Three Passes Trek Day 26

Three Passes Trek Day 26 - Namche to Lukla. Phew, what an exhausting day. We knew it would be a long, tough one trekking the entire NB to Lukla part of the trek in one day. To make it a bit easier, we lined up a porter to carry most of the gear,but unfortunately he didn't show up, so we had to carry it ourselves. Fortunately we had already lightened up a few kilos by leaving behind stuff we no longer needed, but a bit difficult with my shoulder injury returning. The first two hours were again amazingly beautiful, the most glorious time of the day and no other Trekkers on the path, and mainly descending. After an extended first Leg (3hours) we stopped for breakfast at a small cafe between Bengkar and Pakding where they cooked us a muesli porridge and a hot cup of tea. From there onwards it was very up and down with more up than down. On and on it went, in total the longest day jof the trek so far. A final ascent that seemed to last forever, then finally Lukla, an oasis of hotels, cafes,etc, where they don't yet have the wheel, but have an airport. Despite its hardships it was an amazingly scenic day, trekking past tall trees, alongside wild rivers,dramatic suspension bridge crossings and of course the ever present mountains. Fitting end to an epic journey. Sore legs, good memories.

Three Passes Trek Days 24 & 25

Three Passes Trek Day 24 & 25 - Namche Bazaar. Day 24 - Complete rest day today, after covering 3 days worth of trekking in the last 2 days. Slept in and came down for breakfast at 8:30. Light walk around Namche and tea/ coffee at a few different places. It seems less busy than when we were last here a few weeks ago, as the trekking season draws to a close. I had my first shave and haircut for several weeks yesterday afternoon and I feel lighter,energised and possibly younger. It's nice just observing the day to day activities of a place without actually having to go anywhere or achieve anything. The movement of yaks, the activities of children, the goings on in the temples and veggie gardens and market places, and as always the stillness of the mountains. It's now late afternoon and the snow caps of the mountains still glisten in the sunshine while all else has become dark, like beacons of ice cream.

Day 25 - 2 hour walk out of Namche today, hill climb and descent, just to keep the legs stretched, other than that another day a bit like yesterday. Enjoying the cafes, treats and vibes before tomorrow's big walk down to Lukla.

Three Passes Trek Day 23

Three Passes Trek Day 23 - Marylong to Namche Bazaar (via Thame) Wonderful walk today down the river valley, across small bridges, lots of little villages with stone walled paddocks to either keep the yaks out or in, not sure which. Glorious morning with the sun shining. Trees started to appear, first small ones, dwarf conifers, then increasingly taller the lower we crept down the valley. You don't realise how much you miss trees until you start seeing them again. We reached Thame, which was supposed to be our breakfast stop, after 2 hours. As reaching the village involved a descent off to one side of the path and doubling back afterwards, Purih suggested we continue on to the next village. My shoulders, stomach, bladder and throat all wished to protest, but I kept quiet and we continued another 40 min to the village of Samde for breakfast in as warm lodge.

The trek between Thame and Namche is quite up and down, a bit of a shock after such a cruisy descent of the valley for the first two hours. Even so, I enjoyed it just as much with each rise and fall revealing a new world, a new village, even more forested and fertile than the last one. The slopes on the opposite side of the valley became increasingly steeper and more dramatic. Past monasteries, donkeys, yaks, buddhist religious monuments and a few fellow trekkers. Finally, we round one last bend, and there in front of us lies Namche Bazaar, like a magnificent citadel nestled in the hillside. The horseshoe shaped array of 3 and 4 storey buildings harmonising seamlessly with the mountainous landscape. Staying this time at the Zamling, high on the western ridge. Hot shower, attached bathroom, lovely family environment. Will relax here for the next 2 days. Farewelled Phuri, after being our porter/guide for 2 weeks. Phuri also carried away lots of our trekking gear we no longer needed, especially cold weather gear, which has lightened up our loads.

Three Passes Trek Day 22

Three Passes Trek Day 22 - Gokyo over the Renjo La pass to Marylong. Another freezing cold morning somewhere around the minus 15 degrees celsius mark as we departed from Gokyo at 6:10 am. The first hour was a slow, steady climb letting Phuri set the pace with his distinctive Sherpa trekking gait, plodding along, a kind of sideways shuffle and only stopping very occasionally. After an hour so there were a couple of very steep rises, flattening out into a mini-plateau before the final ascent to Renjo La, where we arrived after around 2 and a half hours. Enjoyed breakfast on a purpose made bench of stones positioned perfectly to take in the magnificent view of Goky, Gokyo Ri, the lake and a whole range of large mountains, including a final view of Everest in the distance.

After a 30 min break at the top, we started down the other side. The first part of the descent was a series of steep steps of various heights, made from stone, like some kind of elaborate medieval fortress that must have taken a king's army to build. Then as it flattened a little back down to the kinds of tracks made by yaks, donkeys and porters that we've become familiar with. A 2 hour journey down gently sloping paths down a picturesque river valley got us to the village of Lumde. We had planned originally to stay at Lumde, but because we had made good time, and the going was easy, we just stopped for a bowl of muesli and a cup of tea before carrying on another 45 minutes to Marylong. They only get a few visitors here, but friendly people and a nice warm yak dung fuelled fire to write beside. It's also a little behind in technology with the toilet being outside and a short hike across a yak paddock, with bush-style hole in the ground covered with wooden lid, no flushing system and no lighting (head lamp came in useful). Despite that it's very peaceful, refreshing to be away from the somewhat commercialised variation of trekking and in a more traditional setting. The cascading water washing over the rocks makes for soothing background music. Lovely couple running the place. The guy informed us that he had climbed Everest 10 times back in his younger days as an expedition guide. Tomorrow we hope to make it to Namche Bazaar via Thame, should take about 5 hours.

Three Passes Trek Day 21

Three Passes Trek Day 21 - November 18 - Gokyo to Sacred Lakes (return). Another beautiful day at Gokyo. The weather gods have smiled upon us again and given us 21 days of glorious sunshine so far. Today we trekked out from Gokyo past Fourth Lake and most of the way to Fifth Lake. It was a nice 3 hour walk up mainly gentle slopes to keep our legs primed for tomorrow's crossing of Renjo La, the final of the three passes. Now sitting behind a deceptively warming wall of glass and gazing out at the lake, thinking about a swim, but deciding against it, having spotted ice blocks floating around the edges of the water.

Three Passes Trek Day 20

Three Passes Trek Day 20 - Nov 17 - Gokyo to Gokyo Ri (return). Today we dragged ourselves out of bed at 6am and got going by 6:30 to climb Gokyo Ri, a nearby peak (5360metres) right next to the village. Great views of Gokyo lake, including the one off the cover of the Lonely Planet trekking in Nepal guide book,and surrounding mountains- photographer's dream. It took us 1 hr 30 min up (extremely steep slope all the way) and about 1 hr 10 min down. I have been sitting in a cafe for about an hour chatting with some Israelis that we met in Dzongla and with a Slovenian, couple, one of whom was a novelist, and apparently well known in Slovenia (but not yet translated into English). So after all of this chatting and drinking coffee I feel like I've had a rest day even though we were out for nearly 4 hours this morning, must be the novelty of the cafe (which is the only other one in Gokyo besides the one at our hotel). Still freezing cold here, this morning we had to cross iced over streams on the path to Gokyo Ri.

Three Passes Trek Day 19

Three Passes Trek Day 19 - 16 November- Dagnag to Gokyo Just a 2 hour walk this morning from Dagnag to Gokyo across the glacial moraine. Checked in at Fitzroy hotel which has 5 star facilities by trekking standards, including attached bathroom with 'hot shower' (warm trickle of water if you squat down low enough for the hose to work, but nevertheless does the job). It also has a warm dining room and attached cafe with genuine barista coffee, apple pie and other such luxuries. Gokyo is quite picturesque, on the edge of a lake amd sorrounded by tall mountains, plus yaks, etc. This is the first stop for some time that is an actual functioning village although trekking is still the main source of income. It is also a trekking destination in itself, and lots of trekking groups do the Gokyo trek up the central river valley from Namche Bazaar then head back down without necessarily doing any of the passes, but it's also an alternative route to EBC via the Cho La pass.

Three Passes Trek Day 18

Three Passes Trek Day 18 - Nov 15 - Dzongla to Dagnag (Thang Nak) over the Cho La pass (5420 metres). This was an amazing day's trekking and possibly the most enjoyable of the entire trip. After the Kongma La we were expecting today's trek to be comparably difficult, so, even though it was only slightly easier, taking us 6 hours, including over 3 hours uphill, it seemed substantially easier as we'd braced ourselves for a tough day. The path was, as expected, very steep, and the last half hour before the pass the ground was covered in snow that had hardened to ice. At last we had the opportunity to use our "yak tracks" which are basically just a simple set of crisscrossing chains that fit over your shoes. We had debated whether to bother bringing them and in the end we bought some in Kathmandu. So having carried them for 17 days, we now got to use them for 30 min. They worked perfectly, gripping the icy snow like Velcro. I wouldn't classify them as an essential piece of equipment, but, having Slipped over and broken my wrist earlier in the year in an ice skating accident, it was kind of reassuring.

The views at the top were again phenomenal, especially looking back the way we had come. It was very steep going down and I must admit I felt a bit sorry for the people coming the other way. For some reason the Lonely Planet guide recommends Trekkers going over the Cho La pass to continue on to Gokyo (another 2 hours) but in our view 6 hours was really long enough. Dagnag (also spelt a few other ways on maps/signs) is fine to stay for 1 night and the walk to Gokyo not all that easy, crossing an undulating glacial maze. We were glad to leave it until the following morning.

Three Passes Trek Day 17

Three Passes Trek Day 17 - 14 November- Lobuche to Dzongla (4830 metres). Today's trek took about 2.5 hours. Started early and went very quickly in the cold of the morning. Most of today's walk was around a ridge with excellent views of a number of villages we had already visited or seen from different angles. Perfect trekking conditions. It should be noted that the weather has been absolutely amazing. (apart from the fact that it's freezing). Every day we've had clear skies and plenty of sunshine even if it does tend to set early behind the mountains. Although this is generally the best time of year for weather, it's not unusual for them to get some rain or even an early snow, which would make the 3 passes trek very difficult and some years impossible. Dzongla, like Lobuche and the 3 previous stops is not really a village in its own right but just a collection of trekking lodges as a staging post for the Cho La pass. It is however well positioned with nice views (there was a bit of a climb right at the end) and also very small as we have now left the EBC trek again.

Three Passes Trek Day 16

Three Passes Trek Day 16 - Gorak Shep to Everest Base Camp (5364m) then back to Lobuche (Again original notes missing) Trekked early to EBC, even though we got out of GS shortly after 6am there were already a number of other people ahead of us. The path was easy to follow except for the last bit, which was quite a confusing array of rocks and glacier, so it was convenient that there were a few others ahead to follow. The base camp itself is unrecognisable at this time of year and is simply marked as a few prayer flags on a cluster of rocks. The climbing season is around April/May so there were no tents, campfires, equipment or any kind of mountaineering activity as was the case at the previous two base camps we visited. The main reason people go there is because it's famous, and if you are on the EBC trek it's the place where you turn around and start heading back the way you came, but Kalla Pattar is generally seen as the highlight of the EBC trek and also the highest point. It was again somewhere in the minus 15 to 20 degrees zone, so I took the photos quickly while Sama collected some souvenir stones and headed back to Gorak Shep. The walk itself is a pleasant walk along a valley, and comparably scenic to other days. We stopped to eat at Gorak Shep, then continued on to Lobuche, enjoying the novelty of a mainly downhill stretch. Purih had already carried our gear down earlier so we travelled light.

Three Passes Trek Day 15

Three Passes Trek Day 15 - Lobuche to Gorak Shep (5140 m) and Kalla Pattar (5550 metres) I started a new note book on Day 15, which I used for a few days, then lost it. Consequently Day 15 to 20 have gone missing so I'll include an abbreviated version here. Day 15 (Nov 12). Trekked from Lobuche to Gorak Shep in the morning, then in the late afternoon joined the throngs climbing Kalla Pattar for a view of sunset over Everest. Is kind of the holy grail of trekking peaks for its sunrise and sunset views. Absolutely freezing at the top, (15 below zero) (ok technically absolute freezing is minus 273, but it's the coldest I've ever been). The hardest part was taking photos as iPhones don't respond to gloves, and when you take the gloves off at 15 below it's very painful after a short time. Anyway it was an absolutely stunning view, even though it was a bit overcrowded at the top. After sunset the temperature dropped so quickly that we took no convincing of the need to hurry down to a warm fire and dinner.

Three Passes Trek Day 13 & 14

Three Passes Trek Day 13 - Thursday November 10. Chukhung to Lobuche over the Kongma La pass (5545metres) The trek over Kongma La, the first of the 3 passes, was by far the toughest day of the trek so far (and hopefully will remain that way). I'm now in the relative luxury of the 'Guest House for EBC' which can be recognised by its bright orange colour, where we've decided to take a rest day to recover. At this point the trek rejoins the EBC route, having separated from it 4 days ago at Dingboche. We strongly recommend prospective travelers on this trek to figure in a rest day here or at least allow a couple of extra days overall just to make sure you have the option of taking a break when you need one. If you follow the itinerary in the guide book and various websites from organised tours you'll find that today's agenda involves 6 hours walking to Gorak Shep, Everest base camp and then back to Gorak Shep. Anyway, just to recap, the trek over the pass went a bit like this: We woke at 5am, packed our bags, drank lots of fluids and were ready to leave at 6 as arranged. We'd given Phuri, our porter/guide the previous day off, so he hiked back to his home village and hadn't shown up the previous evening as arranged. As he still didn't appear, we set off with full packs, a bit of a strain under normal circumstances, but even more so when ascending more than 1000m t the pass (and down again). About 10-15 min along the trail, we came to a creek crossing about 2.5 to 3 metres wide, but with barely visible stepping stones covered with ice. We couldn't figure out a safe path across, so in the end we decided to jump across. There was no way we could manage it with our backpacks on, so we decided to throw them across. With a 1, 2, 3 heave action we somehow managed to sling them across (with a slight helicopter spin) without them getting wet or breaking anything. Next, I took the took the first jump off a 2 step run up and landed on the opposite side without breaking any bones. I turned around to see if Sama was ready to jump, but she was looking the other way at the approaching figure of Phuri, who had turned up after all and had hurried along after us. Phuri quickly grabbed a couple of flat stones and with no fuss whatsoever placed them in strategic spots for Sama to walk across the creek as though it was the simplest manoeuvre ever undertaken. After swapping around backpacks, we continued on our way with Phuri shouldering the heaviest load. It was fortunate for us that he made it, as it turned out to be a torturous 4 hour ascent, with lots of steep slopes. As we got higher we found ourselves stopping every few minutes to catch our breath. The atmosphere has about 50 percent less oxygen at this altitude (5545 metres). There were several places where the path was unclear and we would have probably wasted a fair bit of time and energy had we not had Phuri with us, who had been walking the trek for years.

After an unquantifiable amount of effort, exertion, sweat, determination and (admittedly) a little self doubt, we reached the Kongma La. It was difficult to decide which way to look as the views in both directions were magnificent even by Himalayan standards. Then with little fanfare we passed beneath he strings of prayer flags and commenced our descent, which was very steep and difficult to maintain balance and stability.

I tried using my trekking poles for only the second time. They helped a little but kept collapsing in on their own telescopic mechanism so I gave up after a while. Sama, who is a mountain goat by nature, found that part easy and kept having to wait for me to catch up. Cheap trekking poles from Kathmandu cheap stalls are officially the least useful piece of technology to bring with you. We reached the base on the other side of the pass and stopped for about 15 min to devour some snacks that we'd brought, but the hard part wasn't quite over. After crossing a nice flat stretch of terrain the rest of the journey involved climbing and descending a series of glacial dunes. After the first few I mentally renounced the idea of it ever ending, so it was with some surprise as well as relief that we came over the final mound to see Lobuche looming below, with the orange coloured tea house we'd been recommended glaring at us like a beacon of hope.... haven't moved far away from it since (except for a 2hour walk this morning and this post is already getting a bit long, so I'll leave it out).

Three Passes Trek Day 12.

Three Passes Trek Day 12 - Chukhung to Chukhung Ri and return. (5550m). We'd 9 November A tough, very steep, 2 hour climb up Chukhung Ri, followed by less than 1'hour descent. Still not feeling 100 percent after yesterday. Ate 2 eggs for breakfast and a bowl of muesli for earlyish lunch. Hopefully that will help get my internal mechanisms moving (been a bit constipated). The steep climb this morning offered beautiful views of the surrounding mountains, valleys and lakes, but has again left me fatigued and I'm wondering if I'll have enough strength to take on the Kongma La pass tomorrow.

...LATER.... had an hour's sleep, filled water from glacial melt streams (with water thousands of years old???). A nice pot of masala chai back at the tea house ("Chukhung Resort"), had a couple more boiled eggs which seem to have settled my stomach and a relaxing afternoon reading books on the kin, doing a bit of wifi-ing, etc ... chatted with an interesting trio from Holland, UK and Chile who have been doing the trek in the opposite direction, having already done the Annapurna trek immediately beforehand, and learned numerous helpful bits of info.

Three Passes Trek Day 11

Three Passes Trek Day 11 - Chukhung to Island Peak base camp (and return). You really know you've reached the cold part of the trek when you wake up to find the drinking water bottle has frozen over and won't pour. IMPORTANT TIP: always order a "large pot" of mint tea or hot water the night before. These 3 litre thermoses stay warm all night, and are great to nix with frozen drinking water or just have straight. Fortunately we already figured this out from our previous trek 6 years ago, so we had it all set up and ready to go. A beautiful 2 hour walk out to Island Peak base camp this morning and slightly shorter coming back, so about 4 hours total including a 20 min stop for breakfast. The environment is becoming increasingly bleak, with grey-gravelly glaciers and moraines forming moonscapes devoid of vegetation. The mountains, as always are still majestic and awe-inspiring. Purih, our porter/guide (more of a guide today as nothing to carry) was able to tell us the names of most of them. He also pointed out a small army post that had been set up to pump water out of a glacial lake to reduce the risk of GLOFs (described earlier).

As we continued on our way to Island Peak base camp I began to feel increasingly weak and found it difficult to progress forward. We nevertheless made it there but I had to sit on a stone bench while Sama and Purih explored higher to view the lake. I only made it through half of my chapati and omelette before feeling too queasy to eat. Somehow stumbled home, which was quite an easy walk with mostly gentle decline, before sleeping for an hour and a half. Woke up feeling groggy and still pretty queasy. Spent most of the afternoon reading and using the wifi to send messages and check news. Wifi adds a whole new dimension to trekking that never existed before, which is nice at times but all the same takes away some of that feeling of being remote and on an adventure. Hopefully I'll be feeling OK tomorrow to go up Chukhung Ri, 5550m, as our last prep before taking on the Kongma La pass.

Three Passes Trek Day 10

Three Passes Trek Day 10 (Nov 7) - Dingboche to Chukhung Dingboche to Chukhung was a short leg that only took is 1:30min, which we did before breakfast. But there was no point in going further as we have to stay here and do some acclimatisation walks. It's a little higher here and freezing cold. We already changed room once for a room that catches some more sun. So here's a few observations from today (And a kind of beginners exercise in descriptive writing):

Today I've seen a frozen river intertwined with free-flowing water, the H2O thus forming itself int both rocks and water to create a unique display of icy rapids, like something invented for a fairytale Christmas display. I also saw a flock of black birds with yellow beaks soaring above, the highest altitude birds I've ever seen. Who knows what they feed on at these heights where little grows in the way of flora (or fauna). I've heard people talking, discussing, negotiating in 10languages at Oce - Nepali, Tibetan Sherpa dialect, English, Spanish, Dutch, Hebrew, German, Swedish, Polish, etc. etc. All talking at once, all trying to be heard. I've seen trekkers dressed in modern trekking gear and wearing Nepali hats and Sherpas dressed in traditional clothing wearing baseball caps (and everything in between). I've heard (and felt) the icy wind blowing against my ears, nose and hands. I've tasted and consumed ginger tea, coffee, masala tea, freezing cold and warm water, eggs, rice, Dahl and vegetables. I've felt the chill of a cold room and the warmth of a warm room where the windows capture the sun rays. I've seen tall and medium sized mountains, standing proudly and humbly, bearing snow, craggy tops, steep slopes, gentle inclines, landslides, elevated lakes, minimal vegetation, and bearing humans, yaks and other creatures, ferrying them from place to place on their winding paths. I've seen people reading, writing, eating, thinking, laughing, travelling, sitting, being active and feeling the stillness. I've felt the magnificence of the Himalayas and the splendour of its peaks that lives within us all (other than that it was just another average day).

Three Passes Trek Day 9

Three Passes Trek - Day 9 (nov 6). Dingboche to Nangkar Tshang (return).

Bit of a "sleep in" today, got going about 7am to climb the nearby peak of Nangkar Tshang (5325m), first time we've been over 5000m on the trek, as part of the acclimatisation process. Fantastic view, but climbing over 1000m was challenging, often stopping to catch our breath. By the end we were stopping every 100 steps as the air grew thinner and our endurance and stamina came close to exhaustion.

Breakfast at the top of chapattis and eggs, then a more rapid descent, passing the first of the upward going groups around 30 minutes into the descent. Lovely hot showers when we got back, a bit too hot actually, almost scorching. At least we felt clean afterwards. Gelloo, our tea house manager, has arranged a porter for us tomorrow. My recurring shoulder injury has started to reemerge and Sama also has developed a pinched nerve (hopefully temporary) so the porter will be timely. As the oxygen things, the relative weight of things also seems to be much heavier. We met the porter today, a 40 year old Sherpa called Purih. He will be accompanying us for the next 14 days charging Rs2500 per day. (US$25 approx). This sounds quite cheap for someone to lug a 12kg bag while carry less than 5 kg each, but it's actually the top rate for a porter, and from his point of view quite a light load. He will also get quite a few rest days along the way while we make side trips. But from our point of view it will make some of the longer days more achievable, especially when going over the 3 high passes. The THIRD most important piece of technology to pack is multiple pairs of good quality walking socks, with padding in all the right places and including' inners', the 2 layers reducing friction. Neither of us have had even a hint of rubbing, friction or blisters so far.

Three Passes Trek Day 8

Three Passes Trek Day 8 - Pemngboche to Dingboche (4380m).

24 hours later, sitting in another tea house dining room. Just finished another dahl baht, which I'm now digesting, along with all of the other sensory inputs - visual, auditory, social, tactile, etc. it's starting to get just that little bit colder, a strong hint of what awaits us further along the track.
A shorter trek today, just over 2 hours, mostly ascending. Found a very cheap but nice room with adjacent toilet for Rs200 (US$2) facing out into a garden with a window letting in the sunlight. As we arrived early, after some breakfast and a short rest it felt like a rest day.
...it's now a bit later that afternoon in a nearby tea room and I've just ordered a pot of masala tea, which is genuine Indian chai, half way between what is called chai in Australia and strong black milky tea. Nepali chai drank hot on a cold day (all days here are cold) is, in my opinion, the best there is. There are large windows making the most of the sunlight before it sets behind the mountains at around 4:30pm and everything suddenly drops 5 degrees in temperature. We're perched on a hillside above a long river valley and an equally long white cloud that has suddenly engulfed the entire valley in a blanket of mist. Hopefully it will keep us warm tonight. We have a sweeping view of Dingboche from where we sit. It's a mixture of 'tea houses' (generic term for hotels/guest houses), small shops and traditional stone houses with shingle rooves. There are lots of tiny paddocks divided by fences of piled up stones less than a metre high and reminiscent of the Yorkshire dales from British TV shows.

Aside from walking, the trek offers plenty of time to read, write, think and reflect. Last night I finished reading my first novel for the year and have just started another... (Quick digression)...

The SECOND most important piece of technology to pack (after earplugs) is a Kindle. After reading someone's trekking blog who wished they'd had one, I went out a day or two before leaving Australia and bought 2 Kindle paper whites (one each) (my autocorrect is ironically trying to make me write 'paper weights'. ... They weigh about the same as one novel, take up only half the space, the battery lasts for weeks when fully charged, they can hold thousands of books, and, to cap it all off, do not depend on any external light, making it convenient in dimly lit areas, (meaning you can gravitate to the spot near the fire rather than the spot under the light bulb), rooms without electricity or after your travelling companion wants to go to sleep. Aside from a bunch of good novels, we also have travel guides and other relevant non-fiction at fingertips.

...(end of digression)... This journey is also, for me, about taking my time, when I inhabit a world in which there's always a sense of hurry. We have put aside 27 days to complete a trek that some would complete in 18-20 days. This gives us time to stop in each place, explore multiple side journeys that are not on everyone's itinerary and know that there is no hassle should we become delayed or sidetracked. This makes it very relaxing as some people and groups that we've come across seem to be putting themselves under unnecessary pressure, thus reducing their enjoyment of the journey.

Three Passes Trek Day 7

Three Passes Trek Day 7 - Nov 4 - Pengboche to Ana Dablam base camp (return).

Had a good night's sleep, thanks largely to the fact that Sama had remembered from our last trek to pack earplugs, which countered much of the stomping of boots and other activities from Trekkers in rooms adjacent and above. Earplugs are by far the most important piece of technology to pack when going trekking. After yesterday, when I lay in bed at 5:30 this morning the last thing I felt like doing was to get up and start trekking uphill, but I was glad we did. First we descended into a nearby river valley, across a bridge, then a steep climb up the other side, but with quite a few stops to catch our breath and mainly steady ascent we managed to eventually arrive at Ama Dablam base camp a couple of hours later, where we had brekky (pre packed eggs and rice) sitting on a mound of rocks overlooking the ADBC. The base camp itself was an interesting array of perhaps 150-200 tents, grouped into possibly 5 different sets associated with different climbing groups. There were lots of Sherpa camp crew milling around doing various tasks, while the actual climbing parties were already off climbing. We have met several climbers already and they are all climbing either this particular peak (which is for serious climbers) or Island Peak, which is a beginner peak.

Going both up and down (but especially on the way down) the views were again stunning. Even though we are seeing mountains every day they don't get boring and every day there are new angles and approaches that are quite contrasting. Ama Dablam itself is very steep and with a very striking shape that is impressive from every angle. There are so many other mountains whose names we don't know, some shape like pyramids, others like spiky hair or chipped teeth, and lots of smaller ones that just sort of fill in the background. As we ascended this morning they cast the most dramatic shadows across the landscape as the sun rose and we gazed down at Pengboche village far below.

At the moment I am sitting in the dining area of the guest house, this time awaiting the arrival of our Dahl baht. Dahl baht is an all-you-can-eat Nepalese thali consisting of rice, Dahl and vegetables with unlimited top-ups if required. I have this at least once a day. My other Nepalese dish of choice is steamed momos, vegetable dumplings, which the Sherpa people are particularly good at. My least favourite dish is Sherpa porridge, which is thick, doughy and bland, and doesn't really compete with muesli or toast and eggs as morning fare (but the Sherpas seem to like it).

Three Passes Trek Day 6

Three Passes Trek Day 6 - Nov 3 -Namche Bazaar to Pengboche.

Started at 6:00am. Initial climb was a little steep, then an enjoyable first 2 hours of undulating terrain with no other Trekkers on the path. We took a breakfast stop at a tea house, then a tough steep climb for 1 hr 20 min to Tengboche. Tengboche is famous for its monastery, and for being the last place you will see a tree or anything similar for the next couple of weeks. But we didn't stay long, and continued on to Pengboche, an up-and-down leg of the journey, at the end of which we found a cheap-but-functional tea house, which has now turned out to be very crowded with a large group of noisy Serbians enjoying a dice game in the dining area. ... It's now evening and the game continues, but we're sitting nearby anyway to make most of the warmth before dinner (the rooms are all made from plywood in these places and nowhere is warm other than inside a thick sleeping bag or next to a fireplace... The fires are all fuelled with yak dung, which is the only source of fuel above the t we line). We took a well-earned nap in the afternoon but it's left me feeling groggy, but at least the electricity has returned after a 3 hour power cut. Also on the positive side every tea house on this trek boasts a very similar menu including a wide range of delicious food and beverages all of which seem to be readily available. The prices weve been told increase with the altitude but so far very reasonable.