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Published: April 18th 2007
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Chris, Ama Dablam and me
Possibly the coolest looking mountain in the world? After the kayaking we had a day to sort ourselves out in Kathmandu and get ready for the next trek - a two week trip into the Everest (Khumbu) region to climb a peak called Lobuche East.
We headed off on the morning of the 3rd to get a flight from Kathmandu to Lukla (you can do a walk to Lukla from a place called Jiri, but it would have taken to long) and what a flight it was. The plane fits maybe 16 people, which isn't the scary bit - its the fact that the runway was obviously built my a lunatic - its about 200m long, and built at a 30-40 degree angle - so when you land it helps to slow you down, and when you take off it helps to speed you up before you drop off to oblivion... Anyway, apart from that (and the sign in cockpit for the pilots warning them that they aren't permitted to perform summersaults with passengers on board - they needed reminded of that!!!) it was a fairly peaceful flight and the views were pretty spectacular, giving us a feel for what was to come.
Lukla to Dzongla: 3rd-9th April
After arriving, we had 6 days to get to a 'town' called Dzongla from Lukla. Given that Lukla is at a height of about 2500m and Dzongla at 4850m this gave us enough time to take it easy and acclimitise properly going up quite slowly. We spent 2 nights in a place called Namche (which is pretty big for a 'himalyan' town) and 2 nights in a place called Dingboche. The fews along the way were pretty breathtaking as well - although my mid-day thew clouds seemed to roll-in and cover the views up, so it was best to be up early. All in all, the trekking wasn't that difficulty (generally about 3 hours a day), but the views were always awesome, and Chris was a bit ill so it suited us just fine to take it easy.
Time in Dzongla: 9th-12th April When we arrivied in Dzongla on the 9th, we found it was just 2 lodges and here we met our guide PK, and fellow client Alex. Alex is an English guy, who had just climbed another peak called Island Peak with the same guide. We were to have a couple of
days training before we headed up to our base camp and attempt the climb early in the morning.
The training turned out to be reasonably mickey mouse - not that it was badly done, it wasn't - but there really wasn't that much to teach, especially for people who had climbed before, which we all had. The first day we went out to a big boulder for about 40 minutes and learned how to use an ascender, which took about 5 minutes - you push it up a rope and you follow after it - it stops you from falling. The second day, we went for ice-climbing practice at the Cho-La pass (about 5400m). So, we did some top-rope vertical ice-climbing and Chris and me tried to teach the locals some European technique - 1 axe, 2 feet - they didn't buy it. Still, we were quicker than them which made us feel good about ourselves. Anyway, there would be no vertical or near vertical climbing on the mountain, so was all just a bit of fun really. In fairness, the couple of days worked well in terms of acclimitisation, and allowed us to read quite a lot of
our books. We also met an Iranian group in the lodge one night, who were absolutely awesome fun - some of the friendliest people I've met - they were dancing in the middle of the lodge to some music they had brought along - very entertaining.
To the Top!: 12th-13th April On the summit day we left Dzongla at about 2pm and walked for about an hour and a half to a small lake at about 5200m. About 1 hour later our yaks arrived carrying the tents and kitchen equipment, which was pretty cool - when I say our yaks, I mean one yak and one nak - if you don't know the difference, lets just say you don't want to order Yak cheese...
Anyway, it was pretty cold up there, but thankfully I had a special weapon. I had my waterbottle filled with boiling water (as opposed to cold) that night to add my puifying tablets to. After leaving it for an hour I put it at the bottom of my sleeping bag and had an extremely warm nights sleep while the other two froze in their sleeping bags - hehe - I win!
We
View from the plane
Flying into Lukla on the twin-prop we were able to see the Himalaya - not quite as interesting as the crazy runway we we about to land on though... were woken up just before 2AM, had some breakfast - (muesli with hot milk, spicy noodle soup and a cup of tea) and we headed up the first section of the climb. The first 1.5 hours was on rock with some minor scrambling, before we reached the snow line. Here we put on our plastic boots, harnesses and crampons, and took out the ice axes for the first time. Within about 10 minutes of setting off the light from the morning sun was starting to hit the taller of the peaks giving us some outstanding views - including of everest surrounded by a small amount of pinkish clouds towards the summit - unfortunately my camera (or my lack of ability with the camera) meant I couldn't capture it but it was pretty amazing. Anyway, we continued on upwards for another 2 hours before reaching the summit - our guides decided that we all knew what we were doing so we didn't bother with fixed ropes which sped everything up.
The summit was pretty cold (well the summit ridge - not really a summit but as far as they can go without doing some pretty hard climbing to get to
It's geting cold
Thiswas the top of my water bottle - it was several hours before it melted enough to let me drink from it. the real top) but it felt pretty good getting to over 6000m. The way back down was pretty relaxed - we did a few abseils and mostly enjoyed the view. By the time we got back down to the tents we were suffering from headaches - probably a mixture of dehydration, sun-stroke and altitude, but after sitting down for half and hour and getting some more noodle soup we were all feeling pretty good again. After another 30 minutes we headed back to Dzongla for our last night in the guesthouse, and a well deserved early night.
To the bottom:14th-17th April Leaving Dzongla the next morning we wanted to lose as much altitude as possible, so we headed all the way back down to Namche that day and had some bakery products that night. We also randomly met a guy we had met on the Annapurna circuit called Adam, who we walked down with which was really cool. We spent another full day in namche just chilling and eating and reading before we headed down to Lukla to catch our flight back to civilisation. Both Chris and I started to feel a bit dodgy the night before our
Lobuje East
Its the big one you can see. flight, and the flight didn't help matters - but it all went smoothly and we landed safely - job done yet again.
Anyway, I've spent the last few days in Kathmandu not doing any of the things I planned - like kayaking and downhill mountain-biking - as I've been lying in bed feeling a bit rough. Still I got some anti-biotics from a doctor today and had my first real meal in 4 days so I think I'll survive...
I'm also going home very very soon. Best decide what to do with the rest of my life I suppose - although at the moment I'm content with going to London for a couple of days, then Andy's wedding, then a week of climbing in the UK just to break myself back into the UK gently you understand...
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Sasha
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Noodle soup
Gah, you're making me feel Nepal-sick. It all brings back memories in fact I think we visited the same backery in Namche! I also noticed the sign in the cockpit of the "plane" and found it hilarious - photo was compulsory. Oh and Ama Dablam's my fave mountain in the world...it's so, well, mountainy! ;)