Advertisement
Published: August 10th 2006
Edit Blog Post
Water stand by Tengboche monastery
The runners were happy to see the monks and locals waiting for them here. It's a really steep climb up to Tengboche. As we trekked up the trail, we kept meeting Nepali and foreign runners who were training for the Everest Marathon. This is a grueling, high altitude race over the uneven terrain from Everest Base Camp (5300 meters or 17,390 feet) back down to Namche (3440 meters or 11,290 feet). I found it hard enough to walk this trail, and I can’t believe that anyone would be crazy enough to run it.
Our first encounter with the runners was a group of English fly boys (Royal Air Force-RAF) staying at the same guesthouse in Namche. We also met Ally and Rory, the two Scottish runners, while we were all huddled around the fire at a teahouse in Dughla. In Leboche, we met this German guy whose name I never caught, but who we dubbed Dieter. We also saw various sherpas who were obviously in training running up and down the trail.
The Nepalis definitely have an advantage over the foreigners. They know the terrain and are used to high altitude. Most of them come from villages in the area and many work as porters, so they carry huge loads on these trails all the time. The Nepalis also have extra
Ally stopping at the water stand
Ally was one of the Scottish runners we met on the way up to Gorak Shep. incentive to win. The Nepali winner gets a money prize, I think 10,000 rupees (about $143). It doesn’t sound like much, but that is a fortune in these parts.
The foreigners know they don’t have a chance of winning against the Nepalis, so most set goals of finishing under 6-7 hours. Not only do the foreign runners have to learn the trail, but they must spend days acclimatizing to the altitude. Most hike up to a higher altitude and then stay for 2 nights, doing a day hike on the second day. The rule is to hike high and sleep low. It is a bad idea to ascend more than 400-500 meters a day. Aside from the altitude, it gets very cold above 4000 meters, and the food and facilities are very basic, so there are some tough conditions to deal with.
The marathon was on May 29. The runners left Everest Base Camp at 7am. We saw Ally coming through Tengboche as we left there just before noon, more than an hour after the first Nepali crossed the finish line. Tengboche is a bastard of a climb in either direction and it would be excruciating to have
such a steep climb that far into a marathon. Ally looked like he was in pain as he practically crawled up that hill, which is the same way I felt when I went up it the day before.
To give you an idea of how fast the Nepalis are, the winner set a record time of 3 hours 28 minutes. It took us almost 2 ½ days to trek the same distance. Granted, we take frequent breaks and we don’t hurry, but still…One Nepali guy finished in 4 hours 15 minutes and came in 13th place. He went back up the trail to have tea and take photos of his foreign friends who were hours behind him. How cheeky!
The foreign runners told us that while they were winding slowly around the switchbacks, the Nepalis would just ignore the switchbacks and sprint straight down the hillsides. The hills are quite steep and it rained that morning and the night before, so the trails are really slippery. It’s very easy to slip on the descents. You’d better hope that you just land in a pile of yak poo instead of plunging 20 meters over the side!
Some crazy
Blooming pine tree
On the way down, there were some unusual pine trees with blue buds that were blooming. The buds were soft to touch, not prickly at all. I have never seen pine trees like this before. foreigner went the wrong way on the trail and ended up all the way in Pheriche. Instead of backtracking, he swam across the river. The current looks strong and the water levels are pretty high, not to mention how cold that water must be. Crazy bastard!
We made it back to Namche just in time to crash the marathon after-party that evening. This is the only party I’ve ever been to (except for penas in Peru) where everyone was wearing trekking boots and Gore-Tex. This is also the only party I’ve attended where most attendees had not showered that day. At one point, one of the English fly boys insisted that I take my hair down. I told him, sure, as long as you don’t mind that I haven’t washed it for 2 days! Anywhere else, people would have thought it was gross; here, everyone just laughed and said, yeah, me too!
Vast amounts of Tiger beer were consumed and most people stomped and stumbled around the dance floor. I can’t believe those crazy Nepalis had the energy to dance like that after such a grueling race. The Nepali guy who went back to take photos of his
English and Scottish runners at the after-party
These guys were so happy to finally eat and consume beer to their heart's content, but I'm sure they were in pain the next day! friends had the most energy of all. The floor got pretty packed, especially when we were all dancing to a Madonna medley. The funniest part was when the Nepalis were singing along to “Like a Virgin.” I don’t think they quite understood what the lyrics meant.
We stumbled back to the guesthouse after 1am, which is really late for this area. This is the biggest party of the year in Namche, even more than New Year’s Eve. Needless to say, we needed an additional rest day in Namche after that party. We ran into the Nepali bartender the next day. He complained that he had to be at work at 5am, which seemed to consist of him loitering out on the street all day. Such is the Nepali way!
After chilling in Namche for a day, we continued trekking for a few more days in the Gokyo area…
Advertisement
Tot: 0.047s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 9; qc: 25; dbt: 0.0223s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb