EBC : Part 6 - The Descent !

Gorakshep (5164m) to Pheriche (4371m) : ~12 KM, ~9 Hours [Day 9]

An excruciating headache grips me in the early hours of the dawn. My alarm buzzes at 4am. That’s my cue to get ready for the sunrise hike to Kala pathhar. But by then, I am already sitting upright in bed, head in my hands. It feels like someone is tearing apart my forehead. Altitude has finally got to me! Can I climb up Kala pathhar now? That’s basically another 600m of steep incline. Our guide advises otherwise. I go back to bed, my eyes tightly shut - head heavy with a throb and heart heavy with extreme regret.

Time to head back!

I wake up at 7am next. Headache is a bit easy now. And thankfully, no other AMS symptoms show up. When I sit down at the breakfast table, I hear people talking about their Kala Pathhar experience and it makes me sadder. In my imagination, I am sure that the morning was very cloudy and no one was able to see anything!

Saying byebye to Gorakhshep teahouse where we stayed

Every step feels very hard today. Even to walk on a downward slope, I am gasping for breath. Probably, the altitude, the lack of sleep and the last few days’ of exhaustion - all are piling up now. I start very slow. My head still has a dull ache. But as time goes by, I find my legs back and feel better.

Ooh the struggle in the first few steps! 

We cross the familiar glacier, the rocky terrain, the icy slope (this time we are equipped with proper crampons bought from the teahouse at Gorakshep. It cost us 4000 nps! A very costly mistake of not bringing proper gear!), the snowy valley and trace our way back to Lobuche.

Don't forget crampons in October!

After a quick rest in Lobuche, we continue walking down straight to Thukla, the same lunch stop on our way up. After Thukla, one trail goes back to Dingboche (the one we had been on earlier) and another trail goes down to a village called Pheriche.

Near Thukla...

We opt for the latter. The way to Pheriche is a fast decline down a slope, opening up into a beautiful wide valley. After days of rocky climbs and high altitude vistas, this valley feels like a welcome break! Even though we are still above 4000m, the path is totally flat at this part.

Pherice... landscape turning from white to brown now :)

As soon as we relax and feel good about the day, our guide informs us that our bags (some of our stuff were carried by the porter) has reached Pangboche, the next village which is another 2-3 hours walk!

Nope, can’t do! I shake my head vehemently. After a sleepless night with splitting headache and walking for about 12 hours, I cannot, just cannot walk another 3 hours now! It is probably more mental than physical at this point, but nope, not happening! I curse our guide again! He basically asked our porter to go to Pangboche when the plan all along was to stay at Pheriche tonight! How can he make such a rookie mistake! I tick off one more mark from his performance appraisal!

Approaching Pheriche

We are still glad to be in the teahouse. Even though we do not have any change of clothes with us, we feel fresh! Well, the water is less cold, so we are able to splash some water on our dirty faces. Freshness changes definition depending on your situation! Plus, it is a very neat room with a proper toilet (very important after two days of adventurous toilet experiences) and warm duvets. The food is good too, albeit a bit costly. What more do you need!

Afternoon in Pheriche

We hoover up our usual daal-bhaat-sabzi and hit the bed in our trek pants. I am craving for some sleep.

Pheriche (4371m) to Upper Pangboche (3985m) : ~8 KM, ~2.5 Hours [Day 10]

I slept really well last night. But I wake up to find out that my friend is totally down! Everyone in the trek was already having some level of colds and the famous Khumbu cough by now. My original bad cold (with which I had started the trek) changed its course halfway to a milder Khumbu version. But my friend’s cough suddenly got so bitter that he had serious trouble breathing at night! Things turned very tense very quickly.

Leaving Pheriche

Luckily, Pheriche has a health post! We eat our breakfast and then walk to the health center. As we wait there, we watch a lot of helicopters landing and flying from the helipad nearby. I have never seen so many helicopters that I saw in that one day of my life! The doctor arrives, examines my friend and assures us of zero risk or hazard per se. This seems to bring back some confidence. She prescribes some medicine (again, very costly! 12K nps for a file of paracetamol and a cough syrup! It’s a deep hole in the pocket! You do need to get insurance to come on this trip!) and then we set off again.

Khumu Khola in Pheriche

Pangboche, the next village, is only 2-3 hours away. Given the health condition of my friend, it works out well. We would simply hike down to this village and rest for the day. As our luck would have it, due to some ministry visit, one of the suspension bridges was closed (why do ministers create so much inconvenience!) 

The suspension bridge that could have made our walk shorter!

So we climb all the way up a steep dirt path to the top of a hill and then get on to the usual trail. The weather seems just as perky. We walk on the top of this hill surrounded by very familiar peaks. All the peaks seem like our well-known companions now having walked with them since the last few days!

Such a lovely contrast

We spot a few unique birds here - they look like crow (same size and black body) but they have bright red lips (or, lipstick?) and legs (or, socks?)! They are called - Red-billed Chough. Arguably, they have a more pleasant voice than crows. Very cool!

As we cross the valley, we talk about - how just a few days back we were walking in the opposite direction and didn’t know much about these peaks at all! And now, look at us, so wise and smug! Nostalgia seems to be filling our senses, already! 

Gotta do the work!

Our destination arrives very quickly today! We walk through the village and climb up to Upper Pangboche. The hotel (it says resort actually!!) where we stay tonight sits on the top of a hill surrounded by farms and tall trees. It is a bit secluded and hence very peaceful. There is only one other trek group apart from us staying here.

At Upper Pangboche

As my friend rests through the afternoon, I potter around the garden and the farms, sit in the Sun, look at the peaks and the floating cloud, chat with our porter (whom we call babu) about his native village and listen to songs. It turns out to be a very nice and relaxing afternoon.

Upper Pangboche (3985m) to Namche Bazaar (3440m) : ~14 KM, ~7 Hours [Day 11]

The day starts with a new found enthusiasm. Nope, I didn’t sleep (again!) and also, this morning when I cleared my sniffy nose, a few drops of blood appeared in the sink (yep! another altitude shocker!), but still the vibe is great this morning!

A lovely day!

The sun is shining. The legs are working. No head is aching. And all lungs are pumping solid. Life is good. We relish our usual toast and eggs and set off to Namche Bazaar.

Approaching Tengboche

I think the fact that we would be in Namche Bazaar is the reason behind this extra adrenaline. The thought of hot shower & pizza - that’s what fuel our legs today!

Ama Dablam oversees! ^.^

We trace back our route to climb up to Tengboche and then climb down the beasty downhill trail towards Doodhkoshi river. This section of the trail had felt never ending whilst climbing up. Funnily, it has the same never-ending torturous feel whilst coming down too!

Yak feels it too...panting with his tongue out!

There is a classic suspension bridge across the river here. We cross the bridge and stop for lunch at a nice teahouse offering a pleasant view of the river, the suspension bridge and the gorges.

And then we cross the bridge...

The trail goes up again after lunch. Why does the trail always go up when I have a tummy full of food! And why would I have to climb up to go down in altitude! - Questions I never get an answer for! The trail flattens out as we approach Khumjung.

Puffy cloud pattern, 1st time since the last 12 days!

Every 30 minutes, I feel like Namche Bazaar is right around the corner only to find another winding trail in front. Finally, after what feels like a thousand years, we see the very familiar black stone with prayers written on it. Ah, destination at last! Just before we climb down the final few stairs to the village, a bunch of gorgeous Himalayan monals (Daphne in Nepali) appear right in front of us! They are only a few meters away from us but they seem completely unbothered, giving us ample time to chuckle and photograph.

Himalayan Monal (Daphne in Nepali)

Without any faffing around, we simply walk into the same hotel where we had stayed on our way up. Hot shower - tick. Warm duvets - tick. Fresh clothes - tick.

Our hotel at Namche Bazaar

We then stroll into the town and realise it’s Diwali today! Lots of local kids are out on the street, dancing, singing, gambling (!) and collecting money, trick or treat style from the shops. We find some seats in the same pizza place that we had been in earlier. Oven fresh pizza - tick.

Happy Diwali !

Time to tick off some good sleep now!

Namche Bazaar (3440m) : Exploration day [Day 12]

Today is a real rest day. Unlike those rest i.e. acclimatization days where we had to go for some 3-4 hours hike, it is a real rest day. Also, the day is pretty cloudy, a first in this fortnight! So very lucky and blessed to have gotten the Sun with us this far!

It is a lazy start in the morning followed by a slow ramble through the town. We do some silly shopping, marvel at the painting shops, drool over some bakery items, mosey around the local Sherpa houses and then do all of that once again! We also arrange our flight back to Lukla for the day after.

Foggy afternoon stroll in Namche Bazaar

We treat ourselves to a different meal than our usual daal-bhat-sabzi tonight. I enjoy a massive plate of veggie noodles with some spicy pickles to go on the side. Burp!

nosing around in the local house lanes...

The final leg of this trek awaits us tomorrow. Stay tuned...