From Lobuche to Deboche


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April 17th 2013
Published: April 20th 2013
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Walking in snowWalking in snowWalking in snow

passing a yak train whilst heading down to the Chola Khola
Thursday 11th April

Up until now we had been walking in bright sunshine every day with very dry conditions underfoot producing a very fine dust. We had occasionally passed drifts of snow which had obviously been there for some time but we had not had to walk on snow at all. On Wednesday evening, however, it snowed whilst we were staying at the lodge in Lobuche. On the Thursday we awoke to find that about half an inch of snow covered the ground all around. Although this was not enough to cause any problems with trekking, the light covering of snow made a remarkable difference to the scene.

A normal morning routine saw us setting out for the day's walking at 07:30. As we were now retracing our steps of a couple of days ago, the day, although a long one, was mostly downhill. We followed the path back towards the Khumbu glacier terminal moraine, with the glacier itself again hidden behind the moraine wall to our left. We climbed down the terminal moraine and past Thukla where we had had a lemon tea stop on the way up. This time, however, we continued down into the Chola Khola
ThoklaThoklaThokla

descending towards the lodge where we stopped for lemon tea on the way up
valley bottom towards Pheriche whereas a few days earlier we had followed the contours further up the side of the valley when coming from Dingboche.

By 10:05 we had reached the village of Pheriche and stopped at the Himalayan Hotel for lemon tea. After a 35 minute break we were back on our way and continued as far as Shomare which was to be our lunch stop today. We had stopped for lunch at Shomare on our way up to Dingboche on Saturday and we stopped again at the same lodge for lunch at 11:50. Leaving Shomare at 13:25 we continued to follow the Imja Khola valley, gradually descending towards the valley bottom until we were able to cross the river and then gradually ascend the other side of the valley until we we arrived at the Rivendell Lodge at Deboche at 15:15. This was to be our lodge for this evening and we were amazed by the contrast between its facilities and those of the lodges we had stayed at for the last 6 or 7 nights.

This has been my first Himalayan trek but I have been others in our group who have trekked here before
PherichePherichePheriche

approaching the village from the north west
that the standard of lodges has improved significantly over the last few years. We have been staying in lodges with twin-bedded rooms each night. Most of the ones we stayed in also had some en-suite facilities, but these gradually grew less as we progressed further north and higher in altitude. For our first few nights, the en-suite facilities included toilet, hand-basin and shower. Showers are generally supplied with water which has been warmed by the sun through solar panels so the best time to stand a chance of getting a hot shower is early afternoon when the sun has been shining all day. As we went higher, the personal shower ceased to be provided en-suite and you had to pay to use the communal one. In the highest lodges, those at Lobuche and Gorak Shep, there were no en-suite facilities at all. Instead there was a shared toilet or two and hot water was provided in the form of a bowl first thing in the morning. This was why we were so amazed at the facilities at Deboche since we had not had the option of a shower for nearly a week. The mattresses at Rivendell lodge were also much
Crossing the CholaCrossing the CholaCrossing the Chola

between Pheriche and Shomare
softer than at any other lodge we stayed at and the bed rooms quite a bit warmer. None of the lodges we stayed at had any heating at all in the bedrooms. Instead each lodge has a common dining room which normally consists of bench seating around the outsides and a large pot-bellied stove in the centre. In places below the tree line, wood is the main source of fuel for these stoves, but above the tree line when it would be expensive to transport wood, there is still a heavy reliance on dried yak dung as a fuel. It was quite common to see large stacks of yak dung being dried ready for this.

Food in lodges is fairly consistent and is clearly geared towards trekkers and what is easy to cook in large numbers and cheap to transport! Potatoes are grown locally so chips are always on the menu. Eggs are very common and presumably dried pasta and noodles are relatively cheap to transport as there are always lots of spaghetti, macaroni and noodle dishes on the menu. Pizza is also very common and tinned tuna obviously makes its way up here as most lodges seem to
ShomareShomareShomare

Lunch stop
offer tuna pizza. Thyere are usually plenty of soups available; popular ones for our group were 'ra ra' soup, which is basically just noodles and a few vegetables, and Sherpa soup which is a thicker soup consisting of more fresh vegetables. Porridge is always on offer for breakfast with honey and/or apples added. It was very common to see spring rolls on the menu but don't expect them to look anything like those you get from your local Chinese take-away! They actually have the shape, consistency and size of a Cornish pasty, but they are quite popular. One of the few true 'local' dishes commonly available was Tibetan bread; this varied enormously from lodge to lodge but was always popular. The food at the Rivendell lodge in Deboche was probably the best we came across and I can definitely recommend their Spaghetti Carbonara!


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Ama Dablam ...Ama Dablam ...
Ama Dablam ...

... has reared over us all day today
Sherpa portersSherpa porters
Sherpa porters

carrying building materials
Near DebocheNear Deboche
Near Deboche

A yak is relieved of it's burden for the evening


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