Nepal trekking-Imja Tse -6,189 m (20,305 ft) Nov 12,2010

[Darl58]

Nepal Trekking
Dates: Oct 26, 2010-Nov 21, 2010

Summits: Gokyo Ri - 5357m, (17,575ft)
Kala Patthar- 5,643 m (18,514 ft)
Imja Tse -6,189 m (20,305 ft)

I joined a group of 15 Swiss and 7 German’s for an adventure of a lifetime trip to Nepal, our trek would be for 24 days, including travel days. Our first week would be getting to know each other while trekking through many Villages and lower elevations learning the Nepal culture and enjoying the scenery as it opened up and changed before our eyes. The second week we would start our acclimating over higher passes before our goal to climb Island Peak (Imja Tse) and then we would trek out over lower elevation and fly back to Kathmandu for a couple days of cultural tours. (flight back from Lukla…interesting event)
Of course a trip to Nepal starts with an exciting flight into Lukla, it consists of a single runway 1,500 feet (460 m) long, 65 feet (20 m) wide and has a 12% gradient. The altitude of the airport is 9,100 feet (2,800 m). Our flight in was uneventful and left us all excited for our adventure.



Our first excitement was trekking out of Lukla the 1st day we met Reinhold Messner who just happened to be walking by. Not a bad way to start our trek.
Day 1: travel Zurich-Bangkok
Day 2: travel Bangkok-Kathmandu
Day 3: travel Kathmandu-Lukla (2800m-9186 ft)-trek to Monjo (2850m-9350ft)
Day 4: Monjo-Namche Bazar (3440m-11,286 ft)
Day 5: Namche bazaar-Thamo-Thame Monastery (4000m) - Thame (3800m-12,467ft)
Day 6: Thame-Syangboche (3970m)-Kunde Hospital (3840m)-Khumjung (3750m-12,303ft)
Day 7: Khumjung- Dole (4084m-13,399ft)
Day 8: Dole- Machermo (4450m-14,600ft)
Day 9: Machermo- Gokyo Village (4750m-15,584ft)
Day 10: Gokyo Village- Gokyo Ri (5360m-17,585ft) – Ngozumba Glacier- Thangnak (4700m-15,420ft)
Day 11:Thangnak- Cho La Pass (5420m-17,782ft)-Dzongla (4843m-15,889ft) –Lobuche (4950m-16,240ft)
Day 12: Rest day in Lobuche –spent resting, reading in sun and doing laundry
Day 13: Lobuche- Kala Pattar Summit (5550m-18,208ft) – Lobuche (4950m-16,240ft)
Day 14: Lobuche – Kongma La (5535m-18,160ft) –Chukhung (4863m-15,955ft)
Day 15: Chukhung- Island Peak Base Camp (5100m-16,732ft) –tents
Day 16: Base Camp (1:00 wake up) - Island Peak Summit (6189m-20,305ft) –Chukhung (4863m-15,955ft)
Day 17: Chukhung- Dingboche (4350m-14,271ft) - Dewoche (3770m-12,369ft)
Day 18: Dewoche - Tengpoche (3860m-12,664ft) – Namche Bazar - (3440m-11,286 ft)
Day 19: Namche Bazar – Lukla (2800m-9186ft)
Day 20: travel Lukla – Kathmandu—only 9 got out, next day 8, 3rd day last 5 via German Helicopter. A few duffle bags and our group climbing gear bags didn’t make any of the flights..lucky to get out. Over 2000 trekkers were stranded in Lukla, coffee, food supplies running out with no flights, no rooms to be had. It was a crazy and depressing scene. Many trekkers also stranded in Kathmandu trying to get to Lukla
Day 21: Kathmandu sightseeing but most important fresh food and showers..ahhh
Day 22: Kathmandu sightseeing and finally our whole family is together again
Evening farewell dinner at Newarstil -6 course Nepal meal at Dwarika’s Hotel
Day 23: Kathmandu – Bangkok
Day 24: Bangkok – Zurich –goodbye celebration at Zurich airport w/ champagne, tears & many hugs!
Day 25: Zurich – Boston and my adventure ends but never the memories or my new friends!

View from Kala Pattar Summit: Looking over at Everest from 10km distance


Summit pic from Island Peak 20,305ft!


Map of our trek:


I took many pictures and videos and I will let the pictures tell the story which will be much more interesting than me telling it in words. I apologize for having so many photos’…but without so many, you would be missing some amazing views and scenes. I hope you enjoy!
http://picasaweb.google.com/hikerdd13/NepalPics?feat=directlink

 

[DaveSunRa]

WOW…. I’m totally speechless.

The Pictures are breathtaking

Darlene Whens the party at the Outlook?​

 

[Buffalo]

Hi Darl,
Great shot on Island Peak. I can't wait to take my time and browse through those photos!
I wonder if we passed each other without knowing, as we were on our way back around Oct. 24-25 to Lukla as you were just heading up.
I'm glad you didn't have a hard time in Lukla, as it was an absolute nightmare for us - airport closed, flights changed the whole nine yards!
Anyway, welcome back again and I'll drop another note when I look over the pics.
Cheers!
Dan

 

[mirabela]

Climbing a Himalayan peak ... pretty cool!

 

[blaze]

"View from Kala Pattar Summit" - stunning. I look forward to spending some time with the rest of your photos.

 

[Darl58]

Hi Darl,
Great shot on Island Peak. I can't wait to take my time and browse through those photos!
I wonder if we passed each other without knowing, as we were on our way back around Oct. 24-25 to Lukla as you were just heading up.
I'm glad you didn't have a hard time in Lukla, as it was an absolute nightmare for us - airport closed, flights changed the whole nine yards!
Anyway, welcome back again and I'll drop another note when I look over the pics.
Cheers!
Dan

Hey Dan, we arrived in Lukla on Oct 30th I think..missed you by a few days.
Our group got held up in Lukla on our return from trekking, took 3 days to get the whole group and not all of our duffle bags and gear didn't make it. There were 2000 trekkers stranded when we were there...no coffee, food, or rooms available. It was a nightmare. Airport was closed for 5 days..They closed Lukla down from anymore trekkers hiking into it, we just made it by a day. I was lucky and got the draw of a ticket 1st day but had to detour to India for a hold up...glad it was the end of our trip!!

 

[Chugach001]

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


.

 

[prino]

After spending the last week or two trying to figure out your route with the pics on Facebook and my 1988 National Geographic topo map of the area, it has now become clear with your easy to follow descriptions. Totally amazing!!
Thanks for sharing your trip of a lifetime! I felt I was there with you!

 

[una_dogger]

What a great adventure. Did you have those beautiful azure skies the whole trip?

 

[DougPaul]

Nice.

I think I'll have to go ice my finger after pressing "next" 810 times...

Doug

 

[grouseking]

I scrolled thru every single picture, simply awesome!! Jealousy is flowing. What was the hardest part of the entire trip? And what was your overall distance?

Congratulations on a trip you will never forget!

 

[Buffalo]

Hi Darl,
Ah so you did get to experience the madness of Lukla! Something we'll never forget that's for darn sure!
Just curious, where did you stay in Namche? We stayed in the Yak Hotel and it was absolutely wonderful, the best momos I've ever eaten! LOL!
We've writing a travelogue on our journey if you have any interest, it's up at our blog. Meantime, here's a pic of The Yak!
Congrats again!

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

Good catching up at AMC slide talk on Tuesday evening, Darl. Congrats on your Weston x-c ski raffle tickets. Great shot of Imja Tse. Will do some working out before I tackle your other 810 slides this weekend!

 

[yvon]

Thank you for the beautiful photos that reminds me the trek we did, Annie and me, in October 2007.The best trip of our lives.
http://www.lesiteayvon.com/photosnepal.html
Sorry, the captions are only in french.

We will go back in Nepal maybe soon.

 

[TCD]

Yes, thanks for the reminder! I was there in 92. Some things have changed, but it's still beautiful. I don't have enough vacation time to do a trip to Nepal justice right now; but retirement is close enough, and I can't wait to go back.

 

[JimC]

Bharatpur??

Darlene

I am curious.

Was your flight diversion from Lukla - Kathmandu to Bharatpur, in the Chitwan?

JimC

 

[The Unstrung Harp]

Wow Darl, I too clicked through every single pic. What an amazing journey. Roughly how far did you go each day? How did the terrain compare to that in the White in terms of strenuous-ness? I am sure the altitude made everything way, way harder... I would love to hear more about your experiences and the technical aspects of the trek.

Or I could just click through your album again. So amazing...

 

[Darl58]

WOW…. I’m totally speechless.
The Pictures are breathtaking

Darlene Whens the party at the Outlook?​

Dave, I'll be sure to let you know..need to work on the presentation

What a great adventure. Did you have those beautiful azure skies the whole trip?

Sabrina, almost everyday had azure skies, except for a couple. In the afternoon's it clouded in and temps dropped but we were normally close to our Lodge for the night.

I scrolled thru every single picture, simply awesome!! Jealousy is flowing. What was the hardest part of the entire trip? And what was your overall distance?
Congratulations on a trip you will never forget!

Hardest part of the trip was staying healthy..the food was white rice, potato (boiled), pasta every meal..very few veggies, esp as we got higher in elevation. Breakfast was eggs and dry toast or porridge or dry pancakes sometimes.. hard to eat when your appetite is low the same foods.. I got the Khumbu cough as many did, just before Island Peak climb..made it much harder to go higher..very common in that region where you have to acclimate. Still dealing with it two weeks after being home.
Total distance I am getting from one of the guides, still putting together numbers..will add soon.

Hi Darl,
Ah so you did get to experience the madness of Lukla! Something we'll never forget that's for darn sure!
Just curious, where did you stay in Namche? We stayed in the Yak Hotel and it was absolutely wonderful, the best momos I've ever eaten! LOL!
We've writing a travelogue on our journey if you have any interest, it's up at our blog. Meantime, here's a pic of The Yak!
Congrats again!
QUOTE]

If go into any of the Villages, we always stayed at the highest Lodge, where we had to climb the most..our guide has a great sense of humor...We were at the Hotel Namche. It was way up, last one as you left Namche, great Momo's there also! Chocolate pudding yumm!

Darlene
I am curious.
Was your flight diversion from Lukla - Kathmandu to Bharatpur, in the Chitwan?
JimC

We did fly over the Chitwan, we could see animals as we were landing at the Simara Airport in Birgunj bordering with the Indian town of Raxaul in Bihar, India. We weren't allowed on the Airport side of the plane and had to stand on runway for over an hour in the scorching hot temps...(we had long johns on and heavy cloths from Lukla..) It was a very small military airport, lots of armed solders..

Wow Darl, I too clicked through every single pic. What an amazing journey. Roughly how far did you go each day? How did the terrain compare to that in the White in terms of strenuous-ness? I am sure the altitude made everything way, way harder... I would love to hear more about your experiences and the technical aspects of the trek.
Or I could just click through your album again. So amazing...

The terrain changed so much as we went to different elevations, we did have similar terrain as the White's in some areas, crossing through forests and then climbing rocky terrains also. The hardest part was the dry air and dust and smoke..you had to wear a scarf over your mouth and nose as much as you could stand to stay healthy...there are no flat areas in Nepal I discovered....we climbed up and down some steep areas everyday. Some of it was very steep ups and downs. The altitude really didn't bother me...surprising as we acclimated so well and they really stressed going slow. We were controlled for speed on hiking with not being allowed to pass the front Sherpa....we did get him going faster on the route out. The altitude was most noticed when climbing steps in Lodges or trying to rock climb,...

Thank you everyone for your interest, I can't say in words how amazing it was! I am going to put together a presentation, but that may take me til after the Holiday's...

 

[JimC]

Simara

Darlene

Simara. OK then. I Flight Instructed at Bharatpur last year, on the other side of the Chitwan. We used Simara all the time because it has several Instrument Approaches. We would rarely land there.

You did indeed see some serious animals in the Chitwan. The Chitwan was a Training Area for us. Makes you appreciate the manufacturer of your aircraft's engine. Beware The Cobra when on the ground.

Only 90 degrees and Humid. Sounds like a cold spell!

Really enjoyed the show. Thanks!

 

[Buffalo]

Hotel Namche

Hi Darl,
That's too funny! The reason the momos were so good at the Hotel Namche is because it's owned by the same fellow who owns The Yak! Small world, huh?
And his sister owns the Trekkers Lodge in Tengboche, which is where we stayed the next day. he called ahead for us. Great guy, will go there again when we are back!