Saturday 21st September 2013 We walked from Khumjung to Pengboche today, it was really hot and because we had acclimatized in Khumjung, the walk was fairly easy. En-route we came across Tengboche bridge which had collapsed. We had lunch at Tenboche and had the perfect view of Everest up the valley. We arrived at Pengboche and Lakpa took us to the school where the 2007 did their community project. It was nice to see what Ollie and Chris had done the last time they were here.
Sunday 22nd September 2013 Today we walked from Pangboche to Pheriche and we saw our first view of Island Peak. We saw where the valley split in two, we were taking the left route to Everest Base Camp and Kala Pathar. We finally arrived in Pheriche and had the best meal of the whole trip, including pancake covered mars bars!
Monday 23rd September 2013 Today we had 700m to climb from Pheriche to Lobuche. We stopped in Thukla for some tea and we met some people from Dorset, one of which was a scout leader. We carried on up the valley in the sunshine and when we arrived in Lobuche (4950m) we saw Kala Pathar behind our lodge.
Tuesday 24th September 2013 Today was a really long day. We set off to Gorek Shep, the last village before Everest Base Camp. We had an early lunch here. The walk to Base Camp (5345m) was long and it snowed along the way. It took us 1.5 hours to reach and when we got there we saw multicoloured tents and the Khumbu Icefall through the fog. Some of the group got talking to the Italian team, who were going to climb Lhoste and then ski down it! We filmed for buff by advertising and demonstrating how we wear them. Whilst we were there, we also witnessed an avalanche on the other side of the valley. The Dorset scout leader was there as well. Once we had got back to Gorek Shep, we realised we had walked 14km at altitude, which we were all proud of. The resat of the day consisted of recovering and preparing for the hike tomorrow morning up Kala Pathar.
Wednesday 25th September 2013 Today we woke up at 0430, ready to leave at 0500 for Kala Pathar. The stars were our and we didn’t need our torches as the moon was so bright. It was reflecting off the snowy peaks around us. It was surprising how quickly it got light and after 2 hours of climbing, we summited the 5550m peak. We spent half an hour at the top taking pictures and admiring the beautiful views before heading back down to Gorek Shep for breakfast. We then spent another few hours hiking back to Lobuche, where we spent the rest of the day.
Thursday 26th September 2013 Today we had a short walk from Lobuche back down the valley to Dingboche. It was fairly easy as it was mainly downhill and the weather was good again. We got an even better view of Island Peak from a small ridge, outside Dingboche (4410m).
In the next few days we will be trekking up the valley to Chukung and preparing to climb Island Peak.