Report on our Trek in Khumbu-Everest area, Oct. 4 - Nov. 18, 2000.
(The Everest Extravaganza)
THIS half of the MAXI-report isn't too long, perhaps 24 pages if you print it out. This report is now added into my web-site. My OLD maxi-report for our great 1997 trek around the Annapurna Circuit was about 40 pages of text, and I still recommend it for the basic facts and details about trekking.
http://www.national.com/rap/nepal/info.html
CHANGES:
There are VERY FEW out-of-date things in the OLD (1997) Maxi-report. The Nepalese rupee is now (in late 2000) worth 1.4 cents, or $1.40 to buy 100 rupees. A stamp for a post-card to the USA is now 18 rupees, or about 25 cents, still a bargain, and nice cards are mostly 10 rupees (14 cents). *Now 1 rupee = about $0.013 in 2001.
NOTE: Many countries soak you $0.80 or as much as $1.10, for the postage for an international post-card. Apparently they think they can soak the tourists who have no way to complain. Nepal seems to think that keeping the postal rates at a low level will encourage us to write MANY cards - and I do. I sent out dozens. What an inexpensive, CHEAP, EFFECTIVE way for them to encourage tourism and good P.R.!
NOTE: Many times, when you go to a post-office in Nepal, it is easy for them to be all out of stamps. But stores that sell post-cards do NOT run out; you can usually buy stamps there. I took my BIG address list, and editted out a lot of names that I would definitely NOT be sending a post-card to, and then I printed that out with a small font. Very effective.
(See: "What's All This Address Stuff, Anyhow?" 6 March, 2000) at: http://www.elecdesign.com/Articles/Index.cfm?ArticleID=7405&extension=html
The only post offices in the Khumbu area are at Lukla and Namche. Closed on Saturdays.
GREAT PHOTOS:
Our guys took some. See Jim's at: www.geocities.com/jimmikkelson Sigrid took some wonderful slides. We'll see more soon.
I am working on my videotapes. I have about 25 hours, and I have to leave out all but the best, to get down to a final editted version:
- A 2-hour tape to show to friends; plus a 2-hour tape for just us trekkers. That will have lots of things that are hard to explain, except for those of us who were there! Plus an hour of STAFF, Singing and dancing, and any other video we get. Plus an hour of YAKS for Noah. This will be called "The Yak Channel: Always Yaks - Yaks All The Time."
PLACES:
Where did we go? We hiked to many places where the great Everest climbers went. If you have read books about the great expeditions to Everest - we went to many of those places. If you don't have a map, they may not mean a lot. If you have a map, or if you remember the old stories of the walk-in to Everest Base Camp - they are "Names To Conjure With". See below at MAPS.
- We flew into Lukla. We camped at Phakding, Manjo, and Namche Bazaar.
- Next up to Thame, and Thengpo; and we day-hiked up to 16,060' on the trail to Trashi Labsta.
- Next, back down to Khumjung, then up via Mong La to Phortse Tenga, Dole, Machhermo, and Gokyo.
- We descended to Na and Phortse and then up to Pangboche.
- Up to Pheriche, Dughla, and Lobuche and Gorak Shep. (Gorak Shep at 17,100' is sorta the last place on the earth, where it is so remote that a Coke (TM) costs $3.50, the same as a can of beer, mostly due to portering charges.)
- From there we hiked up Kala Pattar, a cute little hill that rises 1500 ft above Gorak Shep. Also some of us went up to Everest Base Camp, (about 3 hours of HARD hiking NE of Gorak Shep.)
- Then we retreated to Lobuche, and then to Dingboche, and then up to the EAST to Chhukhung.
- We camped at Dingboche, and Chhukhung; back down to Pangboche, and Deuboche, while we visited the great monastery at Thyangboche. Then down for a quick snack of pastry in Namche, continuing down to Manjo and Lukla.
What did we SEE?
MOUNTAINS! Beautiful MOUNTAINS!!
First we saw Thamserku, east of Namche. Next, Khumbila, north of Namche. Next, Kongde Ri, SW of Namche. A whole ROW of glorious and beautiful ridges west of Kongde Ri, extending west all the way up to Trashi Labsta (which is the dangerous pass to Rolwaling).
One of Peter Owens' clients sent me an e-mail: "I saw some pictures of beautiful fluted snowy ridges. Where should I go trekking to see those?" I told him, "Go anywhere in the Khumbu, toward Kala Pattar or Gokyo Lakes." Some of the best fluted snow is West of Namche, SW of Thame, west of Kongde Ri, and south of Thengpo; also, SE of Dingboche, or south of Chhukhung. And on Nuptse.
We saw Lhotse, Nuptse, and Everest. Mount Everest, despite its exalted status, is one of the LEAST beautiful or impressive mount- ains. It is massive, high, and DISTANT. But not GLORIOUS, compared to other mountains in this area.
We saw Cho Oyu, which like Lhotse is one of the 8,000-meter peaks, looming off in the north. We saw Makalu, FAR in the east. We saw Chola Tse and 3 other handsome (steep & scary) peaks between the Gokyo area and the Everest area.
We walked up Gokyo Ri. In this region, Ri means, sort of, BIG HILL. Tse means PEAK. Nup means WEST, so Nuptse means western peak. Lho means SOUTH - so Lhotse means Southern Peak -- which it is, just a couple miles south of Everest. THESE are MUCH higher than anything we walked up - and much harder. From Gokyo Ri, the views were GLORIOUS.
We walked up Kala Pattar, which translates to "black rock". It's just north of Gorak Shep, and just below Pumori. It is listed in most books at 18,200', but its higher northern peak is at 18,600'. Don't plan to HURRY up there. I walked up there just fine, and 5 of us did, but -- don't count on any particular speed. The trail is very nice and easy and safe, but when you get to the top, please do NOT hold onto the summit cairn for support -- it's very wobbly.
The summit views from Kala Pattar were very good. The views from Gokyo Ri were just about as good. And the views from Scoundrel's Rest (4.1 miles north of Gokyo) were just about as good. The views from Everest Base Camp? (EBC) - no view of summits, there. MOST places, there was not a good view of Everest. But there was no problem with a lack of views of handsome and BEAUTIFUL mountains. We never had a shortage of THEM. Personally, I'm a SUCKER for those beautiful fluted ridges - the ones south of Thame, and south of Chhukhung.
We saw a lot of Ama Dablam, 22,356', which is one of the MOST IMPRESSIVE and beautiful mountains in the world, even if it is thousands of feet lower than Lhotse or Everest. It has a great shoulder on the west, and a HUGE long ridge of fluted snow extending miles to the east, at about 19,700'. "Ama" = Mother, in Nepali - a useful and easy word to learn. "Ama Dablam" = Mother's Locket.
We saw Taboche (or Tawoche), west of Pangboche, and Lobuche Peak. Pumori. And at least one un-climbed peak, not far off from Ama Dablam Base Camp, off in the east.
We also saw Island Peak (Imja Tse) off in the east from Dingboche, and Cho Polu, a lovely rounded conical peak, just east of that. Amphu Peak. And we kept seeing Lhotse, and Nuptse, and Ama Dablam, Thamserku, and the two horns of Kang Taiga, and many other AMAZING and beautiful mountains and ridges, much higher than we could hike. These view were very inspiring, almost any time of day. You stop to rest, and you turn around - and off in the distance you recognize - a friend. Like, Peak 7561, so very pointy.
Views of EVEREST?
Yes, we did get to see the top of Mt. Everest from the trail, an hour below Namche. We saw small parts of its summit many times, from Pangboche or from the Park Headquarters on the East end of Namche. Often we saw it with a snow plume. Or clouds - sometimes lenticular clouds. We saw it from Gokyo Ri, from Scoundrel's Rest, from Kala Pattar. But there are a lot of places you cannot see the summit - such as from Everest Base Camp. Still, as magnets go, Everest draws many people to this area - but it is EVERYTHING ELSE that's beautiful.
HOW CLOSE did we get to EVEREST?
At Gokyo Ri we were about 14 miles west; at Kala Pattar, just 6 miles. At Everest Base Camp, barely 4 miles west of the summit, & barely 2 vertical miles below the top. We had climbed ~2/3 of the way up Everest. Of course, we did the EASY 2/3; the higher 1/3 is prohibitively difficult. At Imja Tse Base Camp, just 6 miles south, we had walked 1/3 of the way around Everest. Probably the only people who walked ALL the way around Everest, are the guys who got to the top, plus Tilman and Shipton in the 1930's. Note, even though at ITBC and at EBC, we were pretty CLOSE, there was no view of Everest.
Where ELSE did we go?
MAJOR DAY HIKES!
- We did a LOT of day hikes - just about every afternoon for 17 days, plus 8 or 9 all-day day hikes with light packs, far above our camps.
GOKYO RI
We climbed up from the 3rd Gokyo Lake, to Gokyo Ri, a pleasant and easy 17,800 hill just northwest of the 3rd Gokyo Lake. EXCELLENT views in many directions. No matter how much you may have heard about Gorak Shep and Kala Pattar -- this is ANOTHER beautiful area, with great views. About 1200 ft of ascent.
SCOUNDREL's REST:
The next day we went up to Scoundrel's Rest, a pleasant easy hike 5 miles North of Gokyo, just east of the 5th Gokyo Lake, by beautiful trails along the glacial moraines. Very good hiking, with many nice easy trail options. Great views in many directions.
Waypoint 192, Scoundrel's Rest: N 28d 00' 23.7" - E 086d 41' 22.2"
NOTES on hiking to EBC / EVEREST BASE CAMP:
When you get up to Gorak Shep at 17,100 ft, you are quite possibly NOT in a good mood, not in good shape for several hours of brisk hiking. But if you want to hike up to EBC, the book says it is a "3 hour hike" from Gorak Shep - and it is a surprising long 3-hour hike. Even with an early start, you have to hike briskly, or the day is shot - or you may not get there. And hiking briskly at 17,500' is not so easy.
We got a pretty good 8:30 AM start, & ambled at a good rest pace NE up to the edge of the Khumbu Glacier at 17,400 ft. From there, an amazing flat "airline" trail goes up straight north for almost half a mile, straight and level, along the edge of the moraine overlooking the great Khumbu Glacier. This trail is not scary or steep, but it is a high open ridge that drops off at a nice slant to the west, and drops off more steeply on the East. If it did not drop off so much, it would make great bicycle riding. The trail is so smooth and flat, you can stare as you walk, out across the glacier with its rough surface. SOON, YOU will be wandering around out there. The GPS location of the end of this airline, are:
WP 201, Gorak Shep: N 27d 58' 47.2" - E 086d 49' 50.4"
WP 206, Airline South: N 27d 59' 33.2" - E 086d 50' 39.6"
WP Airline = Airl. NORTH: N 27d 59' 53.0" - E 086d 50' 50.6"
(All data are in dddmmss; UTM data are in Appendix G.)
This airline trail is important, because one of my friends once went up to Gorak Shep and then immediately EAST out onto the glacier, and then had a long rough struggle up to EBC. If you know about this "airline", you'll save a lot of time and energy.
At the north end of this "airline", the trail dives down some steep slopes and crude trails, and out onto the glacier, which really is a huge area of hidden ice, covered by gravel and shale. The trail is not bad, just a bit rough - and a bit hard to find at times. Fortu- nately, our sherpa Puri Rai was quick to see where the trail went, and I just followed him, and we didn't waste much time, which was good. (If I had had to pick the trail, I would have wasted some time, and I'm usually pretty good at trail-finding.)
There were no expeditions camped at EBC. There were no campers there. There were only 2 or 3 hikers there, just like me, wandering around with their Nepali guides. One Italian fellow, Bruno, and I joined in an animated multi-lingual agreement, that this was an amazing and impressive place. A place we had dremed about, for years. Even if there was not much to see. Even if I understand very little Italian, and if he understood only a little English, there was no question that we were in great agreement. Even if there was nothing to see but - great ghosts.
There was very little trash or junk there; it had been cleaned up quite well. There were very few indications to show that this was indeed Base Camp. There were a few pieces of masonry, set up as the corners of a big old stone building. THAT was unmistakeable. A couple small monuments. But - hey - on a surface of ice, not much of permanence can be expected.
Some old maps indicate that in the old days of Hillary, their EBC was located just south of the south edge of the foot of the Khumbu icefall. That place was filled with extremely steep, sharp ice peaks or seracs, and would not be usable now. The place we went was just west of the NORTH edge of the Khumbu ice-fall. The actual GPS location is:
WP 204, Everest Base Camp: N 28d 00' 21.9" - E 086d 51' 46.5"
The elevation of EBC was around 17,740 ft. Since we'd hiked up to 18,600 the previous day, hiking up to nearly 18k was not a big deal, but hurrying was not a good idea!
There was no flat place where you could pitch a tent. There was not even hardly any good place to pitch a 1-man tent. If you wanted to camp there, you would have had to scrape away the gravel and rocks, and hack the ice to flatten it out some. It would take a LOT of hacking, for a 3-man tent. Not to mention, for several 3-man tents, or a big expedition!
There were a lot of boulders sitting up on pillars of ice. There were boulders as big as 300, 800, 3000 lb, each perched on a pillar of ice 1 or 2 or even 3 feet high. Apparently the rock protected the ice from melting in the sun. They looked funny as heck! We did not see this on any other glacier, only on the Khumbu Glacier near EBC.
I walked up a couple hundred easy yards EAST from EBC, up to the foot of the Khumbu Icefall. I walked up and patted some icebergs. The location was:
WP 205 = Khumbu Icefall, N 28d 00' 19.0" - E 086d 51' 51.5"
The views of the great Khumbu Icefall, from the bottom, where I stood, were not as DRAMATIC or SCARY as the stories tell. I guess you have to clamber a long ways up in there before you see the huge crevasses. It was IMPRESSIVE from where I stood. That was close enough for me, at 17,780'.
All the time we were there, we heard no significant icefalls or rockfalls or avalanches, though other people had heard them on other days. The big gravel wall at the North end of this area did have a few small rocks falling down. (This was just 150 or 200 yards north of the EBC area. I mean, you could not go much further.) You could hear them. If you looked to see what was falling, there was nothing big or obvious. If you SQUINTED, you could see an occasional small rock, not much bigger than a fist, sliding and bouncing down the steep gravel slope, which was 300 yards high. Occasionally this rock would hit another rock, but no large avalanche effect occurred, even though a rock would fall every few minutes.
THEN it was time to get out of there. It was going to take about 3 hours to get BACK to Gorak Shep. It was a good bit of work, but we moved along and got back in about 2.9 hours, about 3 PM. THEN after some water and a snack, I had to hike a couple MORE hours to get down to our camp at Lobuche. Fortunately, most of this downhill grade was not so bad. (The first 1/4 mile was really rough and uphill and slow and fatiguing, I admit, especially after 6 hours of hard hiking.) Even at 17,000 ft, downhill moves along ok, and I got back as the shadows of Lobuche Peak were spreading out broadly at 4:45 PM. (It was getting cold.) So if you want to hike up from Gorak Shep to EBC, just be aware that it is a good piece of hard work.
KONGMA LA:
The very next day, I decided it would be a good hard piece of conditioning hike to take a short-cut from Lobuche to Dingboche via Kongma La, an 18,200' pass east of Lobuche. First we had to cross the Khumbu Glacier, but that only took half an hour on a nice adequate little trail. Then up to Kongma La, a beautiful pass overlooking some handsome milky-blue-green ponds.
McGuiness' book is usually accurate; it said the trail to the east and south is not always easy to follow. But I found that it was very easy to follow, and a very nice little trail. I got some GPS readings that are adequate, so you could do this on cloudy day with a foot of snow on the ground.
WP 198 = Lobuche: N 27d 56' 51.2" - E 086d 48' 44.4"
WP 199 = Moraine: N 27d 56' 27.6" - E 086d 49' 16.3"
WP 207 = Kongma La: N 27d 55' 45.4" - E 086d 50' 18.3"
WP 208 (trail) N 27d 55' 32.7" - E 086d 50' 43.3"
WP 209 (trail) N 27d 55' 22.9" - E 086d 50' 42.3"
WP 210 (trail) N 27d 55' 19.2" - E 086d 50' 55.5"
WP 211 (Dingboche) N 27d 53' 35.1" - E 086d 49' 59.9"
IMJA TSE (Island Peak) Base Camp:
Conversely, the walk up from Chhukhung to Imja Tse Base Camp was long, but very easy; a pleasant and easy and nice trail, with great views. Yes, the ascent amounted to about 1500 ft, up to the Base Camp, but it did not seem very hard or nasty or steep, after the first 1/4 mile walking up the moderately-steep ridge trail. There were nice views onto streams, rivers, playas, and lakes. McGuiness' book says the ITBC area is grubby and a cesspool, but it seems to have been cleaned up, and was NOT very grubby.
I expected a very quiet area. I saw about 35 porters going up, and about 20 tents up there. Some were climbers, preparing to ascend the summit of Imja Tse; and others were just trekkers. It seemed like a nice place to camp, as a base for wandering around.
Island Peak really IS like an Island. It is surrounded on its whole E, NE, and SE side by a big long glacial moraine, a shallow trough that was easy for walking. If you walked over on the right, to the EDGE of the moraine, you could look out on a SEA of ice and glacier. A huge area. The map indicates these glaciers add up to 1/2 mile x 5 miles - just ENORMOUS! So the mountain really is surrounded by two concentric moats, one MUCH narrower and easier to walk on. The other, much rougher. One could climb down onto that glacier, if one wanted too, but it did not look very attractive.
You could see a BIG row of BIG mountains, mostly fluted with snow, looming up over those glaciers. The handsome conical, rounded peak of Cho Polu at 21,980' was one of the few named peaks, as many others were un-named. Some were impressive; others were beautiful. Far off on the south, a big wall was the obvious location of the pass "Amphu Labsta." It looked like a very rough, steep empty lonely area, and indeed somewhat dangerous.
There was not much water in this area. (You could hear hidden streams rushing, off under the glacier, but not accessible.) There was a big rockslide near the lower end of the ITBC area, and porters were often going up there to collect water.
There was a small trail starting up the slope of the mountain. Obviously, this was hike-able. I got some video of me starting up there - "The intrepid hiker Bob Pease starts up Imja Tse" - followed by, "...and changes his mind and comes right back down...." This was at about 16,950 ft elevation;
WP 213 = Imja Tse Basecamp: N 27d 54' 12.7" - E 086d 56' 19.9"
I could have easily ascended a few hundred feet, but it would not have been any significant accomplishment, and I thought it was not a good idea, so I did not go up further.
We then continued up to the NE, along the moraine. I could have hiked another mile, but it was turn-around time, and I went back down. All along, as we hiked on the edge of the moraine, the views down - and UP - were GRAND - and desolate and kinda scary. The walk back was leisurely, and handsome. We also saw one small camp on the SOUTH side of the river; our trail was on the NORTH side of the river. All along, the mountains and walls and ridges east of Ama Dablam were just glori- ous. We got back good and early. I took some photos, and lots of video.
AMA DABLAM Base Camp
This area was MUCH more interesting than other base camps as it was full of campers and climbers. We talked to a guy Jared who had recently climbed to the summit. He explained there were other climbers up on the summit cone less than an hour from the top, and showed us where we could look with his binoculars. He explained that after you spend a night in hammocks at camp 3, under the bulge of the "Mother's Locket", just 600 ft below the top) you ascend some vertical ice and then slant over to the left on a "relatively easy" 70 degree slope to the top. Sure enough, we could see some little specks up on the vertical snow, and 10 minutes later, the specks had moved. This guy had a lot of experience at rock and ice climbing in Southern Cali- fornia but had never been over 14,000 ft before. Without even acclim- atizing above 14,000 ft, he went up to the 22,300 ft summit, no problems. MUCH too steep for me. Much too hairy.
OTHER DAY HIKES:
We also went on many other, smaller day hikes that were very pleasant. Some guys came with me (and griped that I walked them too far). ("Hey, this is just an ACCLIMATIZATION HIKE!") Others went on their own. We finally had to hit on a new rule: No hiking farther than 1 mile from camp, without a companion (trekker or sherpa). So I just dragged a sherpa along, and tried to wear him out! Every day, a new sherpa tried to wear me out. Fortunately, I took good care of myself, and had no problems, with or without a sherpa.
OMOGA:
When it was time to descend from Pangboche to Deuboche (which is not much over an hour of hiking, downhill) I decided to take a round- about route. At the bridge across Imja Khola, at the high end of Pangboche, cross to the east bank, and wander south. In 25 minutes you come to a nice little valley of empty huts and yak pastures called Omoga. If you descend, you'll find no way to cross the stream, except to take off your boots and wade. Cold. We did that, once. But if you stay high and wander eastward, the trail brings you to a dry-foot stream crossing. Circle around west and south, and a very HIGH trail takes you - not to Deuboche, but all the way to Thyangboche. It was a glorious trail, with not much hard work. We got back to Deuboche a bit late for lunch. Well worth the effort.
OTHER nice and wonderful places for day hiking? DZONGHLA is west of Dughla, on the way to Chola La. Its views are very good; the trails are smaller and less cluttered with people, but not really LONESOME. If you started from Dughla at 7 AM, strong hikers should be able to get up to Chola La and back, but some years this pass is much snowier and it might be more difficult. Apparently this year, it was relatively easy. I did not get within a couple miles of that pass; I stopped barely 1/2 mile above Dzonghla, but it was very pretty and great hiking.
THENGPO is a nice cozy yak pasture about 3 miles west of Thame, (7 miles west of Namche) with camping at 14,400 ft. This is a great way to do some acclimatization above Thame, above Namche, without being bored. The day-hike opportunities up toward Trashi Lapsta are excellent. We went up to 16,060 ft and turned around, just as the glacier begins to give poor traction. Pretty, and relatively un- cluttered. (Note, hikers are always warned to not go too high, and not ascend too fast. BUT taking a day hike high and sleeping LOW is fine. It's the elevation where you are SLEEPING that counts.)
KONGMA LA:
THIS is a shortcut from Lobuche over towards Chhukhung. Of course, saving 1/2 mile for the privilege of climbing over an 18,200 ft pass is not everybody's cup of tea, but for strong members of a party, it is a good piece of work to wear them out and bring down their residual energy near that of the other hikers. The book says it's better from SE to NW, but that makes a lot more ascent. We went from NW to SE, and it was grand.
Day Hike up towards THAMSERKU:
We made an early stop at a camp in Manjo, just outside the Park, so we decided on an afternoon hike. We must have ascended a couple thousand feet from the top of Manjo, and the wood-cutter's small but adequate trail gave no hint of petering out. We were nowhere near snow-line. We had seen woodsmen and farmers carrying down large loads of hay. We never did get up near their hay fields. Still, a good half-day hike. It might have made a good ALL-day hike, but it got kinda cloudy and there was not a lot to see after 3 PM.
SCOUNDREL's REST:
This is marked on some maps, but not others. It is not an exact place, but a broad area with excellent views, especially toward Mt. Everest. This area is just east of the East End of the fifth Gokyo lake, which is ~5 miles N of Gokyo Lakes "Resort". This area offers some very handsome views of Mt. Everest about 14 miles to the east. Even if you don't climb above 16,500 ft, it gives you some great views of various parts of the adjacent Ngozumpa Glacier, which is the biggest glacier in Nepal.
Adjacent to the 5th lake, there is a big hill (very small mountain) which appears to go up to 18,000 ft. We saw a couple hikers walking down that hill towards us. I have no doubt it would give even more GLORIOUS views, but we all decided to save our energy for another day.
Trail across NGOZUMPA GLACIER:
Starting near the south end of the second Gokyo Lake (about 1 mile from Gokyo) there's a very decent trail going across the low end of the Ngozumpa Glacier to Dragnag, which is the WEST entrance to the trail to Chola La. We went over this trail as a good alternate route to Na. We thought about hiking up toward Chola La, but the visibility was poor, and we just wandered down to our camp at Na.
Great trails:
If you ascend to Gokyo by way of Mong La, Dole and Machhermo, that is a great route. But if you return by the same route, you are missing a great alternative: return from Na through Thare to Phortse. Phortse is a small town with fairly large farm lands, but it is a pleasant and restful place. It can be seen for many miles in all directions. The trail from Na to Phortse is wonderful, as it lets you see across the big valley to the trail ascending through Dole and Macchermo. Of course, the view from the Dole-Machhermo trail is great, looking across the big valley at the northern route!
AFTER you get to Phortse, there is a wonderful trail up to Pangboche. While there are big drop-offs beside the trail, most experienced hikers who do not have extreme vertigo or acrophobia will find this trail very enjoyable and challenging. Sometimes the trail is 4 feet wide; sometimes 8, sometimes 2. But very good footing, never scary. We all agreed, this is a great trail, one of the finest hikes in the world. If you get nervous, just ask a sherpa to hold your hand.
WHAT ELSE DID WE SEE?
Rivers:
- Dudh Khosi ("Milk River")
- Bhote Khosi (Bhote = from Tibet)
- Thame Khola
- Imja Khola (or Imja Drangka) (coming down from Imja Tse)
- Khumbu Khola (coming out of the great Khumbu Glacier).
All great rivers. We crossed all of these on sturdy bridges. If you fell in, you would be lucky not to be dashed against a rock by the raging flow, in the first half-minute, or frozen within the first minute. Fortunately the bridges are quite safe. Just be careful. We saw a yak-herder climb out onthe side of a bridge, to free a Yak's jammed horns.
STREAMS?
We had a number of small stream crossings, but we rarely got our boots wet. Early-morning stream crossings might involve ice on the rocks, and it was a challenge to not slip. Videotape of people dipping in their feet does exist...
YAKS:
We saw a LOT of YAKS. Probably 50 to 100 every day. Many were heavily laden with trekkers' gear or local produce; sometimes with salt from Tibet. Others were just grazing. Most were very docile; a few were very nervous, and were giving their handlers a hard time. These great, handsome beasts were very photogenic. But we were quite wary.
We heard that 2 women had been recently gored to death by yaks, and one woman was recovering after a yak pushed her off the OUTSIDE of a trail. We were pretty careful to step to the INSIDE of a trail before the yaks came by.
PEOPLE:
We saw many local people, and many trekkers, and porters carrying every kind of load. A great number of very nice people. Kids and grandmothers. Old men, young men, and women carrying loads in the ballpark from 60 to 120 lb. I even carried a porter's load 1/5 mile, using just a tumpline, but it was only 60 or 65 lb.
On a typical day, we often saw 40 to 80 trekkers, and double that many of porters. But while there was often a big line of people to pass, most of the day was as empty as you could ask for.
NAMCHE BAZAAR:
We saw the every-day bazaar with many Chinese goods, clothes, shoes, STUFF, dow
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