Saturday 7th September 2013
The group woke up in Phakding after a good night’s sleep, which made a difference from being hot all night! We had a nice breakfast in a conservatory before leaving for Namche Bazar. We saw the yaks for the first time, the yaks and sherpas head off before us in the morning with our duffel bags. We hiked up the Khumbu valley, crossing the Dudh koshi river, by way of high bouncy bridges, now metal, but were once made of wood… Scary!
The paths were rocky but as a group we managed to keep a good pace. We ascended 400m up Namche hill (across a new bridge opened last month which takes some considerable time of the journey!) which seemed to take forever however once we got to the top we saw great view of Namche Bazar; the Sherpa capital. The houses here reminded us of dolls houses and this place was much colder than before; there had been a lot of cloud in the valley recently. For dinner we had a very nice curry which had to be eaten by torch light as there is no electricity here… Bliss.
Sunday 8th September 2013
Today was a rest day to acclimatise. After breakfast, Lakpa (our head Sherpa who HSX members may remember from 2007) took us up to the Everest view point, in the hope of seeing the highest mountain in the world. Even this short walk was harder than it should be due to the altitude. At the top it was really cloudy so we couldn’t see Everest however we saw a few snowy peaks through the gaps in the clouds which was enough to whet our appetites. We then looked around the National Park HQ Museum about the natural history of Khumbu and the people who live there. Ellis also broke a bench outside…
The rest of the day was spent resting, chilling out and exploring Namche. In the evening everyone got hyper and ran around in the dark. Sam put his stobe head light on and people were pretending to be the weeping angels from Doctor Who! … A symptom of the altitude?
Monday 9th September 2013
We set off for Khumjung and our community project. We were taken via a hill which had a monument dedicated to Sir Edmund Hillary, his wife and daughter at 3900m… The highest place that many of us have ever been. The monument was placed here because it is another view point for Mount Everest and is an apt reminder of Hillary and his contributions to the Sherpa people. The going was hard but we decended for lunch in Khunde before the short walk to Khumjung (our base for the next two weeks). Members of the group have been up early enough to see Ama Dablam when the cloud clears, an awesome way to start the day…
Thankyou for all your comments during our radio silence… Keep them coming, the group love to read them and we hope to give an update on our community project work very soon… Now off to enjoy the sun that has shone all day for the first time since being in the Khumbu