Upon leaving Benkar, we knew that we had a hard day ahead of us. A short way up the trail delivered us breakfast at Monjo (2815m) and then the climb to Namche Bazar (3441m) which was to be our first rest/acclimatisation day. Needless to say, an increase of 600-odd metres was hard going, but delivered us our first view of Everest once we had passed the 3000m mark. To manage each other’s pace, we flipped off the front doing ‘turns’, so no-one was always left lagging at the back. What caught us by surprise was the insane amounts of dust kicked up by each other, porters, other trekkers, yaks and donkeys on the trail. Coughs all round.
Our stop in Namche was notable for a few reasons. The trek up the Everest view hotel (best hot chocolate EVER) as a ‘climb high, sleep low’ walk to assist our acclimatisation, a yak sizzler dinner and Lorinda’s first encounter with the ‘uber-trekker’ who ridiculed her for wearing thermals and shorts and accused Australians being “all the same” as Americans. This same tool is the certifiably insane elderly Swiss bloke who has apparently done EBC every year since 1975, speaks fluent Nepali to berate and demean his porter and guide who are, funnily enough, his only companions and is notorious up and down the trail for being a total tosser.
After spending time in Namche, we moved north up the Gokyo valley, staying in the towns of Phortse Tenga (3675m), Dole (4110m), 2 days in Machhermo (4410m) and Gokyo (4760m). Staying the extra day in Machhermo due to altitude headaches turned out to be a blessing in disguise too. Sitting around for a lazy breakfast allowed us to meet a top Welsh/Kiwi bloke called Steve who was just wandering up and down the valley as he felt like it. Not a bad way to spend the winter really…
Gokyo was to be our northern-most stay. After our first night there we planned to climb Gokyo Ri, a 2½ hour climb to 5483m, immediately outside the village and were reported to deliver some of the most stunning views in the area. We woke to a cloudy and windy day and after the week of picture-perfect weather, we were spewing. After coming this far, there was no way we were going to miss the climb, so we headed out anyway and, believe it or not, 10 minutes from the top, everything cleared up and delivered our first panoramic view of some serious mountains including Everest (8848m) and (we think) Lhotse (8516m). Got cold up quickly up there too. The wind was great for blowing away all the clouds, but outer extremities began to go numb and hence the decision was made to head down after about half an hour and two granola bars.
That afternoon we hooked up with our porter/guide Kanja that we managed to hire in preparation to head over Cho La Pass (5420m) and walked for another couple of hours to the village of Thagnak to rest before what promised to be one of our biggest days on the trek. Having heard the entire gamete of stories about the Pass regarding the right/wrong way to do it, how much ice would be up there, the steepness of the climb, what equipment was/was not necessary, etc, we weren’t quite sure what to expect. What did reassure us though, was that Kanja was only armed with sneakers, beanie and one extra jumper and travelled without water or food.
That night was to go a little pear shaped for me (Andrew). What had begun a couple of days ago as the same cough as every other trekker on the trail started to bring with it blood and a distinct lack of sleep – hardly the best preparation for the next day. As it turned out, I was most definitely the passenger of the group over the Pass – always struggling to keep up a pretty modest pace, and needing to stop to cough every couple of minutes.
Extremely irritating, and made for a bloody hard day. Maybe I’m softer than I already knew…
Despite this, the views were incredible and very much worth the effort. Upon making it over the extremely loose 200m high scree slope, we were greeted by snow and ice covering the Pass with the final peaks of the bordering mountains so close you could quite literally walk over and climb (if you should so desire). This was followed by a tentative walk/shuffle over the ice for the next hour, trying desperately not to fall on our butts. The sour-faced German couple that joined us were pros at successfully scooting without falling and put us Aussies to shame (I’d like to see them surf/survive 40+ degree heat/cook a barbie, though).
Our destination for the day was Dzongla while Nathan, Simone, Sam and Lesley moved on to Lobuche. I was just too exhausted/sore from coughing to go on any further and Lori was superb in being very understanding at not pushing me past what was to be the crappiest lodge on the whole trek. Jeez, she’s good to me…
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