Blogs from Pheriche, Nepal, Asia

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 ... read more

Pheriche 4240m - Dughla 4620m - Lobuche 4930m Time taken: Total 3 hours 40mins Today's trek was through stunning, wide valleys with half frozen streams and boulders with the occasional passing yak trains. The only noises for most of the day was the wind, the tinkling sound of the yak bells and the calls of the yak herders. As we started out at 7.30am the sun had not yet reached the bottom of the valley and it was bitterly cold. My hands, especially were freezing, getting pale and stiff and I needed two sets of gloves and to put my hands in my down jacket to warm them. As soon as we reached the valley end and were back in the sun I warmed considerably but this is the first time I have noticed being really ... read more

Debuche 3770m - Pangboche 3860m- Shomare 4010m- Pheriche 4240m Time taken: 3 hours 20 mins Debuche - Pangboche 45 mins Pangboche - Shomare 1 hour Shomare - Pheriche 1 hour 35 mins I wake early, about 5.30am after a poor night's sleep at the Rivendell Lodge. I'm amused/horrified to see not only my breath in front of me, but also visible 'smoke' as I open my sleeping bag to in the morning to go to the bathroom. Bathroom trips in the evenings or mornings before the sun comes up are now becoming too cold to consider now unless a certain level of desperation has been reached! After a good hot shower the previous night, and careful planning of which clothes to place under by sleeping bag, thereby heat up before dressing, the morning ritual of packing ... read more