October 13, 2006: Dingboche (4,350 m) to Lobuche (4,940 m)

FINALLY!!! What a gorgeous day. Not a cloud in the sky. Even before breakfast I took lots of pictures of the beautiful mountain scenery around Dingboche.

Taboche

Lhotse

Island Peak

Kangtega

Cho Pholu

Taboche and Gompa above Dingboche

For breakfast I had toast and a pancake. Then we left our lodge and scrambled up the ridge towards Lobuche. Great views from up there. Took lots of pictures. Lhotse, Makalu, Island Peak, Thamserku, Ama Dablam, Taboche, Cholatse, Lobuche, just to name a few.

We walked towards Thukla. More beautiful vistas along the way. That north face of Cholatse is steep, steep, steep. At one point I promised Bharat not to take any more pictures, otherwise I would give him 100 rupees. Not even 5 minutes went by and I had the camera out again, just couldn't resist. Had to pay up!

Lobuche Peak, 6,119 meters

Pheriche and Kangtega

Cholatse, 6,440 meters

We got to Thukla after about 2 hours of easy walking through these great mountain vistas. Over the last couple of days, we heard from trekkers that up in Lobuche and Gorak Shep it was pretty crowded and difficult to get rooms. I sent Bharat ahead to get me a room at the Eco Lodge in Lobuche. Everybody we met coming down from Lobuche was raving about this lodge. Hey, 5 stars at an altitude of 4,900 meters sounded pretty good to me!!

I slowly followed Bharat up the glacier moraine towards Lobuche, but soon lost sight of him. It was a pretty hard hike up, at least for me, out of breath all the time. Finally, I reached the top of the moraine. Up there are the memorials of many climbers and sherpas who died in their attempt to climb Everest. I spend some time wandering around the memorials. and paid my respects to these brave people.

After leaving the memorials, it was a pretty easy walk towards Lobuche. After a while, I saw Bharat sitting on the side of the trail waiting for me. He got me the room I wanted and took my backpack and carried it for the last few minutes to Lobuche. We got to the lodge at around 12:30 pm. We had lunch, hashbrowns with egg. After a little rest, Bharat and I climbed up to the top of the glacial moraine ridge to the edge of the Khumbu Glacier. Spectacular views from up there of the Khumbu Glacier, Khumbu Icefall, Pumori, Kala Pattar, Nuptse, etc., etc., and behind us great views of Thamserku and Kangtega. That's what I came to Nepal for!!!

Lobuche

We spent an hour up there enjoying the views in great weather. But then, it got cold and we headed back down to the lodge for some afternoon tea. A little later I called home from the lodge's satellite phone. 1 minute for 5 bucks. I woke up my wife, oh, oh. I still hadn't figured out the time diference, but then she would have had to get up any minute anyway. Late afternoon, I went outside and watched the incredible sunset on Nuptse.

There was a good atmosphere in the lodge this evening. Everybody was hopeful that the weather would stay pleasant the next couple of days as most of the people in the lodge were going to Kala Pattar the next day. I talked for a long time to a German from Frankfurt and, of course, the Brazilians were there too. One of the girls in their group had birthday, so lots of singing and cake eating. Went to bed and had some trouble breathing. Couldn't fall asleep. Maybe a light case of AMS, but then, I had no headache or any other symptoms. Finally fell asleep and woke up around 5:30 am without any more problems.

For more pictures of that day, click here

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