Loooking over the edge of the ridge we just climbed up from Dingboche, we see Pheriche below and further south snowy peaks of Kantega to the left of Temaserku's icefall saddle
Day-15 9th Oct 2007: Dinboche (4360M) to Lobuche (4930M)
We left Dinboche at 7:00 and climbed up the ridge (behind the Family-GH) and reached the top at 7:45 and saw Pheriche village nestling down on teh other side of that hill (pictuer above). The snowy peaks to the south of the Pheriche valley looked pretty impressive, in clear skies from here. We continue walking more or less level trail past yak pastures on a ridge-plateu passing Dusa huts and moving on towards Dughla. We reached Dughla around 9:30AM.
Amazing pic above (worth seeing in full-size) ... we are nearing Dughla (at 9:00AM) .... Dughla is the blue roof hotel you can see as a small speck (in pic center) across the Khumbu stream & terminal moraine ... you can see the lower trail coming from Pheriche rising (from bottom left) to meet our Dingboche trail. You can also see the trail beyond Dughla, snaking up and climbing steeply up the terminal moraine to the Memorial Area of Chukpilhara (just below cloud to the right-top edge of picture).
Looking down towards Dughla (Teahouse blue roofs in center of picture), and Pheriche at end of valley .... view from the Chukpilhara top.
Lobuche (4930M) appears on the trail, at Noon
After walking for about 40 mins by the side of the Khumbu moraine we reached Lobuche at 12:10PM. Here we checked into The Kalapathar Lodge; which was pretty basic and a small single room was NRs 30o. Still it was pretty comfortable, in this desolate & cold altitude.
Day-16 10th Oct 2007: Lobuche (4930M) to Gorakshep (5160M)
Next morning I was up at 6:00AM and found weather outside was cold, misty & cloudy. We started on the last leg of the trek to Gorakshep early at 6:30AM. The trail was along the true right of the Khumbu Galcier all the way. At 8:15AM we met the German ladies' (Brigette's) group, returning from Gorakshep. We had last parted way at Lamjura-La, where we stayed a night, but they had carried on to Junbesi.
Brigette was happy to see Bhavnath, whom she had renamed as "Enrique" because of this handosme "Italian" looks!
Khumbu Glacier's rocky & icy river of mess ..... was always alongside our trail from Lobuche to Gorakshep
We are now crossing the side Glaciers - Changri Nup and Changri Shar ... you can see the dark hill of Kalapthar ahead ... and the snow-covered conical Pumori beyond that. Gorakshep huts must be below in the valley. Also see Bhavnath (in red T-shirt) up ahead on the rocky mess waiting for me to join him after taking this picture.
The Nuptse Icefall ....... The clouds are hiding Nuptse.
9:30AM - Reached Gorak Shep, in one piece after a 16-day trek from Jiri! Was feeling elated!! Celebrated by taking a shave and getting rid of the thick beard grown over last 5-6 days! BTW: I had taken a hot-water showers in 3-4 places(last at Namche). Showers cost NR 100-200 each time. It was'nt too cold here, at least during day-time. Perhaps around 10*C in the afternoon; but at night it must have fallen to freezing point because I did see frost and ice on the tables left exposed, outside in the frontyard of the GH. Could not see any of the peaks of Everest or Nuptse from here today, due to cloud cover. The lower level glaciers and icefalls, of course, could be easily seen, if you climbed upto the higher ridges surrounding Gorak Shep.
I talked to several Nepali Guides who had escorted their clients to Gorak Shep about going to EBC & Kalapathar .... and how to fit them both into one day stay at Gorak? Most of them said Kalapather, is a must for sunrise view of Everest, at dawn. But trekking 6 hrs to and fro EBC, was not really worth as it was mostly glacier rubble all the way and no major expeditions were currently camped there (except one from Thailand, camped deep inside near the Khumbu Icefall). After discussing with Bhavnath we decided to go to EBC immediately today (i.e. till we are able to see the EBC-camp-site from a distance) and return to Gorak Shep. Tomorrow morning (if weather is clear and good) we climb Kalapthar and get back to Gorakshep and after breakfast return to Lobuche.
So we set out for EBC at 11:30AM after an early lunch and got back to GorakShep by 3:00PM after going about half-way to the EBC camp-site.
Lake near Gorak Shep on way to EBC
Khumbu Glacier seen from the trail going to EBC
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Go to >> Day-17 Gorak Shep To Kalapathar & Back
