Some more pics.....

Here is a map of the Everest region in which we are trekkin gand making the final apporach to Everest base camp. In about 1 hour we are heading off from Namche for Dole, up to Gokyo, over Cho La pass then up to BC taking about 5 days.

On the move again....

Namaste.

Still in Namche. Yesterday was an eventful day when a walk through the local village of Khumjang at 3,860m resulted in a dog taking a good bite of the back of my leg – the last thing I needed due to the risk of getting an infection. Whilst a little bruised and sore, some 24hrs later it looks to be healing ok but will need to be keeping an eye on it over the next few days as we move higher.

Today consisted of another hike back to the same village (avoding any dog of course). There, James and I dropped into the Sir Edmund Hillary School to see the great contributions Sir Ed has made to the local sherpa community building this school, and providing access to basic education and health services. His recent passing away was a great loss to the sherpas.

The rest of our team members arrived today so we all got to know each other a bit. Everyone now is focused on eating, drinking and relaxing well for the weeks ahead; taking in the simplicity of sherpa village life.

James and I have sufficiently acclimatized here at Namche and will depart tomorrow heading further up the valley towards Everest; heading first for the village of Dole at 4,200m, about a 5 hour hike. We have added a bit of a variation to our approach by planning to climb up and over the Cho La pass which will take about 8 hours and get us to an altitude of 5,330m (more acclimatization) before dropping down to about 4,600m in the next valley across. From there we will continue to make our way slowly up towards Everest base camp where we will meet up with the rest of our team once the have acclimatized proper. We all have to time our arrival at base camp with the arrival of all equipment and supplies which we are assured are now in transit. This is taking a little longer than expected because on 10th April the country will come to a stop with national elections, plus porters and yaks are in short demand due to last minute approval of expedition permits for many teams now in transit to base camp.

Not sure where I will be updating you from next as we move into higher and more remote areas…but for the moment…bye for now…..David

Namche Bazaar 3,440m

(Monday) Mingpu Sherpa, Tawa Sherpa and I left Lukla yesterday morning around 830am headed for Namchee Bazaar for what was to be an 8 hr hike. However from the outset of leaving, it rained the whole way, making the trail muddy, slippery and slow going. We took our time, every couple of hours stopping in at the tea houses dotted along the trail for a cup of tea. Mingpu was obviously a local and they all greeted him with offers of welcoming hospitality. We finally settled in at a village called Monju, at 2,860m arriving aorund 4pm. There we met up with a 15 member strong Indian team also climbing Everest. We departed Monju this morning after a leisurely breakfast and headed up the valley towards Namche. We gained our first glimpse of Everest some 50km further up the valley, towering over all surrounding peaks. It's hard to imagine that is where we are eventually heading - all the snow capped mountains around us look so cold and barren; Everest will be more so. We crossed over a number of suspension bridges high above the Dud Koshi river, and then did the 800m ascent up into Namche Bazaar, and arriving before lunch where a yak steak, fries and banana pancake filled the spot! Namche Bazaar is a "small" town which is the heart of this region providing the gateway to the high trading pass into China, to the Everest region, and to the lower valley of Lukla where we have just walked from. I met up with James also on our team who has been trekking up in this area for the past few weeks with his father. We will now stay here for a couple of days doing some day hikes to higher altitudes, and wait for the rest of our team to arrive, by which time we will be itching to keep going higher. We still have another 50km to walk. The outlook for us now is to be fully acclimitised and arriving at base camp around the 16th May. Bye for now...David

(Photo: Kathmandu with Serki, MingMa & Dewa Sherpa - Dewa is our lead sherpa)
(Photo : Lukla - typical village house along the trail)

(Photo: The take off at Lukla - no second chance)

(Photo: Nepalese boy with attitude)