Belated finished!

Well, things got tiring and fast as the trip concluded, so here's a summary of how things went:

• Total steps: Approx 370,000 steps for the trek.
• Equivalent building flights climbed: 2700 (every time we ascended it approximately 1 floor it counts, descents don't count).
• Total days hiking: 17
• Total km hiked: Unknown
• Total mars and Snickers bars consumed: too many to ever have any ever again, ever. Half way through got sick of them.
• Total weight lost: approx 5kg
• Belt notches down: 2

Lukla flight was good, not nearly as exciting leaving as landing, but still better than any other airport!

Arrived in Kathmandu and had to wait for driver for van, as an earlier Intrepid group had stolen ours!

Once I got to the hotel, I had a long hot shower sitting on the floor scrubbing my boots and trekking poles for dirt (NZ BioSecurity would have a word otherwise).

We went out that night for dinner and did the big farewells for some of our band of 12 who were flying out really early the next morning, as well has had the formal thanks to our lead guide Prem.

He's a great guy, and I think we all loved him lots.

Oh, that one member I spoke about earlier, who had some trouble fitting in - she turned out all good, after some love and care, helping her understand we needed her, she is part of the team. So that turned out well. She enjoyed her last few days lots.

The next day after getting back to Kathmandu (my final day in th city), we had a group breakfast and began our fond farewells.

I was surprised how closely we had bonded, way more than any other group trip i had done. We were very close, and saying goodbye was very very hard! Since we all lived in different places, it couldn't be "see you later", or "see you next time", but we came up with "see you on the trail sometime!"

Of course Kancha (Andrew) lives in Oakland, so I shall pop up from Sunnyvale and see how he's doing before too long. He's probably heartbroken from having to separate from Dawa! (Assistant guide with whom they both bonded extremely well)

Packing in Kathmandu consisted of taking the contents of my duffle and daypack, selecting the cleanest smelling clothes out, then dumping the rest into a giant plastic bag and shoving in my backpack for travel home... the giant plastic bag was a necessity, once I had a shower and my nose returned to "normal", I discovered the contents of that bag could also double as a chemical warfare weapon.

The flight home wasn't too bad, and involved an overnight (in hotel!) in Singapore. 

I'm currently back in Auckland, preparing for my next big adventure that starts tomorrow - moving to San Francisco!

I don't think I'll journal that trip :)

See you on the trail,

Nick

Lukla airport

Big few days. Had party last night with our porters and assistant guides who would be leaving us today... maybe...

Waiting at Lukla airport for the fog to clear. For some context here, 2 days ago we ran into a group that had been waiting for 3 days for a flight, but finally gave up and hired a helicopter.... so fog clearing isn't necessarily a given.

Made it!

More to come later, but im now sitting in a teahouse in Lukla! tomorrow I catch the plane to Kathmandu.

Namche (Saturday)

So had a small whoopsie on the way down to Namche, and hurt my ankle. Am ok, but took a few more hours than intended. Arrived after dark in Namche.

Resting up, bandaged up, and will see how things are in morning.

Pheriche (Friday)

So the weather was very changable, and whilst at 0520h Kala Patar was clear, 10 mins later it wasn't.

We were "on watch" for the next few hours, but it was snowing and showing no sign of stopping, so we headed off from Gorak Shep, not attempting to summit Kala Patar.

The walk down was great, we dropped around 900m of vertical altitude, and it felt fantastic. The air was noticeably easier to breathe. I will wait till tomorrow morning to see how I feel.

I've had a nagging mountain-cough, and nasuesa for the last week, I'm hoping it'll disappear soon.

Tomorrow we head to Namche, it'll be a long hike, with more ups and downs, but clearly more downs than ups. I'm hoping we don't have to ascend into Namche, those stairs were a killer last time.

Fitness wise it's hard to tell how things are going. Without a doubt the lower altitude is improving things, but I also must be getting fitter too. Will be interesting to see how things are after I've been at (near) sea-level for a week or two.

Gorak Shep (Thursday Evening)

It's 7:30pm, and I'm tucked up in bed, my fingers are cold so I'm typing this with my head inside my sleeping bag, trying to warm up.

It's cold up here. I'm not sure, as I've run out of wifi again, but I've been informed it's definitely at least a 4 degrees below zero. This wouldn't be a big problem, but the teahouse isn't exactly up to grade with its insulation - none. 

Whilst the dining room is warm (ish), I've got a (possibly) big day tomorrow. The highest and toughest peak yet is Kala Patar. It's 5545m (18,200ft) (cf EBC is 5363m). This is the granddaddy of them all for this trip.

There is one caveat, which is we won't do it if the weather isn't favourable, aside from not being able to see anything, it makes it more dangerous, as it can turn very very cold very quickly.

I'm of mixed minds on this summit. Yes, it's the big one, it will be awesome, a big tick, but I only just survived Gokyo Ri. EBC was easier (that's agreed by all in our group).

Kala Patar is rocky scrambling terrain, where your walking pole is both a blessing (aiding in stepping up), and a curse (way too many places to get stuck and trip you up). It's a step initial climb, eases out for awhile, and is then a very step finish. It's a 3 hour hike up. To be honest, I'm not sure how I'll do. But I keep thinking - only one way to find out.

I told Prem last time, I'm gonna keep going until I either reach the top, or he tells me I have to turn back. I will do it on my hands and knees if I have to.

EBC (Thursday)

Woke up this morning in Lobuje, and we headed out around 7am for Gorak Shep, we arrived around 9:30am.

This was our stop for a short while to fill up, change out the contents in our daypack, in preparation for our final trek. 

10:30am we set off. As we were preparing to leave, there was much discussion around what to wear, how many layers? hard shell? Walking poles?

I set off with 3 layers (base, t-shirt, and lightweight hardshell), beanie and my buff around the neck. Before long most were stripping off layers.

No matter where I've been, I've always ended up in a base layer and little else. Today it was just long/sleeve base layer and my hardshell rain/wind jacket.

A couple of hours later, we made it. We stood on the ridge looking down into base camp, made our way down past the rock danger, scrambled over the boulders, and another 10 minutes later we were standing there.

It was an emotional experience, so many days leading up to it, so much struggle, so much effort, so many steps (about 246,000), but I finally got there.

Everyone was Hi-Five'ing everyone, hugs all around. The guides brought hot chocolate, and around 1,000 photos were taken.

EBC Tomorrow

Well, I'm sitting in bed, it's 7:50, thinking about tomorrow.

We have breakfast at 6am, trek to Gorak Shep, drop our bags, change our daypack load to the lightest possible - we will evaluate the weather at Gorak Shep, and then we head off to EBC.

I'm told the path will be a bit unknown as this the guides first trek of the season (since the Monsoons) and the Monsoons bring avalanches which alter the path we will need to take. Many have already been to EBC this season of course, just not our guides.

Apparently because of the risk of rockfall in some areas we will be walking single file with a significant gap between us.

Sounds like fun 😁

Another shot of me, I think this is new.

Wifi is so expensive here, and unreliable. I'm going to hit send on this post and it'll be 50/50 whether it gets up tonight.

Lobuje (Wednesday)

The drama continues, but maybe resolving itself. Everyone's done all they can, so what will be will be.

Now on to other stuff....

Base Camp Ahead

Tomorrow is the day. We will be heading off early in the morning and trekking to Gorak Shep (3hrs), then we dump everything in our day pack that we don't need, swap around anything we need, and then.... we make the climb. 

Aside from yesterday, I'm feeling pretty good and my physical fitness has been coming along in leaps and bounds. I do keep in the back of my mind I was at 17,500ft a few days ago, and since then I've been lower, so my body has a lot more oxygen. But EBC is the same height as Gokyo Ri, so hopefully I'll do better.

I've been told that Gokyo Ri is slightly harder than EBC, that EBC is a gentler slope, just rockier. I'm not sure how that'll play out. I have my walking pole which I lean on (no pun intended) for the uphill parts. When it's really rocky terrain, your pole is just as likely to stick between rocks and at best trip you, at worst bend or snap.

Whatever will be will be, whether I'm able to use the pole, or not. 

Clothing

One of my daily dilemmas is what to wear, Hugo Boss or Armani. But in addition, there's what layers to trek. I overheat really quickly when hiking, so often find myself in just one layer. I've been balancing up different options, hiking in the base layer, or t shirt, or long/sleeve base layer. 

The issue that comes up is two fold - stops and weather. Whenever we stop I immediately start getting cold, and the wind can pickup quickly. I'd tried the warm jacket, but then I have to pull it out of my pack, put it on, and when we set off (or when the wind drops) pack it again (wearing it around my waist is bad, it gets wet from sweat)

I think I've finally worked out the optimal, which is t-shirt and hardshell rain jacket - it's gortex so it breathes a bit. It provides the shelter from the wind, so I feel warm.

I also balance it with other simple adjustments, my buff (head scarf thingy), tied in a pirates knot (see previous post), can cover ears or not, cover forehead or not. Simple adjustments like that make all the difference in balancing my own heat.

Group pace

I don't remember if I've discussed this, but with this Intrepid Travel group we stay mostly together. The further apart we are, the more dangerous it is, in that we have to have two guides at the back, so if someone has a problem, one of the guides can run forward for help from the third guide. They all carry lots of stuff in their backpacks, ranging from (soft) stretchers, AMS chamber bag, medical gear, oxygen, so when they need the stuff, all three need to be there.

This means that whilst there is a "at your own pace", it's still strongly preferred that pace be within 10mins of the front of the group. 

There really isn't a valid option to take 5 hours on a 3 hour trek with Intrepid.

It's certainly definitely possible to, when on your own, to do as you wish. Hire a porter, a guide, or a porter-guide, or just strike it out entirely by yourself. 

Heading to Lobuje (Wednesday)

Yesterday was a bit of a bad day, got sick half way through the trek, but the team helped me along. We're a team of 15 (12 members and 3 leaders) and it's feeling it now. Yes we have one who is having some trouble integrating (not me), but we are trying to help each other.

A suggestion was made by our lead guide that he would "promote" one of the porters to assistant guide for a few days, which would mean the member who is being difficult would be able to run at their speed (much faster than the group). We weren't particularly happy with that, given the member would be effectively getting a personal guide, and that guide would be one of our original 3.

But when we realised that the "promotion" of the porter would be at the expense of the other porters who would be having to carry an extra bag, "sharing" the weight, we really weren't happy. Really really weren't happy.

As a group (all 11 of us were there, the 12th was in bed) we refused the option and said we stick together, as is, with fair loading, or the change that is made is not at the expense of any of the porters or leaders.

Holli and I, on hearing the idea of the porters being overloaded, immediately started making plans to carry a lot more of our stuff in our day pack.

We are a team, 15 or 14, but a team.

(We have 6 porters but we generally don't see them, they take the duffles, head off ahead, put them at the accomodation and do their own thing, I'm not saying they aren't part of the team - they are, as witnessed by our refusal to have them carry too much - but there isn't the interaction required)

Phortse - arrived

Arrived at Phortse, and the first thing you might notice is that I've got Internet again.

On the last part of the trek, whilst it was "slowly slowly, to catch a monkey", I did the climb without stopping! For me, that's an achievement, and I'm pretty happy. 

I'm starting to physically feel it on my muscles. Whilst I struggle to do these climbs, it's not my muscles that are sore, just my cardio/strength. Now I'm finally starting to feel it.

But, regardless, I'm here in Phortse and feeling good. There's another Intrepid group arriving in a few hours, so it shall be fun (we've always been the only group at the teahouses, with usually a few small groups also).

Tomorrow is another hike, 7 hours this time, looks like mostly "Nepalese Flat", but looking at the topo map, I see our trail crossing a few lines.

From now on we ascend to Gorak Shep, in prep for our ascent of Everest Base Camp.

Walking towards a mountain called something like "Kum-chi-ku" or similar. Sorry, i didn't get the spelling 😄

On the way to Phortse

This morning was an interesting exercise in psychology. Most of us agreed last night that we really could have done with an extra day in Machhermo, and this morning I really struggled to get motivated. I packed my bag by means of throwing everything in the bag, ignoring any concept of proper packing.

We're stopped in Dole for a tea break, and I know we've got another few hundred meter descent followed by a 200m ascended ascent to Phortse. Not particularly looking forward to that.

Machhermo - good night

Well, time for bed. Bit of conflict in our band of 12 today, we may lose one member, I hope not, she's a great person. Will find out more in the morning.

Tomorrow's (Monday) walk is to Phortse, a 5hr trek that is mostly downhill with an uphill bit at the end. I'm doing relatively good with the hills now, not good "enough", but relatively good.

Amanda noted to me that our lead guide (Mane or Dawa) walk at the pace of the person immediately behind them. And as such Angela likes it when I'm in front. I had already noticed this, and had experimented a few times to verify. I'm tempted for the big up hill tomorrow to get in front.

Prem (lead guide) congratulated us this evening on our success today, he said he's been a guide a long time and it's rare to have a group this size where everyone makes it to the top of Gokyo Ri, usually some people turn back, or don't attempt it.

It's interesting, it's a 5 hour trek and I'm thinking "well, it's not too long". The concept of doing daily treks like this two weeks ago seemed crazy (despite me planning on doing it)

• 3 hour trek to Phakding (mostly downhill)
• 7 hour trek gaining 800m to Nameche
• 4 hour trek gaining 500m to Mongla 
• 4 hour trek, "Nepalese flat" to Dole
• 4 hour trek gaining 400m to Machhermo 
• 3.5 hour trek to Gokyo gaining 300m
• The big one, 5am trek up Gokyo Ri gaining around 500m to reach 5,365m (17,600ft), 3 hours up, 1 hour down.
• That same morning, 3 hour trek back to Machhermo (downhill (mostly))

That's every day (except one rest day in Nameche which started with an acclimatisation hike). Hiking every day, a minimum of 3.5 hours.

We wake up each morning, usually around 6:30am, depending on the day, and are walking by 7:30 or 8am. 

Anyway, time to go to sleep, it's 8:30pm, well past my bedtime.

Machhermo - clean and showered (Sunday)

I splashed out at this tea house and got a hot shower, this place has gas hot water, so no worrying about solar!

I feel amazingly clean.

One of my battery packs is also charging here too, although the clouds (we are in the clouds) might slow that down, given they are solar.

Gokyo Ri - 5365m (Sunday)

Well. I did it. I almost couldn't, but I did it. A long long steep haul. You cannot imagine how much effort it took. 

That towering snow covered peak in the background is The Everest.

As I was climbing up, and going down, I had elegant prose written in my head, telling of my struggles, a brilliant story.

I sit here now at Machhermo, having walked from Gokyo Ri to here, exhausted, eating fried Vege Mo-Mo, and waiting till I can go to sleep.

I think I'm going to buy a shower tonight.

Climb tomorrow/today (Saturday)

I'm guessing this will post some time tomorrow (Sunday). I've got no Internet at the moment.

We've got a 5am, 3 hour trek up a "straight forward, but steep climb" up to Gokyo Peak. We've been discussing what to wear (always a fashion dilemma, does blue clash with mud?), but also what layers do we wear, it's gonna be cold, but we will be working hard.

I tend to overhead quickly, so I try to ensure I can drop the layers quickly. I've generally been wearing just a base layer top, with my light weight jacket on occasionally when it's windy. It can be 5°C and I'll be too hot with the jacket done up. Tomorrow I may end up using my GoreTek rain jacket - I hope so, the general sentiment from many of us is "we've lugged half this stuff up here, we better use it at some point". (And for the record, the rain jacket has always been in my day pack, so I, not the porters, have lugged it up).

Day packs are a dilemma, the longer the trek, and the greater the altitude increase, the more you need to take, but equally the less weight you want to take. 

Tomorrow's trek will be a good test for EBC and Kala Patar, both of which have similar very early starts with long haul hikes.

Dinner tonight was a jovial affair, we had almost everyone at one table (unfortunately it's not quite big enough for all, and Holi and Andrew dined next to us). Liam gave us a few more riddles, and JB gave us one of his own. 

We're all in optimistic and high spirits for the morning trek, though most of us agree we will be taking a long slow walk up. Personally I'll have my pirate buff, so therefore be fine.

There was a beautiful sunset tonight, I am sure it's a good omen.

My Fitbit is so judgemental

You've only done 3 of 9 hours of exercise today.

Step it up, only 200 steps to go this hour!

I'm trekking through the Himalayas at an altitude of about 15,500ft. I'm gonna do whatever steps I want, stop judging me!

Second wind?

This is the second day I've tied my buff (head scarf) into the pirate knot. And this is the second day I've done really well pace wise. I'm fairly sure the pirate headwear is the secret to the Himalayas. Sure the locals don't use it, but that's just because they've been doing it for so long.

So what does an evening hold?

Usually an evening is spent in whatever common room there is, hopefully with a fire going in a stove - at this altitude it is Yak Dung burning. The smell isn't as bad as you're imagining, but it isn't roses either.

Tonight was a few card games in the late afternoon, dinner at 6:30pm (your's truely had fried potatoes with egg and cheese (Yak cheese)). Afterwards we watched a documentary on Everest - I told you, this Tea House has everything, even an old projector who's volume control was lost a few years back.

After the documentary finished, it was 8:30, definitely time to sleep - some of our members wisely took the option to retire at 7pm. Not a bad idea, but I did snooze this afternoon, so I figured I could afford the sleep loss.

Time to pack for the morning. 

I'm of the habit of on arrival at a place, effectively emptying most of my bag onto my bed, so I can find whatever I'll be looking for in the afternoon or evening. The carefully laid out plans at the beginning of the trip have slowly descended into a more simple plan. Red bag = wet clothes. Yellow bag, whatever happens to be dry. Blue bag - sleeping stuff, gotta keep that very dry - that would be very bad elsewise.

So, my first task in packing is to stare at my bed and wonder what I should do, mutter that I must keep things better organised. Today though, I can. Almost everything is dry. So the clothes can go in their proper pouches, pants and tops in one, underwear and thermals in another.

Packing involves muttering "where did I just put that?". 

My roommate Jonathon (aka JB) has just walked in, he and I get along well enough. 

Now, back to packing, I think I might try switching sunglasses (had to bring a spare pair, they're prescription and I don't imagine I'd find an optometrist up here, let along with same day turnaround). Now where are they? Oh yes, that case fell out of the privileged position of in a dry-bag awhile back. It doesn't matter if they get wet.

Hmm. These ones don't wrap around, I was going for these because we will be up high and I might need the darker glass, but there's a balance on the wrap around of my others. Ok, put the black ones back. I'll use those somewhere.

Now, I was trying to find my short sleeve base layer top. Even with this luxury accomodation it's still a bit cold to go topless. Hmm, I did just dry it, it's somewhere. Ok, deal with that later. 

Clothes for tomorrow, definitely most important thing to handle.

• Long sleeve thermal layer - clearly important
• Still not cold enough for thermal pants.
• Pants, hmm, yes, keep the same pair, those freshly washed and dried pants can await me at Gokyo.
• T-shirt - will wear the t-shirt at the start, but since this is a climbing day, it'll be off before too long.
• Jacket - yup, the blue jacket will do fine. Again, I'll wear at breakfast, but at the first rest break I'm sure it'll be back in the pack.
• Underwear - brace yourself. I usually swap to trackpants sometime after arriving at the tea house, and go commando with those. The underwear I sleep with is what I'll wear tomorrow. Hey, it's merino, it's "ok"
• Buff - so awesome. I think tomorrow I shall go with pirate hat again, it seems good.

Ok, all those items are now in this pile.

Where's my line and bungy (used for tying clothes to the washing line today - no pegs - I said luxury, not 6 star accomodation here)... I'll find them at some point.

Packing socks.. hmm. Oh, yes, I'll need some socks for tomorrow. I have a dedicated pair of teahouse socks. They're very fluffy woolen ones that are totally unsuitable for trekking in, but perfect for post trek feet warming (yes, that's different to underwear).

Where's my other light socks? I've got the one pair, and the midweight pair I'm expecting, and a midweight that's sitting in the tomorrow pile... hmmm...

Ooh, there's my short sleeve merino, that's sleeping kit. Just dried today. That goes over there.

Oooohhh 😲 there's my other lightweight socks. One trek they hit the OMG level of smell so they got dumped in a plastic bag at the bottom of my duffle. Time to deal with this... oh.. gag.. they're even worse. I probably should have washed those today. I have just the thing though, I have a mesh bag I can tie to the outside of my day pack and let Mother Nature give them a good airing.

Right, how do we stand? Water - enough clean water to start me off tomorrow. I'll get my camel pack filled tomorrow after breakfast and add the magic iodine tablets. That water should be ready by the first rest break.

Daypack:

• Cord - general useful
• First aid kit - I don't care that the guides carry one, I carry my own small one with the bare essentials.
• Sunblock and Chapstick - top pocket. Someone usually forgets to put some on, the top pocket is very accessible, so it's easy enough to grab out.
• Snickers and Mars bars - side pockets. I seriously wouldn't have gotten this far without them. Great energy kick.
• Very small towel - enough to wipe my face when i accidentally wipe sunblock into my eyes.
• Toliet bag - not nearly as luxurious as you'd think - a semi waterproof bag with toliet paper and hand sanitizer. I won't disturb you with further details.
• Gortex rain/wind jacket
• Daypack rain cover 

That's it - in the end will probably be a t-shirt and/or warm jacket.

Right, I think I'm sorted. Beside the bed, headlamp (solar power here, doesn't always last the night), wallet, remind me to tell you about that, trackpants, teahouse shoes... oh, almost forgot, I will need the toliet bag out of my day pack.

Ok... I think that's it. Time to roll out my sleeping bag, and liner, and make a decision on what to use as a pillow cover tonight... easy, trackpants.

Ok, time to go to sleep...

...

...

Where did I put my leatherman?

Machhermo (4400m)

Arrived at Machhermo, altitude of 4400m.

Was a great walk, bit up hill at the beginning then Nepali flat after that, some more uphill, but I handled it well. Truth be told, Mane (pronounced Mah-Ne) who leads the group was doing it at my pace (I was directly behind him). I have to say I'm impressed at his ability to judge the right speed, I did not feel exhausted, and indeed could have kept going even during the rest breaks.

Me surviving, in fact, that's just a long sleeve thermal base layer — I get hot when I walk. Also, yes, that buff is tied in the pirate style. Arrrr.

The teahouse in Machhermo is pure luxury. Seriously amazing what a few days up a mountain makes you appreciate. 

We sat outside on arrival and drank tea (ginger lemon and honey is my favourite, and we usually now get a 1 litre jug of it and share).

Finally the first of us went inside and hurriedly reported back "it's warm! It's warm inside!". We quickly made our way in and found luxury - the halls are warm, the floors are fake soft wood, and the rooms, my goodness, the rooms are amazing. WARM! BEDDING. WINDOWS. LIGHTS. I've never stayed at a nicer place. Ever. In my life.

Our duffle bags delivered waiting for us.

Luxury!!!!

I won't show you a photo of the bathroom facilities, but compared to what we've had, they too are luxury

And laundry! Oh my! We've had a chance to do laundry! There was a wash bowel and CLOTHES LINE. Combine that with sun and wind, I am so hoping that my next post will tell of the wonders of dry, (moderately) clean clothes!

We don't even have an acclimatisation climb today. Today we rest before Gokyo Lakes.

(Regrettably the walk tomorrow, whilst "only" 4.5hrs, features the words "climb" far too often).

Dole, afternoon

Back in the tea house 

Walked up a hill to see nothing (way way too cloudy), but we're now at the sort of altitudes where we need to start climbing up and sleeping down. Did the Vibe communications photo shot up there too. 

It was an arduous walk, very tiring.

My biggest complaint is everything is damp. Nothing gets a chance to dry, so it's always damp. Even the merino stuff stays damp. The "quick dry" t-shirts have proven they are not up to the task. I have 3 t-shirts hanging in the room at the moment, and I hope that one will be more or less dry by morning.

It's starting to get pretty cold, but that combined with gear that just won't dry is making things not so great.

Have something called mountain wifi which is rather expensive 200mb wifi that is slow but at least allows posting things like this.

Tomorrow is apparently a short walk day, though we gain 400m. 

Looking forward to the lakes, which is in a few more days.

Favourite foods:

• Tibetan bread with honey and jam
• Sherpa stew
• Eggs, boiled
• Vege Mo-Mo Fried

Worst food: Mars Pie. A Mars bar deep fried in a pie. As bad as it sounds.

Favourite drink: Ginger tea

Dole

We've arrived at 1200h, about an hour faster than expected! I didn't trail behind the group much at all. 

Lunch at Dole, then a quick trip up a hill to help acclimation for tonight. Certainly feeling it today. Shortness of breath.

The morning was amazing, we had a (briefly) clear morning, and were able to see some of the mountains before the clouds rolled up the valley and obscured the view.

The walk to Dole was a descent 400m and then 600m climb. That's just cruel.

Mongla

• 27°50'22.7"N 86°44'09.5"E
• Mongla
• Altitude: 4000m (13,100ft)

Good stroll 😄

Long tough one today. They're all tough from now on.

Here's to we few, we happy few, we band of brothers and sisters

Yaks have the right of way, and ALWAYS stay mountain side to Yaks... they also have a habit of being up the mountain above you, and then deciding to run down to your track. You have no idea wether to run or stay.

Syangboche Aiport

Location; Phinjo Lodge and Restaurant, Syangboche Aiport, 3740m

"Snickers Really Satisfies"

- Ann

We have all started munching down on Mars or Snickers bars for that burst of energy. They're very prevalent here, easy to pickup at Walmart 

We started the day at a relaxing 8am breakfast, with a set off at 9am.

We quickly had a different view of Nameche that was better than we'd had before

We ascended more stairs (MORE STAIRS) up and up. I've been told that it's a cultural/religious thing, they build stairways to their Gods, some don't even go anyway.

Fortunately these went up to Syangboche Airport, which holds the record as the highest airport in the world. It's currently used as a tourist destination to a hotel nearby with views of Everest - today was very cloudy so we didn't get any. 

Walking up to Shangboche and the lodge there was difficult, but not nearly as hard as yesterday. The stairs are the killer - in some cases there were rocks alongside the stairs that ascended at the same rate as the stairs, and taking that path was so much easier for me. Whilst it wasn't no problem it was much easier. I think the difficulty is in the lifting the legs up, and the uneveness of it. Some steps are far apart, some are close but higher, it's hard to get a rhythm going.

At the restaurant I had hot chocolate with coffee drink. I guess it's a mochachino.

Returning down we did without problem back to the tea house.

I did some shopping to pickup some more snickers bars. They really do seem to be a staple of the trekkers diet. Carbs/Protien in the morning, Snickers at morning tea, carbs for lunch, Snickers and Snickers again until you reach your destination.

Food and drink is interesting. I'm having to force myself to eat, it's not that I don't feel like eating, I just don't feel hungry. I'm also having to remember to drink enough water.

It's easy enough to get water if you're happy to use bottled water - which I'm not. The trash problem is apparently getting a bit epic, and plastic doesn't biodegrade. So I use iodine tablets and local water. That means drinking water takes effort as you have to drink it, fill it, then purify it.

Anyway, time to go drink some water, and maybe have a nap. It's a few hours till dinner.

Nameche - OMG, soooo tired.

I don't even know where to begin....

Ok, stats

• Location: 27°48'15.0"N 86°42'38.7"E - Nameche
• Altitude: 3370m (11,150ft)
• Steps taken: 23,115
• Equivalent floors climbed: 236 (Fitbit)

The day started in Phakding at 0645h, for a 0700h breakfast and 0800 departure. We knew this one was going to be a long one, but I don't think anyone fully comprehend how much, how high, and how steep.

The local pray flags use different coloured flags to represent different things, earth, fire, sky. They use a white flag for water, which initially seemed odd... till you saw this river.

The rapids make it turn white, into what they call the milky river.

It was amazingly beautiful scenery, and so much that the camera just couldn't capture, that third dimension of depth is missing from a photo. 

There were quite a few bridges we needed to cross, to be honest I'd rather have stopped on them for a few to take some photos looking up and down river, but you don't want to block others, or even worse, have an ox appear and want to cross. At that point, no matter how far across the bridge is, you turn around and walk the other way. They have the right of way by sheer fact that they'll just knock you off otherwise.

I can't explain how tall these bridges are. We went across the top one.

What I didn't count on, and what slowed me down the most was the stairs... there were sooooo many stairs, and I soon discovered they were my nemesis, I could keep a good pace going, even up hill, up rock, so long as there were no steps. As soon as I had to walk up stairs carved into the rock, my cadence was off, I had to lift the leg up high each time.

So. Many. Steps.

They became the killer of me, I started dropping back from the group and after awhile was no longer making the rest stops before the group moved on. Of course our leader who was tail end stuck with me. 

I was really  grateful and pleased when a few people hung back at one point and stayed with me for a bit, and Stephan ended up staying with me the whole way at the end. I was a bit late, but I did it.

I did it, I reached Nameche.

Tomorrow is a rest day.

That sounds like a good idea. I think I'll do that.