Trekking through the Khumbu: Day 5-8 Namche Bazar to Machermmo

Day 5 - Namche Bazar (3440) to Tengboche (3867): 
Today we walked from Namche along the main EBC trail to Tengboche, a small village famous for its large monestary. The trail was super crowded with people leaving on their way to Everest base camp so the first hour or so was pretty slow going. I even saw a women wearing a go-pro (total hero). The trail ran along the hillside, in and out of forests, and we had wicked views of Ama Dablam, Lhotse, and Everest most of the time. We spent the better part of the day on a long slow decent down to the bottom of the Khumbu valley before crossing the river and climbing steeply up to Tengboche. Along the way we stopped for tea where Kiersten met a little puppy(see pic). I wanted to stick him in my pack and take him home to be my trail dog and go mountain biking with me. The logistics of that operation proved difficult.

Mountain pups

Because of massive deforestation in the Himalaya, many of the villagers and lodge owners use yak dung to heat their cabins and cook food. I thought it was going to literally make the lodges smell like shit at night but it actually wasn't that noticeable.

Drying yak dung

Just before heading up the hill to Tengboche there was a military checkpoint that would check for something (not quite sure what). I just kind of walked past and assumed our guide took care of it. I wasn't really sure what it was all about.

The first thing we did upon arrival at Tengboche was check out its famous monestary. The funny thing is that it isn't actually that old. It had to be rebuilt twice: once due to an earthquake, and once due to a fire. Nonetheless it was impressive and there were many monks doing what buddhist monks do. We were supposed to meet the lama and get a blessing for our upcoming climb, however he wasn't in town at the moment so it never happened.

Tengboche monestary

I paid a little donation so I could take pictures of the buddhist monks building a thanka painting out of sand. As you can see, it was pretty impressive and they had to wear masks so not to scatter the colored sand.

We stayed in probably the worst teahouse of the entire trek that night. Nothing too horrible about it: just very small rooms, rugged bathroom, and surly owners. The food was good though.

Luxury

Clouds revealing some of the mountains past Tengboche

The monestary

Day 6 - Tengboche (3867) to Phortse (3807): 

The next morning we headed north and decended down the eastern side of the Khumbu valley before crossing the river below. Once on the western side, we turned south and made our way along a high trail with spectacluar views all the way to Phortse. Because Phortse sits roughly at the same elevation as Tengboche we got another day to acclimatise. This was useful because the next day we would be gaining roughly 700m.

Along the way we saw some Himalayan Tsar (basically mountain goats). It was rutting season but unfortunately we didn't get to see any of them smashing heads. They just chilled and ate grass.

Can you spot Tengboche?

After a satisfying dinner of either chowmein, dal bhat, fried rice, pasta, or potatoes (it was pretty much the same everywhere) I got invited to go drink Raksi with the Sherpas. Raksi is a local rice alcohol similar to sake but stronger. It varies in quality from place to place but this stuff was really good and lodge owner was rightfully proud of it. It was a cool experience and I really enjoyed hanging out with the Sherpas. After a few cups, I went to bed and slept more soundly than I had the night before.

Phortse

Day 7 - Phortse (3806) to Machermmo (4470m):

More walking today. Today we walked to Machermmo. We left the Khumbu valley and were now walking up the Gokyo valley. Although we were gaining elevation, the trail was relatively gradual and it didn't seem like a very long day. The weather was as nice as it had been on the previous days of the trek. Typically, it would stay clear in the mornings and then start clouding over by mid afternoon.

Dwellings and farmland along the Gokyo valley

Pick a path

Upon arriving at Machermmo, Luke noticed a bunch of boulders up the moraine that where the small town was located so we decided to check them out. Instead of  just lazing about, Luke, Guido, and I set off to do a little bouldering. Although there were a ton of decent boulders we didn't climb all much and ended up just exploring up the moraine. We had noticed tents below Kyajo-Ri, a 6000m peak a short walk away, and went to go see if we could talk to some of the expedition members, as they were obviously there to climb the mountain.

Machermmo

Kyajo-Ri

Luke with a probable first accent of a V0+. Congrats

At the camp we met a Fila-Sport sponsored Korean climber/filmer/producer who was waiting for the rest of his expedition team to show up before attempting a first ascent up Kyajo-Ri's north east face. It might be hard to tell from the pictures, but this is a serious climb. The Korean was unbelievably friendly and invited us into his tent for tea. Although there was a bit of language barrier, he was able to answer our questions about the climb (they were doing it alpine style i.e. real climbing, no fixed ropes) and filmed us writing their team a good luck note. Assuming the team was successful, his goal is to get the film in the Banff Mountain Film festival.

Our Korean friend showing us the new route

I made this pic extra large so you can see the photo with the mountain. The red route is the new NE face route. Gnarly!

Filming in the tent

Day 8 - Aclimatise in Machermmo:
Woke up to a beautiful sunrise. Today was another aclimatization day, as we had ascended further than the recommended 300m per day the day before. The group split into two and went on seperate day hikes. The crew I went with headed up towards glacier by Kyajo-Ri and just went as far as we could get. Not much to say really: good views, altitude, and scrambling. Kiersten went on a different hike up the ridge north of the moraine. Apparently it was pretty nice. That's all I got for now.

Kyajo-Ri and surrounding mountains from Machermmo in the morning sunrise

Nima Sherpa leading the way to the glacier. Nima Tenzeng Sherpa (sorry if I spelt it wrong) is an amazing man who has climbed Everest 8 times and is just and an all around badass.

Looking down towards Machermmo

Towards Kyajo-Ri