Munju to Namche Bazaar, Nepal - Everest Trek Day 2 (3440-meters/11,287-feet)
I woke up about 4 a.m. after having gotten to sleep at 7:30 p.m. I was warm and snug in my sleep sack inside of the sleeping bag that Kekam had lent me at the beginning of the trip. Breakfast was a thick (good!) Tibetan bread with scrambled eggs. I had a couple of cups of hot lemon to drink. I washed and shaved in a small outside sink that supplied some warm water. I think they ran the water coils through the cook stove.
We started trekking to Namche Bazaar about 7:30 a.m. Again Kekam is talking with his friends, I'm hiking ahead a bit. It generally doesn't take him any time at all to catch up to me. We crossed a suspension bridge with wooden flooring, over half of one of the floor boards was missing at one point on the bridge.
One of the peaks, previouisly showing exposed rock, was now covered in fresh snow. Quite beautiful! On the way up to Namche I encounted my first views of Everest and the peaks surrounding it. Quite awesome!
I heard a pitiful sound, it sounded like a mewing cat, but discovered it was a small deer. He appeared to be in the woods alone. I think had gotten a bit separated from it's mother. I think they found each other shortly afterwards and bounded off into forest.
We arrived at Namche Bazaar, a large village built in a half-bowl cut into a hill, around noon. I had a lunch of vegetable momos and boiled potatoes along with a medium pot of hot lemon.
After lunch, We headed up the hill from Namche to see the museum. Outside the museum were two, large miliatry helicoptors that had crashed over a year ago. They were due to be removed the next day. The first museum was of Tibetan culture and artifacts. It had some very interesting items. The second is the museum of the history of Everest and nearby mountain climbs. Kekam showed me the wall of photographs of Sherpa that had summited Everest and noted that probably half of them were now dead from climbs they had done since Everest. Climbing in the Himalayas is a very dangerous job.
Kekam has summited Everest and other very hard peaks, including Ama Dablam. He was the climbing Sherpa on an expedition to Ama Dablam where he was the sole person to setup the stakes, ice screws and ropes for the final pitch to the summit. I admire his courage.
After climbing Everest he contracted cancer, was operated on and received radiation therapy. Amazingly he recovered very well and, to the surprise of his fellow Sherpas, is back guiding and climbing again. He has a wife, an 8 year old son and a 2 year old daughter. His wife and son live in Kathmandu. He's originally from the Makalu region.
I woke up about 4 a.m. after having gotten to sleep at 7:30 p.m. I was warm and snug in my sleep sack inside of the sleeping bag that Kekam had lent me at the beginning of the trip. Breakfast was a thick (good!) Tibetan bread with scrambled eggs. I had a couple of cups of hot lemon to drink. I washed and shaved in a small outside sink that supplied some warm water. I think they ran the water coils through the cook stove.
We started trekking to Namche Bazaar about 7:30 a.m. Again Kekam is talking with his friends, I'm hiking ahead a bit. It generally doesn't take him any time at all to catch up to me. We crossed a suspension bridge with wooden flooring, over half of one of the floor boards was missing at one point on the bridge.
One of the peaks, previouisly showing exposed rock, was now covered in fresh snow. Quite beautiful! On the way up to Namche I encounted my first views of Everest and the peaks surrounding it. Quite awesome!
I heard a pitiful sound, it sounded like a mewing cat, but discovered it was a small deer. He appeared to be in the woods alone. I think had gotten a bit separated from it's mother. I think they found each other shortly afterwards and bounded off into forest.
We arrived at Namche Bazaar, a large village built in a half-bowl cut into a hill, around noon. I had a lunch of vegetable momos and boiled potatoes along with a medium pot of hot lemon.
After lunch, We headed up the hill from Namche to see the museum. Outside the museum were two, large miliatry helicoptors that had crashed over a year ago. They were due to be removed the next day. The first museum was of Tibetan culture and artifacts. It had some very interesting items. The second is the museum of the history of Everest and nearby mountain climbs. Kekam showed me the wall of photographs of Sherpa that had summited Everest and noted that probably half of them were now dead from climbs they had done since Everest. Climbing in the Himalayas is a very dangerous job.
Kekam has summited Everest and other very hard peaks, including Ama Dablam. He was the climbing Sherpa on an expedition to Ama Dablam where he was the sole person to setup the stakes, ice screws and ropes for the final pitch to the summit. I admire his courage.
After climbing Everest he contracted cancer, was operated on and received radiation therapy. Amazingly he recovered very well and, to the surprise of his fellow Sherpas, is back guiding and climbing again. He has a wife, an 8 year old son and a 2 year old daughter. His wife and son live in Kathmandu. He's originally from the Makalu region.
posted by Chris at 11:00 PM
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