Powerful Passage - Conditions Outside Everest Itself

Lobuje - 16,200 feet in elevation

“The three or four stone toilets in the village were literally overflowing with excrement. The latrines were so abhorrent that most people, Nepalese and Westerners alike, evacuated their bowels outside on the open ground, wherever the urge struck. Huge stinking piles of human feces lay everywhere; it was impossible not to walk in it. The river of snowmelt meandering through the center of the settlement was an open sewer. The main room of the lodge where we stayed was furnished with wooden bunk platforms for some thirty people. I found an unoccupied bunk on the upper level, shook as many fleas and lice as possible from the soiled mattress, and spread out my sleeping bag. Against the near wall was a small iron stove that supplied heat by burning dried yak dung.” (pg. 54)

Two toilets in Lobuje overflowing with waste

Man's pillow in Lobuje room covered in
 puke stains from past visitors

I chose this passage to share because it shows the conditions before the climbing of Mt. Everest even begins. The passage is describing a village called Lobuje, a grim collection of tumbledown buildings, filled with Sherpas (climbing expedition helpers) and climbers from various expeditions. Lobuje was the pit stop to reaching Everest base camp, left with a day journey through the valley to the camp. Krakauer, the author, uses great imagery and describes so in depth you are almost transported to the dingy village. I can only imagine the overpowering smell and lack of sanitation. What amazes me is that climbers pay up to $65,000 to be guided to the summit but are put into conditions like that before the journey even begins. Let’s just say most rich men and women aren’t in their element at this moment. I like this passage because I know what would be going through my mind if I were one of the climbers. It would be something along the lines of, “I paid $65,000 for this treatment?!” Many climbers developed illnesses, some serious, at Lobuje. Those who didn't, refused to stay a minute longer than needed.