Appendix - a note on place names

If you have noticed that some place names are spelt differently, such as Tengboche/Tyanboche, it is because Nepalese is written using a different form of alphabet and the correct spelling gets lost in translation!.  Sorry for any confusion.

Epilogue

This Big Adventure really has been the trip of a lifetime.  It has been a huge privilege to have the opportunity to visit the highest mountain in the world and to experience just a taste of what drives real mountaineers to put their lives at risk to achieve their goals.

It has been a wonderful way to celebrate my retirement from 32 years of teaching and latterly, seven years as Headteacher of Wells-next-the-Sea Primary & Nursery School.

The Parent Friend Association has organised sponsorship of this trek.  If you would like to contribute to their funds, please send cheques to Wells-next-the-Sea Primary & Nursery School Parent Friend Association.

Kathmandu to Heathrow

An early start to fly from Kathmandu to Heathrow via Delhi.

All checked in except for my travelling companion who is told her flight left two days ago and she missed it! After reassurances that she would be looked after, we were ushered onto our plane and she was left in Kathmandu.  Horrendous!

At Delhi our connecting flight was delayed for six hours without explanation (thank you Jet Airways!) and we arrived back at 11pm.  My travelling companion managed to get a flight with another airline and got back to Heathrow at 7am the following morning.

Kathmandu Once Again!

Our last day in Nepal was spent in seeing the unusual sights of Kathmandu.

We visited Pashupatinath which is the most important Hindu temple in Kathmandu and is situated on the banks of the Bagmati River.  This is the home to many sadhus, holy men who cover themselves in ash and hope to persuade passing tourists that they should give them money to take their photographs.

Pashupatinath is the place where Hindu cremations take place on ghats along the riverside.  The remains are scraped into the river, after which men retrieve unburnt pieces of wood to reuse.

The river is horribly polluted, but it is considered holy and close members of the bereaved family, wash themselves in it.

On a cheerier note, we visited Bodnath, the largets Buddhist stupa in the Kathmandu valley and home to a large number of Tibetans.

Bodnath is wonderful.  It is massive and is placed centrally in a colourful square of shops selling religious artifacts and is surrounded by prayer flags.

Lukla to Kathmandu

The weather is fine and there should be no problems in flying out of Lukla.  Our plane has just arrived and as the passengers are disembarking, with are hurried onto the runway ready to take our seats for the flight to Kathmandu.

We say 'goodbye' to the snowy mountains.........

 and fly along the fertile Kathmandu valley which is solidly terrassed in order to produce Nepalese's fresh food.

Kathmandu seems horribly polluted and noisy after being in the mountains, but it will be good to meet up with my travelling companion who flew back two days ago.

Monjo to Lukla

The last leg of our trek.  At this stage, the thought of a hot shower (or any sort of shower for that matter!) and clean clothes becomes increasingingly attractive.

We pass the place where John (a member of the group) was pushed over the side of the mountain by a yeti on the first day of the trek!

We have time to share technology with the children....

and for the children to share facts about their lives with us.......

These children are collecting yak dung in a plastic tub.  The pats will be dried to use as fuel.

At Lukla, we say 'goodbye' and 'thankyou' to our yak boy and the assistant guides.  They have been a wonderful team and we are very grateful to them for all their support whilst we have been on trek.

Tengboche to Monjo

We descend the ridge to Phunki Tenga and walk back to Namche Bazaar along the beautiful, undulating trail high above the Dudh Kosi River.

The regular sound of helicopters reminds us of the number of rescues from the mountains which take place in a day.

Dugla to Tengboche

We descend into the Pheriche valley and visit the ancient monastery before joining the main Imja Khola Valley which we follow down to Pangboche.



We have time to admire the porters who carry enormous loads on their backs by a band around their foreheads.  These small, wiry people are so strong, they are trully amazing.  They sing while they work or listen to music they have recorded onto their mobile phones.

We walk through peaceful rhododendron forests, through the village of Devoche from where we climb steeply back to Tengboche.

Gorak Shep to Kala Pattar (5545 m)

'Knock, knock' at 4.30am.  The sky is clear and after a good night's sleep, I feel fit enough to at least attempt Kala Pattar.

Three members of the group not well enough to join the trail of head torches which snake up the mountain.  They stay at Gorak Shep.  It is freezing cold, but dry and clear.

We are surrounded by huge peaks which turn pink as the sun rises.  We really do feel as though we are near the top of the world.  The sound of avalanches are a reminder of the distructive power of snow in the mountains.

Three members descend before the top due to exhaustion and altitude problems, mainly severe headaches.  The air is so thin at this altitude that even putting one foot in from of the other takes an enormous effort.

After what seems like an eternity, I made it to the top to be rewarded by fantastic views the Khumbu Glacier, Lhotse (8501m), Lhotse Shar (8393m), Nuptse (7879m), Taboche (6367m), Ama Dablam (6856m) and Sagarmatha or Everest (8848m).  Sagarmatha is the black mountain with the characteristic spindrift
 coming off the top.

Eight of us made it to the top of Kala Patar, plus Barnaby!

We returned to Gorak Shep for a snack, followed the endless trek to the village of Dugla for the night.  This was an extremely long walk during which the thought of spending a holiday sitting on a Greek beach suddenly became rather appealing!

Labuche to Gorak Shep (5288m) and Everest Base Camp!

A long hard day today.  We leave Labuche at about 5am.  Another member of the group is suffering from altitude sickness and makes the decision not to continue soon after we leave Labuche.  He is quite disorientated and has a thumping headache.  Another assistant guide stays with him to descend to the previous village.

We arrive at Gorak Shep in time for breakfast and a short rest after which we set off on the rocky moraine of the Khumbu Glacier.  Two members of the group are too ill to come and stay at Gorak Shep.

The trail winds up past fascinating ice seracs which create amazing patterns.

This is a hard walk.  It is very cold and although I'm wearing ski gloves, I can hardly feel my fingers.  The thin air makes breathing difficult, but the end is in sight and I'm quite determined to make it.  I just plod up slowly putting one foot in front of the other to the song of Nelly the Elephant!

There are no climbers at EVC at this time of the year as the climbing season is in the spring.  Without any tents, it is a cold, desolate, inhospitable place.  As we arrive, it snows.  Emotions run high and we all have an amazing sense of achievement.

Our guide gives us each a Mars bar and a drink of hot chocolate as a celebration.

Of the 16 who started the trek, 12 of us got to Base Camp plus Barnaby!

We walked back to Gorak Shep in time for an early evening meal.  I am so tired that I manage about a third of a plate of spaghetti and fall into my sleeping bag at 7pm.  If I feel like this tomorrow, I will not manage to climb Kala Patar.  Wake up call is at 4.30am tomorrow....will just have to see how I feel.

Dingboche to Labuche (4930m)

My travelling companion became very unwell and decided to head down and see a doctor.  She is clearly suffering from altitude sickness and needs to descend.  One of our assistant guides will stay with her and she will see at doctor at the nearest clinic in Pheriche.  We are all very sad, but altitude sickness is not something to be taken lightly and she is taking the best course of action.

Today is a big walk and is our first experience of walking on the terminal moraine of the Khumbu Glacier.  The weather is perfect and we are surrounded by huge snowy mountains.  We are now above the tree line.

As we walk, we pass memorials to dead Sherpas.  They have died in avalanches, through accidents or altitude sickness.  The Sherpas lives are spent helpng others to achieve their goals.  Consequently, these memorials are unbearably sad.

We are arrive at Labuche feeling tired.  Labuche is a tiny hamlet with a few tea houses.  We are full of anticipation for tomorrow when we make the big push to reach Everest Base Camp (EVC).  No one feels hungry, but we know we need to fill up on carbohydrates for the very hard treks that are to come in the next two days.

Acclimatisation walk to Chhukung (4730 m)

This was a massive walk.  Altogether it involved a huge amount of ascent.  On reaching Chhukung, all we felt like doing was sleeping, but after lunch, we had to walk all the way back to Dengboch.

The weather all day was wonderful and we had fantastic views of the mountains all the way there and back.  Ama Dablan, Nuptsi, Lhotsi and Lhotsishar all covered in fresh snow.

We passed a memorial to The Heroes of Nupsti, that is all those who had lost their lives trying to climb this great mountain.

We saw our first baby yak at Dengboche and watched a member of the household gathering yak dung in her apron.  This will be dried and used for fuel in the winter.  Let's hope she washed her hands before cooking our evening meal!

Tengboche to Dengboche (3820m)

A big walk today, but I'm pleased to say no signs of altitude sickness.  I managed the walk easily and welcomed the opportunity to stretch my legs.

John has decided he didn't walk of the path on the first day of the trek, but was pushed over the side by a yeti!

Two nights in Dengboche as tomorrow is an acclimatisation day.

Kyangjuma to Tengboche (3860 m)

Set off early from Kyangjuma with still no signs of mountains as the weather is cloudy, damp and cold.  The first part of the walk is an easy downhill to the river followed by a steady climb up rock steps and a gentle ascent into Tengboche. 

The monastery here is very special and we had the privilege of attending a Buddhist service which was led by the head monk from Kathmandu. We stayed for about an hour although the service went on for four hours.  Cymbals clashed, trumpets boomed, bells were rung, drums were beaten and woodwind instruments similar to clarinets were blown. 

The monks told us there had been no flights to Lukla for two days because of bad weather.  They blamed the Hindu festival of darshan during which time, lots of meat is eaten.  The monks were praying for the souls of the dead animals and predicted that the weather would change after two days because of their prayers.  My travelling companion thought that perhaps they had seen a weather forecast!

We said 'goodbye' to our dzhos and 'hello' to the yaks which would now carry our luggage.  Yaks are used at the higher altitudes and they can withstand the cold. Yaks have much thicker coats than dzhos and cannot live at altitudes lower than 4000m. 

Eleven years ago, I experienced altitude sickness at Tengboche so I am rather worried about tomorrow's walk.

Namche Bazaar to Kyangjuma (3510 m) via Khumjung

Left Namche Bazaar and walked up and up lots of stone steps.  Quite a gruelling climb, but it gradually evens out towards the Everest View Hotel.  This hotel was built by the Japanese with the idea of building an airstrip for tourists so that tourists do not have to trek to see Sagarmatha!  The airstrip was never built, but some tourists are dropped by helicopter and because they have not been able to acclimatise to the altititude, are provided with oxygen on arrival at the hotel. What a silly idea!

It rained all day today and there were no views of the mountains at all! 

Khumjung is a beautiful Sherpa village which has been helped financially by Sir Edmund Hillary.  There is a plaque outside the monastery saying 'thank you'.

The monastery at Khumjung is 300 years old.  It contains, what is said to be, a yeti skull.  Truly bizarre!

From Khumjung, we walked through rhododendron forests where the lichens hung from the trees like giant spiders' webs.

We arrived at the lodge in the early afternoon.  We were surprised that our room had an ensuite bathroom.  The shower did not work, the water in the tap was cold and the toilet sistern leaked, but heh, this was luxury!  The weather has turned extremely cold, but my wonderful down sleeping bag kept me snug and warm during a rather noisy night.  There were rats gnawing behind the wooden partitions and we kept thinking they were were coming into the room.

Phakding to Namche Bazaar

The lodge at Phakding was very pleasant.  After an early start, 6.30 'knock, knock' and 'bed tea' (that means wake up call and tea in bed!), we headed downhill to the river.  Crossing the river entailed walking across a metal bridge which sways backwards and forwards and side to side. 

As always, masses of downhill is followed by a huge climb.  Unfortunately, poor weather prevented us from seeing our first view of Everest, but we did see our first snowy peaks.

Namche Bazaar is a pretty Sherpa village perched on the sides of the mountains.  It is full of shops selling climbing gear and just about anything else that you might want to buy.

Namche Bazaar is the Headquarters of Sagarmatha National Park.  Sagarmatha is the Nepalese name for Mount Everest.  Everest is the name of the British surveyor who discovered it was the highest mountain in the world.  The Tibetan name for Sagarmatha is Chomolungma.

Namche is at 3440 metres and usually, an extra day is spent here to acclimatise to the altitude.  We were not able to do this as we were one day behind schedule. 

So far, so good.  No symptoms of altitude sickness and am managing to keep up with the younger people in the group.

The trek to Phakding

We landed at Lukla and could immediately feel the effects of the altitude.  Any physical effort resulted in breathlessness.  Fortunately,  we do not have to carry our own luggage.  We have four dzhos (animals that are a cross between a yak and a cow), to do the heavy work.

Lukla is our first experience of Sherpa country.  It is a scruffy town.  Chickens and cockerels wander freely  in and out of the shops.  Horses and dzhos meander along the street leaving their 'calling cards' at regular intervals.  Prayer flags are hung between the houses and shops and the sound of yak bells warn of the approach of animals with long curling horns.

We walk towards Phakding in the dark, passing prayer walls which have to be circled in an anti-clockwise direction.

A member of our group, manages to walk off the path down the side of the mountain.  Fortnately, his fall is broken by trees and shrubs and he escapes with cuts and scratches.

The flight to Lukla

Hurrah!  The weather is good and we can fly out of Kathmandu.  After what seemed like an endless wait, we boarded the tiny 20 seater aeroplane.  I was lucky enough to sit right behind the pilots. 

The plane flies right between the mountains.  Barnaby and several of the passengers were too scared to look even though the cloudy weather made the mountains seem less threatening.

The runway at Lukla is the size of a football pitch so the pilots have to get the landing just right or the plane hits the wall at the far side of the runway.  One plane was involved in just such an 'incident'  a few days ago and we saw it with a bandaged 'nose' being repaired on the runway.

Kathmandu Again!

Due to poor weather in Lukla over the last three days, a large backlog of passengers meant we were unable to fly out of Kathmandu. 

Having wasted most of the day waiting to see if we would be able to fly, we made made the most of what was left of the day by visiting another Durbar Square in a different part of the city called Patan.

As it is a Hindu holiday, the children are not at school.  They are spending their free time flying small paper kites.  The sky is filled with brightly coloured, fluttering kites and the children are trying to 'win' kites by making their friends' kites hit the ground.