Day 8 – a room with a view


We had arrived last night in thick cloud so it was amazing to wake up to a cloudless sky and Everest bang in front of us. 

Everest (left hand peak):

 

Today was more leisurely than the previous two days so we had breakfast a little later.  We were in reasonable en-suite accommodation but today was the last opportunity to shower in our rooms as from here on in it was going to be pretty basic.  After breakfast we had a couple of photographs outside against the Everest backdrop before heading off.  

Everest is in the middle of left hand mountains:

Whilst today was going to be a steady walk from here on in it would be all about altitude.  We slept last night at 3,400m and would get to Dingboche at the end of the day which was 4,400m.  So quite an ascent.  Everest Base Camp was only 12 miles away but we would be taking it slow and steady including a rest day as we got higher.  There were some stunning pictures (lots of them I am afraid):

 Mountain called Abadablam:

 

 

 

  

  

  

 

 

We stopped for a tea break after a couple of hours at a tea house.  As the weather had improved considerably not only were we walking slower so that we could all take loads of pictures but it was noticeable that the buzz of helicopters up and down the valley had increased a little:

Tea break:

  

Chillies being dried:

And then set off for another hour and a half before lunch.  En route we encountered some wild goats and some yaks grazing on the side of the mountain:

 

 Yak dung (it burnt for heating) being dried:

 

Lunch was pretty much the same as we have all get into a rhythm of noodles, rice and spag bol!  As we had lunch the temperature dropped and the cloud started to come in.  By the time we had finished we were putting on fleeces and neck warmers.  As we got higher the visibility dropped and with it the temperature.  We arrived in Dingbuche at c. 3:30pm and a rather chilly 5 degrees.  Our rooms were pretty basic (we do have a loo) although some of us went to have showers centrally.  We are now gathered in a rather smokey room and will be sleeping in sleeping bags in unheated rooms.  The good news is that we have some decent wifi and we will be here for the next 36 hours.

A dog (there are lots of them) admiring the view:

Dingboche - our home for the next two days:

Tomorrow is another acclimatisation day – fingers crossed we get the weather from this morning and not the afternoon.























































 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 2 - sight seeing in Kathmandu and prepping for the start

Image
We all slept pretty well after an extremely long day yesterday.  Breakfast in the hotel was followed by a 9am sight seeing tour of two UNESCO world heritage sights.  The first was the Pashupatinath Temple (Hindu) Temple on the river Bagmatr where we watched a combination of funeral pyres, temples, worshiping and received some cultural education.   This was followed by a trip to a Budhist Temple (Boudhanath Temple) where we also had a tour of a Budhist Art school and then a Budhist healing centre.   It was a fabulous morning.  We were then back to the hotel for lunch before our Trek briefing by the Highland Expedition team.  We were given kit bags, sleeping bags and a down jacket.  We were then all sent upstairs to pack with the instructions to ensure our kit weighed no more than 15kg.  This proved rather tricky........ The plan for tomorrow is an early start before heading back to the airport where we are going to get on helicopters to L...
Read more

Day 7 – From Namche to Debuche

Image
We were sorry to leave Namche which had been our home for 48 hours.    It felt positively urban to where we were heading and both wi-fi and accommodation were going to be a poor relation to what we had experienced.    We set off at the usual 8am after a hearty breakfast and having handed over our bags to the sherpas.   Other than the initial climb it was a Nepali flat (undulating) walk away from Namche and the weather was ok but not as good as yesterday.    Sadly, we couldn’t get a clear view of Everest, but we could see Lhotse (next door peak) and had some good views of Amadablam (pictured below in centre): The sun was trying to break through but sadly as the day wore on the cloud settled in.    After a couple of hours we stopped for tea.    We had a lovely view but were more impressed with the Peter Rabbit mugs that the tea was served in. Another hour and half of gentle walking before we stopped for lunch.    We had hear...
Read more

Day 6 - an acclimatisation day of firsts

Image
An acclimatisation day in Namche Basar as we got to grips with the altitude and did a small trek up a couple of hundred metres around the bowl of Namche. After another early night we were up early and breakfasting at 7am.  One or two are beginning to feel the effects of the altitude so some didn't have a great nights sleep.   We were off at 8pm for an acclimatisation walk where we headed up to the Tenzing Norgay cultural centre.  There we found a statue of Tenzing along with.......... our first view of Everest.  Statue of Tenzing Norgay with Everest in the background: Everest on the left: The team in front of Tenzing's statue with Everest in the background: We then went into the cultural centre where there was information on the Sherpa people (people of the East - Sher (from the east) - pa (people).  A model of Everest and lots of information on the successful Everest climb in 1953.  After an hour we were off trekking for a couple of hours where we saw...
Read more