The trek was not just successful but it was truly amazing and as I said long ago from Namche Bazaar, we were blessed. I stayed on in Nepal after the trek for several days with Dianne, my sister-in-law from NZ so that she could see a little more of Nepal with me while the rest of the group travelled home to Saudi Arabia. Dianne and I did talk about the trek but we were so busy travelling and experiencing the wonders of Bandipur, a medieval village and Chitwan Park where we rode elephants, saw many rhinos and even more birds (and even leeches, Duffy) that we did not dwell so much on the trek but rather enjoyed what we were doing right then and there. What we did as a group on our trek to Kala Patthar was as a team and I think all of us recognize that. We did well and apart from some minor symptoms of altitude sickness, we stayed remarkably healthy, a tribute to our support group, especially the cook and kitchen staff. They performed in very rudimentary conditions at times and no matter what the weather or camp facilities or even our own appetites, they took good care of us which allowed us even more chances for a safe and healthy summit. Our Sherpas Ganu and Kaliyan, and our Sirdar, Shyam were always there to encourage us on and Razzu, who I would call our director, managed the whole team in a way that made us all feel like VIP’s.

Duffy posted a blog that got us from Namche Bazaar to Dingboche so I will attempt to briefly describe our journey from then to our final days both in Lukla and Kathmandu.  We left Dingboche in sunshine with mountain peaks all around and leisurely (if one can really call hiking uphill above 14,000 feet leisurely!) moved upwards to Dughla where our next camp was. I think I heard that Dughla (also called Thughla) means pain but more on that later. We arrived there for lunch but did another hike for acclimatization in the afternoon to a pass above our camp. There are many memorial chortens in the pass, tributes to Sherpas and trekkers who have died on Mount Everest and I found them very moving. Again there was the reality that at least for now, we were still following in the footsteps of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay who so long ago made this same journey, albeit not with the VIP treatment we had. We retraced our steps down to camp with clouds and colder weather rolling in. What else could we expect at over 15,000 feet! The next day we climbed above Lebouche to a campsite on our own beside a small stream and were now at 16,326 feet. After lunch we climbed a bit higher to the “Italian Pyramid” which a high altitude research center. We were given a brief tour and lecture before retreating back to our camp. http://www.nast.org.np/activities_EK_CNR.html

We all went to bed early that night in preparation for a very early start for our summit bid of Kala Patthar. Not that it was really much earlier than usual as 8 PM was considered late for us. However our wakeup call was at 0330 with a start with headlamps at 0400. Razzu and I had worried for days about whether or not we would have clear weather for Kala Patthar as we had met many other trekkers who had either missed the views completely due to inclement weather or had to wait days for sunny skies. For our group, this was our only crack at it due to our itinerary. Again, the gods were with us and we awoke a star filled night sky. It was probably -5C and my camera soon froze up and Dick put it inside his ski jacket to warm it up. All of us were covered in a light frost as we trekked through the dark until about 0545 when it was light enough to turn off our headlamps. The terrain was for the most part, quite rugged and soon we could see the Khumbu Glacier below and off to the right. As always, we kept to our own pace and some time after 0700, we met up in Gorak Shep, our last stop before the final climb to Kala Patthar. It looked a long ways off to me but I just kept going as the first members of our group emerged from a small lodge where they had enjoyed tea while the rest of us toiled the last steps into Gorak Shep, the last sign of civilization before Kala Patthar, Everest Base Camp and beyond. There are a few lodges there and we did see one campsite but at almost 17,000 feet we had chosen to sleep lower and climb high that day. The first part of the long climb was not difficult terrain but the altitude and the fact that the barometric pressure is half what it is at sea level made it interesting to try to get enough oxygen into our systems so it was slow going. However by late morning almost all of us had made the final ascent and our continued luck had given us the most amazing views of  Everest, Lhotse, Pumori and many more of the highest peaks in the world, all in clear sunny skies. We could see the many tents of an expedition preparing to summit Everest at Base Camp and even one small black tent way up at Camp IV. We had met our individual challenges and were well rewarded for all of our training and efforts. Though it had been hard work, we all knew that what we had done was so worth it. We had a long trek back and after a quick lunch stop in Gorak Shep we continued up and down (as always there is no real route uphill or downhill but a continous series of ups and downs) past our early morning start site right back down to Dughla (remember the word painful?) where our camp was set up and hot tea awaited each of us as we trudged into the tiny village. I could not stop smiling even after being on the trail for 13 hours and 33 minutes. We had done it!

Of course, getting to the top over many days meant also a few days trekking back to Lukla though our itinerary did allow us to do much of it on different trails. We had an early start from Dughla and our first stop was in Pheriche at 14,014 feet where there is a high altitude hospital manned by 3 volunteer doctors for the trekking seasons in the fall and in the spring. We had a brief tour of the facilites and learned that often they see between 10 and 30 patients in a day. The day before a helicoptor had been brought in to evacuate a Taiwanese man who had become so ill with pulmonary edema at Dingboche below, that he was brought up on horseback for treatment and eventually evacuation. This again brought home the fact that we had all done well and though  minor effects of altitude had been experienced by some in our group, we had escaped anything serious. We continued on to Tengboche where our advance staff had got us the best campsite in town, with spectacular views yet again of the mountains and the valleys below, not to mention the monastery just below us. For those of us up early the next morning we got photos of Everest taken literally from in front of our tents. The motto, ”you snooze, you lose” proved true for those who slept in because soon after, the clouds closed in and a fog enveloped us. Following  breakfast we headed down again and as the skies cleared we were rewarded with the sights of parachutists and their plane who had dropped them above 29,000 feet to land at Sangboche above Namche Bazaar. We had met the film crew and many of the jumpers and their support staff in Namche and on the way up to Tengboche days before and now got to see their efforts for real. Perhaps that made up for the fact that once we descended to the river we had a long slog up  the steep hill we had come down many days before but it did not seem so bad on this day. I suppose also that we were in much better shape too! Instead of heading for Namche our itinerary had us climb a bit higher to Kumjung, a government sponsored agricultural village, which appeared to be quite prosperous. We camped in the garden of a new Tibetan style lodge and the hosts were so warm and welcoming that even though it was cold and cloudy we all enjoyed ourselves eating, drinking and playing games. Some even ventured to have showers though Dick and I saved ourselves for Phakding, our detination the next day. After all, it had been 9 or so days so what was one more day! We also were allowed admission to the monasterty above the village where we were granted permission by the caretaker to photo the yeti scalp normally locked up in the monastery.   

We desended the next day through Namche Bazaar and headed down the steep trail, stopping only to take the last photos of Everest at a point where on our ascent the famous mountain had been covered with cloud. Late in the afternoon we reached Phakding only to find that the lodge in our campgrounds was full and so no showers for the campers. Oh well we said, only 1 more day and instead we sent out for some Khukri XXX rum and celebrated. There was much to celebrate and the entire camp staff thought so too as they entertained us with Nepali singing and dancing following our last supper. They drank chang, a local fermented beverage. Razzu and I let the secret out of the bag, and all were happy to discover that our last night in Lukla was to be in a lodge and in the deluxe wing at that! The trek to Lukla the next day had the usual ups and downs and naturally the last steps were on a steep hill into town. On our way out of Lukla almost 2 weeks before I had remembered seeing trekkers who did not seem very enthusiastic and there had been few smiles. Perhaps the late monsoons had dampened their spirits or they were just too  tired but I smiled all the way up the hill and encouraged those heading down, that they had much to look forrward to. As you know, tradegy struck  the next morning with the Yeti Air crash and we spent a sobering extra day in Lukla. Razzu worked hard to get us out the following day on a AGNI flight on a Dornier plane. We watched others pile in and out of a Second World War plane along with their luggage but without seatbelts or even seats. With a big backlog of flights people were willing to do whatever they could to either fly in or out. Razzu treated us that night with an amazing farewell BBQ in the gardens of the Nirvana Garden Hotel. Other than chicken twice and some canned Spam type meat we had been vegetarian for almost two weeks so that was a big treat for some. After many speeches and much laughter we headed off to bed with a real sense of well being and thanks for all that we had experienced. Although it was said to have been the hardest thing each of us had done, I think many of us will trek again in Nepal and other places. I know that for myself, having trekked in the Annapurnas and now on the Everest side, this is just the beginning. Dick and I hope to do Jomson and Mustang maybe in 2010.

Many thanks both to the group and to all those who made it possible.

Namaste,

Marian

 

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