On top of the world, Nepal (Everest Part two)

Autumn wild flowers, Everest trail

Climbing Everest is tough, tougher than we had anticipated. Although we are reasonably fit and healthy with plenty of trekking experience under our belts we weren't prepared for the remarkable difference of climbing in high altitude. 

Each day as the air became thinner, it became significantly harder for our bodies to push on.

Statistically one in every seven trekking attempts fail. During our ascent we passed numerous sick trekkers having to turn back and rescue choppers flew overhead throughout the day picking up injured and altitude sickened trekkers.

A porter on the long swing bridge

River view towards Khumbutse peak

As we climbed, every day we realized that trekking on Everest is less of a physical challenge and more of a mental challenge. 

Every morning you must push through the headaches and stomachaches to keep going, to even just get out of bed. However, controversially it can also be very dangerous if you don't listen to your body carefully. 

Mountain Yak (or Nak?)

By base camp, that mild headache you've had for the last few days is pounding like someone's tapping away at your brain with a jack hammer, your white swollen fingers are tingling and your arms don't even feel like they belong to you. 

Tibetan temple shrine, Pheriche

You feel intoxicated and dizzy due to the lack of oxygen, light headed and faint.

Now, returning back to where part one finished off, it was early morning in Thyangboche and we were still on our way to base camp. We climbed down from our second story room and ventured into the crisp air as the sun was just beginning to rise. 

Today was a rugged eight-hour hike day, hiking for the first time higher than the tree line. Starting off slowly we left mid morning, dressed warmly with thermals under our sweaters. 

Peaking shrine in front of Khumbutse

Stunning mountains

With an estimated four-hour hike to our lunch stop in Pangboche we felt a renewed vigor. This was a very beautiful part of hike, like somewhere the elves in Lord of the Rings would live. Large white bark trees were covered in years of soft hanging fluffy mosses. Then for the first time it felt like we were really truly deep in the Himalaya mountains. 

Having a rest at Dingboche lodge

Made it! Dingboche! 

We crossed glacial rivers that were turquoise green where the water moved rapidly. In single file we climbed up ladders tied to trees where the path had been wiped away by rising floods and finally turning around bends we encountered towering mountains with snow-capped peaks that seemed to loom over us. Arriving into the Imja Khola Valley we hiked down into Dingboche. Collectively our group sat in the big dining room nursing headaches and rubbing Chinese tiger balm into our temples. Even with reducing appetites we were all eyeing up the expensive Pringles in the guest house’s little counter! Something different for the first time in days.

Another acclimatisation day hike up the Pangboche mountain

Finally in Dingboche we had reached our second acclimatization day. 

It was a rough start, another sleepless night, and the constant headaches seemed like they were going to stay. Kara had been up by 6am in such a state of nausea that even the fresh outdoor air gave her the chucks. 

Today's goal was to hike up Nagarjin hill, just a short steep 600m ascent directly behind the guest house. 

The group set off with Kara trailing far back in the rear fearing that if she didn't make it today there was no chance in proceeding tomorrow. But we made it, clicking in at 5100m now above see level. On top of the hill rested a Tibetan prayer monument covered with flags and the whole group posed for a photo together!

Later in the afternoon we played some team games in the guest house and our guide demonstrated the oxygen chamber that he carries with him for those that might suffer acute altitude attacks. We would have loved to have just crawled in and slept, to get some decent shut eye. 

But once you’re in that baby you’re in a helicopter on your way back to Kathmandu.

A small Sherpa hut with views of Kantega, 
Ama Dablam and Lhotse

Khumu glacial river

The next morning, we walked carefully over the rocky valley and crossed flat green plains north of Dingboche where the land was still soft from the summer rains. Our guide explained that this is where they bring the yaks down to in the harsh winter months for grazing and the small stone cottages are where the herders stay. 

They looked very picturesque but cold and not like they would provide much comfort from the winter onslaughts. Then as we continued the landscape changed, from greens to nothing but greys. 

Trekking aside the white glacier rapids of Khumbu Glacier, we carefully clambered over rocks and corrugated bridges into Pheriche Valley. Lunch under the glacier’s moraines offered the same choices we've come to see on every menu. Vegetable rice dishes, soups, boiled and fried potatoes and Dahl set or for the light eater- 2 hard-boiled eggs. After lunch we encountered our steepest ascent yet, a sharp climb over the Lobuche pass. 

Climbing the pass, was the hardest part of the entire hike. Breathless and dizzy we covered just over 200 meters zig-zagging slowly up hill, just like erratic bees. 

Wild blue mountain tulips!

We took a step, we stopped for a breath. We took another two steps and stopped for a breath. Tears of frustration were spent and when we sat panting on big rocks next to the path, local Nepalese porters puffed on past carrying phenomenal weights, entire solid wood doors, cow carcasses and aluminum 30 foot ladders. 

When we made it to the top, Kara couldn't catch her breath. We sat for 20 minutes just trying to force the oxygen into our lungs but the whole time it felt like there was just no air. At the top of the hill were lines of memorial cairns, built in memory of Sherpas and other climbers who have died on various Everest expeditions. 

Periche Valley reststop in the distance

One of the largest for New Zealander (Scott) who perished in 1995 and is now immortalized in the film Everest. It was somber and as we sat we could only hear the wind rustling prayer flags and our hearts, racing under strain. 

We moved around stretching our tired legs a little more after 20minutes, just standing and staring at the spectacular views of Pumori, Lingtren, Khumbutse, and, across the border in Tibet, Changtse mountain. Another two hours later we walked into the tiny remote village of Lobuche. It was an early night, and we questioned if we could even go on, if we could do it? 

Everything inside our bodies screamed at us to stop, to turn around, to end the punishment we were putting ourselves through. The lack of oxygen was affecting our judgement, perception and decision making. 

Morning came quickly and with the wake-up shouts came nothing. No movement, no willpower. A second knock came on every door and the humour of it, the combined dread, the hurt the collective group suffering was what rose us.

Yak crowd at Lobuche

Looking towards the mountains of Tibet

Big walk day to Gorak shep

It was still early, dark still, when we set off.

Walking down the wet icy valley that runs parallel to Khumbu Glacier, we crossed over muddy puddles and had to scramble constantly out of the way as herds of yaks passed through. We ascended very gradually to the moraines of Changri Nup Glacier.

Four hours of constant uphill later we arrived! We made it! Several large stone buildings covered the dry arid plateau of Gorak Shep. 

Made it to Gorak shep! 
Highest accommodation in the world

As we walked down the hill a helicopter took off and another dropped in, landing just off from what was our large stone guest house. It was mid day and we were exhausted. Sitting down at cherry wood colored tables and waiting for our room key in the large multi-purpose lodge room everyone was silent, nobody had the energy to waste on idle conversation. 

Trekking to Gorak shep across the Khumbu glacier 
(Tibet in the background)

Dropping off our bags, we stared in dismay at the one communal drafty squat toilet and its small blue bucket; attached to the second story side of the building, as if an afterthought, we really were in the middle of nowhere now. Downstairs we ordered some lunch. Today the same as yesterday, all we could stomach was the boiled un spiced and unseasoned potatoes. Even the dry biltong or the last of our snickers wasn't enticing, our appetites were now dropping faster than the increasing altitude.

At 1pm our guide made the call that we would walk to base camp this afternoon, about four to five hours return he said.

Everest base camp- here we come!

Outside was gloriously hot and sunny and we had arrived in t-shirts but we were informed that we must be prepared for anything. So lugging sweaters into the sleeves of our down jackets, gathering hats, gloves and scarves we all set of. 

This was our final stretch, tonight it would be done, it would be over. The group’s behaviour was erratic, we would wave out to other hikers encouraging each other on and then within minutes a quiet would settle and blanket any thoughts.

Spot Kara under the mountains

Yak alert! 

Stunning vistas

Mountaineering over the Kumbu glacier

At 3.45pm that afternoon we reached Everest Base Camp. We stood on the amazing ice blue glacier and looked up at the notorious ice fall. The cool air was so thin and the oxygen was so low that we felt sick. Nothing seemed real and we constantly stumbled over our own feet. 

Super happy and about seven kilos lighter!

It was impossible to imagine camping here for three weeks to acclimatize for a further climb. But all that didn’t matter, because we had made it to base camp! We had made it!!

We walked back, drunk-like, arms tingling, heads pounding and had the worst night sleep yet. The following morning with water rationing in place we didn't get our daily bowel of hot water but a single wet wipe. As we were waking we heard another helicopter arriving to pick up a very sick hiker, lying in bed we knew that we weren't out of the trouble zone just yet.

Made it! (Everest base camp in orange behind
and Everest to the right)

After a restless, sleepless night and forcing chewy dry eggs into our mouths for substance we thought, hey, its all downhill from here.....right?! It took our group a full day down hill to begin to feel just absolutely ecstatic!! We had finally made it! We did it and we could breathe! The way down was a breeze, our group made fantastic time and we were fortunate enough to see some of Nepal's wildlife, such as the Himalayan Monal, Sloth bear and the white bellied musk deer.

Trekking down through the snow storm

It was a little overcast when we begun our rapid descent, following the same narrow rocky paths up and down the mountain side. As we moved quickly the clouds moved faster, bringing a dark grey storm until finally, the rain started. It was so cold that it was softly coming down in the form of small drops of ice that stuck to our woolly hats and shoulders of our jackets. We past through Lobuche and kept moving!

On a mission, moving and sliding over the rocks. We moved through Dingboche stopping to re-fuel on honey roasted nuts in a small settlement called Pheriche, but only for a moment. Our group, the fastest our guide had yet met, decided to push on further and to make more ground. Later that afternoon we arrived at the small village of Pangboche.

and then through more snow in Imja valley

We made it all the way back to Namche Bazaar the following day and then to Phakding the day after.

Lukla was finally looming in the distance. We had made it back! Tired, smelly and far skinnier than when we had left. 

At the freezing cold guesthouse, lunch orders were quickly placed while we waited for our room keys. That evening, our last night in the Nepalese mountains we all celebrated with a small party! Fairly tame, a little dancing, a drink or two and we were tucked up in our beds by 12pm.

Stopping for a break

Clouds rolling down over us

And that precludes our thrilling adventure in Nepal!!!

Tot siens,

John and Kara

Scaling Mount Everest, Nepal (Everest Part one)

Packing our gear for the hike! 

Mount Everest sitting at a phenomenal 8848m is perhaps one of the greatest trekking destinations in the world. So attempting to fit our three week adventure that scaled the foothills of the tallest mountain in the world and climbing higher than any mountain in Europe into one blog is almost impossible (plus the abominably slow internet speed here in Kathmandu is driving us bonkers).  

Part one here, encompasses our journey from the bustling Kathmandu to the misty sacred mountain village of Thyangboche. 

Part two traverses from Dingboche to Lukla (via base camp!).

Our first plane to Lukla, Nepal

After meeting up with our bubbly and excited tour group in Kathmandu, we completed some last minute (aka. a mad dash) shopping for drink bottles, extra thermals and dried meat in Kathmandu's eccentric and colourful bazaars. That evening our group reconvened for a traditional Nepalese dinner and show, getting to know one another over chicken fried rice.

Our second plane to Lukla, after the first plane turned around
mid-runway (ek! nervous smile)

After returning to the hotel, there was a final squish to fit everything in the backpacks before we spent a short nervous and sleepless night waiting for morning!!

Only a few hours later, we were groggy, puffy-eyed and although our excitement had kept us awake we were ready for our 4.30am departure. The wonky creaky bus ride to the airport was surprisingly pleasant and we had no troubles checking in to our adorably named 'Yeti airlines' flight. 
However as our plane zoomed down the small airstrip, about midway, our pilots made the call that the plane wasn't going to make it. We think the translation was 'ain't no oil left'!!? 


Seated amongst our terrified group we weren't exactly sure what was happening. The plane turned round and our solo hostess talked quickly in Nepalese to no one in particular, madly clutching at her seat. So then we had a long wait until nervously and apprehensively boarding our second attempt flight two hours later!

Lukla airport strip (straight off the mountain side)

Eventually arriving in Lukla was awesome. As the photo below shows Lukla is just an old rickety runway on the edge of a peculiarly steep and dangerous mountainside and if the plane doesn't rise in time... yes you will fall a ghastly 2800metres down its rocky side. With ten little heads peering over the pilots seat and through the front window there was a collective sigh of relief when we landed on the 2840m mountainside.

From the small township of Lukla locals gathered on the muddy path to greet tourists. Some looking for work as guides, others as porters and others waiting for stock to arrive on the planes that they would courier up the mountain. 
The little town was damp and dusty, buildings looked weathered and small triangular flags littered the rooftops. Open drainpipes dribbled water from the roofs onto the main street. From the centrally located airport, hostels and restaurants surrounded the perimeter, prepared to cater for groups waiting out bad weather. 

After a late lunch and our first Dahl soup at a nearby tea house our team re-grouped and prepared to set off. Double layer of socks? Check. Water? Check. 

Our first day was a short four hour hike to the first overnight stop - a large stone lodge in the village of Phakding located along the powerful milky-white Dodh Kosi river. Leaving Lukla we were giddy and rearing to go, first all posing for a group photo and off we went! The warm afternoon consisted of hiking up, down, up, down and then down a little more. We consistently walked over swinging bridges and down stone steps before meandering up hills through small farms. 

The pace was adjusted for the group's fitness (we were all quite a fit bunch) and was relatively relaxing.

The trail was rocky and dusty, initially passing a few hikers on their return journey but seeing little else otherwise, we had it mostly to ourselves. As we hiked we would pass hundreds of intricate black and white rock carvings covered with Tibetan prayers, for good luck we stayed to their left and occasionally came across a golden prayer wheel. The whole tour group would line up single file and take a turn to spin the wheel with our right hands.

First photo marching forward and up from Lukla

Tibetan prayer rocks (may wisdom grow with care)

At Phakding village, the lodge and it's surrounding garden was littered with late Autumn flowers and was absolutely beautiful. The actual trail meandered alongside the guesthouse kitchen window and after completing our first day of hiking we all sat along the cushioned window edge drinking hot tea and watching the evening porters and yaks pass by. 

Our basic room wasn't too bad, weathered red carpet lay on the floor under our single creaky beds, something we would come to later find a luxury. After looking around our rooms there was still some daylight left and few of us ventured back again to a small community of houses in the village where we had seen some rolls of toilet paper for sale. Kara only went because it meant crossing the awesome swing bridge again!

On the second day our enthusiastic group got off to a great start, after washing in the small stainless steel bowels left by our door we packed and were ready to go with our heavy bags waiting to be collected- everyone that is, except, John. 

Someone ate one too many of the lodge's bad buffalo momo's for dinner the night before. For John, our strenuous 9km, seven hour climb was worse than death itself. A hard lesson on eating meat on the mountain. With nothing but stairs chiseled into the cliff-side, odd-shaped rocks jutting out underfoot and paths covered with low hanging limbs he struggled. 

All day the trail went up, and up and up. The group walking in shorts and sweaty t-shirts basked in the glorious blue sky day and poor John wrapped up in thermals, jackets, long pants and a beanie shivered away his nasty bout of food poisoning. We all admired the views of the strong rivers as we crossed over high rope bridges, the stunning little cottages we stumbled past and the wet green fields of wild flowers but John remembers only looking forward to the next bathroom stop. 

Looking down the Dudh Kosi river, Phakding

Arriving into Namche Bazar was a godsend. The group's enthusiasm waning over the last few kilometres renewed and we bounced toward the first national park check point getting our little hiking books stamped. 


We had to laugh out loud, our guest lodgings were at almost the highest point in the village, another couple of hundred narrow steps and a hot shower was waiting. 

That final push, all those stairs- it was tough. Walking through the village we realised that it was cooling rapidly. The houses cramped next to each other offered little chance for the late afternoon sun and many homes had constant fires burning creating an intimate winter feel. 


Dinner that night was quiet, everyone waited patiently for their meals, nodding off on the cushioned benches circling the room or comparing new blisters with each other. John managed a few boiled potatoes but little else, but after a day of no food he needed the energy. Later in the evening, dressed in thermals and our thick woollen socks with the fire barely warming the old wooden house we huddled together and watched Everest the movie, secretly hoping nothing like that would happen on our trip. 

With no real hurry to get moving, our third day was dedicated to acclimatisation. It was a cold morning and through the thin jib walls the mellow groans from stiff joints could be heard at regular intervals. Underneath our window our group's sherpas played around splashing each other with ice cold water. 

Acclimatisation hike over Namche Bazaar

At breakfast, while we chewed and ripped into our dry buffalo biltong, our guide readily informed us, the best way to acclimatise is to move to a higher altitude and come back down to sleep. John, feeling not much better after a restless sleep was keen to get some fresh air. So around mid-morning as the painful groans subsided from our other team members we followed our guide in what turned out to be an extremely strenuous (not the gradual climb we hoped) hike up. 

Sitting in the sky, with views of Thamserku peak

But it was worth it, high above the village the view was amazing. We peered down over Namche Bazaar, looking at the lazy yaks moving through the fields and farmers tending to their crops. We could see a small school and women hanging their washing on lines. Behind us were fluffy white rolling clouds and the mountain tops of Kangtega, Thamserku, Ama Dablam, Kala Pattar and the smallest nob of Mount Everest. We waited for some time for the clouds to clear more, catching glimpses of Everest, but the freezing cold wind pestering towards us soon had us returning back to our lodge in Namche. 

The rest of the afternoon we had a walk through the village checking out the shops and bars and stopped for a cappuccino at a trendy coffee house. 

The small brown hillside village of Khumjung was our next destination. After saying farewell and taking our last chance to stock up on chocolates it was the worn Tibetan prayer flags, sending prayers off into the wind, which directed us up the steep slippery ascent from Namche Bazaar. Khumjung village sits on a small flat plateau at 3970m above sea level. Only a short three hour, five hundred meter or so climb from Namche. 

Arriving at Khumjung

The area is dry and rocky with very little vegetation. As we made our way in, dozens of locals were harvesting their potato plantations. 

Turning and twisting the arid lands, breaking up large clumps of caked dirt. The gardens surrounded their houses and were protected by hand-made stone walls, covered in hundreds of dried yak patties. Our group followed the small paths, spinning the prayer wheels as we went towards the village monastery, which has what is believed to be the scalp of a yeti! Hidden in a beautifully painted box, it was suspiciously dark and hard to see much, but without a doubt there was something 'hairy' inside.

A local family pulling up the potato harvest

Then we visited the Kunde Hospital, built by the Sir Edmond Hillary trust in 1966. The only hospital in the region, it caters for locals who come far and wide. Really interestingly we noticed they had New Zealand electrical plug sockets! After reaching our next guest house for the evening, a long two storied lodge, our guide encouraged everyone to come and join in a competitive game of volleyball at the Khumjung school. 

Also another initiative by the Sir Edmond Hillary trust the school now partially funded by the government has an amazing room of student artwork which they sell to fundraise for school equipment. So off we all went, to see the school and jump around like airheads crazy over a bouncing ball. 

That night, the altitude again affected our sleep. Restless, waking several times to gasp for air we opened a window and managed to drift back to sleep under a frozen duvet. The next morning brought a layer of crunchy white frost over the dry dirty outside. After a nut-bar breakfast, a wash in our stainless steel bowels and filling our water bottles with boiling water the group set off downhill. 

Rest stop at Manjo waterfall

Today was a tough hike day, surprisingly we begun to suddenly see more walkers with their guides. The rocky path which took us from the dry plateau and back into a bush was beautiful, we passed large areas of moss but in some areas the path was dangerously steep and close to the mountain edge. 

Apprehensively we continued to descend, nervous that the further down we go the steeper our ascent will be. We stopped for lunch, then made our way through the onslaught of yaks stopping and starting at regular intervals. The yaks, with their massive decorated horns, understand they have right of way and are only too happy to exert a powerful head swing towards an unsuspecting walker. 

Yak traffic jam! 

When we reached the tiny rest-stop of Thyangboche it was lightly raining. A fine foggy mist covered everything and we scampered inside the large stone building, our house for the night. It was hot drinks all round. 
We enjoyed a 2L pot of hot sweet tea between us and broke into our snickers bar supply. Since we had arrived mid afternoon, a few of us brave ones ventured out into the grey drizzling rain to see the ancient Tibetan Buddhism monastery. 

The one afternoon of rain we encountered,

Thangboche Monastery

Inside, dark ridged brown monk cloaks lay in rows on the floor, dropped as if the monk had just vanished in the midst of praying. At 5pm bells chimed and from behind the solid walls came the song of prayer. Loud and clear, stuck in the walls by the dense cloud that crept through the door, it was magical. 

Visiting the Thangboche monastery 

Again that night we woke gasping for breath and had to sleep again with the rickety wooden window open. 

But when morning arrived the sky was clear. The golden morning sun hit the highest peaks and we quietly crept outside to admire the view.

In the next few weeks we will endeavour to add further commentary and information to the photos to give a better description of our experience~!

Tot siens,

John and Kara