Trekking Day 11: Namche Bazaar to Lukla

Namche Bazaar to Lukla: The Stats

Distance Walked: 21.9km

Hours and Minutes Taken: 7 hours, 51 minutes

Origin Altitude: Namche Bazaar, 3450m

Destination Altitude: Lukla, 2857m

Approximate Total Metres Ascended: 817m

Approximate Total Metres Descended: 1298m

Weather: A cool morning followed by a warm, clear day. Clouds and wind rolling in from midday.

Morning Temperature in our Tea House Room: 6 degrees Celsius

Chris on the steep walk down from Namche

By 6:30am this morning we were sitting in the restaurant of Hotel Namche eating large servings of muesli, hot milk and fruit. We paid our bill, had the lovely lady owner pull me up on giving her too much cash, and were then on our way. We knew we had a big day ahead of us but, at the time, we could never have imagined just how big.

To begin the morning we passed through the entrance gate of Namche, which we had accidentally missed on our way up, and started the 600m descent down the huge hill upon which Namche sits. We passed through the permit check post and continued on our way. While not as steep as the hill from Tengboché it was still a challenge for the knees and ankles. The ground made of uneven large stones covered in a layer of fine sandy dirt and small stones which made for slippery work. Nearly falling over was the norm as we slid around with every few steps. Considering the terrain we made good progress stopping only briefly to try and catch one last glimpse of the tallest mountain in the world. With the haze obscuring our view of Everest we continued down and down and down until finally we could hear, and then see, the roaring river beneath us.

The pretty stretch before Jorsalé

At the bottom of the hill was the meeting of the Dudh and Bhoté Kosi rivers. We crossed back across the incredibly high swing bridge (Larja Dhoban) and back down the stone path which took us to the bank of the Dudh Kosi. We were in familiar territory now having not only walked this rocky riverbed on our way up but having spent time down here watching Chris take photos. This stretch of trail was exceptionally scenic with pine trees lining the turquoise river. Across another familiar swing bridge we passed through the second check post for the day before entering Jorsalé.

After Jorsalé came the dreaded climb to Monjo. While only 100m or so up, the stony steps were steep and Chris' flu was not helping. He was constantly out of breath, hunching over on his walking pole with fatigue. Luckily, we had a cute dog to guide us on our way. Breathless, we passed back through the gateway which marked the entrance/exit to Sagarmatha National Park. After having our permits checked once again it was back down again, back up and back down once more. This was a pattern that would continue throughout the remainder of this long, gruelling day.

Our cute guide

Crystal clear water by the watermill

We again passed by the watermill and the waterfall (which still was barely trickling). We passed throngs of trekkers moving in the opposite direction to us and had mixed emotions about our descent as we saw their fresh eager faces.

By the time we reached Toktok we were exhausted and the day had really only just begun. We had a plan to reach Phakding by 11am so despite our exhaustion we pushed on. Through Phakding we went, following the long trail to Ghat where we planned to be by midday. Our entry into Ghat was yet another steep climb through boulders painted with Tibetan script. Our arrival at the top of the hill was marked by the mani walls, shrines and chorten that we recognised from our ascent.

We stopped for a few snacks in Ghat, not having time to stop for lunch. We needed to be in Lukla between 2pm and 4pm as these were the only hours that the Tara Air office was open and we urgently needed to change our flights. We did not want to be sitting in Lukla for any longer than necessary as Kathmandu's hot showers were calling our names. 11 days without a shower, let alone without a bucket shower, is too long. When Anando caught up we informed him that we'd push ahead and meet him in Lukla as to ensure we met our deadline.

The trail wound through the forest again going up and down more times than we could count. In an attempt to give Chris a well earned break we again swapped backpacks. The steep climbs, with that weight on my back, gave me a whole new understanding and appreciation for what Chris had accomplished over the past ten days.

Eventually we arrived in Chheplung, the town where we had spent the first night of our trek. We were a little over eager thinking we had arrived before we actually had. The series of mani walls were confusing. When we did eventually go past our old familiar guesthouse we knew we had about 3km to walk before we would reach Lukla. 3km did not sound like much but boy, we could not have been more wrong.

Having already walked over 18km today, and a similar distance yesterday, we were tired. Really, really tired. And, with Chris having the man flu and me struggling away with his bag, we were a slow moving team. While I tried my hardest to lift the morale by shouting "Go Chris!" every now and then, we were struggling. The path to Lukla seemed never ending. It went up, up and up some more. Every few metres we stopped to catch our breath but all the while we knew we had a deadline to meet so on we pushed, surprised by our own determination, or stubbornness. Up we went, up and up and up. Today was meant to be about descent but it sure felt like all we had done was walk uphill.

Like a halo rising out of the hill we saw the gateway to Lukla appear. Together we passed over the threshold and sighed as finally the ground levelled somewhat and we were on the stony streets of Lukla. We crawled our way through the Main Street and eventually found the Tara Air office that we had been told would be able to solve all of our flight related problems.

The office was bustling with people. Word on the street was that changing out flight was not going to be as simple as we originally thought, if possible at all. When we finally manoeuvred our way to the counter we were, as expected, told that getting an earlier flight was impossible thanks to all of the flights that had been cancelled today. What they really meant was...getting us on a flight tomorrow was too hard and they had no system in place to put us on any kind of waiting list. Plan B needed to be put in place.

We phoned our travel agent in Kathmandu to try and change the flight but were told that before anything could be organised we would need to find a lodge because apparently the lodge owner would be able to help us reorganise our flights. I'm sure some of the directions were lost in translation because as we set off looking for a place to stay we still weren't sure exactly what would happen next. We wandered away from Tara Air and away from the noisy Wave's Pub (which we had seen advertised every kilometre or so for the past day and a half) and kept our eyes peeled for a place to stay. The first tea house which appealed (in that it was small and inconspicuous in comparison to the large, fancy ones that lined the street) was Base Camp Lodge. Chris looked at the rooms and, before we agreed to stay, we thought we'd try and clarify with the guy in the charge what could be done about our flights. Turns out that the boss/owner of Base Camp Lodge was the manager for Tara Air. How convenient. We dumped our stuff in our room and ordered up some long-awaited food to kill time until the boss arrived.

Chris enjoyed a spaghetti bolognese of sorts (made with yak rather than beef and cheese sauce rather than tomato sauce) while I had the standard egg and veg fried noodles. We even went all out and shared a Fanta hoping the carbonation might aid in dislodging the large ball of phlegm that had gathered in Chris' throat.

When the manager finally arrived he entered wearing a silky wrap around shirt and a cowboy hat. If anybody could save the day...it was this guy. He introduced himself and told us that, while getting a flight today was not possible, he would try his best to get us on one tomorrow. He would keep us posted. Even if it meant each of us would be put on separate aeroplanes we didn't mind. It would beat spending 13 days in Lukla as suggested by the Tara Air staff. We'd have been better off walking down to Jiri than hanging here for that long.

We waited and waited for Anando to arrive and when he eventually did we showed him to his room and took a small rest. Today had really taken it out of us.

When we went downstairs to order dinner we were stopped and told that Chris (as I had told them he was sick) would be flying to Kathmandu tomorrow morning and would need to be at the airport at 6am. So, instead of having to wait until the 27th like the Tara Air people suggested, he was getting out on the next flight. As for Anando and I, well, we would just have to wait and see.

For dinner we ordered up big enjoying a Khumbu pizza (topped with pieces of yak, mushrooms and nak cheese), roast chicken with veg and fried yak momos. With a pot of hot orange tang to warm us up we were happy with our cosy choice of tea house.

We went to be bed still not knowing when anyone but Chris would be flying out. We had an early night knowing we'd be up early, eager to get off the mountain. It's funny that if we were still trekking I'm sure we'd be happy about it but, with hot water, steak and bacon only a short flight away, it was all we could think about.

 

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