bright and early day! We woke up early and met in the restaurant for breakfast. Breakfast was some eggs and toast, but others on my team had French toast or oatmeal. This was pretty consistent for the the days we hiked. One thing we had discovered at Lukla that became a consistent drink for us was a honey lemon ginger hot drink.


We started the hike from the Pine Forest Hotel and everyone was in great spirits. Unfortunately, a member of our team was already beginning to fall ill from food poisoning and so she slowed down a bit and stopped at one of the inns on the way to catch up with us the following day.



We walked a long way this day. We stopped at a couple of check points to get our permits and also to check our bags for drones (drones are prohibited on the route). Then we stopped for lunch and a bathroom break. We were becoming fully accustomed to the Turkish toilets at this point so be prepared for those! 



After lunch and our now regular honey lemon ginger drink, we were on our way. If you noted the elevation for this day, you'd have seen that this was one of the most significant climbing days for us and so that meant we were also climbing a lot of stairs after lunch. In addition to the stairs, we crossed several suspension bridges this afternoon as well, some of which we shared with the many herds of animals on our route. The most notable suspension bridge we had heard about was the Hillary Bridge. There were so many.

Also, note on the animals: many animals means much poop :) But these animals are necessary because they carry supplies up the mountain to the villages and are sometimes the only source of transport to get daily supplies.




After a brutal climb this day, we got to Namche! The next day was meant to be an acclimatization day so that meant we could sleep in the same bed for a couple of nights. We had also started to make some friends on the route so it was nice to keep running into our new acquaintances.


We were very tired at the end of day 2 and really happy to gain the elevation we did. I really liked this little village. They had showers (whoo!), a lot of shopping, paid laundry, and it was pretty full of life. It was great that we were going to be there for a couple of days and our friend was re-joining us the next day. So we ate, walked around, chatted over dinner, and went to bed.

Day 3: Namche Acclimatization Day

Elevation at Namche: 3,400m
Highest Elevation: 3,700m

An acclimatization day just means that you climb up and then return back down to sleep low so that your body gets used to the altitude. This was a very steep day as we pretty much walked straight uphill for a couple of hours and then walked right back down. We went to the Tenzing Norgay memorial and got a fantastic view of Everest and the surrounding mountains. 

We were also able to go around and make some touristy purchases on this day, and get some laundry done. But the only challenge was that there wasn't too much to do after a certain hour and we were not allowed to sleep in the afternoons. If you are doing this, try to take some games to play with your friends.

One highlight was that my mobile network still worked, which was totally unexpected for me! But at least I was able to stay in contact with my family and friends back home. We still had to not overuse our phones because we had limited places to charge them. But at this point, charging our phones was also still free.

Our friend re-joined us today and we were able to continue on together the next day.


Day 4: Namche to Tengboche

Elevation at Namche: 3,400m
Elevation at Tengboche: 3,850m

We woke up to such a beautiful view. As usual, we started our climb and it was actually pretty much normal for the first half, and then the hill came in the second half. This was also the day I decided I could not have Dal Bhat anymore and wanted something else to eat. Luckily, we discovered some Korean spicy noodles on the menu that was exactly like Indomie. That became a sort of staple for us.






Day 5: Tengboche to Dingboche:

Elevation at Tengboche: 3,850m
Elevation at Dingboche: 4,410m

This was another up and down hill day with lots of suspension bridges and lots of donkeys and horses. It rained a little and I couldn't figure out whether to just keep my rain gear on or keep putting it back in my backpack. I also started to feel really tired this day.








Day 6: Dingboche Acclimatization Day

Elevation at Dingboche: 4,410m
Highest Elevation: 4,600m

This was the toughest day for me. I started to feel sick. But thankfully, we had a short climb as it was acclimatization day. So we walked completely uphill, and then all the way back down. Funny because these days are shorter than others, but also feel a bit annoying when you gain all that altitude just to lose it by climbing back down. But they are absolutely necessary to keep your body on track.

By now, sleep was tough, our bodies were tired, and it took mental strength to get through. I absolutely had to sleep this afternoon as my body couldn't stay awake.



Day 7: Dingboche to Lobuche

Elevation at Dingboche: 4,410m
Elevation at Lobuche: 5,030m

I barely remember this day as we just wanted to get to the top. However, we did walk by a memorial of people who lost their lives in the Everest climb. We also heard an avalanche during the walk on this day and when we did arrive at Lobuche, it had said in the news that a couple of people went missing during that avalanche. These are climbers going to the summit.

The main thing I remember is that water was like three times its regular price by now, the price for wifi was cah-razzzzzy, and we had to pay to charge each of our devices. So remember how I talked about cold, hard cash? Carry that.




Day 8: Lobuche to Gorakshep to EBC to Gorakshep

Elevation at Lobuche: 5,030m
Elevation at Gorakshep: 5,175m
Elevation at EBC: 5,365m

I woke up very excited on this day because this was the day we were going to get to EBC! This was a very long day because it was in essence split into three parts. The first part was getting from Lobuche to Gorakshep. We started our day as normal with breakfast. However, it was raining a bit and the weather looked very cloudy.


Thankfully, by lunchtime, a lot of it started to clear up, but the real uphill started then. This was the second part of the day. We were already like 3 hours into the day and still had another few hours to get to EBC. It was exciting, but also exhausting because every single step was more labored than the days before. After lunch at Gorakshep, we continued on and the terrain became very rocky and very on the edge of the mountain. It would rain and stop intermittently. The only thing that kept us going was the hope of EBC. 

And then there it was!!! My girls and I were so excited to get there. We spent over an hour at the top celebrating and taking photos before we started to come back down. This was the third part of the day.




We got to Gorakshep, celebrated some more, and then tried to sleep. The rest of the journey was going to be easy now. We had already done the hard part. There are several ways to come down, but you don't need my help for that :) This is as much info as I think is helpful for now. Hopefully this prepares you for your trip, or maybe scares you. Like I always say, just be prepared, stay informed, and remember that your mental strength is just as important as your physical.

And to remember exactly how you felt each day, make some videos.


Cheers Eights & Weights!



Monday, August 30, 2021

Born Tough and Elite Sports partnership

We're excited to be working with Born Tough and Elite Sports to try out their products!

We will come up with a review post once the product testing is done
Keep an eye out for these updates.

Check them out here:

Monday, July 19, 2021

Product Review: Chic Moda Gliding Discs and Rings

 


It is probably an understatement to say that I work out, and I share my workouts here on on other platforms. This means I do receive a ton of products to try and to review (I genuinely cannot fathom writing reviews for products I don't care about). 

For those of you who have followed me for quite a while, you know that I try to incorporate simple tools in my exercise routines - from towels to jump ropes to resistance bands. Well, when ChicModa reached out with gliding discs aka sliders, I was super excited because what is more lightweight and easy to incorporate than sliders?


I'm not going to write a long drawn-out review (because they are sliders) but I really wanted to summarize what I thought in a few bullet points:

  • Versatility: Sliders are generally easy to use, and if you don't have them, you can typically use a towel or paper plates. But I particularly like these ones because they are dual-sided. That means you can use them on all types of flooring - carpet, wood, you can even see in my Instagram post that I used them on my exercise mat. This is pretty great, especially if you are outdoors and don't want to ruin them. I'd give this an A+.
  • Quality: I really can't speak too much to quality because I haven't used them for very long, but one thing I noticed was that the side with the padding did not immediately start to wear off like my older sliders when I used them on rougher surfaces.
  • Price: These babies are like $7.99 on Amazon. Price is also A+. By the way, you can also get some money off them right now by using the code CHICMODAJULY to place an order within the link in the @Chicmoda.sport Instagram bio for 10% off.
  • Esthetic: They are black, which I like! And they also come in a pretty little pouch so you can carry it around easily.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with these. Like I said, I have not used them for long so I will update you in a few months, but if you are looking for sliders to get or just for tools to add to your workout, check out their store here: ChicaModa on Amazon.


One thing to note: These sliders also came with a set of cute silicone rings in many colors. On the fashion side of this, those are cool and you can also check them out in their store. However, I have to be honest that I'm not sure I see the relation between the rings and the workout gear and the rings aren't something I'd typically wear of my own volition. But they are cute. They also have 10% off the silicone rings using the code CHICMODALOVE.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Wednesday, June 16, 2021

Born Tough and Elite Sports Collaboration


We're excited to be working with Born Tough and Elite Sports to try out their products!

We will come up with a review post once the product testing is done
Keep an eye out for these updates.

Check them out here:


Thursday, November 26, 2020

The 3 Key Factors for Optimal Muscle Growth


When it comes to building muscle, people try to overcomplicate things. Yes, there's a science behind gaining muscle mass, but it isn't as difficult as you think. The more advanced you get, the more you need to do to see progress.

For beginners and relatively new lifters, you only need to worry about three crucial factors:

Progressive overload
Here's a very brief and simple description of muscle building:

  • Your muscles are worked
  • Muscle fibers break down
  • The muscle repairs itself and becomes stronger

That's basically what happens whenever you lift weights. So where does progressive overload fit in? Well, it refers to the way you challenge your muscles. A muscle will only get bigger and stronger when it is constantly put under strong demands. Simply put, you need to challenge your muscles to get them to grow back bigger and stronger.

The easiest example is increasing the weights you lift. If you're squatting 10kg for 12 reps - and you find it a breeze, you have to up the weight. Increase it until the 11th and 12th reps are a massive struggle. Then, when that weight becomes easy, you increase it again. This is the best starting point for progressive overload and it's fundamental for muscle growth. The best summary for it is this: push yourself harder in every workout!

A good diet
Your diet & nutrition needs to complement the workouts you perform. A poor diet won't help you build muscle at all. Firstly, you need to consume enough protein to ensure your muscles build and recover. If you find that you are not getting enough protein from your diet, check out a place like over at steelsupplements.com for a variety of protein shakes. This can be a great way to refuel your body and help your muscles recover and grow.

Similarly, you need to eat enough calories to build muscle. If you're eating far fewer than you burn, you're going to burn too many calories and lose too much weight - some of which will come from muscle mass. There's a great article on this over at trifectanutrition.com that's worth reading. It goes into more detail than you get over here, and it's written by nutrition experts.

Ample recovery time
The final factor is your recovery time. If you go back to the first point on how muscle grows, you'll need to pay attention to the regrowth phase. The cells in your muscles work hard to repair themselves and come back stronger. If you don't have a good recovery routine, this won't happen very quickly. You'll know if this is the case as you'll be sore for days!

As a result, you can't work out as frequently because your muscles are still sore. Again, this links into the first point as it means you're not getting enough progressive overload. Thankfully, a good diet does a great job of speeding up the recovery time. Still, you should stretch and follow a good recovery routine to optimize muscle growth.

These three factors are all you need to worry about if you're just getting into lifting. It's not rocket science: challenge your muscles, eat well, and recover properly!

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Friday, August 7, 2020

The Most Effective Way to Burn Fat

 

Are you one of the millions of people trying to lose weight? If you are looking for a quick fix, this is definitely not the right place. Before I go into the details, it is important to note that to sustainably lose and keep weight off, you should make fitness a lifestyle. So if you are looking for a starvation or waist trainer solution, I will not be the right person to help.

That said, how can you make fitness a lifestyle but make your workouts as effective as possible? Here are a few tips to help:

  • You need both strength training and cardio. Many women seem to be scared to lift weights and many men seem to only want to lift weights. Guess what? Cardio (e.g. running, swimming, cycling, etc.) is effective to burn excess energy, but strength training (e.g. lifting, crunches, etc.) allows the body to continue to burn that energy while in a state of rest. Also, strength training gives you the definition that you don't get from doing just cardio.
  • High intensity interval training (HIIT) is more effective to lose weight than moderate intensity. First off, what is HIIT? HIIT is a form of exercise where you continuously spike up your heart rate by going very intense for a few seconds and then bringing your heart rate down. This back and forth actually gets you to burn more than when you don't go very hard. So if you are looking to lose weight, I recommend incorporating about 2 HIIT days into your routine each week.
  • Get some rest. It may sound counter-intuitive, but you do not burn fat effectively by going super duper hard every single day. You have to mix your workout intensity, and you have to sleep. The muscle fibers you tear during your workouts are actually built up during your rest time.
Now that you have these tips, what are you going to do differently?

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Born Tough Gym Bag Review



I spend a lot of time exercising and traveling - this is no secret. And so on a daily basis, I am typically packing and unpacking something. You'd find that I just keep my gym bags and small travel suitcase open and close to me so I can throw stuff in them and be on the go as needed. But to be honest, it would be nice to have something that can play multiple roles - something I can do a quick weekend trip with, pack up for the gym, or take to the office for the day with the plan to go to the gym at the end of the day.

Someone had asked me for recommendations for gym bags recently and it actually did get me thinking about what I would like in a gym bag. So when this one from Born Tough came through, it was perfect timing! What are my thoughts on this bag? Please take this with the caveat that we are currently on lock down for COVID-19 so I haven't had the chance to take it to an actual gym yet.

First off, this bag is a duffel bag and you can buy it on the site here.

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