Trekking Day 4: Acclimatisation Trip through Khumjung and Khundé

Ama Dablam and Mt Thamserku in the morning light

Namche Bazaar to Khumjung and Khundé (and back): The Stats

Distance Walked: 9.6km

Hours and Minutes Taken: 5 hours, 32 minutes

Origin Height: Namche Bazaar, 3450m

Destination Height: Khundé, 3843m

Total Metres Ascended: 598m

Total Metres Descended: 598m

Weather: A cold, clear morning with increasing haze, light cloud and wind from around midday.

Morning Temperature in our Tea House Room: 6 degrees Celsius

Tangi Ragi Tau and Pharchamo with the day's first rays

Tangi Ragi Tau and Pharchamo

This morning Anando and I had a little sleep in while Chris braved the cold at 5:30am and went to take photos. Khumbu Lodge is the first place on the trek we have stayed where the walls consist of more than ply wood with gaps in it and where the walls don't move when lent on. Therefore, at 6 degrees in our room, only 1 degree colder than Jorsalé, we could only guess that it was darn freezing outside.

Chris returned just before 6:30am and his walk had been well worth it. The skies were perfectly clear and mountains were visible in all directions. When I got up around 7:30am even the communal toilet had stunning views of the mountains.

Anando and Chris climb up from Namche with the Kwangde Range behind them

For breakfast we had a tiny bowl of muesli. It appears that while the costs have increased in Namche, the portion sizes have decreased.

By 8am we were ready to start our day of acclimatisation which would take us on a tour of the surrounding villages. We started off by tackling the stairs we had followed down from Syangboché airstrip yesterday afternoon. We expected this to be tough going but, maybe thanks to our afternoon acclimatisation yesterday, the climb wasn't as tough as expected. We took in views of the Kwangde Range and the horseshoe shape that is Namche Bazaar through gaps in flapping prayer flags. It appeared that we weren't the only ones on an acclimatisation expedition today...our relatively late departure meant the trail was full of trekkers.

Namche Bazaar and Kwangde Range through prayer flags

Lauren with the Kwangde Range

Lauren with Khumbila up ahead

With Thamserku to our right the path took us up a grassy slope to the now familiar airstrip of Syangboché. By this stage Khumbila's rocky mass was clearly visible and we continued our climb up towards the luxury hotels with views of Everest and Ama Dablam. With the giants of the Himalayas in view our our path led us along the face of an steep amphitheatre shaped hill. Eagles soared with snow capped peaks in the background as we approached the famous Everest View Hotel.

Chris on the trail leading to the Everest View Hotel with Lhotse in the distance

Everest peaks above the Lhotse-Nuptse Ridge (second from left)

Snacks with Everest views

Thanks to the friendly staff we were allowed onto the restaurant balcony from where the waiter could point out Ama Dablam, Lhotse and Everest for us. Once we had our bearings we set off for Khumjung. Along the way we found a perfect spot to fill our bellies with dried fruit and nuts while taking in views of the highest mountain in the world. The sky was still clear, marred only by the cloud streaming from the high peaks of Lhotse and Everest.

Our walk to Khumjung took us down a muddy hill past patches of snow, kept icy by the sun never reaching it. Khumjung was a relatively large village set on a flat plain at the foot of Mt Kumbila. Having been able to see Kumbila since Chheplung, perched at the top of the valley we had walked through, it was amazing to finally have reached its base and to be able to gaze up its ice falls and rocky faces to its peak.

The stroll through Khumjung was leisurely despite us now being at 3780m. The path led us to the neighbouring village of Khundé up a slight incline to 3840m. Khundé was much quieter and smaller than Khumjung and we weaved our way between paddocks defined by precariously balanced stone walls.

We found a small lodge to have a snack at and had some delicious fried vegetable momos cooked fresh by the lovely lady owner. Having reached a height more than 400m higher than Namche we felt we had done enough acclimatising for one day and began the hike home.

Leaving Khundé we passed a large white chorten with the 'Swayambhunath' all-seeing eyes painted on it. We passed through the gateway marking the entrance to Khundé before stopping to chat with two kiwis who, like us, were doing an acclimatisation hike, be it in the opposite direction and at a much later time than us. After comparing notes on the trek so far we continued up the stone steps before going down some stone steps and arriving at the East end of Syangboché airstrip. From there we followed the path that we probably should have been on yesterday when we hiked up following the Sherpa trails. The track led us back to Namche in no time at all.

Back at Khumbu Lodge we dumped our walking poles and day bag and decided it was time to reevaluate our budget. Rumour on the trail was that dal baht was costing almost 800 rupees at high altitude. After figuring that we had enough cash, thanks to our budget savvy ways so far, we went snack shopping.

In an attempt to save money on breakfasts we bought a loaf of bread between us, some jam, yak cheese, muffins, cookies, snickers and crackers in a hope that these supplies would hold us for the next twenty days of trekking. Our regular afternoon headaches had informed us that, at this altitude and with this much strenuous exercise, we really needed to up our calorie intake.

All that food shopping made us hungry so we each had big servings of dal baht for lunch. While bland, it was filling. The kiwis we met on our hike arrived at the lodge restaurant and we began to share stories of travelling in India. It turns out that we weren't the only ones that found it stressful. Soon a couple of Americans turned up and told us all about their time working in Antarctica so we were kept entertained in the relative warmth of the restaurant for a few hours. Outside, clouds had rolled in almost completely blocking the surrounding mountains from view. It's amazing how quickly the weather changes up here and how predictably it clears in the mornings.

Come 6 o'clock Anando returned from his marathon of trying to contact Devaleena and we spent some time chilling out while our bellies grew hungry enough for another meal.

At around 7pm we found our fellow trekkers in the restaurant and stuffed ourselves with vegetable fried noodles and vegetable fried momos. We settled our bill, retreated to our respective rooms, packed what we could and tried to get some sleep before our early morning tomorrow.

Anando and a yak with the Kwangde Range

 

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