Hi everybody!
This message comes to you from Dingboche (4400m approx.), a lovely little Sherpa village in the shadow of Mt. Ama Dablam.
Our trek from Pangboche only took us 2.5 hours and was relatively easy compared to the others so far, but really dusty. We've had to take extra care in covering our noses and mouths so that we don't eat dust...or bite the dust.
There has been a slight change of schedule since Pangboche. We are spending an extra night in Dingboche to make sure that everyone has acclimatized properly. We will still spend 2 nights in Chukkung ( where we trek tomorrow, April 21), but we've had to sacrifice our second night in Tengboche on the way back from Everest Base Camp to do so.
So far the highlight of Dingboche has been our excursion to the West Base Camp of Ama Dablam. Though the mountain is smaller than Everest, it is far more difficult to climb. In addition to the 300m climb from Pangboche, trekking to base camp added another 400m to the excursion, in order for us to acclimatize for our trek to Lobuche in 2 days time.
The trek to base camp took us on a steep trek over a ridge past the tree line, glacial ice and had us immersed in clouds to the point where we couldn't even see Dingboche anymore. The clouds were a welcome change to the dry dusty air we've been experiencing recently. Once we reached the top of the ridge we felt like we were on a different planet. For those of you Lord of the Rings nerds out there- it looked and felt a lot like the Kingdom of Rohan - only without the horses and people. An expanse of dry land surrounded by mountains with next to no vegetation and big black boulders, eventually led us to a glacial lake at the foot of Ama Dablam. To be honest- the lake was more like a pond or puddle, but you could see by the water line on the surrounding rocks that the true lake is massive in the right season. Regardless, we enjoyed our time there, lounging on the rocks. We even found what appeared to be the remains of a musk deer leg in a nearby cave- likely lunch for a snow leopard. We also caught a glimpse of a few griffins, though no other people. This was a bit of a shock for us seeing as this was a base camp. We were expecting lots of tents and climbers at base camp, even so, the remnants of past expeditions were visible. Lhakpa ( our awesome Shepra guide) informed us that the Western approach to Ama Dablam's summit (where we were) is extremely difficult, so most climbers attempt the summit from the eastern side.
(Side note: we should mention that as we write this we are currently watching people throw yak dung into a stove with their bare hands - but it's keeping us warm so we won't complain!!)
Anyways, the trek down from base camp was considerably faster than the way up, as we had gravity on our side. We saw a snow fox on our way down as well as several yak. The way back included a slight detour for half of the group, but we soon reunited just in time to cross a sketchy bridge that we're sure none of you will ever want to see. Not to worry though, only 5 people fell off (Kidding!!! : D )
We spent the rest of the evening eating, chatting and playing some rowdy card games.
Today, our extra day in Dingboche was spent lazily lounging around the lodge for the most part, though some of us went on an awesome adventure around the neighbouring hills.
Tomorrow we plan to trek to Chukkung. We'll update on our upcoming adventures as soon as possible!
Till then, Cheers!
Erica, Jaclyn and Jamie
This message comes to you from Dingboche (4400m approx.), a lovely little Sherpa village in the shadow of Mt. Ama Dablam.
Our trek from Pangboche only took us 2.5 hours and was relatively easy compared to the others so far, but really dusty. We've had to take extra care in covering our noses and mouths so that we don't eat dust...or bite the dust.
There has been a slight change of schedule since Pangboche. We are spending an extra night in Dingboche to make sure that everyone has acclimatized properly. We will still spend 2 nights in Chukkung ( where we trek tomorrow, April 21), but we've had to sacrifice our second night in Tengboche on the way back from Everest Base Camp to do so.
So far the highlight of Dingboche has been our excursion to the West Base Camp of Ama Dablam. Though the mountain is smaller than Everest, it is far more difficult to climb. In addition to the 300m climb from Pangboche, trekking to base camp added another 400m to the excursion, in order for us to acclimatize for our trek to Lobuche in 2 days time.
The trek to base camp took us on a steep trek over a ridge past the tree line, glacial ice and had us immersed in clouds to the point where we couldn't even see Dingboche anymore. The clouds were a welcome change to the dry dusty air we've been experiencing recently. Once we reached the top of the ridge we felt like we were on a different planet. For those of you Lord of the Rings nerds out there- it looked and felt a lot like the Kingdom of Rohan - only without the horses and people. An expanse of dry land surrounded by mountains with next to no vegetation and big black boulders, eventually led us to a glacial lake at the foot of Ama Dablam. To be honest- the lake was more like a pond or puddle, but you could see by the water line on the surrounding rocks that the true lake is massive in the right season. Regardless, we enjoyed our time there, lounging on the rocks. We even found what appeared to be the remains of a musk deer leg in a nearby cave- likely lunch for a snow leopard. We also caught a glimpse of a few griffins, though no other people. This was a bit of a shock for us seeing as this was a base camp. We were expecting lots of tents and climbers at base camp, even so, the remnants of past expeditions were visible. Lhakpa ( our awesome Shepra guide) informed us that the Western approach to Ama Dablam's summit (where we were) is extremely difficult, so most climbers attempt the summit from the eastern side.
(Side note: we should mention that as we write this we are currently watching people throw yak dung into a stove with their bare hands - but it's keeping us warm so we won't complain!!)
Anyways, the trek down from base camp was considerably faster than the way up, as we had gravity on our side. We saw a snow fox on our way down as well as several yak. The way back included a slight detour for half of the group, but we soon reunited just in time to cross a sketchy bridge that we're sure none of you will ever want to see. Not to worry though, only 5 people fell off (Kidding!!! : D )
We spent the rest of the evening eating, chatting and playing some rowdy card games.
Today, our extra day in Dingboche was spent lazily lounging around the lodge for the most part, though some of us went on an awesome adventure around the neighbouring hills.
Tomorrow we plan to trek to Chukkung. We'll update on our upcoming adventures as soon as possible!
Till then, Cheers!
Erica, Jaclyn and Jamie
Wow!!!!!!!!
ReplyDelete