Today’s acclimatization hike felt surprisingly good after yesterday. We climbed from 3500m from Namche Bazar to 3880m (just over 12,000ft) over two hours before resting and enjoying lemon tea and snacks. The trail was quite steep for the first 45 minutes, eased a bit to the first high point, and then traversed the rest of the way to the hotel. From there we could see Nuptse and Aba Dablam. Because of heavy haze and clouds, Everest was not visible unfortunately. Numerous helicopters were busy shuttling gear to Everest Base Camp. Astoundingly, there is a baby grand piano in the great room of the very attractive, spacious hotel.
On the trip up, we passed our first true yaks, loaded with cargo, distinguished from Zochios (Dochios?) by longer fur, smaller size, and horns that sweep aft at the tips. Good looking beasts! A small ‘wild’ herd was bedded down in a high meadow not far from the hotel. We also spotted a vulture or possibly a Nepalese condor soaring overhead. It was a very large bird.
Finally, we were passed by a small group of climbers, one of whom was blind, who are bound for Everest. They were flying a drone to capture their progress.
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Stewart Travels 