Dec
04
2010Big day today as we made our way all the way down the valley to Phortse. We knew it would take hours so we got an early start, which wasn’t hard because neither Anne nor I slept well last night. I only finally got to sleep at around 3am, and I have no idea about Anne.
It was also possibly the coldest morning yet. The room seemed noticeably colder than previous mornings probably due to the clouds last night. The frost was thick on the window and the water in the water bottle was slushy, the first time we’ve had problems not keeping the water in the sleeping bag.
We rolled out just after breakfast, around 8:20am or so and started slowly down the trail we came up just three days prior. Crossing the river just after the first lake, we made our way quickly down and crossed the river again on a small wooden bridge that was still slippery from the nights frost. Along the way, we crossed over braids of the river several times, finally making our way down the valley following a “contour” which lead us higher and higher above the river falling away in the valley below us. Despite this “contour,” there were still numerous short and steep sections where the trail would fall just to gain back the elevation, some apparently made on what appear to be the whim of whatever yak first walked the path.
We ate lunch at around 12:30pm in Thore, which looked across the valley and down on Dole. Given the long hike thus far, lunch was both well timed and tasty (probably all the more for the appetite we’d worked up going up and down so much). It was also plentiful and Anne and I were both stuffed. Which is exactly the point at which Dorje brought out a whole plate full of boiled potatoes! Anne and I were both touched by the gesture but at the same time horrified that we couldn’t possibly eat a bite of it! In the end, I took the plate back to Dorje, thanking him profusely for the offer and explaining that we were both far too full from the food we ordered to be able to eat any more.
Before leaving I went to go use the toilet. This is relevant because it was possibly the most horrifying toilet I’ve ever used. To get to it, you first had to head around the lodge and down the hill into the yak pasture. There was a small wooden hut with a small square door about the size of a Hobbit. After squeezing through the door, you were greeted with a wooden floor that looked more like my grandfather’s attic than something safe to stand on. Some of the boards were loose, threatening to either give way or fly up and whack you in the shin. Of course the toilet was really just a hole in the floor that meant navigating all the rest of these dangers. Even by standards on the trek it was a little bleak.
Barring mishap in the outhouse, we got under way after a longish rest in the sun. We’d hoped the rest of the way would be downhill to Phortse, but sadly that was not the case. Not more than 10 minutes out of town we again ran into a steep 50m descent followed by an immediate ascent of the same order. Three or four times we rounded corners only to see some steep descent followed immediately by a steep climb to a pass. Anne’s reaction: “Oh God!” It summed up the feeling perfectly and I couldn’t help but chuckle and share the same emotion.
We finally got to Phortse around 4pm, spent some time looking for a lodge and finally found the “Peaceful Lodge.” The name was only partially apt. We picked a comfortable and well-appointed room, unpacked, and then found that there was no key for the door lock. We found the key and found that the door lock didn’t actually work. Finally, we changed rooms moving from room 5 to room 4. We also took some time to do some mundane chores like minimal laundry, trimming nails, and washing up.
Tomorrow we’re off to Dingboche and then Lobuche, though as Dorje is starting to understand better, we’ll change the schedule as desired to fit our needs!
Stats for the day:
Miles: 9.96
Ascent: 505m
Descent: 1389m
Total Time: 7:38
Moving Time: 4:52
Dec
03
2010Today we’d intended to hike to the fifth lake and/or Cho Oyu base camp. We got a pretty early start, with breakfast at 7:30am or so. Since we went to bed so early last night, it was really easy to get up with the dawn. The main dining room was cold as the staff they hadn’t really gotten the fire going much at all. Since the nights get cold (-15 to -20 degrees Celsius) and Gokyo sits in the shade until around 9 or 10, it stays really cold in the lodge until later in the morning. Both of us ordered hot tea and soon we were warming ourselves from the inside out. We both had a quick breakfast and we gathered some boiled eggs for lunch since they packed relatively well and don’t crush easily. Then we headed out.
We made the fourth lake in good time under an outstandingly beautiful and blue sky. Just past the fourth lake, we were walking along in a nice flat section and Anne took to opportunity to blow her nose. At this point, with the cold evenings and dry air, we were both suffering from runny noses. Anne had a worse time of it than I, suffering something much closer to a full blown cold. Anyway, as she blew her nose, she also passed out for a second causing her to careen over to her side only barely catching herself before hitting the ground. I’m sure it was more shocking for me than her, she actually described it afterwards as “quite peaceful,” and while she made a case for continuing on I insisted that we head back and get some rest.
We got back to Gokyo quite quickly (always stunning how quickly you can go downhill) with Anne feeling great and me wondering if I’d done the right thing by turning us back. Anne did, however, take the afternoon to rest while I explored a little of the lateral moraine to the glacier that sit just behind Gokyo. I walked a couple kilometers up the valley on the moraine ridge, looking over the glacier and surrounding peaks up to Cho Oyu. The glacier itself was pretty hard to comprehend in terms of size. It’s also hard to comprehend the mass the glacier has lost and how big it once was as you look out and see the “high glacier mark” etched into the wall of the valley across the glacier. It was several hundred feet from the high point to the surface of the glacier today, and this pretty much constant up and down the miles of glacier to be seen.
I got back to town about one and a half hours after leaving and dried some clothes in the remainder of the sunlight, we both washed off using our trekking wipes (baby wipes for adults), counted our money and sorted out tips for our guide and porter. I also prepped for some evening photography, getting out my tripod, changing filters and the like.
When coming down from Gokyo Ri the previous night, I’d wanted to take some twilight shots of the surrounding mountains but the light was too low. This evening, my intent was to head up Gokyo Ri about 100m or so, break out the tripod, and go crazy. That would allow me a nice overview shot of Gokyo, the lake, and the peaks beyond. Dorje caught me as I was leaving, insisting on coming along and also on carrying my pack. It was a gesture I certainly didn’t turn down! Without the extra weight, we both made really short work of the climb and spent the extra time working our way over the hill and away from the trail to find a nice vantage point that allowed me to see both Gokyo and Cho Oyu. We had to wait about 20 minutes for the sun to set and in that time, the clouds started to roll in. They provided a nice scenic flooring to the valley, but also threatened to obscure the shot entirely in addition to just making it plain cold. Frost quickly started growing on everything exposed to the air. I was able to get some shots before getting completely socked in and bailing for the comfort of a warm fire.
Tomorrow, we’ll head to Phortse, circumnavigating the Cho La pass. Anne and I both don’t think it wise to head over the high pass given her blackout today. It’ll be a long day, but it won’t take more days to get to Gorek Shep and we’ll have the advantage of heading downhill and getting to thicker air, so it’s really no loss at all.
Dec
02
2010Today we rested in the morning in preparation of climbing Gokyo Ri in the afternoon. I woke early, grabbed a hot lemon, and waited for Anne to wake up.
After breakfast, we took the cameras down to the prayer flags marking the “entrance” to the town of Gokyo and took some pictures. There was an especially photogenic yak that moved about, giving us the opportunity to try and capture it against the mountains in the background. All up, it was a pretty restful morning and a nice change from the now daily routine of waking up, packing up, and moving villages.
The previous night, we’d made friends with an Israeli family. They’d taken a year off to travel with their kids, ages 5, 8, and 10, and had trekked up to Gokyo after having completed the Annapurna circuit. The 5 year old had actually walked all the way from Lukla herself, helping reinforce the frequently forgotten notion that kids are actually far more resilient than we give them credit for. Just the day before, the 8 and 10 year olds had “summited” Gokyo Ri. As we returned from our little photo outing, we found the family packing up and making their way back towards Namche.
After lunch, we packed out bags and started the trek to the summit of Gokyo Ri. The trail was really steep, honestly we’d probably call sections of it a goat trail in the Cascades. As such, it took a lot longer than I think either Anne or I had expected. At a couple points, you would think the trail was just about to crest at the summit. However each time the trail would open up before you in a seemingly never ending slog uphill.
We reached the summit of Gokyo Ri around 4pm, in time for some awesome evening light. There were expansive views across a range of famous mountains: Everest, Makalu, Lhotse, Nuptse, Pumori, Cho Oyu, Ama Dablam… It was pretty awesome. As with nearly everything in Nepal, the summit of Gokyo Ri was draped in prayer flags, making the scene that much more interesting. We left the summit before sunset proper, wanting to get back to the lodge before dark and avoid any trouble we might have making our way down the trail.
Needless to say, it was tiring and we both grabbed dinner and went to bed early (around 7:30).
Stats for the day:
Ascent: 718m
Descent: 718m
Total Time: 4:40
Dec
01
2010Woke up early this morning to the now famililar headache. Anne was worse off than I was, a turn from the day before. Regardless, we picked ourselves up and made the hike to Gokyo in about 3.5 hours, rolling in after noon hungry and ready to eat.
The hike in was amazing. There were incredible views of Cho Oyu almost all the way up. We climbed a short and steep section up what looked to be a terminal moraine that lead to the first lake and a cairn fairy land. The first lake was incredibly beautiful, the sort of milky blue like you’d see in Lake Louise, made all the more amazing with the Ruddyshell ducks that were swimming about. The second lake was slightly less awe inspiring, but still a sight to behold. Overall, the scenery was breathtaking, adding a hop to the step in baited anticipation of the next corner.
After we rolled into town and secured the room, we grabbed a quick lunch and Anne settled in for a nap to try and finish off her nagging headache. I was feeling adventurous so I took off for Renjo Pass where there were promised views of Everest and a myriad of other surrounding peaks. It was a tough haul but I made it to 17,050 feet (well short of the pass, but the best I could manage with the remaining daylight) and had some spectacular views of the promised peaks. I blasted back to Gokyo just in time to see the last of the light and secure a warm seat in the dining room.
Stats for the day:
Miles: 4.56
Ascent: 510m
Descent: 131m
Total Time: 3:29
Moving Time: 2:20
Nov
30
2010Hard to believe it’s been almost a week since we started. It certainly doesn’t feel like it! We both woke up this morning with headaches. Anne was up early to try and capture the sunrise and managed to get rid of her headache before we ate breakfast. I wasn’t so lucky. I dosed myself with Advil and Diamox, neither of which helped immediately. We contemplated staying in Macherma for another day to make sure things didn’t get worse, but the prospect of staying another day in the lodge was depressing so we made up our minds to push on.
It was a late start (we’d intended to start a little later anyway, to try and get the sunlight) but the warmth of the sun and the fresh air helped my head immensely and soon I was feeling fine.
We made our way up out of the valley that Dole sits in and got our first glimpse of Cho Oyu. At over 8000m, it’s one of the worlds highest peaks and served as a constant, towering companion as we walked up the valley. The trail had short sections of steep climbing but was mostly a gradual traverse up the 579m we gained to Macherma.
We stopped in Luze for some tea and a longer than expected break. The woman who ran the lodge had the sort of picture perfect, rugged sherpa features that makes one (Anne in this case) pull out the camera and take pictures.
Shortly thereafter we arrived in Macherma. Dorje directed us to the Yeti Lodge and Restaurant, despite our desire to stay at the fancy (and not more expensive) lodge next door. After a short recon, we decided a move was just too much. The beds and the lodge were sufficient and a move was just overkill.
Stats for the day:
Miles: 3.57
Ascent: 579m
Descent: 231m
Total Time: 3:48
Moving Time: 2:04
Nov
29
2010It was a short day today, but that was by design. We climbed 470m to Dole as the next step in our acclimatization process. It turned out to be a good thing because I felt ill in the morning, suffering from some sort of stomach issue. Regardless, we made goo time to Dole, clipping off the couple miles in 2 hours and 5 minutes.
We “checked in” to the Valley View Lodge, quite possibley the most run down place in town. given the condition of my belly, the situation with the bathroom was quite depressing. I’ll spare the details, leaving you just with the fact that I was unhappy. Despite the “modest” surroundings, the lady who runs the place is hard working and very nice, almost allowing you to forget the rest.
I spent the afternoon getting some sleep while Anne read the trekking book and wandered about town (and confirming the assumption that we had the worst looking lodge in town). Good afternoon sunlight also allowed us to dry our remaining wet clothing and charge the iPhone.
Tomorrow we’re off to Macherma for the last trekking day before we hit our first major destination, Gokyo.
Stats for the day:
Miles: 1.63
Ascent: 470m
Descent: 45m
Time: 2:05
Nov
28
2010Today we hiked from Namche and started up the Gokyo valley. To ensure we don’t ascend too quickly, we settled on Phortse Tange (3642m) as a good stop before Dole (4040m).
Coming here, we passed through a town called Mong at just under 4000m, a good primer for the day tomorrow since it will help jump start our acclimatization at that altitude. It’s not like we had a choice anyway, all the trails here seem to go up and down on the whim who knows what, never really following the contour but rather making 20-100m drops and gains repeatedly.
In Mong we grabbed lunch and took in the stupendous views overlooking Ama Dablam. We took 45 minutes before dropping nearly straight down to Phortse Tange, some 400m below.
The lodge we stopped at is a nice place. It’s virtually brand new with the rooms above the dining room which will hopefully movie and extra measure of warmth. It’s still not as nice as the Moonlight Lodge in Namche, but we both expect that to be the case for the rest of the trip
Since we got to Phortse Tange so early (just past noon), we decided to engage in some domestic chores. Anne grabbed a hot shower and we both decided to wash some clothes. This was done as you’d expect, by grabbing some cold water from the stream and washing by hand in a large aluminum bowl. Drying was by line and sun, which of course disappeared almost as soon ad we finished. This left us with an interesting dilemma, which we solved when they lit up the stove in the dining room.
Tomorrow we’ll be off to Dole as we continue up to Gokyo.
Stats for the day:
Miles: 4.55
Ascent: 424m
Descent: 451m
Time: 4:05
Nov
27
2010Today we walked up to the Namche “airport” , the Everest View Hotel, through Khumjung, and then back to Namche. The airfield is technically at Syangboche, 500m straight up from Namche and a very “nice” start to the day.
It was a short walk from there to the Panorama lead us to our first views of Ama Dablam, Everest, Lhotse, Nuptse, and a host of other peaks. It was certainly an “oh WOW!” moment.
At the Everest View Hotel we met up with our friend Chris. He was on our flight to Lukla (the first person on the plane) and stayed in the same hotel with us in Phakding. Australian, he’s a professional photographer so we had a lot to talk about! We had tea together next to a table of apparently wealthy Arabic or Palestinian men. They’d chartered a helicopter to bring them to the hotel and were having an absolute feast, using their own dishes, pouring out champagne, the works… They offered us dates from their homeland (they said from the “holy land”) along with cookies. It was absolutely unreal, the sort of thing you’d see in a movie.
After our dates, it was a brisk and mostly downhill walk to Khumjung. In Khumjung we stopped by a gompa that supposedly had a yeti skull. We paid a small donation to the gompa and tools lots of pictures, both of the “yeti skull” and the gompa itself. From there we made our way to just outside the Hillary school where we had lunch.
After lunch, we walked back to Namche. Along the way we passed the longest mane wall in all of Nepal. Manes are stones on which prayers are written. They’re inscribed on massive boulders as well as on small slate tablets, which are piled up to form either a domed shape or in more extreme examples, long walls. Here the wall was some 200m in length. Again, we took scores of pictures before making out way back to Namche for the evening.
Stats for the day:
Miles: 5
Ascent: 593m
Descent: 586m
Time: 5h46
Nov
26
2010As promised in the guide book, it was a long day. We got an 8:30 start from Phakding to make sure we had good daylight for the 7 mile, 1204m journey. All told, including lunch, it took us 6 hours and 40 minutes.
In the morning we made good time, gaining Jorsale (our lunch stop and the last town before Namche) in about 2 hours. The walk to Jorsale itself was both scenic and relatively easy, save some steep sections in the trail. After lunch, we made our way towards “the climb”, a section of steep trail leading to Namche. This started with a steep trail up to a suspended bridge hanging about 100 feet over the river adorned with prayer flags.
It took us a while to make our way up to Namche. The trail was steep and relatively crowded, and we took breaks often to try and catch our breath and keep from working up too much of a sweat. Even after we reached the “top” and were at the outskirts of Namche, we still weren’t done with the climb. We made our way up another 100 or so vertical feel and checked into the police post. While waiting, I asked our guide which hotel we were staying at. He said it was the Moonlight Hotel and pointed it out on the map. We groaned when we realized it was all the way up the hill, literally the last hotel before leaving town on the uphill side. After another 20 minutes of climbing stairs through town, we were finally sitting in our room, tired after the long climb and ready for a warm tea and something to eat.
The hotel itself is actually quite nice, a large step up from the teahouse in Phakding. We found that the owner, Natang Sherpa, lived in Seattle and worked in the area so we had a lot to talk about. He noticed our trekking book and told us that the author had cited him in the forward and sure enough, there he was. It was nice to feel like we had someone trusted, knowledgeable, and well spoken that we could talk to.
Tomorrow, Dorje will be taking us to Khumjung where we hope to have some great views of a full set of peaks including Everest, Ama Dablam, Lhotse, and others I can’t remember the names of. Then we’ll continue on to Khunde and back to Namche. Tomorrow night we’ll determine if we’re feeling well enough to trek to Dole or if we want another rest day.
Generally today we’ve both felt strong, with only minor headaches in the morning. Anne had a headache most of the day, I was able to part with mine when we started walking this morning. No real signs of altitude yet other than moving slightly slower than normal.
As well, we hope to be blessed with good weather during our trip. Dorje was absent this afternoon for a while. Apparently he went to get the blessing of a local lama for a good trip. As part of that blessing, he was given some food to share with us. It was all pretty cool, we just wish we could have been there to participate in the blessing!
Stats for the day:
Miles: 7.04
Ascent: 1204m
Descent: 355m
Total Time: 6:40
Nov
25
2010We flew into Lukla this morning. For those of you not familiar, Lukla is one of the most dangerous airports in the world (at least according to the History Channel) with zero margin for error on the steep 12 percent grade runway. Yes, this is a one shot deal.
We had to get up at 4:30AM to catch a 5h15AM taxi to the airport. Our guide, porter, and travel agent were to meet us at the hotel and sort out all the associated paperwork. We were also to give the travel agent our insurance papers in case he needed to arrange a rescue. Given our restlessness, we were out front at around 5am and our ride was late, just adding to the sense of anticipation.
When it came, we packed the 5 of us (Anne, guide, porter, driver, and myself) into a TINY Subaru, our luggage in an open luggage rack on top of the car with no straps to secure it. We made our way to the airport, the driver driving like he’d never gone to the airport before and the car acting like it was ready to drop the gearbox onto the street. At one point, I was afraid we wouldn’t make it up a short hill!
Finally at the airport, Dorje (our guide) made quickly for the terminal, greeting people all along the way as he carried 20 or 30 pounds of salt for his uncle in Lukla. Dorje whisked us through the airport like he owned the place and in the end, we wound up being second on the plane giving us some pretty great seats with views of the Himalaya in our twin engine, Twin Otter.
The flight to Lukla itself was uneventful save some low level turbulance. We had some great views of the Himalaya on the way into Lukla as well as the terraced farmland of the countryside. After about 30 minutes of flying time, we were on final approach. As we were able to look through the cockpit, it was possible to see the tiny spit of pavement pasted on the side of the hill. Here’s a video of the final minute or so of the journey to the “most dangerous airport in the world.”[wpvideo iPcrF0TL]