Back in Namche

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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 on the third lake) and try to find a spot known as the Scoundrel's View (because, on a clear day, it gives you a stunning view of Everest without having to climb anything more than a glacial moraine).

MS decided he'd wander up to fourth lake, IV is really struggling so is staying behind to rest. So, the four of us, me, MS, and a smiling Shaleish and RB head off up the glacial valley. About ten minutes in, RB and I have built a wee bit of a lead as MS plods on in his own, methodical way (I really struggle to work out how it is physically possible to walk that slow). Shaleish calls from the back and a conversation begins between Shaleish and RB. RB has obviously assumed he'll be heading off with me again and Shaleish can ponder behind. Some words are exchanged including "slow", "not slow", "me", "fast", "him", "me" and an agreement is reached that it is indeed Shaleish's turn to have some fun so a glum-faced RB has to stay behind with MS.

So Shaleish and I head off into the distance: "Any pace you like now Matt" he calls through the biting wind as we head off as fast as my lungs will allow me (we're still above 5,000m here). Shaleish soon overtakes me and dances across the landscape with no effort at all. Half an hour in and we're at the fourth lake and he pauses for me to catch up. I clap him on the shoulder: "you're fast man". He smiles back and we head off. He's decided to show me how slow we were going before. He doubles his speed, I struggle to keep him in sight. Just under an hour later and we're at the fifth lake and I can hardly breathe. The air has never felt so thin. This lake is frozen too so we scamper (me slowly, Shaleish easily) up the glacial moraine to Scoundrel's View but the clouds are not being kind enough to clear all the way to Everest (still beautiful though).

So we begin the long march back. Within minutes we're engulfed in a snowstorm and I struggle both against the wind and snow and to keep up with Shaleish (no chance). An hour and a half through driving, freezing snow and we land back at the lodge. A smiling RB greets me with a warm cup of tea and my stinging feet and face thaw gently into what passes for a night's sleep at this altitude.

Rise just before dawn in the morning and march (slowly) up Gokyo Ri (=peak) to slightly cloudy but gorgeous views of many a great mountain surrounding us, including the Sky Mother herself (Sagarmata, Chomolunga, Everest). Hard work gaining altitude and I'm almost always out of breath but the summit is glorious. More snow appears on the way down and an afternoon's rest is actually quite welcome (I avoid the temptation to march down to the first lake which has thawed and is said to have a few pairs of lovebirds (ducks) on it).

Next morning dawns and we're off on the long march up to Lhenjo La (our last pass). Stunning climb and traverse across a snowy glacier crossed with snow leopard tracks fresh from the night before (no sign of the leopards of course). After a wee water stop, I sneak away first behind RB and (after dismissing a few more calls from Shaleish) RB and I are away at a number of times the pace of the others. We march up through beautiful snowy, craggy steps, lungs gasping at the thin air but mind loving every moment of it. The view behind us is simply breathtaking (which is not healthy considering how hard taking a breath already is). As we approach the final "step" to the flat ledge of the La itself, RB stops, turns to me, bows and waves me on: "you first today" he beams.

I skip past him onto the ledge, turn to look all around me and am confronted by the massive, overpowering grandeur of Everest bathed in sunshine and surrounded by peaks as far as the eye can see. RB joins me for a hug that takes even more breath away. This wins - the finest view in the world. Spend an hour or more up there (it takes about half an hour for the others to arrive) simply marveling at how lucky I am to see this, to be the first up on a day like today, to be here when the sky has graced us with a snowy, sunny landscape no image can ever do justice to.

The other side of the pass is frozen so it's a tricky, icy, slippery way down to the long, undulating near-desert valley below. The first lake is frozen low and all the others are all but dry. Dust swirls everywhere on the two hour march down to Lungden. Spend the night comfortably enough and then the long but easy walk down to Namche. Returning to Namche feels homely but leaving the pass was hard - it's the last of the high mountains this time - everything already feels low (we're just below 4,000m now).

So, walk to Monjo for this evening, then down to Lukla for tomorrow night and hope all this cloud clears long enough to allow us to fly out to Kathmandu the day after. Getting lower by the day, including in altitude.

May 2068 be kind to all.

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