Namche Bazaar - how bazaar how bazaar?

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We rose early, keen to smash the climb to Namche Bazaar in the face. It would be our first taste of altitude, and a real test of our extensive training! We trekked from Josale, at about 2800m, to 3400m in just a few painful hours - oh the relief to come around the side of the mountain and see Namche nestled on the hill side!

We were advised to stay awake for the afternoon (not an easy feat), so we found a bar showing a doco on the 50th anniversary of scaling Mt Everest - hard to believe Ed Hillary and Tenzin Norgay could accomplish such a climb with basic equipment and no path to follow! Nowadays climbers still spend a minimum of 2 months acclimatising from Base Camp up and down the mountain to Camp 4, and fork out $65 000 to make it happen! (We were told for an expedition of 14 people they would need hundreds of yaks to carry tents, food, supplies climbing equipment, radios..., plus porters, cooks, climbing guides and "icefall doctors")

Just making it to Gorak Shep (Base Camp and Kala Patthar) looked a lot more optimistic!

The next day was our first acclimatisation day, and we walked up to the airstrip above Namche, out to a couple of little villages and back down past the Everest View Hotel. We had a spectacular view through the valley to Mt Everest, and Ben celebrated with a whisky (but didn't feel the need to splurge on a $250 per night room for me!).

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