Everest - Part 3

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Day 11 - Lukla to Jorsale

The plan was to get to Namche Bazaar today. But five hours into the day, it all fell apart. Neither of us were completely recovered from yesterday, and a few towns from Namche we had some lunch and decided we'd get to the last town and get to the next town and make te climb in the morning.

At our lunch stop we saw the local news and that there were riots in Kathmandu, it looked pretty violent and we were glad to be in the mountains away from it all.

Day 12 - Jorsale to Namche Bazaar

Finally we made it to Namche, the Sherpa Capital ad once a part of Tibet.

In reality it is a soulless place that is making a tourist dollar as much as La Ramblas in Barcelona or the Tower of London. Unfortunately we have to spend two nights here to acclimatise, not that we're having any problems, but once over 3,000 metres you're not supposed to go more than 300 in any one day, and this place is nearly 600 metres higher than Jorsale.

There are plenty of people coming back from Base Camp and they're talking about the weather being bad, we're now getting worried ourselves ans the weather is generally cloudy from 8am onwards and at 5,000metres we don't know what it will be like.

Day 13 - Thame

Today was our day to acclimatise, a day off, of sorts! However, we're still supposed to walk to higher ground and then sleep low again, so we decided to go west and explore the views. Without our bags it was a lovely walk! Free from the constraints of the 28kg we're sharing, it was pleasant to wander up the gorges and into a beautiful valley surrounded by the mountains.

Day 14 - Namche to Deboche

Today is the longest walk we face before we reach Base Camp. It started very hard with some really steep steps out of the town, about an hour in though we rounded a corner by a prayer flag and we saw Everest, Lhotse and Lhotse La, with hardly any clouds at all. The view was amazing, we could see the tallest and fourth tallest mountains in the world. We could also see Ama Dablam, one of the most technically difficult climbs in the world, and the most dramatic looking of all the mountains in the Himalayas.

Once we lost sight of the peaks the rest of the day was something of a hard slog. With another half kilometre up into the sky. Each step seemed to hurt and each breath was harder, but eventually we reached Tengboche, at 3,851 metres, our highest point on earth yet. Unfortunately the clouds were surrounding us so we decided to make sure we come back in the morning to get the views that we have been told are amazing.

We went down 125 metres to Deboche so that our sleeping altitude was less than 300 metres higher than the previous night.

Day 15 - Deboche

Rhi didn't sleep well and is showing signs of altitude sickness. We decided to spend an extra night here. It's a decent lodge and is clean, there's also a group of guys who are going to climb everest this month, and they make for interesting conversation, as opposed to the Russians and Americans who seem to want to fight. It's a bit like the cold war. We went back to Tangboche this morning and we were rewarded with some of the most spectacular views. Everest was perfectly clear against the blue sky, and I've got to say, it';s the best morning coffee I've ever had!

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