Catch a glimpse of the crew working hard behind the scenes in the AC Everest Base Camp kitchen with Chef Sarah Macnab’s recent Instagram series.
All photos and text Sarah Macnab @sarah_coffeenz

AC Cook Team – Left to right Pemba, Pradip, Tilak, Chhiri, Tenjing.

Working cooking at Everest Base Camp requires a lot of behind the scenes team efforts. I work with 5 men in what we call the member cook tent. The members are the climbers. The Sherpa have a separate cook tent. The infrastructure required for a successful expedition is reliant on so many people.

Chhiri Lama Sherpa

Chhiri Lama is the big boss man in the kitchen. He is 41 years old and is originally from Taksindu. He is married to Dali Sherpa and they have two boys aged 10 and 13. They now live in Kathmandu for better education. Chhiri has worked with Adventure Consultants since 2016 as a cook. He already has an impressive list of mountains he has worked on with AC including Everest Base Camp cook 3 times, Everest Camp Two cook, Manaslu, Cho Oyu, and Dhaulagiri. His favourite saying is “in my experience…”

Pemba Sherpa

Pemba Sherpa is new to working at Everest Base Camp. Like many others he has family working here. Urken his uncle is cooking at Camp Two. Chhiri Lama is also his uncle and his cousin Tenjing is also here in the cook tent. Pemba is 21 and enjoying learning about life at Base Camp. A lot of his day is spent collecting water. This then gets filtered and boiled! Teaching these young men about hygiene and the importance of health at Base Camp is a large part of their job learning.

Tenjing Sherpa

Tenjing Sherpa is 20 years old. He is from Taksindu village but now lives in Kathmandu. Tenjing can speak a little French, Japanese, English, Sherpa and Nepalese! He would like to go to the Sherpa climbing school in Phortse as he has an ice climbing certificate and his guide trekking licence. This is his second time here at Base Camp and he is keen to learn more.

Tenjing is also the subject of the cover image where he is about to finish a chapati bread.

Tilak Rai

Tilak Rai is 24 and this is his 4th time working at EBC with Adventure Consultants. He started as a water boy but now is a cook boy. He also works as a trekking cook for a Korean company when he is not at EBC. He is married to Karuna and lives in Chneskam. Tilak is one of the few staff that has no other family working here at Base Camp! He would love to learn more cooking.

Pradip Rai

Pradip Rai is an essential part of our team. His main role is water carrying! There are no pipes or water pumps here bringing the water to you. All water is hand carried! This is about a 45-minute return trip. It definitely makes you think about how often you shower! One of these buckets equals one shower! Pradip is 32 and it’s his first time here at EBC. He is married to Karuna who runs their shop in Namche. They sell momo (dumplings), alcohol, tea, and an eclectic array of other things. Pradip has one girl age 10 and one boy age 6.