Once checked in we took a bus to our prop plane, loaded up and took off for 9200 feet. According to the pilot when we were seven minutes out our plane turned around since they couldn't see the runway, I guess this is a normal occurrence. We came back to the Kathmandu airport, chilled for a few hours before they canceled that flight, switched us to the next morning & after collecting our baggage it was another cab ride back to the hotel. We checked back in, found some lunch and after a nap wandered around an area called Durbar Square. 
(Considered one of those "must-see" attractions in Kathmandu.) Once the sun went down we caught a rickshaw (with the three of us in the carriage, that poor kid) back and passed out by 9pm since we had another early flight attempt the next morning.Now Day One: After the same airport ritual I had a front row mountain-view seat in our ride up into the Himalayas, it was gorgeous although I wasn't sure exactly what peaks I was seeing. After 45 minutes and the craziest airstrip I've ever touched down on
(it's on the side of a cliff and uphill, probably only 100 yards long) we were in Lukla gathering our bags and heading to a tea house for some breakfast & repacking. Once on the trail we had our first experiences with Yak's, an animal very similar to the cow but with more dexterity & potential anger. (I hear, one of the trail warnings was that we were to always pass uphill since the yak has a tendency to check hikers off the side with their horns or massive loads.) 
The beginning was simple, mostly downhill since Lukla is situated on the side of a mountain and most of our trekking was in the Dudh Kosi Valley. (Kosi means river) This was also our first impressions of the local Himalayans, (a.k.a. the Sherpa People) who have the worldwide reputation as the toughest climbers that can tolerate the heaviest loads. They did not disappoint, because of the lack of funds and supplies in these higher regions they actually wear a strap connected from the bottom of their basket or makeshift framework around their forehead, an interesting method that contributes to some of the most developed neck muscles I've ever seen. This combined with the shoulder straps is the system that has been used for decades to deliver supplies to climbers and their supporting villages all the way up to over 18,000 feet. Anyway, down and up and down and up, winding our way through the small villages, across bombproof suspension bridges made for overly burdened yak herds and their handlers while spinning Buddhist prayer wheels for luck and staring up the valley at Kusum Kangguru, (20,889 feet) an amazing peak covered by snow reflecting the morning sun.There are so many differences here, details only a culture this old and established could develop into a style that can always be added to, but never look unfinished. Huge boulders would mark important areas, and each of those boulders no matter what size would have carved & painted what I'm assuming Buddhist lettering hopefully protecting or blessing whoever might pass by.
Broken stone tablets would line the path dividing herds from walkers, and prayer flags... I can't even begin to tell you how many of these colorful Tibetan banners were tied to the trees, roof tops & bridges everywhere we looked. It was unreal & overdone, but not in a trashy way, more like an overly protective way which in a range as serious as the Himalayas can never be a bad thing. After about three hours we passed through Phakding, our original first nights lodging but since we were now a day behind schedule we decided to push through to our second nights accommodation and location of our first rest day, Namchee Bazaar. It was far but we felt great, Jablow had over packed so we spread his load around and made a push past the gorgeous rock faces with their thread-like waterfalls through an ancient pine forest into the town of Mondzo. (A place we were warned not to go past on our first day since the final uphill to Namche is a bitch.) Anyway, we did and paid our 1000 rupee toll (just over $13) into the Sagarmatha National Park winding further up the valley and across a long bridge to the start of the final uphill where two rivers converged. I'm not gonna lie, this killed me, it was the end of a nine hour eleven mile day hovering around the 10,000 foot mark and my steps were small. Additionally every time I stopped gnats would swarm all over me and they bite! So the gnats would whip me on as I followed my friends slowly up the mountain's switchbacks for over 2300 feet of elevation gain till I finally rounded a corner and saw we had made it near the top. We saw a large guesthouse near the center of the village called the Khumbu Lodge and found three beds for just over $1 a piece, the catch is for that fantastic discount they expect you to eat there, which was fine since the weather was turning and the smells from the kitchen were intoxicating to our starving stomachs. We ordered the Yak Sizzlers, 
a cast-iron skillet with strips of yak steak, noodles & veggies brought out piping hot, it was awesome and when we asked if this was the type of dinners to be expected along the way they told us that the meat any higher can't be relied upon, bummer but a good warning none-the-less. We met several climbers who had just summitted, one was 17 named Johnny from Malibu, we were impressed and spent some time chatting about his last summit in Australia, (He's about to finish the seven highest summits on the seven continents) and what's been going on in the outside world since he's been on Everest for the past month and a half. That nights sleep was solid. The next morning my co-trekkers tried to wake me for a morning rain hike, I wasn't in, I needed some good food and chill time. During that rainy rest day we boiled water since the prices on bottled water were rising with the elevation, purchased some "waterproof" pants since the weather seemed to be leaning that way and had another great dinner before an early night to bed.
The next morning (Day 3) we had some breakfast, packed for a wet walk since the rain hadn't let up & stashed some extra gear we figured was not needed for our trek at the Khumbu Lodge since we knew we would be coming back that way.
We were doing quite a bit of uphill this day & with all the rain came what looked like rivers of diarrhea from all of the yak dung liquefying on the trail... so glad I had decent boots with me. Even with the weather we got some decent views while traversing the valleys through a rhododendron forest and climbing another steep hill to Thyangboche, that nights destination four hours from Namchee at 12,687 feet. We found some cheap beds at the Thyangboche Guest House, warmed up by the 
yak dung stove with some mint tea & RA RA Noodles and spent the night drying all of our gear that had gotten soaked on the way up. During the evening our host (Lhakpa) directed us to the local monastery to watch a ceremony that was supposed to help the weather clear, higher elevations were still getting snow and this was messing with the yearly crop, it was an interesting mixture of monks praying and playing instruments. We went to bed with our own prayers that the weather would clear and around 5am we were not disappointed! There it was, straight north up the valley Mount Everest was visible to us for the 1st time! We packed our bags and got on the trail wanting to take full advantage of this break in the weather as quickly as possible.
It's now Day 4 and we were able to get some great pictures, the yak trains were moving past at regular intervals and we couldn't stop staring to the east at Ama Dablam, (22,493 feet) considered one of the world's most beautiful mountains... it has a very unique shape which changes significantly depending on where your looking from. We also passed many trekkers & climbers taking advantage of the weather break and descending along the Imja Khola River until we came within sight of a mountain I'd only ever really read about, Lhotse (27,890 feet) which we knew dominated the valley of our next destination. Once we crossed that river we ascended to the Snow Lion Lodge in Dingboche at 14,272 feet. Mingma was our host, we were the only inhabitants of her establishment and we threw our stuff down in a triple before ordering some food & taking a nap. We were getting up there and waking up meant a dry throat and minor headache which in turn meant dehydration due to elevation, time for dinner and lemon tea, it seemed to solve our problems. We made it another early night since Mingma
had warned us that the weather would be turning bad again and if we wanted a view of the "big one" we might want to fore go the acclimation day and push forward, strange advice from someone who had no customers and seemed to enjoy our company, but she was a Buddhist Sherpani and we figured it best to heed her advice.
Broken stone tablets would line the path dividing herds from walkers, and prayer flags... I can't even begin to tell you how many of these colorful Tibetan banners were tied to the trees, roof tops & bridges everywhere we looked. It was unreal & overdone, but not in a trashy way, more like an overly protective way which in a range as serious as the Himalayas can never be a bad thing. After about three hours we passed through Phakding, our original first nights lodging but since we were now a day behind schedule we decided to push through to our second nights accommodation and location of our first rest day, Namchee Bazaar. It was far but we felt great, Jablow had over packed so we spread his load around and made a push past the gorgeous rock faces with their thread-like waterfalls through an ancient pine forest into the town of Mondzo. (A place we were warned not to go past on our first day since the final uphill to Namche is a bitch.) Anyway, we did and paid our 1000 rupee toll (just over $13) into the Sagarmatha National Park winding further up the valley and across a long bridge to the start of the final uphill where two rivers converged. I'm not gonna lie, this killed me, it was the end of a nine hour eleven mile day hovering around the 10,000 foot mark and my steps were small. Additionally every time I stopped gnats would swarm all over me and they bite! So the gnats would whip me on as I followed my friends slowly up the mountain's switchbacks for over 2300 feet of elevation gain till I finally rounded a corner and saw we had made it near the top. We saw a large guesthouse near the center of the village called the Khumbu Lodge and found three beds for just over $1 a piece, the catch is for that fantastic discount they expect you to eat there, which was fine since the weather was turning and the smells from the kitchen were intoxicating to our starving stomachs. We ordered the Yak Sizzlers, 
a cast-iron skillet with strips of yak steak, noodles & veggies brought out piping hot, it was awesome and when we asked if this was the type of dinners to be expected along the way they told us that the meat any higher can't be relied upon, bummer but a good warning none-the-less. We met several climbers who had just summitted, one was 17 named Johnny from Malibu, we were impressed and spent some time chatting about his last summit in Australia, (He's about to finish the seven highest summits on the seven continents) and what's been going on in the outside world since he's been on Everest for the past month and a half. That nights sleep was solid. The next morning my co-trekkers tried to wake me for a morning rain hike, I wasn't in, I needed some good food and chill time. During that rainy rest day we boiled water since the prices on bottled water were rising with the elevation, purchased some "waterproof" pants since the weather seemed to be leaning that way and had another great dinner before an early night to bed.The next morning (Day 3) we had some breakfast, packed for a wet walk since the rain hadn't let up & stashed some extra gear we figured was not needed for our trek at the Khumbu Lodge since we knew we would be coming back that way.
We were doing quite a bit of uphill this day & with all the rain came what looked like rivers of diarrhea from all of the yak dung liquefying on the trail... so glad I had decent boots with me. Even with the weather we got some decent views while traversing the valleys through a rhododendron forest and climbing another steep hill to Thyangboche, that nights destination four hours from Namchee at 12,687 feet. We found some cheap beds at the Thyangboche Guest House, warmed up by the 
yak dung stove with some mint tea & RA RA Noodles and spent the night drying all of our gear that had gotten soaked on the way up. During the evening our host (Lhakpa) directed us to the local monastery to watch a ceremony that was supposed to help the weather clear, higher elevations were still getting snow and this was messing with the yearly crop, it was an interesting mixture of monks praying and playing instruments. We went to bed with our own prayers that the weather would clear and around 5am we were not disappointed! There it was, straight north up the valley Mount Everest was visible to us for the 1st time! We packed our bags and got on the trail wanting to take full advantage of this break in the weather as quickly as possible.It's now Day 4 and we were able to get some great pictures, the yak trains were moving past at regular intervals and we couldn't stop staring to the east at Ama Dablam, (22,493 feet) considered one of the world's most beautiful mountains... it has a very unique shape which changes significantly depending on where your looking from. We also passed many trekkers & climbers taking advantage of the weather break and descending along the Imja Khola River until we came within sight of a mountain I'd only ever really read about, Lhotse (27,890 feet) which we knew dominated the valley of our next destination. Once we crossed that river we ascended to the Snow Lion Lodge in Dingboche at 14,272 feet. Mingma was our host, we were the only inhabitants of her establishment and we threw our stuff down in a triple before ordering some food & taking a nap. We were getting up there and waking up meant a dry throat and minor headache which in turn meant dehydration due to elevation, time for dinner and lemon tea, it seemed to solve our problems. We made it another early night since Mingma
had warned us that the weather would be turning bad again and if we wanted a view of the "big one" we might want to fore go the acclimation day and push forward, strange advice from someone who had no customers and seemed to enjoy our company, but she was a Buddhist Sherpani and we figured it best to heed her advice.Day 5 started out overcast, but we pushed forward up the valley after a nice breakfast of apple pancakes. Our trail started past a few "Chortens" - Buddhist shrines on ridge tops seemingly built to watch over things. We traversed the Khumba Valley as a storm moved in and dumped mild snow, passed through the Yak Herders Village of Dusa 
and then dropped down to the main trail which crossed the glacial torrent (a rippin' creek) near the town of Dughla. Since the weather was turning for the worse we stopped into another tea house for some, and potatoes, then prepared for the more serious weather which we would be dealing with on our way to the next village. We hiked up a moraine, which is basically a random rocky creek bed created by the receding glacier, but at this point it was in white-out conditions
and a creek had formed in the main trail. At the top were many memorials to lost Sherpas & climbers, the most famous one (that I'm aware of) being Scott Fischer who died in the 1996 disaster portrayed in Jon Krakauer's book "Into Thin Air," my first inspiration towards the Himalayas. After some chill time we progressed through the valley as the weather cleared and we had our first real experience with that thin air, or lack of atmosphere. Scott had been the only one vigilant against the harsh UV rays reflection off of the snow but Andrew & I’s noses both saw some sun. Along the way, since the melt was on and the snow was over (for now) I started to see some of the various wildlife as well as Pumori, (23,494 feet) the peak that towers over our eventual elevation goal of Kala Pattar. Additionally it seemed the Sherpas loads kept getting larger as we moved up the valley, this guy was taking a break every five minutes or so. 
and then dropped down to the main trail which crossed the glacial torrent (a rippin' creek) near the town of Dughla. Since the weather was turning for the worse we stopped into another tea house for some, and potatoes, then prepared for the more serious weather which we would be dealing with on our way to the next village. We hiked up a moraine, which is basically a random rocky creek bed created by the receding glacier, but at this point it was in white-out conditions
and a creek had formed in the main trail. At the top were many memorials to lost Sherpas & climbers, the most famous one (that I'm aware of) being Scott Fischer who died in the 1996 disaster portrayed in Jon Krakauer's book "Into Thin Air," my first inspiration towards the Himalayas. After some chill time we progressed through the valley as the weather cleared and we had our first real experience with that thin air, or lack of atmosphere. Scott had been the only one vigilant against the harsh UV rays reflection off of the snow but Andrew & I’s noses both saw some sun. Along the way, since the melt was on and the snow was over (for now) I started to see some of the various wildlife as well as Pumori, (23,494 feet) the peak that towers over our eventual elevation goal of Kala Pattar. Additionally it seemed the Sherpas loads kept getting larger as we moved up the valley, this guy was taking a break every five minutes or so. 
With plenty of daylight left we stumbled into Lobuche, almost another 2000 feet above our previous tea house at 16,175 feet… we had had the Sherpa Lodge recommended to us so we landed there for some more Ra Ra Noodles, Lemon Tea & what was turning into our daily nap. I was surprisingly refreshed when woken up for dinner which eventually turned into chatting with other trekkers about the Everest Marathon the next day, potential upper mountain conditions & surprisingly the regularity & consistency of bowel movements. (Yes, I guess these things do become general discussions among men AND women when over 4000 meters.) That night turned into our coldest nights sleep yet, I was very happy to have my down bag with me.
Day 6, we woke up semi-early to an incredible morning, Nuptse, the eastern cousin of Everest at 25,791 feet, was glorious. The sun was out and it was the 56th anniversary of Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Sir Edmund Hillary's ascent of Mount Everest. (May 29, 1953) First thing we pumped water, but the water we found had a fuel-ee smell so we searched for "their" source and discovered it... there was no aroma which was an improvement I guess? No worries. Next I snapped some shots since the air quality was clearer than I've ever seen until the sun was fully up, ordered a pot of coffee with our breakfast & thought about continuing although officially today was supposed to be another rest/acclimation day. While waiting the marathon started running by, these guys are amazing, 
it had been 50 minutes since they'd left Base Camp (running down) and it was going to take us at least an additional six hours to ascend to that same spot! Later than usual (11:30am) but with a gorgeous day spread out before us & things seeming to run smoothly we decided to make the attempt on our final base camp, two hours north up and down ridges competing with yaks for trail space and forcing our lungs to breath the thinnest air we've ever hiked in, it was intense, and surreal, I'll never forget it. 
We knew that once along the Khumbu Glacier and into the valley at the base of (barely visable at the time in the clouds) Kala Pattar, our summit trail was waiting, and we were ready to summit whenever the weather offered the most likely view of Chomolungma. (The Tibetan name for Everest) We descended into Gorek Shep and checked into the Buddha Lodge, the highest place any of us have ever slept at 17,008 feet, and since the rooms were directly above the stove and warm we did just that after a small hike wandering this three teahouse village so close to the roof of the world while listening to the avalanches falling off of Nuptse.
it had been 50 minutes since they'd left Base Camp (running down) and it was going to take us at least an additional six hours to ascend to that same spot! Later than usual (11:30am) but with a gorgeous day spread out before us & things seeming to run smoothly we decided to make the attempt on our final base camp, two hours north up and down ridges competing with yaks for trail space and forcing our lungs to breath the thinnest air we've ever hiked in, it was intense, and surreal, I'll never forget it. 
We knew that once along the Khumbu Glacier and into the valley at the base of (barely visable at the time in the clouds) Kala Pattar, our summit trail was waiting, and we were ready to summit whenever the weather offered the most likely view of Chomolungma. (The Tibetan name for Everest) We descended into Gorek Shep and checked into the Buddha Lodge, the highest place any of us have ever slept at 17,008 feet, and since the rooms were directly above the stove and warm we did just that after a small hike wandering this three teahouse village so close to the roof of the world while listening to the avalanches falling off of Nuptse.NO REST DAYS, NO PROBLEM, mostly, I mean headaches are normal so if that's all that happens and we accomplish our goals does it really matter? I guess we shall see, that night I drank more Lemon Tea with a light dinner and passed out around 8pm.
It was Day 7, 4:30 am and was already starting to get light out. Gough was waiting at the base of the trail before 5am, Jablow & I met him there, it was clear and promising and looking like an amazing day. The three people ahead of us on the trail stopped at the first saddle, we powered through them since icey snow or not, we were getting up this supposed walk-up conditions trail weather permitting or not. Two hours later and my boots only slipped when I was busy staring at the amazing black pyramid called Sagarmatha by the Nepalese, and Mount Everest by the World. (29,028 feet) It's by far the highest and most windblown causing it to stick out from whichever direction it's being viewed... brilliant. I saw a brief cloud threaten to cover and sprinted to the summit of Kala Pattar, (18,448 feet) it nearly killed me on two accounts: Sea level dwellers should not run over 18,000 feet; and the western edge is a shear drop which thank the Buddhists, is well marked by prayer flags and stacked rocks. I shot some video and took way too many pictures as usual, high-fived my friends and enjoyed the hell out of the next hour or so. 
It was only the three of us on this summit with the most glorious sunrise over a mountain range I've ever witnessed, and we lived it up. Pumori, Nuptse, Llotse, Everest, all the great ones right there in my face. I knew this would be amazing but the shear magnitude of their presence was overwhelming in the most impressive way possible. As soon as someone else ascending came into view we started our descent, the one time I wished I had some sort of mountaineering protection on the entire trip - it was icey and my boots were worn smooth from years on SoCal rock, but I made it down with no problems and back to the Buddha Lodge for PB & Honey Pancakes.
It was only the three of us on this summit with the most glorious sunrise over a mountain range I've ever witnessed, and we lived it up. Pumori, Nuptse, Llotse, Everest, all the great ones right there in my face. I knew this would be amazing but the shear magnitude of their presence was overwhelming in the most impressive way possible. As soon as someone else ascending came into view we started our descent, the one time I wished I had some sort of mountaineering protection on the entire trip - it was icey and my boots were worn smooth from years on SoCal rock, but I made it down with no problems and back to the Buddha Lodge for PB & Honey Pancakes.OK then! Two hour nap, we were on a fucking mission to get to base camp and back before the weather closed in, it wasn’t looking good. Base camp was a four to six hour round-trip on rough terrain, right on, it was not easy especially at 18,000 feet. For those of you that have read my blog from New Zealand’s Mount Cook/Hooker Glacier area you’ll remember that I was in this situation before: Sometimes trails aren’t perfect, we ran into some acquaintences (Paula & Al, who just happen to be from New Zealand as well) and they warned us that they had just witnessed a rock fall (small avalanche) from above the trail hit a yak, no shit, we saw the blood on the rocks and everything! So of course we were very careful to always have an escape route should a boulder decide to drop onto the trail or further down onto the ice. Who would have known such a popular route could be so treacherous, we made it onto the glacier with no problems.
We passed the lower camp and made our way to the icefall, we were all draggin’ and by some miracle three plastic chairs materialized… we made good use of them while staring at the Khumba Icefall and the impending storm. After chatting with some local guides that seemed to be living up there we started down, and so did the snow. It got pretty thick so we made sure to stay close through the “danger zone” and after two hours and some swampy trails we made it back to our Lodge for some warming up & dinner with the Kiwi’s which we were now fairly chummy with but for some reason I never got their email address...
We passed the lower camp and made our way to the icefall, we were all draggin’ and by some miracle three plastic chairs materialized… we made good use of them while staring at the Khumba Icefall and the impending storm. After chatting with some local guides that seemed to be living up there we started down, and so did the snow. It got pretty thick so we made sure to stay close through the “danger zone” and after two hours and some swampy trails we made it back to our Lodge for some warming up & dinner with the Kiwi’s which we were now fairly chummy with but for some reason I never got their email address...
Anyway, the next morning was rough, we hadn't really gotten much sleep due to the headaches so we got our shit together to move down. It was crappy out, no summit views for anyone that day, and definitely not a time I'd choose to hike because, well, basically it started as a wet blizzard that tapered to a thick cloud, over four hours, down what it had taken us two days to ascend, our goal was Pheriche (13,911 feet) - somehow I was mostly dry at the end, but because we had come down so fast I was really sore for the first time. I think moving up so quickly numbed my nerves so physically I felt fine, as soon as they were bathed once again in o2 I was hurting, but the Himalayan Hotel, a decent grilled cheese and a nap made things quite better. This place, although we didn't stay very long, was classy and tasty, twas a shame the room was so cold even for a triple. We hung around the dung furnace till we hoped the headaches would stay mellow and made it an early night. It had cleared so we had high hopes of the next days conditions.
Day 9 WAS gorgeous, I was actually motivated to purify water and get the party started. I ordered some Chipati Bread, an onion & cheese omelette and with a little chili sauce had a makeshift burrito to start the day. We packed and got on the trail, again descending seemed like a healthy move and taking advantage of good weather is never really a bad idea, none of us were feeling more than muscle tendernous but it was "painfully" obvious we could use some advil or something to ease the aching. We crossed the creek from Pheriche (this is the view back up the valley)
and had an easy walk down until we came to the hill heading back up to Thyangboche, ugh. My motivation was a 60 year old woman carrying her 40 pound load and passing me, once to the top we could look back at where the black pyramid rose through the clouds, and the rest of the valley we had just walked through. We strolled back through the monk-filled village on our way to the edge of town for a lunch stop. (We still had some camper's meals to finish up before heading out of the mountains.)
After that it was down a big hill, pump some water and up another huge hill passing sherpas carrying tremendous piles of wood on their backs. We had light loads so time seemed to be going fast, until the turn for Kumjung, a village a few thousand feet above Namche Bazaar with a good reputation that we felt we had time to check out. Serendipity placed us outside of the same Guest House our New Zealand friends were staying at, but we were on a mission to get down to Namche that night to collect our gear and be ready for a morning phone call to verify our flight the following day.
So on we hiked, up over the hill through a concert with some pretty hip house music if I do say so myself, (we were in the middle of Nowhere and anything short of Monk noises would have satisfied my thirst for something with more feeling, no offense Buddha!) over the hill and down into the Namche Valley, such a picturesque city from this vantage I had to include this shot.
So another hour or so down into the village known as the Sherpa Capital and again we run into a trail acquaintance, Mischa who we had helped out in Thyangboche seven days earlier with some Cipro, was wandering back from a monestary. So after checking back into the Khumbu Lodge and eating some dinner I joined him for a drink at the local watering hole. It was here I discovered Nepal has no drinking age, as twelve year olds played pool while I did whiskey shots. I didn't last long since we'd done nine I think? miles that day... so after a quick high altitude buzz I was in bed by 9pm.
and had an easy walk down until we came to the hill heading back up to Thyangboche, ugh. My motivation was a 60 year old woman carrying her 40 pound load and passing me, once to the top we could look back at where the black pyramid rose through the clouds, and the rest of the valley we had just walked through. We strolled back through the monk-filled village on our way to the edge of town for a lunch stop. (We still had some camper's meals to finish up before heading out of the mountains.)
After that it was down a big hill, pump some water and up another huge hill passing sherpas carrying tremendous piles of wood on their backs. We had light loads so time seemed to be going fast, until the turn for Kumjung, a village a few thousand feet above Namche Bazaar with a good reputation that we felt we had time to check out. Serendipity placed us outside of the same Guest House our New Zealand friends were staying at, but we were on a mission to get down to Namche that night to collect our gear and be ready for a morning phone call to verify our flight the following day.So on we hiked, up over the hill through a concert with some pretty hip house music if I do say so myself, (we were in the middle of Nowhere and anything short of Monk noises would have satisfied my thirst for something with more feeling, no offense Buddha!) over the hill and down into the Namche Valley, such a picturesque city from this vantage I had to include this shot.
So another hour or so down into the village known as the Sherpa Capital and again we run into a trail acquaintance, Mischa who we had helped out in Thyangboche seven days earlier with some Cipro, was wandering back from a monestary. So after checking back into the Khumbu Lodge and eating some dinner I joined him for a drink at the local watering hole. It was here I discovered Nepal has no drinking age, as twelve year olds played pool while I did whiskey shots. I didn't last long since we'd done nine I think? miles that day... so after a quick high altitude buzz I was in bed by 9pm.
The next day I wandered out early for some souvenirs and pastries since this area claims bakeries, the one I found open was nothing special and the trinkets I picked up to carry down the mountain have left a much more positive memory in my mind. We got a message through to Yeti Air with the help of Pemba (our host) and started our eleven mile descent to Lukla. I was too exhausted to enjoy this forest on my way up but I sure enjoyed it on the way down, the pine smell actually overtook the yak & mule scents and there were waterfalls drizzling down from the canyon walls to the west. Half way down we came to a small clearing and saw "it" one last time. Mount Everest with a pine frame 
from maybe fifty miles away? Here it is with mild zoom and no effects looking due north. Today the yaks seemed to have off but we saw plenty of mules and more sherpas carrying wood, I'm thinking their cold season is lasting longer than they had planned for. Eventually we came off the hill and hit the park gate, 
I snapped a picture of the trekker's totals board and it's ever increasing numbers, over 30,000 in 2008! Crazy, glad I'm getting up here before it turns into 60,000. A few more miles and we stopped for lunch, it took forever, over an hour and we were more tired when we walked out of there than ready for our last stage. At the top of one of the last hills we pumped some water since that was long gone and around 6:15pm (ten hours after we had started) we stumbled into Lukla and found the North Face Resort, an establishment recommended by our previous nights host. It was a nice place and we got a suite, some filling grub AND we got to DJ our dinner, it was a nice landing to what we knew would be a crazy morning takeoff.
5:30am Day 11, time for a makeshift breakfast burrito and an early flight, we were at the airport by 6:00 for our 7am flight. Security was as lax as ever, I actually had a switchblade in my carry-on, but whatever, I just wanted off this mountainside as safely as possible ;) Two planes came in from another airline before our green Yeti twin prop Otter strolled onto the tarmack... Yes! We loaded up and coasted off the cliff into the southern valleys of the Himalaya, 45 minutes later we were in Katmandu airport looking for a cab to take us back to Thamel, the Potala Guest House and our beds for some rest & refueling. We were back in Kathmandu two days earlier than scheduled and by my calculations some celebrations (as well as getting some laundry done) were in order... Rumdoodle here we come!
from maybe fifty miles away? Here it is with mild zoom and no effects looking due north. Today the yaks seemed to have off but we saw plenty of mules and more sherpas carrying wood, I'm thinking their cold season is lasting longer than they had planned for. Eventually we came off the hill and hit the park gate, 
I snapped a picture of the trekker's totals board and it's ever increasing numbers, over 30,000 in 2008! Crazy, glad I'm getting up here before it turns into 60,000. A few more miles and we stopped for lunch, it took forever, over an hour and we were more tired when we walked out of there than ready for our last stage. At the top of one of the last hills we pumped some water since that was long gone and around 6:15pm (ten hours after we had started) we stumbled into Lukla and found the North Face Resort, an establishment recommended by our previous nights host. It was a nice place and we got a suite, some filling grub AND we got to DJ our dinner, it was a nice landing to what we knew would be a crazy morning takeoff.5:30am Day 11, time for a makeshift breakfast burrito and an early flight, we were at the airport by 6:00 for our 7am flight. Security was as lax as ever, I actually had a switchblade in my carry-on, but whatever, I just wanted off this mountainside as safely as possible ;) Two planes came in from another airline before our green Yeti twin prop Otter strolled onto the tarmack... Yes! We loaded up and coasted off the cliff into the southern valleys of the Himalaya, 45 minutes later we were in Katmandu airport looking for a cab to take us back to Thamel, the Potala Guest House and our beds for some rest & refueling. We were back in Kathmandu two days earlier than scheduled and by my calculations some celebrations (as well as getting some laundry done) were in order... Rumdoodle here we come!
awesome - i can't wait to see the rest of the pictures
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad you took the time to post the story and pictures - I really enjoyed them.
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