Problems breathing in the night, blocked nose, mouth dried out in the cold dry air,
found it difficult to breathe and kept waking. Anyway 6:00am came at last and a breakfast
of muesli, chapatis and honey. Sun rose at 7:40am and we were off soon after. Saturday is
market day for the locals and we had to make out way up through the hordes of people
buying and selling.
We have proper yaks now rather that the lower altitude dzobchuks. Great shaggy unpredicatable beasts, even the locals give them a wide berth. We have been told to get out of the way whenever we meet them on the trail. A German trekker was apparently pushed off the trail to his death here recently.YAK ATTACK was the call to be heard many times over the next couple of weeks whenever someone saw a yak train. Very steep scramble up the hillside north of Namche, breathing with every step to ensure didn't get out of breath.
At the top of the hill we walked along through scrubby ground with many
stunted junipers and patches of blue gentians flowering. Brilliant view of the Everest
massif and Ama Dablam from the Khumbu Mountain Lodge. Flattened pats of yak dung drying on
the dry stone walls for fuel. Gentle walk continued through rhodedendrons, juniper and
berberis along to the Everest View Hotel at 12,489'. Climbing the steps to the hotel was a
struggle but it was well worth it, lemon tea on the verandah with a fantastic view, the
sun is so bright here even with decent sunglasses. Cameras a clicking again, interesting
view of the Everst masssif reflected on the hotel windows. Phortse village and Tengboche
monastery visible nestled under the mountains. After a break at the Hotel walked
down through birch forest towards Khumjung, the trees festooned in mosses looking like
natural prayer flags. Azalia bushes everywhere, this place must be a riot of colour in the
Spring.
Khumjung is a pretty village in a wide flat valley with many fields separated by dry
stone walls. The Edmund Hillary School was closed as it was a Saturday. There are two old
chortens by the side of the road with streams of prayer flags. I walked along the road
towards Kunde and visited the hospital there before returning to visit the Khumjung
Monastery to see the yeti scalp, not very convincing I'm afraid. Ama Dablam looks at its
best from here loomin tall over these two villages.
Onwards to Sanasa and the excellant campsite behind the Everest View Lodge. Stay here if you can, the owner has summitted both Everest and Ama Dablam and he speaks English. He still runs the lodge and does the cooking despite spending time each year in the USA. The other remarkable thing about the lodge is its shower room which is basically a large greenhouse with curtains on stilts in front of the lodge. Talk about a room with a view!
In the evening we learn that there is still 4 feet of snow at Lobuche and many people have been flown out with broken limbs after trying to get too high on the steep mountain trails. Interesting ......