EBC Day 4, Namche Bazaar – Tengboche

10/12/2012

In the morning we say good bye to Robyn and Gabe. They are going to spend an extra night in Namche, Robyn’s headache is not going away and it would be unwise for them to proceed higher. If the extra day helps, they might try for Tengboche where they originally planned to finish their journey tomorrow, or head back down; whichever will make more sense.

The first part of our day is easy. The trail is unusually flat, then it starts sloping down. And down we go, all the way to the river which means there is likely a brutal uphill ahead of us. But not before lunch at a small village of Phunki Tenga during which we strike a conversation with two Australian guys. There is a surprising number of people from Australia around. Canadians are also largely represented here, and every day we meet at least one Czech group. Americans, on the other hand, are rare.

The uphill is easier that we expected it to be. The trail is smooth and nicely graded. We manage to scale the 600 meters of elevation gain in about hour and half. That puts us in Tengboche at quite early hour. Unfortunately the clouds are having an early day also and we face fog and high winds during our acclimatization hike. I long for views but I have to admit that the fast moving clouds are quite fascinating.

Upon return to the village we plan to visit Tengboche Monastery, the highest monastery in the world. Visitors are welcome to watch the service so with many others we take our boots off and spend the next hour or so enjoying this very special experience.

We are treated to a spectacular sunset tonight. The clouds are usually too thick to allow for colors but tonight the evening hues reflect of the Ama Dablam’s face like fire. We can also see the trail we took for our acclimatization hike. It leads to some amazing vistas. Next time around we have to allow an extra day here also, just for the views it would be will be worth it.