We have started a daily monitoring process of our oxygen levels and any potential altitude sickness symptoms. Nothing to report yet. Today we were up at 7 and out of the lodge by 8.15 expecting a long day. Although the trekking will get tougher as we gain more altitude, at the moment I am pretty comfortable with the demands. Since Phakding we have covered about 16 miles in 2 full days walking and gained about 1400m altitude. Because the paths are uneven, winding and at times narrow and steep, the pace is very slow, which also helps the gradual acclimatisation. So for someone who is accustomed to hitting 20 miles a day even on rough ground, it’s an easy pace to deal with.
The weather so far has been clear hot and sunny until mid afternoon then hazy, cloudy and a lot cooler in the evenings, turning progressively colder at night. We expect sub zero temperatures in the next 10 days as we get into the real high stuff.
The walk from Namche today started with a steep climb up out of the town for an hour or so revealing fantastic views of the valley and peaks behind. We eventually reached Syangboche airstrip where we stopped and had an impromptu penalty shoot out at 3800m. As usual England failed gallantly!!
We then continued to ascend up to a small ridge where we had the best views of Everest and its surroundings so far. Awesome!
Descending into the village of Khumjung we stopped for lunch at a more rustic tea house in traditional Sherpa style. Khumjung’s development has been funded by the Sir Edmund Hillary foundation and is a very well set out farming community with schools, a hospital and well maintained buildings.
After lunch we continued to descend out of the village and passed the point where the EBC route veers to right and our path to the left. We then began a long ascent winding around the hillside as our destination came into view at the top of the pass. The sheer scale of the mountains and valleys is a lot more evident now and with the peace and quiet punctuated occasionally by the sound of helicopters flying through the valleys both above an below us. After a couple of short rest breaks on the uphill stretch we reached Mong La shortly before 4pm. WiFi initially good but the place relies on solar power so at about 8.30pm after dinner everything went off except the lights.
Tomorrow is a half day trek to Dole.