Blogs from Namche, Nepal, Asia
Is the Everest Base Camp trek a challenging Adventure ? V1
Published: February 15th 2012Asia » Nepal » Namche
February 15th 2012
Everest has always been a fascinating land for trekkers as well as for climbers. Since 1953 when Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary crossed the Khumbu Valley for their historic climb to the top of Everest, the trail has remained one of the most popular destinations in Nepal. But not every trekker reach Base Camp and very few still have the strength to climb Kala Pattar to have a wonderful mountain scenery of the top of Everest. Then is trekking towards Everest Base Camp a real challenge ? Your journey starts from Kathmandu where you fly off towards the mountains for a 45mn scenic flight to Lhukla airport. From there, the trail is good track with passing through picturesque villages and crossing suspension bridges over the Dudh Khosi River. It is easy trek with gentle altitude gain ... read more
April 13th 2011
Happy New Year everybody! Today is the first day of the Nepalese New Year - the passing of year 2067 was spent back in Namche Bazar now on the way out of this heavenly region. So today is 2068 and a march up the hill to a rather cloudy final viewpoint at the expensive hotel a few hundred feet above Namche (called the Everest View hotel to avoid any confusion). Since I typed last, we crossed the crumbly, rubbly glacier from Dragnag to Gokyo - a wee settlement beside a series of lakes - four of the five are still frozen. The walk across was still painfully slow due to my esteemed walking partners so, on arrival, I decided I was off to see the fifth lake (a fair few miles north - the settlement is ... read more
April 8th 2011
Not typing from Namche, typing from the wee seasonal settlement of Dragnag at the western end of the Cho La Pass trail. We crossed the pass today in glorious sunshine but biting cold winds. Truly stunning to be standing atop the eastern end of the pass after a great scramble up a rocky trail from Dzongla early this morning. Where did I type from last I wonder? I think it was probably the second Dingboche visit. Well, since then, we trekked up to Lobuche where I still had just enough energy after a day's trekking and an afternoon acclimatisation hike to the moraine above the serenely violent Khumbu glacier to play the highest game of football I've ever played by about 4,500m. Then up to Gorak Shep and up to Everest Base Camp (as much of ... read more
April 4th 2011
Twenty years from now on you would be more disappointed by the things you didnt do than by the things u did do. So throw off ur bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in ur sails. EXPLORE.. DREAM..DISCOVER. - MARK TWAIN. So lets start. All the things i ve been chasing in this civilized world is worthless. You ll spend half of ur life building up the empire only to find out the rest of ur life protecting it. What we gain? When i'll discover myself? Its the nature we all belongs to and its where happiness lies. Nepal - the most beautiful country in the world. Its where i am born but i have seen nothing yet. Until now i was just a frog inside the pond. Now get out ... read more
March 30th 2011
I type from a wee room in a wee hotel in the stupendous splendour of Namche Bazar. We flew in to Lukla yesterday and the flight was fantastic. The landing does indeed make you realise you're awake but then flying straight into a mountain-face really should worry the mind slightly. But I enjoyed it immensely. Then pause in Lukla for lunch with the most breathtaking views before plodding 3 hours or so through inspiring gorges and valleys to the tiny village of Phakding. Overnight in a pretty smart lodge by the river. Awake to clear skies and mountain-tops all around (they were hidden in the afternoon cloud the day before). More stunning mountain-tops all around as we trek the six hours up to Namche. Some impressive crossing on swingbridges swung high above the rushing river in ... read more
To the top of the bottom of Everest, and back again
Published: December 1st 2010Asia » Nepal » Namche
December 1st 2010
The following is a first account experience I just had with a trek in the Himalayas that I would like to share with you. I wrote a little everyday while I was up in the mountains. I hope you enjoy it. ____________________________________________________________________ Day 1 Airport Appreciation Day We rolled into the airport at Kathmandu around 0715. None of the flights were departing due to poor visibility in Lukla. Eventually at 1530 they finally canceled all flights. Went back to a new hotel to try again the next morning. Day 1 pt. 2 Lukla (9317 ft) to Phakding (8563 ft) 0830 – 1130 3 hrs The flight was only delayed an hour this time. Amazing views of the Himalayas (1st time to see them). Landed in Lukla on a very short runway that dead ends into a ... read more
November 25th 2009
The day was greeted with much excitement. Today is the day we'd get our hot showers. Another day of pushing downhill at break(leg) pace. We would have covered another huge distance today and probably just as much vertical distance as yesterday, if not slightly more sense there was a lot of rise and fall. Once again I tried to keep pace with the breakaways and ended up living to regret it. My chin splints and knees were wrecked by the time we made it to Namche in the afternoon. Keeping with the secondary train would have been the better idea. Today we started off at Orsho and then hugged the river which drove us straight past Pangboche until we made it to Tengboche (4,000m) 3 hours later. Tengboche is where the "huge" buddhist monastery of this ... read more
October 29th 2009
Day 5 - Tengboche to Dingboche (4410m) After a breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast and potatoes and a last look at the monastery, we headed off into the clear, cold morning just before 8am. As usual, Ratna set a good pace down the hill and we enjoyed it after the climb the day before. The way was lined with rhododendron trees (unfortunately not in flower) and an abundance of old man's beard - Bear Grills would have been jealous! As the path levelled out we came across 'Rivendell Lodge'. Not quite from Lord of the Rings in appearance, but the setting was definitely worthy; a valley with green hills and rushing river at the bottom. After a short distance of slowly inclining path we were faced with another bouncy bridge then a steep, rocky climb up ... read more
October 8th 2009
Well after a very long walk uphill we've made it to Namche at an altitude of 3445m. I still haven't seen any Himalayan peaks as it's been cloudy and rainy the last few days but the scenery at ground level is still really nice. We followed a raging river the first couple of days that originates at Mt Everest. Today we had a "rest" day at Namche which involved a walk 400m to the Everest View Hotel which unfortunately today was the white cloud view hotel. it's at 3880m so its now the highest I've ever been and thankfully so far I don't have any signs of altitude sickness - only a slight headache this morning but a litre of water seemed to fix it. Namche is amazing - there's dozens of internet cafe's, bakeries, pool ... read more
September 21st 2009
Jupiii, konecne prvy internet aj s citackami kariet (pradoxne az na treku k Everestu..). Takze, mame za sebou prve dva dni slapania s 20kg ruksakmi. Presunuli sme sa z Lukly (2800m) do Namche Bazaru (3400m) a zajtra zaciname s aklimatizac.trekmi. Nalada v skratke - je to lepsie ako som dufala, snivala, videla, myslela :). Ale podme na fotky: sakris, nejak ich to uploaduje strasne pomaly, tak to zostrucnim :(. ... read more
