I Tried to Reach Everest Base Camp. Here’s What Happened.

Two weeks ago, I flew to Kathmandu, Nepal and set off on a 12-day trek aiming to reach Everest Base Camp. 

If the first goal was to get to Base Camp, the second goal was to track my core metrics and see what effect the altitude and hiking had on my body.

In this email I want to share a few memories of the journey, along with the data I collected along the way. 

This trek defied nearly all my expectations, which is shocking because I didn’t really have any in the first place. I hope you enjoy reading about it! 

Let’s get started. . .

Monday 14th April: Warming Up 

• Resting Heart Rate (Garmin): 53

• Resting Heart Rate (Whoop): 53

• Recovery: 20%

• Sleep performance: 23%

• Heart Rate Variability: 113

• Respiratory Rate: 16.9

We started in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. For anyone who doesn’t know, Nepal is a country nestled in the heart of the Himalayas, between India and China, and home to eight of the world's ten tallest mountains. The people are friendly, the colours are vibrant, and the views are unreal. Trekkers and hikers from all over the world flock to this country seeking adventure, inspiration, and a deeper connection with nature.

We were a group of 9 more trekkers aiming to reach Everest Base Camp, approximately 5,364 meters (17,598 feet) above sea level. I got lucky when it came to the group—they were all such good company and I really enjoyed the time I spent with them.

We met our guide (shoutout to Nepal Hiking Team) and went to bed at around 10pm on Sunday night after being warned that we would need to wake up at 1am and officially begin the trek. Coincidentally, that night happened to be the Nepalese New Year, so we fell asleep to the sound of a city partying. 

(Another interesting fact: according to the Nepalese calendar, we’re currently in the year 2082.)

At 1am we got an unbelievably bumpy 5 hour minibus to Ramechhap, where we took a short flight to Lukla airport, approximately 2860 metres (9383 feet) above sea level.

At that point, we began our first hike, which was a decent few hours in the pouring rain (I’d forgotten my poncho so I got soaked.)

“Chaurikharka Hiking”

• Distance: 5.75 miles

• Hiking time: 2:54:38

• Total time: 4:27:36

• Elevation Gain: 1,497ft

• Max Elevation: 9,935ft

• Calories: 867

• Average Heart Rate: 101

• Recovery Heart Rate: 11

• Whoop Strain: 17.1

• Whoop Steps: 31,740

Tuesday 15th April: Longest Hike

• Resting Heart Rate (Garmin): 48

• Resting Heart Rate (Whoop): 55

• Recovery: 95%

• Sleep performance: 83%

• Heart Rate Variability: 118

• Respiratory Rate: 16.8

(As you can see by my data, the hike hadn’t truly started to affect my baseline metrics yet—aside from a slight increase in heart rate according to Whoop.)

We woke up at 6:30am with the goal of reaching ‘Namche Bazaar’, a settlement nested 3,440 metres (close to 11,000 feet) above sea level. 

I felt pretty good this day, which was handy—because it was technically my biggest day. 

One of the most brutal aspects of the Everest Base Camp trek is that even on days where you need to climb thousands of feet in elevation, you spend a lot of the time walking downhill. It’s not possible to simply hike upwards in a straight shot, so you’ll often need to hike down before you hike back up. 

That means that even if your start and end location are a thousand feet apart in elevation, you might actually end up hiking twice that amount in elevation gain simply because of all the downhill sections. 

The sherpas and guides call many of these hilly sections ‘Nepalese flat’ because even though you’re hiking steeply up and down, your net elevation stays the same. 

Today’s hike was a big one. . .

“Chaurikharka Hiking”

• Distance: 7.01 miles

• Time: 4:47:26

• Elapsed Time: 7:02:04

• Elevation Gain: 3,365ft

• Max Elevation: 11,404ft

• Calories: 1902

• Average Heart Rate: 119

• Recovery Heart Rate: 29

• Whoop Strain: 16.8

• Whoop Steps: 24,290

Wednesday 16th April: Piece-of-Cake Day

• Resting Heart Rate (Garmin): 54

• Resting Heart Rate (Whoop): 61

• Recovery: 55%

• Sleep performance: 86%

• Heart Rate Variability: 81

• Respiratory Rate: 17.2

(You can see clearly that after a night at this elevation, my baseline metrics were shooting down.)

“Tomorrow is ‘piece-of-cake’ day.”

That’s what our guide had told us the night before as he briefed us on what was to come. Today was supposed to be a gentle acclimatization day where we could ‘climb high, sleep low’ as you are warned to do when pushing into new altitudes. 

Sadly, today was not a piece of cake day. 

While the hike wasn’t as long, it was a very steep push up the mountain for a couple of hours until we reached our goal. And at the altitude we were at, the effort level was high. 

Our effort was fortunately broken up by regular rest stops where we drank lots of lemon ginger honey tea and ate various forms of rice and vegetables. 

Activity:

“Namche Hiking”

• Distance: 3.72 miles

• Hiking Time: 2:57:18 

• Total Time: 6:49:50

• Elevation Gain: 1,401ft

• Max Elevation: 12,715ft

• Calories: 1022

• Average Heart Rate: 108

• Recovery Heart Rate: 30

• Whoop Strain: 18.4

• Whoop Steps: 18,328

Thursday 17th April: Feeling Good

• Resting Heart Rate (Garmin): 54

• Resting Heart Rate (Whoop): 62

• Recovery: 51%

• Sleep performance: 84%

• Heart Rate Variability: 78

• Respiratory Rate: 17.4

• Blood Oxygen: 86%

(You may have noticed a day-by-day increase in my respiratory rate. This is likely because the air at altitude has less oxygen pressure, so my body compensated by breathing faster to pull in more oxygen and maintain proper blood oxygen saturation. This was completely instinctive and I didn’t actually feel like I was breathing any faster, which I found fascinating.

Fun fact: It’s not that there’s less oxygen at altitude — the percentage stays the same — it’s that the air pressure drops, so each breath delivers fewer oxygen molecules.)

This day I was actually subjectively feeling quite strong, and I felt like I was moving at a decent pace as we went up the mountain. Looking back at my actual recovery data—which I was ignorant of at the time—I probably pushed my body too hard. 

During this day I asked one of the porters if I could borrow their pack to see how hard it is. For context, most trekkers to Everest Base Camp employ porters to carry the heavier bags. These porters are incredible—they sling two 15kg bags on their back, secure the bags via a headband, and hike up the mountain. They are often wearing nothing but sliders or crocs, and they make it look easy. 

However, as I found out when I tried, it’s not easy. It still blows my mind that they carry these bags for hours a day up the mountain. 

We ended this hike near a monastery around midday. 

“Namche Hiking”

• Distance: 6.08 miles

• Hiking Time: 4:16:56

• Total Time: 6:27:12

• Elevation Gain: 2751ft

• Max Elevation: 12,788ft

• Calories: 1782

• Average Heart Rate: 123

• Whoop Strain: 18.5

• Whoop Steps: 22,121 steps

Friday 18th April: Rough Day

• Resting Heart Rate (Garmin): 59

• Resting Heart Rate (Whoop): 64

• Recovery: 49%

• Sleep performance: 84%

• Heart Rate Variability: 75

• Respiratory Rate: 17.3

• Blood Oxygen: 83%

(During the trek, our guides would check our blood oxygen levels to make sure we were doing alright. Obviously, the lower the number the higher the cause for concern.)

Most days we would get up early, trek until lunchtime, then trek again and reach our destination early to mid-afternoon. 

Today I found the morning fairly straightforward, but as soon as we hit the trail after lunch I was feeling rough. Despite drinking 3-5 litres of water a day, I was getting a solid headache and my energy was low. I pushed on and made it to our rest stop. 

“Khumjung Hiking” 

• Distance: 6.60 miles

• Hiking Time: 4:01:06

• Total Time: 6:09:02

• Elevation Gain: 2268ft

• Max Elevation: 14,346ft

• Calories: 1730

• Average Heart Rate: 124

• Recovery Heart Rate: 2

• Whoop Strain: 15.5

• Whoop Steps: 22,668 steps

Saturday 19th April: Rougher Day 

• Resting Heart Rate (Garmin): 56

• Resting Heart Rate (Whoop): 64

• Recovery: 42%

• Sleep performance: 84%

• Heart Rate Variability: 73

• Respiratory Rate: 17.3

Today was another acclimatization day, where we would hike high and sleep lower. We started the day early and quickly reached 15,000 feet above sea level. 

For context, 15,000 feet is higher than the summit of Mont Blanc, the tallest mountain in Western Europe. You're at an altitude where the air pressure is nearly half of what it is at sea level.

This was a fairly difficult hike, and I’m not sure my Garmin properly recorded the distance. 

“Khumjung Hiking”

• Distance: 1.97 miles

• Hiking Time: 2:35:09

• Total Time: 3:05:30 

• Elevation Gain: 847ft

• Max Elevation: 15,331ft

• Calories: 851

• Average Heart Rate: 110

• Recovery Heart Rate: 8

• Whoop Strain: 13

• Whoop Steps: 10,983 steps

After this hike, we returned to our lodge to rest and prepare for the next day. Following lunch, I started to feel rough so went back to my room. 

I took a painkiller, thinking it was the usual headache that many of us had been experiencing due to the altitude. But once my head was a bit clearer, I realised that I still felt pretty rough, which meant the problem was something else. The mystery was soon solved when I threw up all over our shared toilet. 

(By the way, like in many places on the trail, the only way to flush this toilet was to ladle water from a bucket into it fast enough to get things flowing.)

I’m still not sure whether it was the food or the altitude (or both), but over the next 24 hours I threw up a total of 6 times. My heart rate through the night was hovering around 120 to 140, and my oxygen was dropping below 80%. It was awful, and the next morning I got a helicopter down to Kathmandu where I went to hospital. My friend Jared waved me off after spending the night looking after me. 

Sunday 20th April: Recovery 

• Resting Heart Rate (Garmin): 58

Fortunately, once I was back in Kathmandu I felt ok and was able to take it easy for a few days. 

After I got out of hospital, my friend and I were fortunate enough to be able to get some early flights home.

Jared did make it to Base Camp, and he even took my sunglasses up there with him, so here’s a picture of that:

That’s about it, honestly. 

A crazy experience that has given me a new appreciation for home, and something that I’m grateful to have come out the other side of. 

When I first sat down to write this, I wondered if there might be some clever narrative angle to tie everything together — some way to end the story on a high note. Or perhaps some wise insights or lessons. 

But the truth is, just feeling okay and making it home was more than enough for me.

That’s about it for this week. Thanks for reading!

Benji

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