Trekking in The Khumbu

I just returned from a glorious 20 days up n the Khumbu region of Nepal. The land of high mountains, beautiful valleys and the famous Sherpa people, all of which were a highlight of my trip.
The trip started on the 21st of April with a little bit of chaos, which is expected at the domestic terminal of the KTM airport. The cause of the chaos was the weather, no planes were flying to Luckla; the normal starting point for treks to the Khumbu. And no planes had flown the day before either, so there was a big backlog of trekkers and tour groups looking to angle in for the next available flight. Being a solo trekker with no guide or agent on the inside made re-booking a flight a near impossibility and I thought I may be stuck in Kathmandu until the weather cleared and i could weasel on to a flight. But I ran into Jodi, who I met on the Annapurna trek, and her new trekking partner, Eva, who she met on couchsurfing.com. They had been waiting 1 day already, with another trekker named Scott. So at 9am, after waiting 3 hours, Scott, and his travel agent said there would be no flights to Luckla today, but what we could do was cancel our tickets, and re-book flights to a village called Paplu, which is a 3 day walk from Luckla, and a place none of us had heard of. So with in 30 minutes, we canceled our flights, and re-booked with Yeti airlines, had our bags checked and were on our way. we figured it was better to be walking through the villages of the solukhumbu, rather than wait for the weather to clear and to get new flights. It ended up being a great plan, we still had the mountain views, but with none of the crowds that populate the route to Everest base camp. We could really interact with the villages on the way, they don't get many trekkers down their way, now that everyone flies to Luckla. We were the only ones at our guest houses, so we could wit in the kitchen, drinking Rakshi and tea with the ladies that ran the guesthouses. By the time we got up to Lobuche and Gorak Shep, the hotels would be filled with large groups of South Africans and Japanese, so it wasn't that homey atmosphere of the Solukhumbu.

But by the time we reached Namche Bazaar and our first rest day, to let those red blood cells build up, our group was disintegrating. Jodi and I were getting along swimmingly, but both of us were having a tough time with Eva. I guess she wasn't much of a trekker. Jodi and I had already been on the trail in Annapurna for a couple weeks, so we had some fitness, as well as some common things to talk about. But what we ended up talking about, was how slow Eva was, and how much she wanted to talk about Her home country of Sweden to anybody would listen. This girl was slow, like slower than my dad when he was sick. Jodi and I would walk for an hour, then wait 45 minutes Eva to arrive. For the first couple days we left in the morning at 730, and wouldn't make it to our destination by 5pm, Jodi and I expected to be there by 2pm, rest, have some milk tea and read our book. But that wasn't the case. So In Namche, we split amicably, though a bit awkwardly. With Jodi and I heading up the Bhote valley and the Renjo Pass, while Eva decided to find a guide to trek with, instead of being alone.

On the way to Namche, in a small village we met a Belgian fella, a world famous explorer who walked across the Australian desert and around Tasmania, "nearly dying twice a day for 2 weeks straight." he was on his way to EBC to deliver 300 kilos of Belgian chocolate to all the porters and Sherpas and expeditions that were up there. He had trekked all the way from Kathmandu, to were we saw him. he was pulling a 50 pound cart and had been walking like 20 miles a day. He was doing this to raise money for mobile hospitals in Nepal, a noble cause. Here's a link to his blog if you want to read more. http://chocolate-sherpa.blogspot.com/

Anyway, Jodi and I headed up to a town called Thame, probably the most quintessential, picaresque Himalayan village. There was a river running through town, a 400 year old monastery, a new school, a hydro electric plant. It's the model town, Though most of the services have been provided by the Hillary fund, and Other NGO's, and not by the Nepalese government. We stayed at a guest house owned by a Sherpa women, who's brother is a famous Sherpa climber and now owns Alpine Ascents out of Seattle, so with that little connection she let mew charge my camera batteries up, instead of paying 200 rupees an hour. Next we cruised op to Lungden, a tiny yak herding town that is getting more guest houses because of the new popularity of this valley. Bury it was still pretty quiet. I think there were 2 other trekkers in town our first night. We stayed an extra day here to acclimatize a little more before climbing even higher. so for the "rest day' I trekked up the valley and towards Tibet, where all say for 6 hours were 8000 meter peaks, Cho Oyu, and a a bunch of yaks and migrating birds. It was one of the most beautiful valleys I have ever seen.

The next day was our ascent of the Renjo la pass, 5370 meters, and I felt every meter of it. Being our first pass and little did i know I had picked up a little bad food bug the day before. it was more stunning, people-less scenery, complete with alpine lakes, bright blue birds, and my favorite bird, the Tibetan Snowcock. It took us about 5 hours to make it to the pass, where looking east we could see 4 of the highest mountains in the world through the broken clouds and high sun. We took a couple hours to scamper down to the village of Gokyo, on the banks of the turquoise blue glacial lakes. Wes stayed at the Namaste lodge for 3 days, plenty of time for Jodi to explore the lakes farther up the valley, and enough time for Ben to be completely sick for 48 hours. The lodge had delicious food, I just couldn't keep any of it in my stomach. There was group of doctors at the lodge and they all thought I had altitude sickness, but i knew for the twists and turns in my belly that my problem was from some bad food. I tried to take a walk up valley, but after an hour I had to turn back, barely making it back, i felt so bad I had to lie on rocks, I've never felt so crippled and helpless, laying there in the wind and snow. But eventuality I made it back to my sleeping bag where i spent the rest of the day. By the evening I was feeling better, and thought, if i can make it up to the top of Gokyo Ri, up at 5400m I could continue with my trek, other wise i would be heading down to Namche a bit early for some R and R. Long story short, I dragged my self up the mountain, and was able to at least eat some food that day and was able to get some strength back.

Even though I was feeling ill in Gokyo, I still got in some great people watching. You see all types up here. Most people are geared up to trek, really get into it, they want to meet the locals and get the full experience, and you have other people like the Russian couple that showed up at the lodge one evening. They had the complete kit. The guy, dressed in camo sweat suit, had the satellite phone, laptop, crazy euro, "I have too much money" sunglasses. He spent most of his time on his satellite phone, calling Russia, and his trekking friends who had to go to lower elevation because they weren't feeling well. The rest of the time was spent smoking cigarettes, flicking them onto the ground, and sending food he didn't like back to the kitchen, saying, "Izz no ghud" in his Russian accent. All the rest of the trekkers at the lodge thought he was hilarious, but would never laugh in from of his face, fearful of KGB retaliation. He did have a cool guide though, who told me they flew to KTM on a private jet from Moscow, and were helicoptering out from Periche in a couple days, which costs about 5 grand.

Again, carrying on with the trekking, There must have been some mountain magic in the air, because I had a miraculous recovery as the day of the Cho La pass approached. Our new trekking group that had formed headed out around 630am, to be able to cross the pass before the daily bad weather moved in by 11am. I started slowly, just to be sure I was OK, but in a few minutes, I was feeling back to my old form. The sun peaked over the mountains and warmed up the chilly valley, in front of me Cholatse dominated the horizon, while on my left 8201 Cho Oyo rose up in the Distance. I was back in the hiking zone, as I reached the half way point of the pass, I looked back a and realized I left the rest of the group way back in the valley. I waited for 40 minutes for them to arrive. When Glen, Sheila and Jodi and their guide made it, I told them I was feeling great and was going to set off on my own pace to cross the pass. Jodi decided to stay with the group and do the feasible thing and cross with a guide. Little did I know that was last time I saw our friends Glen and Sheila. In the way up to the pass, Glen, who already had a gamey knee, complained of chest pains, and they decided to turn back, leaving Jodi on the top of the pass, with no clear marked trail across the trail. She waited their in the wind in the snow, until the Russians, KGB and Natalia arrived with their guide to lead Jodi and his clients across the glacier and down to safety. (If you want to read about what really happened to Glen, and his subsequent heli-evac, you can read it on their blog...he 's ok, and lounging on a beach in Thailand at the moment...www.spicetrek.blogspot.com) Jodi also made it down the hill, but after this day we were on different schedules, even though we did bump into each other a couple more times in Gorak shep and Chukung.
This rest part of the trek is where it went from great, to wow...amazingly the most beautiful and stunning place I have been. I felt great again, I was acclimatized to the high elevation, the weather turned around and was sunny all day. The Khumbu valley is amazing, at the end of teh valley is Everest base camp, and along the way if you just stop and do a 360, you'll be surrounded by mountains and glaciers at all time. when you get to Gorak shep, you can climb up to Kala Pather, which has the best views of mountains you can ever see. looking east you have an amazing view of Everest, Lhotse and Nudge. To the north is Pimori, which is a beautifully shaped pyramid of a mountain. behind you is Cho Oyu, and down valley is the stunning Ama Dablam. I climbed up here in the mid morning and stayed up here, amongst the views and prayer flags that reside at the top of any pass and view point. The next day in the morning I went to the circus of EBC...Everest Base camp, which is kind of like India, something that should be experienced once in your lifetime. It is sooo big, there are tents everywhere, literally over 1000 tents. cook tents, sleeping tents, social tents. Logistic tents, all different size and color, and they are always moving, since base camp is located on a living, moving glacier tat move up to 2 feet in one day. One of the crazy things at base camp is trying to find some one who can tell you what's going on, since you don't want to wander into a camp and get told to get the hell out of here. What i discovered by talking to a couple of Taiwanese climbers, was that ten Sherpas had just set the ropes at the top of the mountain, and the climbers that paid 100,000 dollars should be reaching the summit some time in about 10 days. but it's a hell of a nasty climb, where only 10% of climbers make it to the top. If you want to learn more about the specific camps and elevations and all that here i some info on the Taiwanese expedition. http://www.everestnews.com/everest2009/atunaseverest2009.htm

It was now time to leave the Khumbu valley, I was heading up and over the Kongma La, el. 5550m. One note, In Tibetan, "Kongma La" means pass of the Tibetan snowcock. So not only did it have the best views, it also has the best name. I didn't think the views and mountain scenery could get any better but as I climbed through the chilly sunless rocky gulch to the top of the Kongma La, the views just exploded in my face, you had Ama Dablan directly in front of me , as well as my first views of Makalu in the background. Behind me were a dozen more mountains basking in the glow of the morning sun. Below me were beautiful, crystal clear alpine lakes, perfect for a night of camping...which I wasn't prepared to do. As I walked down to Chukung and the bottom of the Imja Valley a few time the views stopped me in my tracks and I just had to smile at the natural beauty that was surrounding me. I finally made it down to Chuking 6 hours after I left from Lobuche on the other side of the pass.

The next morning topped of the trip with a perfect ending. The normal thing to do from ti Chuking, it to climb up to Chukung Ri at5550 meters for stunning vistas of the valley and surrounding valleys. But u wanted to do something a little more memorable. when i reached top of the Chukung Ri, the views were amazing, similar to the day before at the top of the Kongma La. But i wasn't satisfied with this elevation as my high point of the Himalayas, So I set off across a loose ridge of slate, headed up to the higher Chukung mountain, elevation 5833 on the map. After an hour of keeping my balance scrambling across loose shale I was almost there, I just had to climb nearly vertical up millions of years of geologic time. The last part was the hardest. I had to climb up the biggest rocks I could fund, on the small rocks I would just fall back to where I started that step. But the bigger rocks are more prone to bigger rock fall, needless to say I reached to top a few minutes later and glanced at the altimeter on my watch, which read 19,150 feet! Once again the views of Makalu and Ama Dablam screamed with beauty, and the south face of Lhotse, which shoots vertically from the earth for miles looked like it could be touched by human hands, it was so close.
The next day was my final day in the mountains, I departed Chuking early in the morning, with the sun rising at my back over Makalu and between Lhotse and Ama Dablam, melting that nights fresh layer of snow. I walked through the Sherpa villages of Dingboche, Periche and Tengboche on my way back to Namche Bazaar, where I could find an affordable hot shower, (my first in 16 days.)and a hot cup of fresh coffee which I could sip on and recollect the recent adventures.

I will definitively be returning to this area, I would love to take some people her and show them the beauty of this area. There is just so much to see, valleys to explore and mountains to climb. The khumbu is just one region. Next time I may want to go out on a camping and trekking expedition, with more local villages and less trekkers. Let me know if any one is interested and we can put something together so other people can share the joys of the Himalayas and the Sherpa people.