Stewart Travels

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 deal of snow. (Garrett observed that during monsoon season it’s common for a meter of snow to fall daily.)
Garrett also explained the dance that takes place between the jet stream and the monsoon. The jet stream normally makes ascending the very highest peaks in the Himalayas impossible. Only when the monsoon pushes north is the jet stream nudged north. There is typically a short but variable window for climbers to attempt the summit.
The people on this trek, climbers and trekkers alike, are universally amazing with their individual stories. There isn’t time, at this point, to write about each. Each has been interesting to visit with, and most are quite fun people you’d like to get to know better!
This morning I came down to again find Mark Pattison up, this time talking with wife(?). He, Ray Stevens and I are the usual early birds. The master of the Himalayan Hotel was walking around both inside and outside the building chanting softly and swinging a smoldering bowl of incense as an offering for blessings for the day. I got some pictures of the valley, snow-capped peaks brilliantly lighted by the rising sun. It was cold too, enough to freeze up one of the toilets!
Our hike today took us up a local ridge between Pheriche and Dingboche to 4540m, 14,750ft – so higher than Mt Rainier. We descended into Dingboche and enjoyed good coffee and French pastries! Jane felt much better, after a bad night’s sleep, having started the day with a half-dose of Diamox. I picked up Edmund Hillary’s book View from the Summit at the bakery(!)
We enjoyed several fun hands of bridge in the afternoon with the Draves. Tomorrow Lobuche!

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, sat Ama Dablam. Stunning views lay in both the direction of the sunrise up-valley and to the west and south of us at Rivendell. Tomboche was directly above us to the west. Khumbila was directly south – the peak above us at Namche Bazar. Even farther south we could still see Nupla and Kongde Ri, peaks that caught the sun for us at Namche. Southeast of us were Thomserku and Kongtae, peaks we had passed climbing to Debuche.
The main event of the day was visiting the Pangboche monastery. We doffed shoes at the door, went inside (no pictures), and sat cross-legged on the floor for half an hour listening to the lama chant and bang on a large suspended drum. Thre’s obviously a story there! From time to time, our lead Sherpa guide Ang Perba stood to pour some lemon-tea colored fluid into a small but tall bowl and sprinkle rice about. A beautiful Nepalese matron participated in tandem with the lama in the ceremony. She applied a fatty paste to the same bowl as the one fluid was added to. Part of the ceremony blessed to prayer flags that no doubt will be strung at the Everest Base Camp and perhaps higher. Near the close of the ceremony, each of us tossed a small bit of rice into the air. All of us who had folded a donation into a carefully folded ceremonial scarf at lunch time presented that to the lama and obtained his personal blessing.
We ascended to Pheriche (4200m, 13,750ft) around 4pm passing by the fork of the Lobuche Khola and Imja Khola. Jane had a hard time with the long leg after lunch, particularly reaching the final high point before descending into the village. She felt her blood pressure was dropping in spite of trying to rest step and breath properly. We were weary after a good dinner capped with apple pie. No bridge tonight either! As evening fell, clouds obscured most of the high peaks, but Tomboche was visible now and then. Tomorrow will be an acclimatization day for us to include a local hike.
Unfortunately, I can’t access the internet in Pheriche and so have missed this posting … and tomorrow’s.

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 we had hiked yesterday to a temple after which we descended all the way back down to the river where we had a quick lunch. Then we crossed the Imja Kohla and had a very long and very steep climb to Tengboche. “Teng” is heel. “Boche” is respect. There are a number of “boche” villages along the Khumbu valley. It is said that in the 16th century, a huge Dalai Lama tromped through the Himalayas, and everywhere he stomped, it flattened the ground for a village to be established.
The monastery at Tengboche is spectacular, and while photography isn’t permitted in the central part, got some good shots. At 3860m, 12,000ft, it is the second highest monastery in the world.
After leaving Tengboche we descended gently to Deboche, just under 12,000ft and the Rivendell Lodge where we’re spending the night. Ordinarily from here, Everest and Ama Dablam are visible, but clouds and persistent smoke render them invisible.

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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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 – the headwaters of oceans), and finally to our hotel at around 3500m (10850ft).
Some notes about the people and the place: almost all Nepalese and others who live here are amazingly fit. It would be hard not to be. Other than helicopters, there is no mechanized transportation here. Everything generally comes to all the villages and tea houses on the backs of yaks, yochios (hybrid cow-yak), or mules or is carried by men and women in baskets on their backs held lashed bands over their foreheads. And the size of their ‘packs’ is often twice that of two large duffel bags. Simply astounding. Pack trains number from just a few or over a dozen animals. They are mostly docile, certainly to humans, and worked very hard often carrying 2-2 ½ times what people carry.
Getting from point A to B, however short or long, is on foot, and most paths are steep and rough. Actual steps are rare but exist, produced by men doing back-breaking work to hammer large rocks into small ones for walkways and walls. A never ending task it seems.We did hike a stretch along the Dudh Koshi yesterday with “yak gates” at both ends to exclude hoofed creatures who were led along a different route.
Our meals have been substantial starting with a bowl of soup – lentil, garlic, or the one we had last night which was richer – all vegetarian so far. Copious quantities of rice are served sometimes with bok choy, onions/garlic, and egg. Mo-mo’s are dumplings with either vegetable filling (spinach, bok choy, garlic) or spicy meats. New potatoes are common, and sauces are made – lentil, tomato-based, to put on rice or potatoes. Steamed cauliflower, carrots, and bok choy are often available. And to wash it all down are many refills of lemon water, tea, and good coffee.

Bridge with the Draves continued. They are quite good!

Short link walking here with high bridge in background.

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 to yaks. (see picture of our yaks crossing the Dudh Koshi (Milk River)) The trek carried us from 2840m (8800ft) to 2610m (8100ft) past numerous small temples, prayer wheels, and monk-carved rocks bearing ancient prayerful messages and across the first two of many cabled suspension bridges. We enjoyed a substantial lunch of soup and rice dishes at a tea house along the way. Our guides posed for a picture, and a good dinner was capped off by Milky Way and Snickers bars wrapped in crepes.

We met and got to know Rich and Wendy Draves better. They’re from Madison Park and they play bridge and so we did!

Link to Twin Otter landing flight.

Link to Twin Otter takeoff flight.

Link to guides, climbers, and trekkers at Paradise Lodge, Lukla.

Link to zochios in ‘downtown’ Lukla.

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, was the norm, but it all rather flowed, like water! At the first Buddhist temple, The Monkey Temple, and the Hindu temple, panhandlers were persistent and – discovered the hard way – dishonest. Some were very young children. Monkeys and fly-covered sleeping dogs appeared many places at the first Buddhist temple. Incense, votive candles, and small fires filled the air with aromatic smoke. The Hindu temple sported all stages of cremation alongside a sickly green trickle of a stream into which ashes are dumped once the pyre has cooled. At the second Buddhist temple we enjoyed listening to a young chap describe thangka art – highly detailed, colorful painting on impregnated cotton cloth with limitless variation on three themes: lives of Buddha, the circle of life, and mandala – generally circular designs each telling stories.

Link to panorama video at the Monkey Temple.

Link to Kathmandu taxi video.

2 April – A quiet, uneventful half-day was spent at the Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar. Directions to certain things are rather lacking, but there was ample time to wander around. On the home-bound layover, we will try the Stay N Sleep bunk pods. Madisons liked them.

The Doha-Kathmandu leg began at 0205am and ended at 0900am.

Made it to Tribhuvan International Airport a half-hour early!

Will spare readers details of the anxieties of obtaining a visa on the premises (with computers that don’t print) and discovering that, by sheer fortune, we’d held onto our boarding passes which were expected at customs.

The Yak and Yeti Hotel is an oasis tucked within a hustling bustling town of narrow streets and lots of noisy scooters and motorcycles. It would be interesting to talk with a Nepalese electrician.

1 April – It is already midnight local time where we are, so Happy Birthday to my brother Chris and nephew Rick … and Happy April Fool’s Day!
Voyage and visit to Doha, Qatar
It should have been expected that QA720 would take off on a great-circle route northbound from SeaTac and assume a heading north by northeast given Qatar’s situation well southeast of central Europe. Instead, it came as a surprise as was the fly-by immediately east of Mt Shuksan and Mt Baker. Very cool as were views of snow coated Canadian Rockies that followed.
The 777 was largely empty, and passengers used most of the four-seat center sections to snooze on.
I used this unique occasion to at last finish Paul Kildea’s Chopin’s Piano, a thoughtful Christmas gift from daughter Mary. CP is a copiously detailed account of the life of Frederick Chopin and, later, Wanda Landowska who, respectively, initiated the Romantic era of music with his Twenty Four Preludes for piano written on Majorca and championed those preludes and other Romantic scores in France and, at the onset of war, the United States framed within an intriguing history of a particularly unique piano. The piano is likely lost to antiquity courtesy of winds borne of an especially virulent form of progressivism that sparked WWII. The music endures, and one day soon I will endeavor to play more of it.
We have enjoyed getting to know Garrett’s girl-friend Mikki Seagren, a medical assistant on our trek – her first to EBC also.

We are finishing packing this morning. Son in law Joe Hein will pick us up at 11:15am, pick up Madisons, and then grab the 12:20pm ferry to Seattle.