The End of the Trail

< Newer | Older > Fri, 03/28/2008 - 10:39 — skress
Sent from Namche via internet café.
From yesterday: Susan and I are now in Pheriche. I'll go back over the last few days.
On Sunday we hiked to Dingboche from Deboche. It is a beautiful walk through forest and the onto alpine plain. The walk took two hours. We had a good and uneventful night there.
Monday we hiked to Dhugla. This is where I did the voice dispatch. Dhugla is not a town but simply a way point for trekkers. It was quite cold and windy there. The hike took us two hours and climbs steeply out of town onto a high meadow. There are beautiful views all around as you walk.
Tuesday we hiked to Loboche. We had a very small room here, but had a fun night as we played cards with Nick from Australia and Ben from Minnesota. This hike as well took us two hours and 400m higher. We had chosen to do many small days as opposed to spending two nights in Dingboche.
Wednesday we hiked to Gorak Shep. This is the end of the line and we were not expecting much but we had a nice room and the dining room was huge. This lodge seemed to be the best organized and had a good food service system.
Upon arrival in Gorak Shep we had soup and popcorn and then climbed Kala Patthar. It took us 90 minutes to get to the top and 45 minutes to get down. From the top there are amazing views if Everest and the ice fall. We took some photos but did not stay long as it was extremely windy. When the gusts came they almost pushed us over.
The next morning (Thursday) we set off for base camp at 7am. It took us 90 tough minutes to get there. There is not a ton of elevation gain, but the trail is an up and down boulder field the entire way. Getting back was no easier.
Base camp was a bee hive of activity. Several camps were in the process of being hacked out of the glacier. It looked like a ton of work, but the Sherpas worked tirelessly. Base camp is much more rugged than I expected. It will be a challenging place to spend two months.
After base camp we went back to Gorak Shep, grabbed our stuff and started our descent. After five hours of walking we made it to Pheriche. It was a tough ten hour day. We stayed in a small lodge this night that was my favorite of them all. Our room was the same as usual, but cleaner. Same with the bathroom. After unpacking I went into the dining room and was met with the warmest coziest dining room yet. I had mushroom pizza and Susan had spaghetti while Grandma Sherpa looked after a seven month old Sherpa boy. We slept well and were on the trail the next morning at 7:30.

Today (Friday) we hiked for six hours to get to Namche. There was a surprising amount of up hill considering we were going down. We are now in our favorite SherpaLand Hotel and have just had our first hot shower in seven days. It felt amazing to get the trail dirt off our skin and put on clean clothes. Socks went into a zip-loc bio hazard bag. Tomorrow we make our way to Lukla for the flight back to Kathmandu. This part of our adventure is almost complete.

Messages

Speed

Mike Brennan — Fri, 03/28/2008 - 11:16

You must both be moving really well, from the times you are quoting, which is a good sign for the mountain Scott. Glad you got your hike completed uneventfully. Do you get the impression the lodges are very busy right now, or just average?
I think Paul is trying to get an adaptor for your camera, for me to bring out to you, so we may have to find each other in Kathmandu if we can! I don't get in until monday morning. Maybe he's found another way though.
Enjoy every moment.

Great hearing from you

Visitor — Fri, 03/28/2008 - 12:24

Scott and Susan:
Thanks for the update. It sounds like a terrific time. You've painted great pictures of your travels so far. We (the kids, actually) thinks it's pretty cool that you didn't take a hot shower for 7 days. They want to know where you'll be washing your socks, though.
We're sending lots of good thoughts your way for being able to get out of Lukla uneventfully, and look forward to speaking with Susan when she gets home.
Take care of yourselves.
Scott, we'll be hanging on to hear more about the continuation of your amazing adventure.
Phil and Karen, Nathan and Maggie

great to hear your news

Angus Murray — Fri, 03/28/2008 - 15:06

Hey Scott,

Great to hear your news. I head off tonight (my flight leaves Vancouver at 3:00am) and I arrive into Kathmandu at 9:00pm on Sunday night. It snowed on the island last night so we woke up this morning to a winter scene - bizarre! Sounds like you and Susan had a good trek. I look forward to seeing you in KTM in a few days!

Angus

Glad to hear it went well

Visitor — Sun, 03/30/2008 - 12:46

Hi Scott and Susan.

Thanks for the several days' update. It's always nice to know everything is unfolding as it should! You're creating some inspiring images for those of us back home ... I dunno. It might have to go onto the list of things to do (the trek, that is ...) I look forward to photos and to following the next leg of the journey.

Dave