Author Archives: Encore

Having started taking Diamox last night, and being at 17,450ft, I awoke after almost no sleep, and it was very cold. That, combined with yak-dung-impregnated dust, and smoke from yak dung fires set me up for a cold that I carried through our return to Kathmandu. Fortunately, Jane was spared a similar experience!We completed theContinue reading “12 April – Gorak Shep to Everest Base Camp”

Despite this being one of our shortest hiking days distance-wise, it was difficult because of starting from 5030m and hiking to 5288m/17,450ft. 258m (850ft) may not sound like very much at all, but climbing that vertical distance from 16,350ft was exhausting. And as if that weren’t enough, Garrett offered the opportunity to climb an additionalContinue reading “11 April – Lobuche to Gorak Shep”

Pictures are going to have to wait a bit and I’m behind a few days unfortunately. The internet is weak here and also overloaded with a few users this morning. It is around 0F this morning, and my fingers are freezing as I type. The heat was turned on about a half hour ago, andContinue reading “10 April – Pheriche to Lobuche”

Those who’ve looked carefully at pictures of buildings have noted that all are made of well-fit granite blocks. Given no bulldozers here and no apparent block-cutting industry, one is left to wonder how all these buildings came together. I’ve not seen joists, but roof pitch does not look like it would support a great dealContinue reading “9 April – Pheriche, with day hike to Dingboche on the Imja Khola.”

WE AWOKE TO CLEAR SKIES THIS MORNING, AND OMG THE VIEWS! Ahead of us, Mt Everest was peeking out behind Nuptse ridge on the left and Lohtse on the right. Just the south to main summit portion was visible, but it was there! Well to the right of Lohtse and closer, so very impressive, satContinue reading “8 April – Debuche to Pheriche”

Today was our second hardest hike after the Namche leg, but the day started with a ceremony offered by the mother-son owners of the Panorama Lodge, Migu and Doma. Climbers were blessed first and then we trekkers.We traversed in leisurely fashion from 3440m up the Imja Kohla river on our right well below where weContinue reading “7 April – Tengboche and Debuche”

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 ofContinue reading “6 April – Hotel Everest View”

This hard leg took us up the Dudh Koshi river across several suspension bridges, including the highest of all, past several more villages. Pictures show the place at which we stayed in Phakding, one of oodles of attractive young Nepalese children, through the entrance to the Sagarmatha National Park (Everest is called Sagarmatha – theContinue reading “5 April – Phakding to Namche Bazar (where bandwidth is awful and dogs bark most of the night! ;)”

Today we flew to Lukla – the most dangerous airport in the world – and enjoyed the surprisingly fast, efficient process of checking in, getting tickets, boarding the aircraft, and taking off. Upon landing, climbers and trekkers (us) enjoyed breakfast together and set off to Phakding with our day packs leaving the heavy lifting toContinue reading “4 April – Happy Easter! – Lukla to Phakding”

We spent several hours touring the of the large temples in the city. Two are Buddhist and one is Hindu. To say the least, the day provided the degree of sensory overload one might expect in a large city in a “developing” country. Unruly and loud traffic, comprised more than half by motorcycles and scooters,Continue reading “3 April – Kathmandu”